STE’s Holiday Editor, Tony Taylor, reports on his experiences on short break in Liverpool.
Old and new buildings by the waterfront
We had visited Liverpool briefly many years ago, but there was much we didn’t see and there has been a lot of development in the city since then. Hence my wife and I decided to have a three night short break.
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the city centre by the waterfront and had a lovely room overlooking the ferry terminals and river.
The weather forecast for the following days was not good (lots of rain!), so when we arrived shortly after lunch, we took advantage of the dry but cloudy weather to walk around the waterfront.
The author’s wife with the Beatles
Some magnificent buildings (Royal Liver, Port of Liverpool and Cunard) are to be found there, along with the Museum of Liverpool and the Albert Dock complex with its many cafés, restaurants, shops and museums.
We had visited the Beatles, Maritime and Slavery museums on our previous visit (all very interesting), so gave them a miss this time.
In the evening we strolled to the city centre and shops in Liverpool ONE, much to my wife’s delight. She thought it an excellent compact shopping centre.
View from our room in the Crowne Plaza
The following day the rain came as forecast. We used the City Explorer Tour, a hop-on hop-off tour bus with thirteen stops and a live guide commentary, to get a feel for the city.
Having taken the full tour, we alighted to visit the magnificent cathedrals – the modern Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral and the traditional Liverpool Cathedral.
We had purchased a 24-hour combined ticket (City Explorer Tour and River Explorer Cruise), which at £12-50 for seniors 60+ years old appeared to be very good value for money. When we purchased it, we were assured that we could use the ticket for the river cruise the next day and this proved to be the case.
Inside the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral
We boarded the Ferry across the Mersey at 11-00 am from the Pier Head terminal for a one hour cruise, although you can break the journey and explore at two stops along the way, the Seacombe Ferry terminal and the Woodside Ferry Terminal.
We alighted at the latter on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey and visited the U-Boat Story, entry for which is included in the combined ticket price. This is the fascinating story of German U-Boat 534, which is displayed cut into four sections, enabling visitors to see inside the boat.
Cramped interior of U-Boat 534
We spent that afternoon at the Museum of Liverpool – amazingly free entry, but a donation is requested. This covered many different aspects of Liverpool including its docks, the Beatles, football, transport, living conditions and wartime.
Undaunted by the inclement weather, we learnt a lot about Liverpool on this short break, but there is still much left for us to see in this vibrant and ever-changing city.
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A Fascinating Short Break in Liverpool – Despite the Weather!
STE’s Holiday Editor, Tony Taylor, reports on his experiences on short break in Liverpool.
We had visited Liverpool briefly many years ago, but there was much we didn’t see and there has been a lot of development in the city since then. Hence my wife and I decided to have a three night short break.
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the city centre by the waterfront and had a lovely room overlooking the ferry terminals and river.
The weather forecast for the following days was not good (lots of rain!), so when we arrived shortly after lunch, we took advantage of the dry but cloudy weather to walk around the waterfront.
Some magnificent buildings (Royal Liver, Port of Liverpool and Cunard) are to be found there, along with the Museum of Liverpool and the Albert Dock complex with its many cafés, restaurants, shops and museums.
We had visited the Beatles, Maritime and Slavery museums on our previous visit (all very interesting), so gave them a miss this time.
In the evening we strolled to the city centre and shops in Liverpool ONE, much to my wife’s delight. She thought it an excellent compact shopping centre.
The following day the rain came as forecast. We used the City Explorer Tour, a hop-on hop-off tour bus with thirteen stops and a live guide commentary, to get a feel for the city.
Having taken the full tour, we alighted to visit the magnificent cathedrals – the modern Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral and the traditional Liverpool Cathedral.
We had purchased a 24-hour combined ticket (City Explorer Tour and River Explorer Cruise), which at £12-50 for seniors 60+ years old appeared to be very good value for money. When we purchased it, we were assured that we could use the ticket for the river cruise the next day and this proved to be the case.
We boarded the Ferry across the Mersey at 11-00 am from the Pier Head terminal for a one hour cruise, although you can break the journey and explore at two stops along the way, the Seacombe Ferry terminal and the Woodside Ferry Terminal.
We alighted at the latter on the Birkenhead side of the Mersey and visited the U-Boat Story, entry for which is included in the combined ticket price. This is the fascinating story of German U-Boat 534, which is displayed cut into four sections, enabling visitors to see inside the boat.
We spent that afternoon at the Museum of Liverpool – amazingly free entry, but a donation is requested. This covered many different aspects of Liverpool including its docks, the Beatles, football, transport, living conditions and wartime.
Undaunted by the inclement weather, we learnt a lot about Liverpool on this short break, but there is still much left for us to see in this vibrant and ever-changing city.
See also:
• Liverpool and Southport Short Break
POSTED 24th JULY 2017 by TONY TAYLOR