Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
you can expect the likes of 30-hour belly of pork with chervil root, prune, and licorice,
or Hampshire lamb with black pudding and bubble and squeak.
27a South Parade, Southsea.
&
023/9287-6272.
www.restaurant27.com. Reservations recom-
mended. Fixed-price dinner (3 courses) £40; fixed-price lunch (Sun) £27. AE, MC, V. Wed-Sat 7-9pm,
Sun noon-2:30pm.
Where to Stay
IN SOUTHSEA
The Clarence
This large Edwardian villa has been given a chic makeover,
making it the ideal choice in town for a romantic weekend. Rooms are decorated in
7
A FLYING
visit
TO SOUTHAMPTON
The south coast's main city and passen-
ger terminus isn't really a place to linger.
Its supremacy as a port dates from Saxon
times, when the Danish conqueror Cnut
was proclaimed king here in 1017. South-
ampton was especially important to the
Normans and helped them keep in touch
with their homeland. During World War
II, some 31 million men set out from here
(in World War I, more than twice that
number), and Southampton was repeat-
edly bombed, destroying much of its old
character. On the Western Esplanade is a
memorial tower to the Pilgrims, who set
out on their voyage to the New World
from Southampton on August 15, 1620.
The city's main cultural draw is the
Maritime Museum,
Wool House, Town
Quay (
&
023/8022-3941
), housed in an
impressive 14th-century stone warehouse.
Its exhibits, which trace the history of
Southampton, include a model of the
docks as they looked at their peak in the
1930s. Also displayed are artifacts from
some of the great ocean liners whose
home port was Southampton, including
the
Titanic,
which was partially built in
Southampton and sailed from here on its
fateful, fatal voyage. Admission to the
museum costs £2.50 for adults, £1.50 stu-
dents; free for children 6 and under. Hours
are Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm, Satur-
day and Sunday 11am to 4pm.
The modest but still interesting
South-
ampton City Art Gallery,
Civic Centre,
Commercial Road (
&
023/8083-3007
),
houses an eclectic collection that includes
everything from altarpieces to abstracts,
and spans almost 700 years of painting.
Among mostly minor works, the highlight
is Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones's
series of 10 gouache studies for the
Per-
seus Story
(1878). Admission is free, and
opening hours are the same as those of
the Maritime Museum.
If you have an early ferry to catch,
the best place both to eat and to over-
night is the
White Star
, 28 Oxford St.
(www.whitestartavern.co.uk;
&
023/
8082-1990
). Stripped wood floors and
bookish decor in the bar-style dining
room complement a gently fashionable
atmosphere and clientele. Full meals on
the changing menu might include such
classics-with-a-twist as haunch of local
venison with celeriac vanilla mash, and
red cabbage, and there's a selection of
creative lunchtime “small plates” such as
devilled squid with red-pepper ketchup.
Main courses range from £14 to £18 at
dinner. Upstairs, midsize rooms are dec-
orated in muted, modern tones with
walk-in showers and Egyptian cotton
fabrics. As you climb the price grades,
rooms get bigger and add roll-top
baths. Doubles cost £99 to £149.
The city's
Tourist Information Centre,
9 Civic Centre Rd. (
&
023/8083-3333;
www.visit-southampton.co.uk), is open
Monday to Saturday 9:30am to 5pm, Sun-
day and bank holidays 10am to 3:30pm.
