Liverpool is a city 3-hours away from Bristol going North. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and got the city status in 1880. With a population of more than 550,000, Liverpool is the fourth most populated city in Great Britain.
It takes slightly less than 3h to get to Liverpool by car, but the route is quite straight forward. Take the M5 north towards Birmingham and then M6 to Manchester. Take the exit to the M62 towards Liverpool and it will take you to the city centre.
By train, it takes 3h15min in average, and you must change the train in Birmingham. The price would be 50 pounds return with the Railcard. National Express will also bring you to Liverpool for 35 pounds but it will take you 5h to get there.
As a city, Liverpool really surprised me. I though it would be a more industrial city, like Manchester. Instead, Liverpool is a less caotic city with very beautiful historic buildings, a fantastic Waterfront and many (free) museums which you could visit if the weather is not good.
DAY 1
Saturday was very sunny and we took advantage of the weather to go take some great pictures of Liverpool with clear blue sky.
We started our tour with the ruins of St Luke's Church. It stands on the corner of Berry Street with Leece Street. The roofless church, designed by John Fosters (senior and junior) was built between 1811 and 1832. It was badly damaged during the Liverpool Blitz in 1941 and now it is a memorial to those who were lost in the war. There is a memorial to the Irish Famine in the churchyard and the building is used to host musical events, exhibitions and performances.
Following Berry street a little further, the chinese-style gate marks the start to the Chinatown, according to Wikipedia, the oldest Chinese community in Europe. The arch is also the largest, multispan arch of its kind outside of China.
Instead of taking our way to Chinatown, we continued down the street to head to the Anglican Cathedral. Do not make the same mistake we did: there is no entrance to the Cathedral from Upper Parliament Street. We decided to take that route and we were wrong. The entrance is in Canning Street, from Upper Parliament Street you will only get access to the lower garden called St James Gardens. Walking across the garden was very nice, though. And we eventually got to the main entrance to the Cathedral.
I have never seen anything like Liverpool Cathedral. I was expecting something huge but old, antique. Instead, we ran into a 20th century cathedral with ensuite coffeeshop and shop and neon lights. The cathedral doesn't even have the usual smell churches have!
5-min walk away from the Anglican Cathedral, you will find the other cathedral of Liverpool: Metropolitan Cathedral. This cathedral started being built in 1962, taking just 5 years to be complete. Its designer Frederick Gibberd was the winner of the worldwide design competition.
Going down Mt Pleasant, we got to St George area. The main train station is located there, in Lime Street, surrounded by many majestic buildings in Liverpool:
We found a connection between Liverpool and the Basque Country on the Waterloo Memorial column, also called Wellington's Column. It is a monument to the Duke of Wellington standing on the corner of William Brown Street and Lime Street. After the Duke's death, in common with other cities, Liverpool decided to erect a monument to celebrate his achievements. A competition was set up in 1856 to find a designer for the column and George Anderson Lawson won it. In the west panel, there is a list of battles and among them, there are four basque cities and towns: Baiona (written "Bayonne"), Vitoria (written "Vittoria"), Ortzaize (written "Orthez") and Donostia (written "San Sebastian"). Click on the names to know more about each battle.
After quite a lot of walking, we had a lunch break at The Slug and Lettuce, which was actually very cheap. I shared with a friend of mine "The Ultimate Platter" which contained chicken breast, breaded mushroom, pork ribs, potato wedges, garlic toast and onion ribs with 3 different sauces, and it was enough for both to have a good lunch. It was 13.25 pounds.
We headed to the Waterfront after lunch, where I discovered very cute Superlambananas. They are bright yellow sculptures in Liverpool, half Lamb, half banana. Except there are not yellow anymore. They have been decorated with very beautiful patterns and drawings, as the Gromits in Bristol.
The Waterfront in Liverpool holds many interesting things. There is a Titanic Memorial at the north side, as the city is strongly associated with the ill-fated liner. The RMS Titanic was owned by White Star Line which was founded in Liverpool, where the boat was registered.
The Museum of Liverpool, the newest addition opened in 2011. The museum tells the story of the city through items from collections of costume and decorative art, representing the social and urban story of Liverpool.
Tate Museum comprises the national collection of British art from year 1500 to the present.
Merseyside Maritime Museum was opened in 1980 and exhibits the city's seafaring heritage.
