Scousers and Mancunians

Liverpool - "The World in One City" or "Europe's New York", as I thought it to be, is a city that I've been meaning to visit for a long time. I am based in southern England and I also support Liverpool FC, so when the opportunity to take a break from work and go on holiday arose I didn't hesitate to pick the location of my trip.

Accommodation

I had booked my 3-night stay at the Tune Hotel 2 weeks before the trip through booking.com and the fee for a single night is 40 quid. I shared a room with my friend so we split the price into two which was very reasonable, as we each had our own bed.

This hotel is one of the more bizarre/memorable hotels I've slept at for a few reasons. Our room had no windows, I think it was located in the basement and we also had to walk through another hotel or something to get to our room. The location of the hotel is perfect though, right in the city centre and next to a Gregg's restaurant at which we ate in the mornings. The hotel shares its street with the town hall, and there are pubs and cafes all over, which brought a cool atmosphere in the evenings.

Food/Drinks

Personally, I don't fancy going out to have a thorough meal with fine dining or anything of the sort as much as I did when I traveled pre-COVID, so I mostly ate at McDonald's, Gregg's, or fish and chips spots.

In the evenings though, we went out to pubs in search of the best pint. The famous Cavern Club pub, where The Beatles played live music many times was where we were stationed in 2 evenings. The atmosphere was cool, as there is live music played every evening. We met some friendly old guys, and the place was packed on the second evening, in accordance with the COVID restrictions being lifted. This is also where we realised that the scouser accent isn't as bad as it seems.

Another pub we stopped at is the Dead Crafty Beer Company, which recently won an award for being the best independent craft beer bar in the UK, as I had found out on Reddit. The music was good and they have a big load of beers with different tastes and flavours. The price tag was pretty high but it was still an enjoyable experience.

Visits

Day 1, we arrived pretty late and so we had no time for museums. We strolled around the docks, which did not fail to disappoint. The whole area is very lovely and good for taking photos. An old American couple offered to take photos of us with the Beatles pier head, which was very cool because we exchanged travel stories and our thoughts about Liverpool.

 

Day 2 started with a tour of Anfield, the iconic football ground of FC Liverpool. I had bought the tour online and it included a visit to the museum, the stadium, the dressing rooms, the press conference room and so on, for the fee of about 25 quid. The experience was unforgettable, as being on the pitch that my favourite players called home was never something I would've imagined as a child watching Stevie Gerrard and Fernando Torres play on TV. The tour was very informative, as I learned a lot of new things, namely that the away dressing room is specially built to wear the opposition players down. The goalposts were sadly removed that day for some reason (probably maintenance) , but the stadium was still awesome.

As we headed back downtown, we entered The Beatles Story museum. I listen to The Beatles once in a while and I knew about their strong connection to Liverpool, but I must admit that I couldn't name any other musicians that were part of the group besides John Lennon. My visit to the city wasn't centered around The Beatles stuff, hence why I didn't go to any of the birthplaces or stuff like that. I didn't feel like the museum was very interesting or memorable.

Our last visit of the day was at the Royal Liver Building, for which we booked our tour online. This place didn't show up many times when I was researching what to do in Liverpool, which is genuinely surprising because of how much I enjoyed it. In our tour, we learned how the big clock tower was built through a 3D show and we climbed the stairs to the viewing platform for the best view over the city. The clock and the liver bird on the top of the roof light up at night, as we discovered after coming out of a pub. This building was a very big surprise and we learned a lot about the lore surrounding the symbolic liver bird.

 

Day 3 was spent soaking up some of the best museums that Liverpool has to offer. We started the day at the Western Approaches Museum, with a focus on the Royal British Navy during the Second World War. This was honestly the best museum I've visited during the trip and part of the top 10 of all time. For the entrance fee of 13.50 pounds, it was so worth visiting and so captivating. The Battle of the Atlantic and the U-Boat fight are very well-covered and the gift shop doesn't fail to disappoint either. This is my favourite place in Liverpool alongside the Royal Liver Building and the Anfield Stadium and I totally recommend a visit here to any WW2 geek.

Our next stop was the Museum of Liverpool located on the docks near the following two museums. The entrance was free and the building looks nice and modern from the outside. The museum has various exhibits that showcase Liverpool's history and culture ranging from prehistoric times (animal and human remains), up through the Viking invasions period and finally the Second world war. A modern & well-curated museum which you'll have to pass through if you find yourself in Liverpool, considering the free entrance.

Closely by, we paid the Merseyside Maritime Museum a visit, located a few steps away from the Museum of Liverpool. This is a more popular museum that people visit due to Liverpool's connection to maritime history and such. The entrance is also free here, which makes Liverpool a pretty good place to visit for a budget traveler that loves museums. It's a pretty big facility, with exhibits split by floors. This museum's exhibit on the Titanic finally gave me a good understanding of what the big boat has to do with the three cities of Belfast, Liverpool, and Southampton, and there are actual items that were on the Titanic on display. The Battle of the Atlantic is a topic also touched by an exhibit of this museum and the 3rd floor showcases the Transatlantic Slave Trade through various West-African cultural artifacts.

Our last stop of the day was the nearby Tate Art Gallery. The building can easily be spotted from afar, as the word 'TATE' is written vertically on it and there is a huge 'T' statue made out of colorful rocks just outside. The entrance was free and this art gallery was probably the biggest surprise of the day, up there with the Western Approaches Museum. The main highlight of this art gallery was seeing paintings made by huge names, such as Picasso and Salvador Dali. Dali's 'Mountain Lake' was my favourite by far, as I really liked its backstory.  I expected this gallery to have a collection of paintings from local artists unheard of outside of Britain, but that wasn't the case. There are other Tate Art Galleries spread around the UK, so it's a pretty big thing. 

 

Other

We would've loved to visit two other things but couldn't because of the limited time: the Anfield Road Murals showcasing Liverpool FC culture and the Abbey Road Mural displaying an image of the famous Beatles' album cover.

The Media Tower would've given us a great view over the city, but it's temporarily closed, unfortunately.

 

#liverpool #scouse #scouser #anfield #beautifulstadium #football#maritime