Liverbirds and Beatles

Liverpool
Kent and I said our goodbyes to unique Edinburgh, my second favorite city of our trip, and headed for the fourth city of our UK adventure, Liverpool, England.

Besides Wales, Liverpool was the second reason we went on this trip. Kent is a huge Liverpool FC fan and after spending many weekends at home going to watch its football (soccer) games at a local pub, he was thrilled to finally experience the home of his favorite football club.

We arrived to Liverpool's train station on Tuesday afternoon and walked a short 10 minutes to Hatters Hostel. This hostel was another great break from the typical hostel life. We opted for a double room that was similar to a hotel room. It was a nice break from the dormitory-style rooms we were accustomed to. Of all my travels, it was one of the nicest hostels I've stayed in.

View from our hostel

After we settled in our room, we headed towards the River Mersey. On our way we stopped at a local pub, The Baltic Fleet Pub, and enjoyed a traditional English pint on the patio. By traditional English pint, I am referring to a draft beer that is poured via a huge, wooden handle. The bartenders have to crank the handle down 4 to 5 times to fill the cup and for smaller women, this is quite a chore (or so it seemed). These bigger handles indicate that the beer is being transferred up from the cellar where they are kept cold, which explains why these beers are not as cold as Americans are used to, about 52 to 57 degrees.

We arrived to the riverside and Kent wanted to board the ferris wheel since we passed up the overpriced London Eye. Well, we still paid 9£ each for a ticket onto Liverpool's ferris wheel and enjoyed a view of the city, docks and Birkenhead across the river. Since Liverpool isn't filled with an amazing skyline or super unique buildings, the ride was a little lackluster.

Kent is so happy

View from the ferris wheel

We then headed over to Albert Docks, a structure that dates back to 1839. Albert Docks was closed in 1972 due to lack of use, but in 1984 they were reopened after its regeneration. Today, there are numerous restaurants located in the docks, a definite tourist location. Kent and I headed to Vinea, a wine bar we had researched prior. Here, we got a meat and cheese board, wine and enough bread for six people, but no surprise we ate it all. 

Cheers!

From here, we walked along the river looked at the different historical buildings. We saw the Liverbird Building and then headed on to Mathews Street, an area made famous by the Beatles. We first ventured into Smokie Mo's, an American joint, where we enjoyed retro hip hop music, Coors Lights and a typical American bar experience. It was surprisingly similar to the Beaver in Indianapolis. 

We then made a great decision and headed to another bar on St. Matthews, The Cavern Club. This historic club opened its doors in 1957, and in 1961 the Beatles first performed here. Less than two years later, the Beatles had performed at this venue 292 times. Over the years, the club opened and closed due to financial insecurity, but in the mean time, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Queen, Oasis and other big names graced its stage. That night, Kent and I enjoyed an acoustic cover artist who filled the cavern with Beatles, Oasis and other fun songs. We stayed for a couple of hours, singing along with Fosters in hand, a great ending to the evening.

The following morning we awoke and headed to Anfield, the home pitch of Liverpool FC. Kent had booked these tours in advance, as he was super excited to see the historic stadium. Unfortunately, during our trip football was out of season and Anfield was under construction, as they are adding 6,500 seats to its capacity. Therefore, certain areas of the stadium were closed and we were only able to see a condensed tour. We will be back someday however because its on Kent's bucket list to see his favorite team play in their home stadium. We took the tour, visited the museum and then made our way to the gear shop where we somehow bought the same sweatshirt.

Anfield!

With the rest of the day before us, we headed a half mile down the road to see the stadium of Liverpool's rival, Everton. We enjoyed a picnic in nearby Stanley Park and walked around Everton's Goodison Park. From here, we headed back into town and ventured on to Liverpool's Cathedral, an Anglican church that was constructed in 1904. We briefly toured the church and then enjoyed cream tea at its cafe. 

Kent and I then headed back to the hostel to freshen up before a night on the town. To begin the evening, we stumbled upon Yardbird, an American restaurant that serves everything with fried chicken. Kent claim's this was possibly his favorite meal of the entire trip. 

From here we began our pub crawl, consisting of pubs that Kent had found through research and the Liverpool FC podcast he listens to. The different pubs we went to were Peter Kavanaughs (a unique feel with numerous signs and gadgets hanging from the ceiling), Ye Old Cracke and the Dispensary, our favorite. We would've loved to explore some more local, non-touristy pubs, but our pocketbooks were running low and we were tired of English beer.

Ye Old Cracke

The following morning we awoke to see the other famous church in Liverpool, Liverpool Metropolitan, its Catholic Church. This church was a unique, circular structure, as it looked like a teepee. Inside, was full of different colors due to tons of stained glass with the altar at the middle of the room.

Liverpool Metropolitan

After one final walk in Liverpool and a cappuccino at 92 degrees, we gathered our belongings from our hostel and headed to the train station for Dublin!

Travel Tips:

1. I definitely recommend Hatters Hostel, even if you do not normally stay at hostels. It was similar to a hotel room, it was clean and breakfast was included.

2. One day in Liverpool is plenty unless you are a huge Beatles fan. It is an interesting city, but there are few historical places to see and it is referred to as the Detroit of England.

3. Go on a pub crawl since Liverpool isn't as touristy as other UK destinations and is filled with some great spots!

Albert Docks

Liverbird building