Brighton was initially founded in the early 1800's when King George IV decided this spot on the beach would be his personal party place and get-away. He built grand piers, palaces, hotels and great buildings--all in his own honor. And his cronies who wanted to participate in his festivities, built beautiful houses and hotels to enable them to be near his side.

Since then, the city has never forgotten that era. It has preserved those buildings and has further developed the city into a truly lovely and unique tourist town. The two universities and a multitude of theaters seem to set much of the pace. But the town also caters to those of a liberal lifestyle, artists, beach folk, and tourists as well. The people here love their town and its setting at the edge of a cold gray sea, beautiful cloudy skies and the ever-present threat of wind and rain.

We saw much of the area today. We walked west along the coastline to Hove, a neighboring town, and then east to the Brighton Marina. On the way, we passed a local bakery with windows filled with fresh-baked tarts and pies. I simply could not resist sampling a local specialty. It was a difficult decision--Scotch eggs or pork pie. I chose the pie. Stan chose a lemon bar. Make no mistake! Pork pies are delicious! I have added them to my list of dishes to try to make at home when the trip is complete. Pork pies at Christmas Dinner, maybe?

The marina is the largest in Europe with over 1500 berths--all occupied with sailboats and yachts. The city has capitalized on the scenic place and created a big and nice shopping, dining, living and entertainment complex to compliment the busy marina. From the marina we boarded a bus and took the longer route through town to the Brighton Open Market. This allowed us to see the more common side of Brighton, off the beach. We still liked it. As it turned out, the Open Market was not so much so we took advantage of the pleasant weather and buildings blocking the wind and walked through the city to our apartment. Good thing we did. Our route took us straight to the Royal Pavilion, one of the more opulent buildings King George commissioned to be built here when he was only the Regent of the area. It is a little Taj Mahal with gardens to match. Afterwards, we ended up at another lovely outdoor restaurant for an early dinner of poached salmon for me and monk fish for Stan. Just take a look at the picture of the Scottish mussels we had for first course, though. A street musician nearby was playing guitar and singing just the kind of music I like best. How perfectly perfect.