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South Bank
That old, snide North London dig about needing a passport to cross the Thames has not been heard for the past five years. For decades, natives rarely ventured beyond the watery curtain that divides the city in half; tourists, too, rarely troubled the area unless they were departing from Waterloo Station. But lately, a host of new attractions are drawing even the most ardent Northerners across the great divide. The reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre—the most famous theater in the world—steals the show, but the Tate Modern is also a huge draw, a monolithic ex-power station turned museum. And dominating the skyline is the London Eye ferris wheel. In more ways that one, South Londoners are beginning to look down on their northern cousins.
Culture, history, sights: The South Bank has emerged as one of the capital's most creative hubs. Stretching from the Imperial War Museum in the southwest as far as the Design Museum in the east, high-caliber art, music, film, and theater venues at the Globe Theatre and Tate Modern are up alongside the likes of an aquarium, historic warships, and a foodie-favorite market. The Southbank Centre is home to the recently renovated Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward Gallery, the BFI Southbank, and the National Theatre. East near Butlers Wharf, the ultrachic Design Museum occupies what was once a dingy Dickensian shadowland.
Actually, it is fitting that so much of London's artistic life should once again be centered here on the South Bank—back in the days of Ye Olde London Towne, Southwark was the city's oldest borough and noted for being London's outlaw neighborhood. Just across London Bridge, it was conveniently outside the city walls and was therefore the ideal location for the theaters, taverns, and cock-fighting arenas—not to mention brothels—that served as after-hours entertainment in the Middle Ages. Today, however, the Thames Path is alive with legal activity, especially in summer, with skateboarders, secondhand-book stalls, and street entertainers. Several footbridges cross the Thames, including the curvaceous Millennium Bridge, connecting the Tate Modern to St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Golden Jubilee Bridges, with the best view of the Houses of Parliament on the embankment between Westminster and Lambeth bridges. In the shadow of the Oxo Tower sits Gabriel's Wharf, a small marketplace of shops and restaurants. Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hinde, nestles in Pickfords Wharf and the massive domed City Hall lies next to Tower Bridge. Just a short walk east, Bermondsey (or "Beormund's Eye" as it was known in Saxon times), with its artist studios and pretty streets, is being bought up by fashion-conscious homemakers in search of the new Hoxton. A millennium project that's a favorite with both Londoners and out-of-towners alike, the London Eye is next to the London Aquarium. The grisly delights of the London Dungeon is a favorite for kids. After all this sightseeing, grab a bite at the legendary Borough Market (the rowdier neighbor of Southwark Cathedral). "London's Larder" has become an essential foodie destination, where celebrity chefs go in search of farm-fresh produce.
