All of Lorraine's research on Portobello Road suggested an early start was wise. So with a restless night of trying to adjust body clocks to a new time zone we were awake early. The hotel doesn't do breakfast but they do have pastries at reception so armed with tea and pastries for breakfast we headed out just after 7:30am. The goal was to find the Notting Hill Blue door, the colourful row of houses and a few other quirky areas recommended by bloggers. Well somehow we ended up geographically misplaced and at the start of Portobello Road just in time to watch the stall holders setting up, and there are a lot of them.
Heading down PB Road even at 8am it had a busy feel about it. It is one long road with stalls either side. Roads were closed and this narrow street became a huge hub for bargain hunters and antique collectors. We have never seen so many antique dealers in one place and the antique market is only on on a Saturday. As we were leaving around 10.30 am, hundreds of people were arriving (the blogs were right from 11.00 am its mayhem). No exaggeration, the crowds were unbelievable. At one stage we got caught in the throng and it was literally a push to move through.
Having narrowly escaped the masses, we wandered around the neighbourhood and what a classy neighbourhood it is. Tree lined streets, floral window boxes and rows upon rows of well kept terrace houses. Just stunning!!
Sore feet required an obligatory visit to our local and then we headed off to Kensington Gardens and of course the royal palace.
TOGuy
2019-09-07 - Portobello Road
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