Liverpool: from less to more.

Liverpool: from less to more

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to tell you about one of the trips I did during my stay in Aberystwyth. Unknowingly, I had to meet and collect Ángel at Liverpool airport because he came to visit me. We had low expectations, but it ended up turning out to be a cool, distinct city. Let's go!

Angel and I assessed different options of where we could see each other for our reunion... The first option was London, but that would mean that I'd have to travel quite far. 12 hours on a bus and the train was too expensive. The second option was Birmingham (which was what I did to get to Aber, as you already know) but there wasn't an option with Ryanair, or the flights were too expensive. So, they suggested the options of either Liverpool or Manchester. It just so happened that the first of these options turned out to have services with Ryanair, so away we went!

We had planned to visit Liverpool for Halloween. I remember that I went there with my expectations on the floor. In fact, one afternoon in Coffee #1, I think I've already told you this, I started to read a book about different cities in the United Kingdom. I turned to the page with Liverpool on it and the first phrase was "it can't be said that Liverpool is one of the prettier cities in England". As you can see, this didn't improve my hopes of finding a city that I would want to return to some day. So, in conclusion, I think that it was because of this that Liverpool turned out to be surprising, for the better.

How did I get to Liverpool?

I took a train from Aberystwyth that cost me £25 (which is not much). I had to change trains 3 times, which is a little bit stressful when you don't know anything about where you are. In fact, I caught my last train one minute before it left. By the skin of my teeth! I would recommend that you by your ticket beforehand because closer to the day you want to travel, the price will have risen substantially. Also, to get back we had a problem. Well, I did: I was booking my return ticket at the machine and the machine didn't let me pick it up. What a drag. We called the person in charge and he couldn't find any explanation for it either. The ticket online costed £25, and at the machine it was £45. I started to get a little bit stressed, but in the end I managed to get another ticket at the ticket office. The ticket was for another time, but it was cheaper. By chance, everything worked out even better in the end.

What's there to see in Liverpool?

Once we were in Liverpool, we went to the centre of the city by metro. It wasn't expensive as I remember. The first step on our plan was to visit the port area. The Port of Liverpool is famous and very important due to its commercial work, old and new. Facing the River Mersey (I love that name) are the "Three Graces". These are the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. They are the three symbols that represent the city's prestige. I'll leave you a little photo. As you can see, the buildings have considerably big dimensions. They all follow the same pattern in terms of their architecture, and because of this they add to the unique Liverpool skyline. When we went to see them, it was almost empty... Despite being a point of interest. But good, it was better for me. I prefer somewhere to be quiet so I can enjoy it, rather than a crowded place with flashes and selfies all over the place. What about you?

Liverpool is also very focused on the Beatles as a city, did you know that? In fact, the majority of tourists that visit are huge fans. In the centre, in the port, there's a yellow submarine, positioned on some sort of mini jetty. Next to it, there are reconstructions of famous boats (like the Titanic) that function as restaurants. You can see this marvelous model in the photo. Near there, you'll find a Museum and official Beatles shop. We went there and we were immediately submerged into a Beatle-crazy world. The bad part is that it was all too expensive. Even so, I bought a mug for a friend who's a super fan of the band. Inside the Museum, we watched a mini-documentary on a 360º screen which told us about the history of the Beatles. This part was all free, wahoo! How many times have I told you that I love free musems? In general, the city really takes advantage of the demand of this group and practically in every single corner of the city you'll be able to find something that represents them. For example, whilst we were wandering around, we found a monument that represents the peace that John Lennon dreamed about. And next to there, you'll find quite a big ferris wheel and the "Liverpool Echo Area". This is a type of pavilion where they hold concerts and sports games, such as basketball.

Passing through the port, we found some padlocks tied to some chains that represent the love of couples that have come here on the edge of the small but indispensable Mersey. It was by there where we decided to go and eat because we were dying of hunger, almost literally. We went to a supermarket and bought Spanish food, to honour our roots (? ): a huge stick of bread, half filled with chorizo and the other half with jamón serrano (we missed this so much), and cheese. I have to say that it was really good. The "homesickness" is always present. When are the academics from the Royal Academy of English going to find a word that functions better than that?

After digesting, we went to the Museum of Liverpool where we found out the history of the city. It was free entry, and we saw the most representative things of Liverpool through a trip through time. I would recommend it 100%.

