My first day in Liverpool

I wanted to visit my aunt in Liverpool for quite a while, thus when I got the chance to get some free time I planned a trip there with my boyfriend.  After a while, we bought the tickets to Liverpool and started packing our luggage. Honestly, I did not know a lot about Liverpool and its history, except that it was the city where the Beatles have emerged as one of the most successful and well-known boy bands back in the days. However, once I stepped on the ground in Liverpool, a lot has changed in regards to the way I was thinking about this city.

Liverpool was a huge city for me. Truly, it has gathered so many cultures, history, people and nations in itself. It was like it has gathered the whole world into one in such a fine way that everything was merged into one truly unique culture. I know that it might sound a bit weird, as Liverpool looks almost like any other city in the United Kingdom, but trust me, it is quite unique.

The land where Liverpool is not located was inhabited by huge dinosaurs millions of years ago. Later, the prehistoric men were living in these lands near the river, gathering their prey in these lands and surviving on it for ages. Until the Middle Ages, Liverpool was not such a developed city and its population was not more than five hundred. However, with the development of the New World and the increase of the marine expeditions, it became one of the main centres for gathering the commodities gathered from those unknown lands. Liverpool was also known as the biggest slave trade center and a point from where most of the slaves were transported to the United States until slavery was abolished.

Then, Liverpool became one of the main centres for shipbuilding in the United Kingdom. It was also the city where the huge passenger ship Mauretania was built and also the city where Titanic was registered.

Nowadays, Liverpool is a quite modern city with an ever-growing economy, which is striving at reaching new heights in business. Its docks are still operating and its port is one of the most important ports in the United Kingdom.

Honestly, when I visited Liverpool I kind of went speechless, as I did not expect it to be such a bright and lively city. It was a truly nice experience, which I will share with you below, explaining what we visited and some tips on where to eat and how to go around the city, which might be of use to you.

How to go around Liverpool?

Travelling around Liverpool is quite easy and fast, especially if you buy a weekly pass for public transport.  We decided to buy a weekly ticket called Trio from the Merseyside transportation company, which covered one area and more specific area C, which we travelled around. That way we could travel around that area by either bus, train or ferry and it cost us around 20 pounds for a whole week. We bought our weekly tickets from a ticket office of the company in the city center near the docks, but you can do that at almost any ticket office of the company in the city.

What and where to eat in Liverpool?

My aunt was eager to show us the best English breakfast at Sainsbury’s and that is why one morning we went there, so we can try it. To my surprise, it was quite delicious and if I was not full I would definitely order another one. It cost us around five pounds, which was quite cheap for a portion full of fried eggs, beans, bacon and little sausages. Thus, if you happen to be very hungry in the morning, I would advise you to go and get the English breakfast there, as it is absolutely worth the price.

On another day, while we were walking around the city center we went to Wok to Walk, which was a restaurant offering all sort of noodles with ingredients as per your choice. The price would vary as per what you choose to add to your noodles, but it is usually not more than ten pounds. My favourite combination is the Udon noodles with chicken, teriyaki sauce and fried garlic. Absolutely delicious!

Day One in Liverpool

On our first day in Liverpool, we woke up early, as we knew that this day was going to be a long and exhausting one. We had a nice breakfast at my aunt’s place and then headed outside down to the center of the city to take a look at its finest landmarks like the World Museum, Walker Art Gallery, the Central Library and its Concert Hall.

The World Museum of Liverpool

When we arrived at the World Museum of Liverpool we went into a big spacious hall where we could find lots of information about the museum, its exhibitions and all the ancient collections it holds. In that same hall, there was a huge totem that was standing tall from the bottom to the top of the museum, which had five floors and each of them was focused on a different theme. There were also the souvenir shops and the café of the museum, along with its registration where you can ask anything that interests you. The World Museum of Liverpool is absolutely free to enter, except for some special exhibitions. However, you can leave a donation to the museum if you like what you saw.

The first floor was housing the Aquarium of the World Museum of Liverpool, which we very much wanted to see, but it was closed at that time for maintenance. The only thing we could see from it was a small aquarium at its entrance that had small tropical fishes like the clownfish.

Then, on the second floor was the Bug collection where we could see all kinds of bugs ordered by a group, region of inhibition, size and others. There were entire walls with butterflies ordered by size and colour, many types of scorpions, flies, spiders and beetles. Next to them, there were explanations about the life of the bugs and how they survive in the real world. In addition to that, there was an aquarium with leaf cutter ants where we could see how they were doing their daily job, so that they can provide the best resources to their colony. In there we could even see the tunnels they have created and how they were moving swiftly to get to the core of the colony. It was absolutely fascinating, so we spent there around an hour, before going to the third floor.

The third floor was dedicated to the ancient civilizations like the Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese and many others. There were also huge halls with collections from all the colonies of the British Empire. We first entered the World Cultures hall, where we found a lot of collections from the first Americans and the Indians. Then, there was the African collection, where we saw lots of traditional costumes, cutlery, ivory bracelets, necklaces and horns that were used by the Africans. In addition to that, there were many traditional African masks gathered there that were used for specific mystical rituals on the continent.

Then, we went to the Asian collection, which was separated into a Japanese, Tibetan and Chinese collections. It was a quite fascinating collection, as many of the items dated back to the second century before the birth of Christ. In the Tibetan collection, there were many amulets, masks and historical papyruses telling the important historical events of the country.

