Camden Town – the quirky bit in London

With world sinking into the spiral of Covid-19, I have been awfully withdrawn to write anything. Here or anything in the social media.
Then today I chanced upon how my otherwise favorite places in London, has slowly sunk into loneliness.
The first image I saw, was about Camden Town, probably the most weird yet wonderful place in London. All quiet and desolate with not a soul to see.

Exactly one year back, I was in London and on the last day, took out sometime to visit this place. So lazying around for 365 days, finally the day has come when I remember the golden sun and beaming colors and the fun I had here in Camden Town.

If I have to choose one word to describe this neighborhood in London, I will choose the word “Q U I R K Y“.
Why? Because it’s like colors and life have found it’s own place in the otherwise prim and proper English town.
Now without much ado, let me introduce what Camden Town looks like.

Yes. Intrigued? So Camden Town, since early eighteenth century, had been place of unused rail-goods dumped and a place for drunk to find solace, so bit sullen and grumpy atmosphere. Till around 1970s when it got refurbished into a modern neighborhood but retaining the grungy bit from the old days.

How to reach?

We took the Underground of Northern Line and got down at Camden Station. Then took the Camden High Street till we reached the Camden Lock. Follow this Google Map pin: https://goo.gl/maps/c7hrfx534SXi7Zwm8

What’s there to look for?

Today Camden Town houses flea-markets to shops selling anything and everything you can think off with a extremely outlandish decor for each shop. This weird facia for the entire line of shops, all along the Camden High Street, gives the entire neighborhood a strikingly appealing atmosphere.

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From markets to food joints to an old horse-stable-turned-into-underground market place, it’s almost like the world of Alice in Wonderland!
Let the images speak about the atmosphere.

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Like the shoe shops having a giant boot stuck on the face of the building or the smart ones slapped against the building, you are bound to get amazed.

Or this giant dragon welcoming you for an “All you can eat for $$$” advertisement, ad world and marketing gurus should surely make a visit here to know “how to catch the eye”!
And it doesn’t stop here. When you are just about to reach the canal, you find this glass building called All Saints which actually is a clothing store but its glass walls stack up sewing machines from different times!

When you have crossed all of the above, then you reach the canal and Camden Market. This place is always bustling with life and food and interestingly houses an underground old horse stable-turned-into-market. This place has a charm of it’s own with its winding alleys going down and then in an almost maze like pathways, take you through some artworks to poster shops to old vinyl records to other mundane stuffs like clothes and shawls and what not.

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Couple of hours just went past in a ziffy while we were still roaming around in the Camden Town.

What Next? It’s a hill in the City.

If you are in Camden Town, you cannot miss out visiting PrimRose hill which is more of a hillock extending into a park and from where, you can get awesome views of London city. In case it’s not raining, do make a point to visit this place. Couple of subway stops from Camden Town and a healthy walk for around a kilometer, you will find many Londoners lazying around after their day at work.

So it was an wonderful afternoon. Locals enjoying the sun, people going out with smiles on their face, Camden Town in it’s quirky glory and that’s what we know as the word “Life”.
I sincerely hope and pray that we come out better and stronger, rising above the menace of a virus and the bigger viruses that remains in our souls – hatred, racism, communalism and evils that divides us.
I trust that day is not far.

Your Honuman traveler will then, be back on the road for cherishing “Life”.