Dream Trip to Cornwall

This post is long overdue. Last last weekend I went for a short trip to St Ives in Cornwall. Visiting Cornwall has been my dream for many years and I wasn't disappointed a single bit! The place was absolutely dreamy and I'm really glad I took the time for myself to explore and relax little bit. Of course, it took me few days to come back to reality (wish I didn't have to!) and catch up with my research. And like all PhD students I've reached the point of frustration while trying to solve something that seems apparently unsolvable (why do we do this to ourselves really?!). So, I decided to take a little break and write this post instead.

St Ives is a cute little town, one that has been a popular tourist destination and inspiration to artists for ages. Usually most places in Cornwall require driving like most beach towns, but they built a tiny train station from St Erth (four stops, takes 12mins) that drops you right in front of the Porthminster beach (how convenient)! The train journey from from St Erth is very scenic as well. My AirBnb host suggested me to sit on the right side, front-faced for the best view and he was absolutely right!

So, this is the first picture I took of the Porthminster beach after getting off from the train. It was cloudy and windy on Friday afternoon, so I wasn't expecting much, but that view took my breath away! This one is the calm beach, more suitable for families with little kids. The turquoise blue is stunning and as the sun peeps in and out, the ocean changes its colour in various shades of blue too. I felt I could just sit there and watch it all day!

Porthminster Beach

The Porthmeor beach is about 15mins walk from there. There's also Harbour beach in between. I was lucky that my AirBnb was conveniently located right in between the beaches and everything was in walking distance. The place itself was very nicely decorated too and the couple was very kind and friendly. Soon after I realized you start seeing the same people again and again as you wander around because it's so small! However, I didn't get bored at all. There are also plenty of art galleries and museums to explore. Later in the afternoon I made a quick trip to Porthmeor beach. This part is more of surfer's zone with gorgeous waves. The Tate Museum is right next to this beach too. There's a cliff named Man's Head that offers breathtaking views of the beach. I decided I'd spend more time on that beach next day.

Porthmeor Beach

On Saturday morning I pushed myself to get out of bed before sunrise so that I could watch sunrise on the beach. I'm not a morning person and it was little chilly in morning, but that romanticism (!) was totally worth it! It was cloudy at first but then I got a beautiful view as I was about to leave for Porthmeor. Also, pro-tip - I learned the evening before that Porthminster is perfect to watch sunrise and Porthmeor for sunset. I didn't realize it and missed the lovely sunset on Friday as I was waiting for it by Porthminster :-/ Anyway, here's a picture of the sunrise :)

After that I headed to Porthmeor beach and walked on the quiet beach by myself. It felt like a dream and I couldn't help humming "Don't Break the Spell"! The surfers started to gather too. It was lots of fun to walk on the beautiful, clear water even though it was quite freezing. I collected lots of pretty shells and started to head back for breakfast and little shopping as they neared the opening hour. Most shops open there around 10am, which makes sense for tourist towns but also I started to get hungry. 

I had tasty Cornish pasty, hot chocolate and brownie and went home for little rest. Later that day I went up to Man's Head. We were blessed with gorgeous sunshine that day and I took plenty of pretty pictures. I mean it looked so beautiful already that I didn't have to make much effort!

I loved that they placed benches beautifully on that cliff. What a simple nice idea to let people watch those blue waves! I walked to the top, took more photos, had fish & chips for dinner and came home with a happy heart.

On Sunday it was time to head back. It felt too soon! I really wished I could be there longer. I left AirBnb with all my luggage and it was drizzling, so thought I'd just walk around little bit. I went to the gift shops and had more Cornish pasty, but after a while I couldn't resist climbing Man's Head again. I spent some more time there watching beautiful waves, the wind made them extra gorgeous! After that I headed back to Porthminster beach and hopped on my train back.

I'm really glad I made this trip and can't wait to go back in June. Already started to think where else to visit in Cornwall! :p Till then I've got plenty of photos and videos to cherish those beautiful memories. 

Now back to my research (-_-).

Bath - One of the Most Beautiful Cities in Europe

This weekend was close to perfect for me and I can't remember when was the last time I had such a relaxed time! So, thought the perfect way to end this lovely weekend would be to write about another perfect Sunday :) This is on the beautiful city Bath - my last tourist destination in UK. 

I was super excited about the trip for every possible reason, not only because Bath is the most enchanting small city with fascinating history, but also to have a lovely company. Even though I enjoy traveling alone just as much, and the Manchester trip the week before was pretty fun, Bath trip reminded me that if you've the right trip partner, then that just doubles the fun! :)

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A little spoiler alert before we start our journey- most of my photos from this trip are a little tilted, not sure whether that's the result of over excitement :p However, I must say that the city itself is way more beautiful than my photos can depict!

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The reason I chose Bath to be my last destination was because it's very conveniently located, around 2 hours from Oxford, which is perfect for a day trip. Since that was my last weekend and had a lot of pressure to wrap up my project, prepare for presentation, and stuff like that, I didn't want to spend too long just riding in the train. Also, decided to randomly walk around the city and explore whatever seemed interesting. Besides browsing shops and restaurant, we ended up stopping by the Holburne Museum and the Roman Baths. I'll talk more about them later.

River Avon

As we walked into the city, we found the river front of River Avon, which is very beautiful and soothing. There were people enjoying river cruises but just standing there, enjoying the sound of water was as pleasant! Then the little theatre, coffee shops and restaurants were very pretty, too! I loved how the historic essence of the city was so well preserved, as if every little corner is telling you a story. Oh, and I found a perfect circle in the sky, too, and you can even find clouds shaped like two eyes, a nose and a lip inside that circle if you look closely! (I mean I did :p)

The Little Theatre

Cute terrace restaurant

That coffee shop had really interesting decors! There's a gigantic coffee cup on the table inside, too!

That circle in the sky!

Pretty city!

While walking here and there we randomly came across Holburne Museum. They had some quite interesting large-scale sculptures on display outside, so we decided to explore what's in there! It's mainly fine and decorative arts museum built around the collection of Sir William Holburne. I really liked their "Small is Beautiful" collection. And actually next year the museum will be celebrating it's 100th anniversary! So, it might be worth exploring if you're visiting Bath sometime next year.

According to the museum, Bath is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe 

The art gallery and the curious visitor :)

By the time we were done with the museum I was pretty hungry. So, we headed out to find somewhere nice to eat. At first we thought we'd go to that pretty terrace restaurant (I posted picture above), but then we ended up going to the restaurant close to station, which was pretty nice and fancy too! The food was good, except that I was a little surprised by the size of potato :p Cause when I read potato in the menu I was definitely expecting something more noticeable (given that it's UK)! But it was good and pretty filling for me :)

See if you can locate the potato! :p

After lunch we stopped by the cute little fudge shop. They give free samples if you walk in and also demo the making process. We decided to see the Roman Baths first and snack on them later as we both were pretty full after lunch.

Fudge store and me being the photo bomb :-/

The Roman Bath was stunning and worth visiting. It always feels so great to experience ancient history and not to mention, was fascinated by the architecture! The audio tour was great, too. Here are some pictures- 

Liked that quote!

Bath Abbey

Like every good thing, our fun time together also came to an end with the Roman Baths visit, and we headed back to our destinations. Luckily there was some more thrill left to my journey! I met a very interesting woman in train by chance, who was also traveling to Oxford. We had a wonderful time chatting. So, I gathered a lot of beautiful memories in one day that I can cherish till my next visit (well, let's hope that'll happen) :)