august 2024 | rye & cornwall – aventuras de alyssa

Hello August! I thought I was sequestered in the UK for the month of August because of my visa extension, but as it turns out, I didn’t end up completing the process until September (since I had plans to travel back to the US for Labor Day). Therefore, I had only planned UK-based trips in August to Rye and Cornwall, which were very fun! The month started with quiz night at The Crown, which was this crazy little pub that instead of having a quiz we had many rounds of bingo. It was chaotic and I loved every minute of it.

rye

I started to make Google Maps with my recommendations and Rye is my favorite town in the UK, so I made a list for here – Alyssa’s Rye Recs! You should be able to click & save the list if you ever visit. George and I went for a little weekend away and if you go, you have to stay at The Fig. It’s a small B&B and breakfast is included in your stay. The food is absolutely amazing there, so even if you don’t stay over, I highly recommend going for a meal here & making a booking in advance. We went for drinks at the Grapevine Champagne & Jazz Bar, where they have live music every night. On Saturday, we walked around town (I showed George the main castle, church, and sights since I went in April 2023 & loved it so much) and attempted to go to the beach, but failed. The weather was not great, but we thought it might get better, so we took the bus down to the beach – the beach is huge and sandy, which is hard to find in the UK. The weather did not, in fact, get better, so we ended up quickly packing up and heading back to town. We went for ice cream & shopped around town, had lunch at the Hoof and dinner at Marco’s. On Sunday, we took it easy, went to The Mermaid Inn for a pint before taking the train back to London. I wish the weather was nicer, but still love a trip to Rye!

london

Back in London the next weekend, my friend had her 30th birthday on Friday, so we went for pints at the Alwyne Castle, which has great outdoor space, and then to Lucky Voice for karaoke! It was a very fun night out. George had Saturday night off (which rarely happens!) so we went to mu for dinner. It’s a Japanese fusion restaurant that has live jazz. The food was incredible and so was the music! We popped over to Bar Lotus to meet up with some friends for cocktails. On Sunday, I met up with a friend for a picnic in Hampstead Heath. The weather was beautiful and I was excited to explore a new area of London!

The next week, my friends and I went to dinner at Grasso for a birthday dinner. They have Italian American inspired cuisine and the chicken parm is gigantic. I had another birthday dinner the next night at Noci in Shoreditch (I could eat Italian food every day and never tire of it!) and then went to Soma on Friday with a friend who was visiting for cocktails. On Saturday, I went back to Hampstead Heath for a hike around the park with some coworkers, which was very fun because the weather was stunning again! We had brunch at Trade (I didn’t realize they had multiple locations) and I had a delicious breakfast sandwich. That evening, I went for Mexican food at Frida in Camden before a friend’s going away party at Sheephaven Bay pub. On Sunday, George and I went for brunch at the Worker’s Cafe (I had the BEST French toast) and for ice cream at Udderlicious. It was a big few weeks of eating out, so we went to the grocery store to stock up and make some recipes from Half Baked Harvest’s Everyday cookbook.

Before I left for Cornwall, we went to two concerts – John Vincent III and Noah Kahan. Both were so fun – my fourth time seeing Noah! I also had a friend in town, so we went for dinner at Darwin Brasserie in Sky Garden. I hadn’t been to Sky Garden before, so that was neat and we had great views of the sun setting behind the London skyline.

cornwall

A bucket list item of mine was to go to Cornwall and thankfully, my friend’s felt the same way. Five of us went to Penzance for a long weekend – recommendations here! It was a bit of a hike to get there – five hours on the train – but it was beautiful and we lucked out with weather (as much as you can with the British seaside). Our Airbnb was 10 mins to the sea and about 20 mins by car to St. Ives. We found that calling taxis was the best way to get around. We had to work Thursday & Friday, but Friday night, we went out to the Waterside Meadery. If you’ve had mead before, you know that stuff can be sneaky dangerous! It’s about 17% alcohol content for a small glass and boy do you feel it! We had a pint at the Dock Inn and the Dolphin Tavern, before we really needed food. A friend recommended we go to the Sea Palace for Chinese and the food was surprisingly very good.

On Saturday, we made pizzas at the Airbnb for lunch before heading out to Land’s End, which is a bit of a tourist trap, but it was fun to walk around the western most part of the UK. The views were breathtaking! We then took a taxi to St. Ives, where we walked around the town (it was adorable!) and saw the insane changing of the tides in the bay. We stopped at Beach Cafe Bar and the Golden Lion Pub before having dinner at Porthminster Beach Restaurant. The food was delicious. For our last day, we went to St. Michael’s Mount, which is the island home to a medieval castle that is sister’s to Mont St. Michel in France (that I visited in 2017!). We battled some rain & wind, but hiked up to the castle for a tour, which was very cool to see the different decor and how sturdy the castle is. We had to take a boat over to the castle but then could walk back because the tide went down – it was crazy! Before heading back to Penzance for the train, we had Cornish pasties from Philips Bakery. I had the chicken one and it tasted like a handheld chicken pot pie. Delicious!