Slovenia Travel Blog

Posts Tagged ‘london’

There is a wonderful place called Piccadilly Circus in London, is the meeting place of many of the most famous streets in London. In this beautiful Regent Street (great shopping), the famous Piccadilly (Fortnum and Mason, the Ritz, the Royal Academy of Arts), and cross cultural Shaftesbury Avenue (theaters, Chinatown). In the midst of all this is the famous statue of Eros 1893, the winged messenger of love, which commemorates Lord Shaftesbury.

The circus was originally created as part of a plan to connect Carlton House, the Prince Regent, who became King George IV in 1820, Regent’s Park. When Shaftesbury Avenue was created in 1885, the area became busy with traffic and advertisers saw the potential of advertising posters first lit in 1895 in London were put in Piccadilly Circus.

During the following century was the London version of Times Square, but now takes just a building fences.

The lighting of the facades that make the square is known as the “place of light”, began to settle in 1910, when they appeared in the corners the first electric signs, since 1923 the number of ads increased significantly, especially in the facade of the London Pavilion.

Today to travel to London can see all sorts of ads: video screens, digital projectors … Although the economic cost of the signage has not already as many as a few years ago.

A curious fact that the name Piccadilly comes from the first road that was there in 1626 and received the name of a house belonging to Robert Baker and named Pickadilly Hall. Robert Baker was a sailor known for selling or Piccadillies piccadills, which was a type of collar.

The word “Circus” comes to describing what is a circular open space at a junction of roads … This was the aspect that initially had the area, although this circular is lost in 1886 with the construction of Shaftesbury Avenue.

With nearly 8millones inhabitants and a metropolitan area, the largest of the EU, with about 14 million, London has five airports in its vicinity, all perfectly connected with the city: Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, City and Heathrow.

Gatwick Airport (LGW).

It is the second largest airport after Heathrow area and is located south of London, about 45 km from the capital, about 40 miles north of Brighton. Here come the low cost carriers Easyjet and Ryanair called (also at Stansted) with flights from Spain. To reach the center, we must take the Gatwick Express train connects the South Terminal (from the North Terminal take a bus connection to Gatwick train station) with the central London Victoria station. Journey time: 30 minutes.

Stansted Airport (STN).

It is further from the airport all at a distance of 61 km northeast of London, and about 50 miles south of Cambridge. This airport (Ryanair is headquartered here) reach most low cost companies from Spain and other European countries. To reach the center, we must take the Stansted Express train connects the airport to London Liverpool Street station (we can come to Tottenham Hale station and take the subway). Journey time: 45 minutes and trains every 15.

Luton Airport (LTN).

Airport located about 51 km northwest of London, where the company is headquartered Easyjet. From the airport take a bus (every 10 minutes between 05:00 h and midnight) connection to Luton Airport Parkway station, located 2.5 kilometers (5 minutes). From the railway station Luton Parkway will have to catch a train to St Pancras International station (21 minutes approx.).

London City Airport (LCY).

It is the smallest and close to all London airports (to 9.5 km east of central London and only 4.8 miles from Canary Wharf). The airport is accessible by taxi, bus, underground and DLR (Docklands Light Rail), and is used by small planes for quick access to the city’s financial district.

Heathrow Airport (LHR).

It is the busiest airspace in the UK and across Europe. It is located 32 km west of central London, and has 5 terminals. We could say that is formed by three airports, terminals T1-2-3, T4 and T5.

Since we can take the call T5 Heathrow Express links the airport with London Paddington station (Piccadilly subway line also or blue line).
From T1-2-3, we can take the Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect (the latter makes more stops) to London Paddington station above. Alternatively we are able to take the underground (Piccadilly Line, or blue) or National Express coach to Victoria Coach Station (Victoria coach station).
From T4, only we are able to take the underground Piccadilly line or bus to go to another terminal to catch the Heathrow Express / Connect.