After that, we went to the Japanese collection, which was quite unbelievable with its swords, traditional costumes and kimonos, armour that was used by the samurais, metal and wood decorations and many “netsukes”, which were little symbolic ornaments, which were attached to the kimono. The Japanese collection was quite colourful and rich in all kinds of artwork, so it was very nice to walk around and look at all these unique pieces gathered into one collection.

The last collection from the World Cultures section was the Chinese one, which was even richer in artefacts than the Japanese one. There were many objects that belonged to the normal Chinese people like painted bowls, cutlery, plates, pots and many more, there were many ceramics used by the wealthy families of China. In that hall, there were even textiles and furniture from various Chinese regions, which was absolutely incredible.

Afterwards, we headed to the hall of Ancient Egypt that was housing thousands of artefacts, some of them dating back to three thousand years before the birth of Christ. Inside the hall, there were many Egyptian pieces of jewellery like Scarab rings, necklaces and many others.There were also many masks that belonged to the sarcophaguses and papyruses, from which we could see firsthand the way they were writing and how they were arranging their hieroglyphs to create sentences. In the hall, there was even a place where we could learn the meaning of many of the hieroglyphs, which was a very nice part of the hall. Going further into the hall, there were many statues of pharaohs’ sarcophaguses, urns with their pets, sphinxes and even mummies that were set in three levels behind glass walls. That way we could see the mummies a bit closer and the way they were preserved in so many years. Honestly, when I was a little child I was very interested in Egyptian civilization and still am, so this became my favourite part of the museum and it was absolutely astonishing to me.

On the next floor, the hall was entirely dedicated to the dinosaurs that were strolling on our planet millions of years ago. The entire hall was created to represent how the land looked millions of years ago and many species that were strolling around Liverpool were put on display like ancient reptiles and huge bears that reached three meters in size. Alongside them, there were many artificial items like huge dinosaur eggs and dinosaurs, that had the aim to show how they were breeding ages ago. In the hall, there was even a staircase from which one could witness the huge dinosaurs from above and how magnificent they were.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t check out Space and Time halls, as they were also closed for some reason, thus we decided to head to the next museums of Liverpool.

The Walker Art Gallery of Liverpool

On our way to the Walker Art Gallery, we stopped by the Central Library of Liverpool, which was one of the most beautiful libraries I have ever seen. Once we entered, we found ourselves in a huge hall with a spiral staircase leading to the upper floors of the library. At its top, there was a huge window that was lightening the whole building and making everything look so white and clear for the visitors.  

Then, we continued to the Walker Art Gallery, which was just two minutes walking from the Central Library of Liverpool. We entered its marvellous gateway and continued to its Sculpture collection, which was on the first floor. Most of the beautiful sculptures were made between the eighteenth and nineteenth century and were spread in two huge halls. The most prominent sculpture was the Tinted Venus, which was representing the ancient Goddess of Fertility holding a golden apple and looking a bit worried. This sculpture was made out of marble and was put into an enclosed cage, which only added to its beauty.

After that, we continued to the second floor of the Walker Art Gallery where the rest of the collections were, which were more than ten and were divided into different art styles, periods and regions. Unfortunately, many rooms were closed, so we entered the following rooms offering many famous artworks that could be witnessed. One of them was “Dante’s Dream”, which was painted by Rossetti and represented Dante who was leaning for a kiss to his beloved woman, who was on a dead bed. The painting fascinated me with its bright colours and masterful way of painting all the details and the way the painter added many symbols like the spring flowers, which were signifying purity and hope.

There was even a painting by Monet, which was representing the ice breaking on the river Seine. The painting was painted with oil paint and created a quite melancholic vibe while looking at the picture.

Surprisingly, in the Walker art gallery, there was even the painting of Mona Lisa, which was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. Of course, it is not the original, but I was quite surprised when I saw it and starred at it for some time. Honestly, there really is something in the look of Mona Lisa that kind of hypnotizes you and it is kind of surreal. Alongside the Mona Lisa painting, there were many other paintings of the royal English family portraits of Henry the Eights and Queen Elizabeth the First. Some of the paintings were quite huge like that of the famous Henry the Eight and was hung on the wall.

Around the gallery, there are many decorative artworks spread around like glasses, decorations, furniture taken from the wealthy people of the United Kingdom, jewellery and even musical instruments. While walking around the gallery I saw many decorations like peacocks or other birds made out of coloured marble. There also many rings and necklaces that belonged to European aristocrats that were also put on display alongside their furniture, which was very well-preserved. To my surprise, there was even a wine glass collection, which was quite unique!

In the end, we could even check out the clothing collection of the Walker Art Gallery, which was put on display and was dating back to the Renaissance period. It was absolutely incredible to look at all the costumes and dresses the people were wearing back in the days and how their clothing evolved through the ages. The Walker Art Gallery had for sure a lot to offer to its visitor that is why I would advise you to visit it, once you get to Liverpool, as it is worth the time and effort of walking around its halls for a couple of hours.

The Saint George's Hall in Liverpool

A bit further from the Walker Art Gallery was the Saint George’s Hall in Liverpool, which was used for hosting various concerts, performances and events. This building was one of the most important ones, as it was listed on the National Heritage List of the United Kingdom and people from all areas of the country were coming to see it. Saint George’s Hall was built at the end of the nineteenth century in an entirely Neo-Grecian architectural style, which was considered to be one of the most beautiful buildings built in that specific architectural style. Thus, when we went there we were quite stunned by the details and massiveness of the building and its columns at the entrance. However, we did not enter inside, as we did not have tickets for any event, but we stayed there to admire its magnificence, which was quite striking from afar.

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