LOVE for Liverpool

We’re so lucky to live near one of the greatest cities in the world. Liverpool!

Both of us have our own links and ties to the city. For me, it’s where I went to college, where my godmother hails from (and where I do my Xmas shopping most years!). For Wills, his family on his mum's side are from the city, so he has a great family history with the city. We decided that we wanted to take a day to explore some of our favourite parts of the city.

Arriving

We decided to drive and park in the city. This is usually no bother and it’s a fairly straight forward city to drive in. Not today!! It seems that Liverpool is undergoing a lot of major road works, in other words, they’ve dug up most of the roads they have!! We had to abort our first choice of car park as the flyover we used to use to get to it, doesn’t exist anymore!! We ended up at the Kings Dock and in the, 'Liverpool Waterfront' car park. We paid £10 for the day for the parking. Add onto that £1.80 each way for the tunnel, that's £13.60 for the day. I would highly recommend parking at Hooton on the Wirral for £1 and getting the Mersey rail over to town for £4.10 - this is what I do for my Christmas shopping trip each year!

Along The Waterfront

After we left the car for the day. We walked past the M&S Bank Arena, still called 'The Echo' by most! The Ferris wheel wasn’t operating today (it was windy!), we then made our way to the Albert Dock. There appears to be a new outdoor water park, with inflatables and slides. It looked like a lot of fun, I’d have loved a go, if it was in Barbados or somewhere suitably warm! In a cordoned-off bit of the Mersey? I’m not so sure!!

The Albert Dock

The Albert Dock is a must visit when visiting Liverpool. Once these warehouses were groundbreaking in the shipping industry, they allowed ships to load straight from the warehouses onto the ships. The docks were badly bombed in the Liverpool Blitz in 1941 WW2 and financial difficulties and a general decline of docking in the city saw the docks become derelict and finally close in 1972. Thankfully the docks were regenerated in the 1980’s. It was hoped that it would become a shopping hub for Liverpool. L1 is now the shopping hub, but the docks have become a massive dining and café culture area of the city. You will also find some incredible museums here 'The Maritime', 'The Beatles Story' and 'The Tate' to name a few.

Walking along the front you see the Lambananas. These are famous to Liverpool. The first one, the Super Lambanana was the creation of Japanese artist Taro Chiezo. It was created for the 1998 TransPennine Art exhibition. It’s influence is based on two export/imports of the city of Liverpool and is ‘An ironic comment on the dangers of genetic engineering!’ There have been many Lambananas since this first one. The 4 you see by Pierhead today are from the 8 for 08 collection. Who knew that’s what happens when you cross a lamb and a banana!!

Next you come across the 3 graces, the 3 beautiful buildings that the Liverpool waterfront is so famous for. The Liver building, the Cunard building and the Port of Liverpool building. On top of the Liver buildings You will see the two famous Liver birds. It is said that if these birds ever leave, then the city of Liverpool will be no more. One of the birds looks out over the Mersey, to protect the sailors and one looks out over the city, to protect the city and it’s people. I love the story favoured by locals - Bella the female bird is looking out sea to check if there are any good looking sailors coming ashore and Bertie the male bird is looking out over the city to see if the pubs are open yet!

Next comes Albion House and the Cruise Terminal. Albion House is the original home of the White Star shipping company, yes, those who created and sailed the doomed Titanic. It’s quite a pretty building, but what brings it to life for me is the story that goes - once they had news that the Titanic had sunk in 1912, officials were too scared to come amongst the people (remember they said it was unsinkable!). They came out onto the balcony of Albion House and read out the names of the dead to the crowd below! Put all of the hustle and bustle of the traffic and roadworks out of your mind and just picture that! Wow!

Finally at the end of the front is the new cruise terminal. This is so much better placed now as passengers have easy access straight into the centre of the city (it used to be miles out of town). This new terminal sits next to the Mersey Ferry docking point as the Isle of Man hydrofoil.

The Cavern

No trip to Liverpool is complete without visiting the Cavern. We’ve been a few times and every time the vibe is just great. It’s £5 to get in, but once you’re in you can stay as long as you like and there is live music in both spaces inside. I love the first space in the cellars. You can feel the history oozing out of the walls. There are some amazing displays in the cellars adjacent to the ‘stage’ cellar. The amount of incredible musicians who have played this space takes your breath away.

The Cavern, as it is today sits on 70% of the original site, with the stage being incredibly close to where the ‘Beatles’ stage was. When you’re outside, check out the ‘Cilla’ statue (Cilla Black - she was a hat-check girl at the club, before her rise to fame as a singer) - the Cilla statue marks the original entrance. If you’re a music lover, the Cavern Club is a must.

The Baltic Triangle

This is an area just south of the Albert Docks. I believe it gets its name from the companies that used to trade from there at the height of Liverpool’s shipping history. Logs and wood from Norway, a Whaling industry etc. Basically, it was a lot of warehouses that fell into decline once shipping was no longer in demand. It’s now seen as the ‘Shoreditch’ of Liverpool. It’s arty, it’s creative, it’s the place for any event. Think street art, micro breweries, gin gardens, skate parks, sun trap bars, the craziest golf you can imagine, independent cafes, etc and you have ‘The Baltic Triangle’. We love it for the Baltic Market, a 'street food' covered market. Fresh delicious food at great prices! When we’ve been in the past, you queue at the various stalls to order. Now in Covid times, they have brilliantly switched it to Uber Eats. Just grab a table, open the app, change your location to the Baltic Market and then order away! We were feeling Greek so went for the Chicken Gyros - bloody delicious!

Bombed Out Church

This is at the top of Bold Street, also a fantastic street for Vintage Shops and alternative therapies! St Luke’s church was built between 1811 and 1832 and was designed by father and son team John Foster Snr and Jnr. Locals call it the bombed out church. During the blitz of Liverpool in May 1941 it was badly damaged and hasn’t had a roof since that day. It now stands as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the war and more recently has become an events venue. I think there was a wedding on when we were there, there seemed to be a Marquee in the middle and everyone was dressed very nicely and a tad posh for Liverpool!

Main Street and L1

When I was in college, the Main Street was where you did your shopping and if you wanted to go to Albert Docks you took the Merseyrail or bus, you didn’t walk through the middle bit. When Liverpool was awarded city of culture, this ‘middle bit’ was all set for development. It’s now the area known as L1. If you like shopping this is the place for you. All the designer shops are there alongside all the chain shops you find in most British high streets or outlets. There is a cinema and loads of chain restaurants looking out towards the Mersey. It’s been brilliantly done and really opened up the centre of Liverpool it’s now a pleasurable walk right the way through the city.

The White Star Pub

We chose this one as it was so pretty from the outside, our connections to the shipping industry in Liverpool and also it’s location and musical connections (just round the corner from the Cavern, so right in the heart of things). It’s a lot prettier on the outside than on the inside - it does have the feel of an ‘old mans pub’ on the inside, but it is said that The Beatles did used to meet there. We sat outside, so all was good. We were worn out once again (I tell you, since we’ve been doing this Bloggy/Vlog thing, we’ve been sleeping so well! So get up and dust of those walking shoes and show your 'Love for Liverpool'