Exploring Greenwich with @visitlondonofficial

This Friday I had a great time exploring Greenwich with visitlondon.com. Our tour started with visiting the dome of Old Royal Naval college, one of my favourite buildings in Greenwich. The dome is not generally open to the public so we were very lucky to be able to go there. The college itself is well worth a visit as you can enjoy the Painted hall (not pictured here).

In the distance you can see Queen's house that has one of the most beautiful spiral staircases in London.

And talking about staircases - this one leads to the dome of Old Royal naval college.

We then continued inside the Cutty Sark, the worlds sole surviving tea clipper, and fastest ship of her time.

I have to confess that it was the first time I took a river bus and I was surprised how fast they are! The view was great too!

We finished at the Intercontinental hotel near O2 and had a chance to see how Emirates cable cars are operated.

Salt & Chocolate discoveries in Anglesey

This week I spent a day on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales learning about the process of making new Green & Black's thin dark sea salt chocolate bars.

We woke up early in the morning to go for a quick walk around the town of Beaumaris where we were staying. 

Beaumaris Castle

We've started our tour of Halen Mon, the Anglesey sea salt company looking at the pipe that brings the water from the sea. That water comes already naturally filtered by a mussel bed and a sandbank.

The salt water is then gently heated in a vacuum so it boils at low temperature.

Crystallisation tanks

When the crystals are formed, they are rinsed and harvested by hand.

After seeing the whole process of salt production, we moved to a chocolate workshop with Brandt Maybury, Green & Black's taste specialist.

Later in the afternoon we returned back to Beaumaris to visit a colurful Green & Black's van that is curently travelling around the country.

We finished with a chocolate and wine pairing session that really helped to enjoy the different flavours of the chocolate. Hope I will have a chance to go back to Anglesey to explore more!

A short trip to Bath

For me Bath is one of the most beautiful cities in England. The name of the city comes from Roman-build baths which were constructed in the first century. Locally sourced golden-coloured Bash Stone is used in most of the buildings. The color of the stone contrasts with green hills and trees making city look light, charming and peaceful.

I am being asked on Instagram where I took Bath panoramic pictures. I have taken them from the top of the Bath Abbey. The Abbey is free to walk inside but if you want to go up, you have to pay for the tower tour which can only be taken with the guide. The view is truly amazing but if you are afraid of heights or narrow spaces - don't go. There are 212 steps to the top of the Tower arranged in two narrow spiral staircases. On Saturdays tours start every half an hour but on Sunday the Tower is closed.

View over Roman baths from Bath Abbey.

During Tower tours you will also learn about the history of the Abbey and have a chance to see its bells and the clock from inside (pictured above).

Pulteney bridge over river Avon (below) is one of the four bridges in the world to have shops across its full span on both sides.