In Robin Hood land, enjoying some fresh Dosas

- Dosas? Would you like to try Indian Dosas? All fresh? I look around me, and my confusion is obvious. They look at each other and then back at me, and ask me again with an even bigger smile - Have you ever tried Dosas? They are very tasty.

Have I ever tried Indian Dosas? Well. Yes. Have I ever tried fresh Dosas at the Castle of Nottingham? Well. No. That is the first.

Yes, dear reader, I am in the UK, and we had decided to explore the historic soil of The Castle of Nottingham. Remember them right? Robin Hood, the Sheriff of Nottingham and the fair Maid Marian?

And then I hear music. Indian music. I see stalls with colorful shawls for sale. I smell familiar scents, and then the dosas. I have to smile. How funny is this? All around us there are people dressed in saris, and on the stage they are preparing for a dance show. Indian dances.

I start to speak with an elderly man who looks at me, and smiles with disbelief: - Really? Where do you live, you say? Bombay? Really? Bombay?

But in the end we leave the lovely Indian party and the dosas behind, and head off to what is supposedly the oldest inn in England: Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem (1189). This is said to be one of the places where the crusaders stopped on their way to the Holy Land, and the legend has it that even the king Richard the Lionheart visited.

The way the pub is made, carved in to the rock under Nottingham castle makes it a very atmospheric place. You can sit almost in the cave, or choose, as we did, a table outside in the sunshine (on a sunny day:-) )

We also liked our visit at Annies Burger Shack - established by American Annie who has combined the best of her two countries: US burgers and UK Real Ales. Book a table, because this place is busy.

Continuing our stroll in Notts, we suddenly start to giggle: What is that? A rickshaw? But not on the street. On the wall. Yes, on the wall. Hanging on the wall outside the Indian restaurant 4550 miles from Delhi. and further down we see the Memsaab, the Calcutta club and then Bombay Delights...

So here we are in Robin Hood land enjoying multicultural moments, global surroundings and seeing the old Sherwood forest tales come alive. And who could have guessed that some fresh dosas would be our first taste of enjoyable Nottingham?  

And, dear reader, as we say here in Notts: Terrah then!