The city of Portsmouth, by Nerea

A little bit of tourism:

Today I am going to explain to you what the city of Portsmouth is like, what you can see there, and how the city is in general.

Firstly, Portsmouth is a port city in the south east of England. It is an island that is connected to Great Britain by several bridges. It is in the county of Hampshire, and is divided into many areas, including Southsea, Fratton and Hilsea. It is near to the cities of Southampton and Bournemouth and is not far from London (around one hour and forty minutes away). It is very close to a small city called Fareham, and is also bordered by Cosham. Across from Portsmouth, you can see the famous Isle of Wight from the seafront in Southsea. This island is lovely, has very pretty views of the sea, and it boasts cliffs and areas of forest which are worth seeing. The usual way to get to the Isle of Wight is by taking the Hovercraft.

What is a hovercraft?

A hovercraft is a kind of boat, that works by blasting air at the sea, which makes it hover and is propelled forward by a fan. To be honest it is a very comfortable way to get to the island and it only takes 20 minutes. It’s worth giving it a go if you ever go to Portsmouth.

You can take the hovercraft from the promenade next to the beach, which is not far from Portsmouth’s port. It’s easy to spot the hovercraft departing, as it makes a noise which is quite loud and you can see how it moves over the water, and get an idea of where it departs.

The different areas of Portsmouth

Portsmouth is a student city and has loads of young people that like to go out and have a good time. The most visited places by students and tourists are: Gunwharf Quays, which is a shopping area with views of the port and the sea, where you can find shops such as Nike, Adidas, and many more. You can see the famous “Lipstick” there (called this due to its shape), which has a bluish colour, and is quite interesting to see; The Spinnaker Tower, which is a viewpoint next to Gunwharf where you can see Gosport and lots of boats (you can’t leave Portsmouth without going up there, it has some really cool views); Old Portsmouth, which is the old part of the city, next to the port, and which has some very pretty houses). Very close to Gunwharf there are two boats on display which are cool. One of them is the famous HMS Warrior (which is my favourite), and the other is the HMS Victory. Both are beautiful.

All the places that I’ve spoken about so far are found in the south of the city, in the maritime area. If you go into the city centre there are loads of things to see as well, such as the Guildhall. You can see the statue of Charles Dickens there, who was born in Portsmouth (there is also a house museum where you can see items related to his life, but that is located in the north of Portsmouth). Also there is the University quarter. Park Building is the prettiest university building as it has an old façade and a dome with a weather vane which has a boat on top. It is quite an old building, but as you all know, the older the building, usually the prettier and more eye-catching it is.

The most central shopping area is Commercial Road, where you can find shops such as Primark and Poundland, a few book shops, gyms and several other shops. The street was very good to go for a walk in between classes or if you had a free period after eating or, in fact, any other time of the day. In Commercial Road there is also a very pretty fountain.

And… in the north of Portsmouth?

Well, to tell the truth, we didn’t visit it often because there wasn’t much to see apart from a park with a lake, and Charles Dickens’ house. Towards the north of the city there was also the famous Langstone campus where my friend Meriem and I stayed for a few days until we found a house. But in actual fact, it was really situated more in the east central area, which was not really the north of Portsmouth, but still took quite a while to get there. From our room, we had views of some sort of lake and a rugby pitch, but that area was a bit dead. There was a much better atmosphere in the centre and in the south of the city.

• If you need medical attention…

The northern part is more quiet, but if you need any medical attention you have to go there for the Queen Alexandra Hospital. The problem with it however is that it is quite far away, but luckily there are other health centres such as the St. Mary one which is near to the Portsmouth FC’s stadium of (the team is known as Pompey). This area is also a bit far from the centre but not as far as the Queen Alexandra Hospital (to which you have to get the bus unless you live nearby). Also, talking about medical centres, there was one which was in a good location right by the University quarter. This one was quite good, but the problem was that they often just sent you home none the wiser. I remember once when I went with tummy pain and they told me to drink lots of water and eat toast. This was the doctor’s solution which just left me feeling the same or sometimes even worse than I was originally.

Canoe Lake and Albert Road

If you are in Southsea, and you want to have something to drink, the best place to go is Albert Road, which is the most famous street in Portsmouth. It has a good atmosphere, is full of bars and pubs, and you can always find somewhere if you want to have a chat and a few beers with your mates. It is quite a long street and most places on the street are bars. It is very nice and has an atmosphere which changes depending on the day that you go. If you are in the centre it can seem a bit far but as I said, it is worth going there if you are looking to have a couple of beers with your friends. If you are looking to party, it is best to stay in the centre and go to Astoria, PopWorld, Yates, etc.

Canoe Lake is a lovely lake which is located very close to Albert Road, but even closer to the sea. This lake is very pretty and has swans and pedalos. When the weather is nice, people hire the pedalos and go on the lake with the swans. Canoe Lake is in the middle of a park which normally has many activities during the summer. With the nice weather, loads of kids come to play on the swings or on the slide which are next to it. If you like photography, you can take some very pretty photos of the lake with the beach in the background.

Portsmouth’s cemeteries

Next to my road, Percy Road, if you go straight ahead to the end of the street and turn left there was a cemetery, which was like the ones that you see in a film. It was very small but nice to see. It was a Jewish cemetery but it was almost impossible to read the names and the dates of the graves to know how long they had been there…

The cemetery which was really cool to see though, was the one at the end of Highland Road, the road which starts at the end of Albert Road. This cemetery was huge, and really did seem as though it had come from a film. It was very nice to see it during the day but at night it was a bit scary. So that you get an idea of what it was like, the graves didn’t follow any sort of order and it was a bit unorganised. With the graves buried in the ground, you could only see the actual headstone of some of the oldest ones. There were also some newer ones which were larger and you could tell that they were from the richer families by the shape and the size of the tomb. Although it seems a bit grim, it is all worth seeing, it was very interesting for us given that Spanish cemeteries are different to these.

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