Penzance (3mi/5km west of St Michael's Mount; pop. 18,500), the largest of the towns on the Cornish Riviera, is a lively resort and shopping center which attracts visitors in the winter months as well as in the summer. At one time it was an important market town and seaport.
Sacked by the Spaniards in 1595, it degenerated into little more than
a haven for smugglers where, in the 18th century, the freebooters were even able to appoint the mayor - a period memorably recalled in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera "The Pirates of Penzance".
Subtropical plants are everywhere in evidence, particularly in Morrab Gardens and Penlee Park but also along the attractive promenade. The main street, Market Jew Street, climbs from the railroad station to Market House (1836-38), next to which stands a statue of Humphrey Davy, inventor of the miner's safety lamp. Chapel Street has several interesting buildings, among them the Egyptian House (ca. 1835; a strange piece of architectural exotica), the Union Hotel from where the first public announcement of Nelson's victory at Trafalgar was made, and the "Admiral Benbow", an old smugglers' tavern.
From Penzance there are ferry and helicopter services to the Scilly Isles.
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