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With a history that stretches back over 2,000 years the City of London has had plenty of time to amass a huge selection of secret and hidden places, and you really are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing which on to visit first or, for that matter, which order to visit them in!
You can hardly turn a corner without finding yourself confronted by some little legacy of the past that just catches your attention and makes you want to learn more its history, or about the people who put it there.
From the wonders of St Paul's Cathedral, to the tucked away splendor of St Bartholomew the Great, London's oldest parish church (1123) you will find your curiosity well and truly aroused as you make your way around the streets, courts, lanes and alleyways of the ancient and historic City.
Historically the Aldgate Pump marks the symbolic start of the East End of London.
There was certainly a water source in the vicinity by the 13th century, although the current pump is late 18th century.
Located on a wall in an alleyway in Cloth Fair, you will find the Sailor's Home Coming Window, which was painted by the artist Brian Thomas for the architect Paul Paget.
43 Cloth Fair, on the wall of which this curious relic is located, was, for almost twenty years, the home of the poet Sir John Betjeman.
You can't help but admire the Panyer Boy of Panyer Alley who, since 1688, has been sitting on his upturned bread basket trying to pull a thorn from out of his foot!
There is an inscription beneath him that tells all passersby that no matter where they have been this is highest point in the City. But is it?
At the junction of Wood Street and Cheapside, there towers a mighty plane tree that is probably the most famous tree in London.
It was, reputedly, the subject of a poem by William Wordsworth, and it has long enjoyed the status of being officially protected.
Above the Henry VIII Gate at St Bartholomew's Hospital in West Smithfield is the only statue to King Henry VIII in a public place in London.
The gate and statue both date from 1702. The gate still provides the main entrance to the only hospital in Britain to still stand on its original site.
Inside the little church of St Bartholomew the Less is the Robert Balthrope memorial, which demonstrates the dexterity of the of epitaph writer's art when it comes to getting lines to rhyme!
Balthrope was the Sergeant Surgeon to Elizabeth 1st. What was a Sergeant Surgeon? Read on and all will be revealed.
On a wall in the tiny museum at St Bartholomew's Hospital you will find a plaque that commemorates the meeting between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson.
It is a location that is a must-do for any fans of the most famous partnership in detective literature.
At the end of the BBC series Sherlock Benedict Cumberbatch leapt from the rood of Bart's Hospital.
The phone box, close to where he landed, has now become a place of pilgrimage for distraught Sherlock fans from all over the world.
On a wall in Postman's park you will find a series of plaques that remember long ago sacrifices by men, women and children.
These "Everyday Humble Heroes" all gave their lives endeavouring to save the lives of others.
In the centre of Cornhill there stands a very impressive statue of a man in a wide-rimmed hat.
He is, or was, James henry Greathead and his ingenuity made the London underground possible.
A little way along Cornhill, by the south-east corner of the Royal Exchange, you will find an old water pump.
It dates back to the year 1299, and was paid for by several local institutions, including the Bank of England.
On the door of number 32 Cornhill, you will find a series of eight carved panels. Carved by Walter Gilbert, in 1939, they are easy to walk past without noticing they are even there.
However, to miss them would be a great pity, since each panel depicts a scene from the eventful history of Cornhill.
At first glance, Newman's Court doesn't seem like the kind of place in which you might wish to linger for any amount of time.
But appearances can be deceiving. For, this may have been the court that Charles Dickens had in mind for the location of Scrooge's Counting House in A Christmas Carol.
Join us for a festive feast as we visit the locations that Dickens used in his most read and best loved work A Christmas Carol.
We'll visit the site of Scrooge's counting house; join the Cratchits at their meagre Christmas lunch; and discover sundry locations featured in the second most famous Christmas story ever told!
On the rooftop of number 54 - 55 Cornhill there perch a trio of devils that look menacingly down on passersby below.
They date from the 1890's and, according to tradition, they are the result of a feud between the architect, who designed the building, and the then vicar of the neighbouring church of St. Peter-upon-Cornhill.
If you pay a visit to the delightful church of St Michael's, Cornhill, you will encounter a wooden pew that boasts an intriguing carving.
On it, St Michael stands over a cowering devil and drives a spear into the devil's mouth. This, reputedly, remembers an event from the church's distant past when the devil came by unannounced.
On the corner of Philpot Lane and Eastcheap you can see a building that was built in the 1860's for a spice merchant.
There is an extremely curious feature on the Philpot Lane side of the building in the form of two mice that appear to be fighting over a large piece of cheese. Why are they here? Read on.
On the tower of the church of St Magnus the Martyr, close to London Bridge, you will find one of the most striking clocks in London.
It was a gift from Sir Charles Duncombe, Lord Mayor of London in 1709, and there are several versions of the story as to why he chose to gift the clock to the church.
For centuries the churchyard of St Magnus the Martyr provided pedestrian access onto old London bridge.
Inside the church today, visitors can admire an exquisite model of the old bridge that was created in 1987.
The details on this replica of the bridge is truly impressive, and it enables you to, quite literally, look back in time.
The gateway that admits visitors to the churchyard of St Olave's, Hart Street, is surmounted by three skulls, above which barbed spikes poke out from a stone arch.
The skulls were placed here in 1658; in the 19th century they inspired Charles Dickens to dub the church "St Ghastly Grim" in an essay in his Uncommercial Traveller.
Directly outside the main entrance to Tower Hill Underground Station, you can admire one of the most impressive sections of the old Roman wall.
Begun in the year AD200, this fragment of the old City wall towers to an impressive 35 feet.
In Fleet Street's most historic hostelry, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, you can make the acquaintance of a bygone celebrity with a wicked vocabulary.
Polly, the famed parrot, was once so renowned for his colourful language that people visiting London would make a point of dropping by to meet him and hear about his latest exploits.
If you pay a visit to the Inner Temple Garden, be sure to take a close look at the statue of a young boy that stands beside the fountain.
The boy hold a book in his hand, on the open page of which is scrawled a quote from Charles Lamb that has been delighting people since 1928.
In the City of London you will find two thoroughfares, that nestle side by side, and which have enjoyed their names for more than two hundred years.
But then, in January 2017, Donald Trump became US President, and Trump Street and Russia Row were cast into the spotlight!