Cornwall's Dramatic Minack Theatre

Filming our Cornwall episode in southwest England, we enjoyed a play at the amazing Minack Theatre. Here’s how our script describes it:

The big draw here is the Minack Theatre, carved out of rock high above the surf. This open-air theater — with 700 seats — is gorgeously landscaped and set in a rocky cliff with a terrace stage perched hundreds of feet over the sea. A visit by day lets you marvel at the garden-like setting and the story of Rowena Cade, the visionary theater lover who created it.

If the weather’s fine and you're here at lunch or dinnertime, get a Cornish pasty and a bottle of elderflower pressé (a local herbal drink) and grab a grassy seat at the high end of the theater for a memorable picnic. Watch the gannet birds dive for a fresh fish lunch. They hit the water at 70 miles per hour. (Sadly, many of their children follow their parent’s lead and dive for a fish before they understand how to do it safely...and later wash up on the shore with broken necks.)

This is Day 77 of my 100 Days in Europe series. As I research my guidebooks and make new TV shows, I’m reporting on my experiences and lessons learned in Vienna, the Alps, the Low Countries, England, and beyond. Find more on my travel blog at http://blog.ricksteves.com.