Afterwards, we walked for quite a while and then arrived at the Cathedral of Liverpool, which you can see here. As you can see, it was quite cloudy that day and because of this the photo of the Cathedral isn't very clear. I've seen photos on the internet where the sun hits it straight on and it's much better. But hey, it is what it is. Not everything could go perfectly. To be honest, it's a bit of a more of an alternative cathedral, don't you think? What I mean is, the majority of them don't look like this, look at any of the well known ones (Notre Dame, that of Santiago... ). Close by, is Chinatown which was quite deserted by the way. We aren't the biggest fans of that culture, so we only walked past.

Afterwards, we went to where interested us most, Matthew Street, one of the busiest streets in Liverpool. Ironically, it took us centuries to find it. Finally, we arrived and what surprised us is that it was quite small, but it had a unique atmosphere. Full of tiny music shops, with objects that represented the Beatles, quotes from John Lennon everywhere, and of course, The Cavern. The Cavern is a legendary pub in England, where loads of bands have played live at both evening and night. This inspired British music from the 50s onwards. This area was full of pubs and it was there where we could verify the huge football atmosphere caused by two prestigious teams from the Premier League: Everton and Liverpool. In fact, one of the Museums that we went to had an area exclusively dedicated to Liverpool FC and its history. That day, Chelsea were playing against Liverpool (and Liverpool won 3-1) and we experienced first hand the great passion that exists here because of this sport: people drinking beer, crammed pubs and a huge quantity of people all around you. Everything is lovely, provided that they control themselves. Passing through here, we were informed that U2 were playing that night in the Anfield Stadium, Liverpool's football field. It was very ironic as Angel is from Milan, a huge rival against Liverpool due to the two Champions league finals that they've played against each other.

Running round the city, we repeatedly saw the same statue: it looks like some sort of sheep with a tail in the form of a banana. Before visiting Liverpool, I had seen that this "lamb" represented the city on the internet, which we didn't really believe. Later on we discovered that a famous artist was tasked with being in charge of creating this statue that represents the city, because in the year 2008, Liverpool was the European City of Culture. So, this artist created this "sheep-banana", the "superlambanana" which is its actual name, because it represents the rise in Liverpool's wool exports and banana imports from the port, among other things. So, this statue is an original hybrid. It's here where we went back to see the importance of this English city's port. This statue is distributed over different parts of the city.

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In the afternoon, we visited New Brighton which is a little bit further away from Liverpool, and even further because we had to get there by train (but for the same price! ). We got there and realised it's a very quiet place. I would have liked to have gone there during the summer. We found a Morrisons there (an enoooooormous supermarket) which made us want to have a snack. We set forth on our journey towards the lighthouse situated next to the Fort Perch Rock, a fort used to defend the port of Liverpool in 1820. Now it's used as a museum. This whole place was really pretty, with a beach and people strolling past. It was a bit windy, but it was okay. On the beach, there was an access point to the lighthouse which was rocky, as you can see here. The people there were really nice and they were the ones that asked us if we'd like to have a photo taken. We suspected that they'd steal the phone, but nope! Truthfully the man tried his best to get the right angle and he told us to move here... there... the other side... We were given great impressions of the people in general here, as we were told that English people are thugs. Around this area, there were restaurants, bars, a bowling alley, etc. A leisure zone.

We returned to the hustle and bustle of the city and had a coffee in PRET A MANGER. This cafe is located on the main street of Liverpool. It's a big block, filled with famous shops such as Zara, Pull & Bear and the rest of the names we know. This street is always full of people, incomparable with Matthew Street. It reminded me a lot of Oxford Street in London: everyone coming and going with one hand holding a hot take-away coffee, and the other weighed down with bags filled with clothes. Well, from Pret a Manger we had some great views although they were obscured by a Christmas tree. And this was at Halloween! This cafe is great. I love it. I 100% recommend it! I've been many times before in London because it has healthy, tasty food that's not too expensive. You can have both a vegetable sandwich and any type of coffee. I think I talked about it in another post of mine about London. There we had a vanilla coffee and another with a nutty flavour. They were so good. We loved this place, and we stayed there to play cards and relax. It was pretty warm and it was fun, I recommend this place no matter what.

Already ending our trip, we took the metro (not before getting lost and ending up somewhere in the back and beyond) and we went to the airport. I got my return ticket to Aber and Angel got his flight, which was delayed because of the snow. A bit of an anticlimax. After a painful goodbye, at the end of the day, we decided that Liverpool is great. With only one or two days there you would have more than enough time to see everything, if that's something someone has in mind.

And that will be everything for todays post! I hope that you'd enjoyed reading, and as you already know, see you tomorrow. Leave comments below, I like it! Share it and all that jazz. See ya soon!

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