There are certain places that people either love or hate and Brighton is
certainly one of them. The genius loci is unique, unlike any other city I’ve
ever stayed in. I spent three weeks in “London-by-the-sea” — as Brighton is
often nicknamed — in spring 2012 and after just a few days I fell in love with
the city.
At first glance Brighton seems like any other mid-sized city in
South East England, but unlike many of them it’s not a place for tourists. It’s
not a city where you can go and do your daily dose of sightseeing. Sure, there
is the flamboyant building of The Royal Pavillion, Brighton Pier with amusement
arcades and roller coasters that everyone loves, and those cute little vintage
shops with excessive prices in The Lanes, but the true appeal of the city lies
in simple everyday things. Like the amount of great coffee shops I’ve
discovered just by wandering through The Lanes (The Marwood Coffee Shop on Ship
Street being my absolute favourite) or Brighton Great Escape, a music festival
I saw by complete coincidence – and it was an awesome experience. Both famous
artists and newbies get to play in the 3 days of the festival and during this
time the whole city seems to live in the parks and clubs. The same goes for the
Brighton Art Festival. In Brighton lots of great graffiti and street art pieces
can be actually seen all year long, including the famous Banksy on the side of
Prince Albert Pub on Trafalgar Street.
If you’re a tattoo enthusiast, Brighton is also a brilliant place to get
a new one; people don’t hesitate to travel from all over England to visit its
tattoo shops. However, the best part of staying in Brighton is the general
attitude – when the weather is nice (at least in the British sense of the word)
Brightonians tend to spend a lot of time on the beach or in parks having
picnics, playing musical instruments or just meeting with friends. Just be
careful when eating your lunch outside, the Brightonian Seagull seems to be a
completely unique and deadly species (yes, I learned this the hard way).
Brighton is also known as being very friendly and open – it’s probably
not a coincidence that it’s one of the places with a high number of (not only)
Czech expats in England. After three weeks there I didn’t even want to go home
as I got used to distinctive character of Brighton and since then every time I
visit London I always make time for at least a one day trip to Brighton as it
takes only about one hour by train and that’s totally worth it. And if you
still need an extra reason to go, Nick Cave lives there.
- Johana Lajdová
