Okay I haven’t gone crazy. I know Storybrooke is a fictional place (if you don’t know Storybrooke is the little town in Maine, USA where Once Upon a Time – subtly recommended tv series – takes place). I know it is in Maine. BUT I have found its twin city here in the UK and I couldn’t be more excited to tell you about my short trip.
Portsmouth aka the UK Storybrooke
Portsmouth is a fisherman town, head of some Royal Navy base or college given the high percentage of historical boats and anything navy related. We saw anchors lying on the side of the street, amazing old boats (don’t tell me that big one don’t look like the Jolly Roger of Captain Hook!) but I am getting ahead of things.
How to get there?
Portsmouth is a good one hour by train from Brighton, only 15£ return included at any time during the day. I guess it would be shorter by car since the train stops almost everywhere but I am not complaining, I like trains. When it’s not the Italian train line with always 2 hours of delay I am pretty happy.
Portsmouth is in the Hampshire county, west of Brighton. It is also famous for being one of the main harbor from where you can go the the Isle of Wight and its June Music Festival.
What to see
Well the city is full of malls actually. So if you love shopping, you can spend a day there. I have enjoyed a little tour, but I have always been a shopaholic my entire life. Anyway get off the Portsmouth and Swansea stop if you want to see the town centre. After 6 pm, the centre turns into a ghost town. Just so you know.
Head towards the harbour to have a look at awesome old ships and boat. I am not a old sea wolf but my heart is so I can relate to the fascinating atmosphere of the sea.
Simply wander around Portsmouth. I would never be tired of saying: GET LOST! Drop your Google Maps for a second and use your nose, your guts, your feelings. There is a huge new tower where you can go up to the top floors to have a panoramic view of the town (need to pay of course!) or enter the Marine area, (pics below) almost all free. There you also have so many clock towers, and that is why I thought of being in Storybrooke in the first place! Not to mention I was eating a red apple when we spot the clock tower behind the Jolly Roger. It is fate.
If you have time think about crossing the sea to the Isle of Wight!! It is around 15£ (total) for students and 18£ for adults and there are so many things to do! This is for my next time though.
Portsmouth is easily a one day trip and you can find very friendly and crazy people out there! (We were playing with time-lapse and moviola in the train station and one controller decided to join us in our little run!!) You can see it in the VLOG I will soon attach it to this blog post.
Enjoy the photographs. All taken with an iPhone 6S (not mine unfortunately!!).
Have you ever been?
Or does this little town intrigue you because you are OUAT fans just like me?!
