1620, what a good year in Plymouth

As we ended half term, we spent our last night in the south in Plymouth. It was a really pretty port town and it was really cool to see where the Mayflower set sail in 1620. The site was actually pretty non-descript, sitting near the entrance of the harbor. The clan is all standing at the arch that is at the site where it set sail. There are flags for both England and the United States at the site. The original stairs are gone but there is supposedly a pub in town with one of the original steps. The hill behind the arch holds a very impressive citadel. It is still an active military installation so we can't tour but it is impressive on the mount.

There is a lighthouse on the far side of the citadel that offers marvelous views of the surrounding area. It was built in 1759 and was 14 miles offshore. It was dismantled and brought to the Hoe and was reassembled in 1877. If you look down towards the water, you will see the pool that sits along the coast that was built in 1935. Quite a view.

Plymouth was hit pretty hard during WWII and much of the city was destroyed. There is an iconic shell of a church that is left as it stood during the way, a gutted testament to the horrors of the war. The Barbican was an interesting area with windy paths and interesting stories. Sir Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, and Captain Cook all walked the streets before setting sail for lands far away. For our one night there, we ate dinner outside in a pub at the harbor, just around the corner from the site where the Mayflower set sail. Pretty cool to see this piece of history from the other side of the pond.