Greenwich

Welcome to Greenwich, a place that quite literally measures the world. Stand on the line of the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory and you have one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one in the western. Since 1884, this line has been the official zero of longitude for the planet, and Greenwich Mean Time has been the reference for clocks worldwide. The observatory itself was founded by King Charles the Second in 1675 to help solve the great navigation problem of the age: how to know your longitude at sea. The story of how a Yorkshire carpenter, John Harrison, eventually solved it with his beautifully precise clocks is told in the museum, and his original timepieces still tick today. Down the hill, you will find the Cutty Sark, a magnificent tea clipper of 1869, now preserved in dry dock. Beside her stretches the Old Royal Naval College, designed by Christopher Wren, with its breathtaking Painted Hall — sometimes called Britain's Sistine Chapel. Greenwich Park climbs the hill behind, offering one of the finest views in London, with the towers of Canary Wharf and the City framed across the river. A fun fact: every day at one o'clock, a red ball drops from the top of the observatory — a Victorian signal once used by ships to set their clocks. A practical tip: arrive by Thames Clipper riverboat from central London — it is the most atmospheric way to come.