... and THE BEATLES MUSEUM! (More info in Day 2)
In winter, at 4pm it is already getting dark and as the Beatles Museum is opened until 6pm, we found it a very good option to go to the museum. Of course, 1h30min is not enough to see it properly. Luckily, the same ticket allows you entrace for 48h hours, you could also go back on Sunday to see what you didn't have time to see.
Dinner time! I have noticed there are many fried chicken place in Liverpool. We had dinner in Bazooka, which is a extremely cheap fast chicken place. If you just need to eat something fast and cheap, Bazooka is your place. Hamburgers, fried chicken, fries, kebabs, pizzas... It is located in 9-11 Ranelagh Place.
After dinner, we went back to the hostel we were staying in. We stayed in International Inn. It is a hostel located in the University area. It is very well located, and the hostel itself is OK. We had a private 7-bed room for ourselves, with a private bathroom. Towels are not included in the price, but bed linen are. Even though we had some initial problems with the heater, it worked perfectly all weekend. There were also individual lockers in the room. The hostel has a very nice and big kitchen for guests, fully equipped. However, the amount of plates and glasses is scarce. The breakfast was not included but there was coffee, tea, toast and jam available in the kitchen all time. We paid 20 pounds per person per night, a little too much for what it was, in my opinion.
We took a rest at the hostal and we end up going out quite late, and decided to go directly to the nightclub Bumper, located very close to the hostel we were staying in. I loved their advertising: "Free beer, topless waitresses and false advertising"! Isn't it great!? The place was half empty until 2.30-3am, but got busy after that. Very busy. Great atmosphere, fantastic music and good prices.
DAY 2
If I had the chance to go back in time, I would have spent Sunday morning at the Beatles Museum again. Whether you are a Beatles fan or not, it is worth it to spend time there. The cheapest option for an adult ticket (Fab 4 Experience) is worth 12.95 pounds (concessions 9.50) and, as mentioned before, it can be used for 48h. The ticket includes The Beatles Story exhibition, which we visited, Discovery Zone and Fab 4D experience, which we didn't.
The Beatles Story is an award-winning exhibition. The tour will show you how four young guys from Liverpool created a worldwide musical fever. Very beautiful exhibition which will take you hours if you want to hear every story in the audioguide narrated by John Lennon's sister, and read every poster in the exhibition as you go through it.
We then had lunch at Red Hot World Buffet in the Ropewalk (10.99 pounds) and spent some time in the afternoon shopping around and checking out Christmas stalls under the rain, before heading back to Bristol.
LINKS
-----------------------
Hostel International Inn: http://www.internationalinn.co.uk/
Slug and Lettuce: http://www.slugandlettuce.co.uk/slug-liverpool/
Bazooka: http://www.chickenbazooka.co.uk/
Red Hot: http://www.redhot-worldbuffet.com/restaurants/liverpool/
Nightclub Bumper: http://bumperliverpool.co.uk/
Beatles Story: http://www.beatlesstory.com/
It takes slightly less than 3h to get to Liverpool by car, but the route is quite straight forward. Take the M5 north towards Birmingham and then M6 to Manchester. Take the exit to the M62 towards Liverpool and it will take you to the city centre.
By train, it takes 3h15min in average, and you must change the train in Birmingham. The price would be 50 pounds return with the Railcard. National Express will also bring you to Liverpool for 35 pounds but it will take you 5h to get there.
As a city, Liverpool really surprised me. I though it would be a more industrial city, like Manchester. Instead, Liverpool is a less caotic city with very beautiful historic buildings, a fantastic Waterfront and many (free) museums which you could visit if the weather is not good.
DAY 1
Saturday was very sunny and we took advantage of the weather to go take some great pictures of Liverpool with clear blue sky.
We started our tour with the ruins of St Luke's Church. It stands on the corner of Berry Street with Leece Street. The roofless church, designed by John Fosters (senior and junior) was built between 1811 and 1832. It was badly damaged during the Liverpool Blitz in 1941 and now it is a memorial to those who were lost in the war. There is a memorial to the Irish Famine in the churchyard and the building is used to host musical events, exhibitions and performances.
Following Berry street a little further, the chinese-style gate marks the start to the Chinatown, according to Wikipedia, the oldest Chinese community in Europe. The arch is also the largest, multispan arch of its kind outside of China. 
