Merry Margate

I stepped off the train and tried to remember why I'd come. I had been warned. "It's not very nice", they said. "Not much to do", they told me. I was in Margate.



Margate Perfect Figure, Margate Lido, September 1947

Margate Pier, c1900



Margate Lido



Dreamland Amusements today

Skinheads in Margate, 1970s

 

Once the place to be, since the onslaught of holidays abroad, this town has been forgotten. After about half an hour, I began to feel it. The history. This was the birthplace of the British Seaside Holiday. From Victorian times to the 1960s, it was cool. Cheap, colourful and cheerful.

Its weird to see a town alive with people and dead in so many areas. Beautiful Georgian houses surround it. It has the oldest rollercoaster in the UK. Of course, it now lies in ruins. We stay in the beautiful Reading Rooms.

For me, the most touching part was Martgate Lido. Once one of the few seaside pools, it is of course, in ruins now. But it's Art Deco charm remains, for me at least. Once it hosted Beauty Pagents. I just loved it.

Margate is on the up. We see a lot of this. I hope it's true. Tracey Emin is from Margate. This explains a lot. I left after two days being completly touched by this town. There is so much to it, with its long history. Such a sad place. I hope in 10 years, this post will be outdated and it will indeed return to its former glory.

Ez x

Orient Express

Trying to plan a holiday that's just a little bit different and now have my heart set on the Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express. This train consists of 10 first-class sleeping carriages, containing private compartments with one lower or twin upper and lower beds, and a built-in washbasin with hot and cold running water. During the day, compartments are converted into comfortable salons and there are two dining carriages, shower carriage, Pullman and bar which are beautifully decorated with inlaid glass paneling. These original carriages (sleeping ones, shower, Pullman and bar) and were built in England, Belgium, France and Italy in 20s-30s and were the part of the legendary “Orient Express”. The names of Marlene Dietrich and Jean Marais, the Queen Elisabeth II of United Kingdom and H.R.H. princess Grace of Monaco, French president Charles de Gaulle and the leader of former Soviet government Nikita Khroutchev, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, better known as Mata-Hari are in the list of passengers of the "Orient Express". On board this wonderful train I can explore and discover Northern Russia; Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Kandalaksha, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk, Novgorod, St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl.

Blau x

Image via We Heart It