Fodor's Expert Review Mermaid Street

One of the town's original cobbled streets, and perhaps its most quintessential view, heads steeply from the top of the hill to the former harbor. Its name supposedly came from the night a drunken sailor swore he heard a mermaid call him down to the sea (back when Rye was still a seaside town). The houses here date from between the medieval and Georgian periods; a much-photographed pair have the delightfully fanciful names "The House with Two Front Doors" and "The House Opposite." Be careful on your feet—the cobbles are very uneven.