Instead of taking our way to Chinatown, we continued down the street to head to the Anglican Cathedral. Do not make the same mistake we did: there is no entrance to the Cathedral from Upper Parliament Street. We decided to take that route and we were wrong. The entrance is in Canning Street, from Upper Parliament Street you will only get access to the lower garden called St James Gardens. Walking across the garden was very nice, though. And we eventually got to the main entrance to the Cathedral.I have never seen anything like Liverpool Cathedral. I was expecting something huge but old, antique. Instead, we ran into a 20th century cathedral with ensuite coffeeshop and shop and neon lights. The cathedral doesn't even have the usual smell churches have!
5-min walk away from the Anglican Cathedral, you will find the other cathedral of Liverpool: Metropolitan Cathedral. This cathedral started being built in 1962, taking just 5 years to be complete. Its designer Frederick Gibberd was the winner of the worldwide design competition.
- St George's Hall, a neoclassical building containing concert halls and law courts. On the west side, there is a very nice garden.
- Walker Art Gallery is one of the largest art collections in England.
- Central Library, the largest library in Liverpool, is located in a very beautiful historic building.
- Liverpool World Museum is a free museum which covers archaeology, ethnology and natural and physical sciences. The museum also includes Natural History Centre and a Planetarium, which are free but you need to agree a time for the tour at the reception.
After quite a lot of walking, we had a lunch break at The Slug and Lettuce, which was actually very cheap. I shared with a friend of mine "The Ultimate Platter" which contained chicken breast, breaded mushroom, pork ribs, potato wedges, garlic toast and onion ribs with 3 different sauces, and it was enough for both to have a good lunch. It was 13.25 pounds.We headed to the Waterfront after lunch, where I discovered very cute Superlambananas. They are bright yellow sculptures in Liverpool, half Lamb, half banana. Except there are not yellow anymore. They have been decorated with very beautiful patterns and drawings, as the Gromits in Bristol.
Tate Museum comprises the national collection of British art from year 1500 to the present.
Merseyside Maritime Museum was opened in 1980 and exhibits the city's seafaring heritage.
... and THE BEATLES MUSEUM! (More info in Day 2)
In winter, at 4pm it is already getting dark and as the Beatles Museum is opened until 6pm, we found it a very good option to go to the museum. Of course, 1h30min is not enough to see it properly. Luckily, the same ticket allows you entrace for 48h hours, you could also go back on Sunday to see what you didn't have time to see.
Dinner time! I have noticed there are many fried chicken place in Liverpool. We had dinner in Bazooka, which is a extremely cheap fast chicken place. If you just need to eat something fast and cheap, Bazooka is your place. Hamburgers, fried chicken, fries, kebabs, pizzas... It is located in 9-11 Ranelagh Place.
After dinner, we went back to the hostel we were staying in. We stayed in International Inn. It is a hostel located in the University area. It is very well located, and the hostel itself is OK. We had a private 7-bed room for ourselves, with a private bathroom. Towels are not included in the price, but bed linen are. Even though we had some initial problems with the heater, it worked perfectly all weekend. There were also individual lockers in the room. The hostel has a very nice and big kitchen for guests, fully equipped. However, the amount of plates and glasses is scarce. The breakfast was not included but there was coffee, tea, toast and jam available in the kitchen all time. We paid 20 pounds per person per night, a little too much for what it was, in my opinion.
We took a rest at the hostal and we end up going out quite late, and decided to go directly to the nightclub Bumper, located very close to the hostel we were staying in. I loved their advertising: "Free beer, topless waitresses and false advertising"! Isn't it great!? The place was half empty until 2.30-3am, but got busy after that. Very busy. Great atmosphere, fantastic music and good prices.
DAY 2
The Beatles Story is an award-winning exhibition. The tour will show you how four young guys from Liverpool created a worldwide musical fever. Very beautiful exhibition which will take you hours if you want to hear every story in the audioguide narrated by John Lennon's sister, and read every poster in the exhibition as you go through it.
We then had lunch at Red Hot World Buffet in the Ropewalk (10.99 pounds) and spent some time in the afternoon shopping around and checking out Christmas stalls under the rain, before heading back to Bristol.
LINKS
-----------------------
Hostel International Inn: http://www.internationalinn.co.uk/
Slug and Lettuce: http://www.slugandlettuce.co.uk/slug-liverpool/
Bazooka: http://www.chickenbazooka.co.uk/
Red Hot: http://www.redhot-worldbuffet.com/restaurants/liverpool/
Nightclub Bumper: http://bumperliverpool.co.uk/
Beatles Story: http://www.beatlesstory.com/
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