By Anna Marie Roos
Liverpool is more than the Beatles. Selected in 2008 to be the European Capital of Culture, it is a city of landmark Victorian architecture, a killer football team, amazing cathedrals, and even its own unique raisin beer. This 800-year old city offers “ex-citement” and the friendliness of Northern England to its visitors and inhabitants.
Exile: When feeling exiled or lonely, the best anecdote is often going to a lively busy public place, and in Liverpool you are spoiled for choice. The Albert Docks along the sea have the largest collection of historic buildings in Britain, lovely restaurants and shops, the Tate Modern Art Gallery, and yes, the Beatles Story. The Docks, opened in 1846 by Prince Albert, had been one of the busiest and wealthiest ports in the world, importing rum, spirits, tobacco, and cotton. With money came amazing architecture, and a visit wouldn’t be complete without a look at the Liver Building at Pier Head with its crowning sculptures of the Liver Bird, the city’s namesake. The Liver Bird is the mascot of Liverpool, representing a cormorant which in past years were seen flying alongside the Mersey River.
For more people watching, the Tate Modern is a splendid choice. Built around a collection of post-impressions, pop art, and 1980s hyperrealism, the gallery also features rotating exhibits and installations. The gallery is in a building called the Colonnades which looks out onto the waterfront, and the Tate Café is a wonderful place to have a cup of coffee and watch the boats. Designed by artist Tobias Rehberger, it is a bright, colorful and welcoming place. The Colonnades also has a variety of funky shops, including Liverpool’s premier shop for Macintosh in case you want to look at the new I-Pods.
Express: If visiting the Tate has inspired you to engage in your own creative expression, try taking a class at the Performance Factory. The Performance Factory is a performing arts academy offering instruction to all ages in dance, drama, yoga, ballet, jazz, singing, tap, musical theatre, hip-hop and funk. If you have a day-job, there is a “power lunch” class in AstangaVinyasa yoga that will leave you feeling energized and recharged. The Performance Factory also works with casting agencies for more serious practitioners of the creative arts.
The Bluecoat Center for Contemporary Arts, currently undergoing renovation to create an exciting new art space, offers courses in printmaking, as well as a rotating series of exhibitions, literary debates, and community events.
Exorcise: If dancing or yoga hasn’t exorcised all the demons, a visit to Liverpool’s magnificent Anglican cathedral and futuristic Catholic cathedrals might do the trick.
The Anglican cathedral, made of brown brick, is a looming solid structure that impresses its viewers with its sheer majesty and size. Visible for miles around, it is the largest cathedral in Britain. It took seventy-four years to complete, its construction interrupted by war and post-war inflation. Tall thin stained glass windows break up the mass, their colors reflecting in a rainbow on the interior bricks. The Lady Chapel features a ceramic statue of the Virgin by Giovanna della Robbia from fifteenth-century Florence. Her sweet gaze is a focal point for this tranquil place of worship
The Catholic Cathedral is also imposing, but in a different manner. After the Irish potato famine of 1847, Irish immigrants to Liverpool created a demand for a grand place of worship. After several interim buildings and plans interrupted by the necessities of World War II, in 1960, the Archdiocese announced a competition to design the Catholic Cathedral. Sir Frederick Gibberd’s futuristic design, which was seen in keeping with the reforming spirit of the Second Vatican Council, was chosen, and the cathedral was built in 1967. On a central plan, the circular nave is awe-inspiring, with the Bishop’s chair raised on a dais. It is also a place of contemplation and peace.
Explore: After your spiritual explorations, the Sefton Park area and Lark Lane of Liverpool offer delightful secular journeys. Lark Lane is a bohemian outpost at the edge of Sefton Park, chock-a-block with ethnic restaurants (Thai, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Moroccan, and French), and funky galleries. There is also a monthly farmer’s market that offers such delicacies as vegetarian black pudding, herbed Lancashire cheese, marinated olives, and organic vegetables. An artist’s colony “on the lane” runs the only International Festival of Street Art, and a short distance away is the Beatles’ iconic Penny Lane.
Adjacent to Lark Lane is Sefton Park, one of the largest green spaces in the city, and in England for that matter. The jewel in the crown is the restored Victorian Glass House, featuring tropical palms and flowers, a wonderful place of warmth, light, and color on a rainy grey day. Dotting its outside are sculptures of famous naturalists and explorers like Captain Cook and Darwin, and along the garden path is an iconic statue of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. Grand Victorian homes surround the perimeter of the park, each a unique testament to Liverpool’s past wealth and influence, and many serve as boutique hotels.
Exhale—National Wildflower Centre and Formby Point
Along the motorway 62 and about five minutes from the city center, the National Wildflower Centre in the spring offers a stunning place to relax and contemplate. Demonstration areas show you what you can do with your own garden, there is a working nursery, and a plant center. Daisies, poppies, corncockles, evening primrose, red campion, and foxglove provide a lovely display, and meadowsweet exudes a lovely perfume.
Thirteen miles north of Liverpool is Formby point which offers stunning beaches and woodlands. Walking along the unspoiled coastline, You can see oystercatchers and sanderlings. Exploring the nearby dunes and pine forests reveals a colony of Britain’s endangered red squirrel. With its diminutive size and tufted ears, the red squirrel was the model for Squirrel Nutkin in Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit series. The nearby town of Formby is also quite good for restaurants and shopping, Pritchard’s Bookshop offering a comprehensive selection and personalized service.
So, whether it is ocean views, art galleries, or even the Liver bird, visiting Liverpool is an “ex-traordinary” experience. Oh, and you can see where the Beatles got started too.
Dr. Anna Marie Roos is a research associate in the history of medicine unit at Oxford University, author of numerous academic articles and a monograph in the history of astronomy, and a published travel writer. Her Northern England Day-Trips is forthcoming from Hastings House Press. She is an American ex-pat now living in the UK with her British other half.
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