Day 8 – Lively Liverpool & Coastal Llandudno

May 21, we ventured out to learn all about the city of Liverpool with our very own Blue Badge guide, Sylvia, who offers a variety of specialty interest tours, namely all about the Beatles, architecture, history and much more. A quick summary about Liverpool  – it’s a city based on music, fashion, architecture, maritime life and culture – and we absolutely adored it! Here are some great sights and facts not to miss on your next visit to Liverpool:

• About music: Liverpool is known as the home of the Beatles, where you can visit The Beatles Story museum attraction, pop into The Cavern Pub, an old Beatles venue where there is live music on all the time, and stay at A Hard Day’s Night, a trendy hotel which was designed around the Beatles theme.
• About architecture: the majority of the city center buildings are of Roman classical architecture with beautiful designs, statues and detail.  The grandiose sense of the structures is rooted in the display of wealth when it was a thriving port city.  To note, Liverpool Cathedral is a beautiful terracotta coloured structure, designed by Gilles Gilbert Scott, who is best known for having designed the iconic British red telephone booth.
• About fashion: ONE is a new shopping center with 160 shops which helps to confirm ‘it is hard to beat Liverpool fashion’ as our guide Sylvia mentioned.  And we tend to agree, as we explored the city we spotted a number of young women with curlers in their hair – on the bus, at the store, on the street – and Sylvia said this was perfectly normal as they will look smashing for the clubs on this fine Saturday night.  I told you they like big hair!
• About maritime life: Its port on the Mersey River is seeping with maritime history and continues to be busy with sailing across the river, which is a big tourist attraction, as well as five sailings a day to Belfast Ireland, two sailings a day to the Isle of Mann and beyond.  The Albert Docks is probably its most popular attraction, home to Tate Liverpool, the Maritime Museum and the new museum, opening this summer.  All museums and galleries are free!
• About culture: there is much to say, as Liverpool was the 2008 European Capital of Culture confirms this.  The city itself is a World Heritage Site with more listed buildings than any other outside London. Thanks to the port there are a number of cultures that call Liverpool home; we drove through its China Town and passed a variety of restaurant genres in the ‘Eastern Village’.

We could have easily stayed in Liverpool for a few more nights but it was time to make our way to Llandudno, Wales.  Try and say that 10 times fast! Llandudno is actually pronounced ‘Clan-dudno’. This beautiful coastal town is complete with palm trees and is clearly popular thanks to its some odd 700 hotels! And even with this number of hotels, its town still felt quaint and uncrowded.  After checking into our waterside hotel, The Imperial with stunning views of the ocean, we strolled down the promenade and walked down the windy pier. The views are breathtaking and we are happy to have ventured to this cozy town in North Wales. Time to put our feet up and have a cozy dinner…but wait, it happens to be Saturday night and we discover Llandudno has a vibrant nightlife, featuring trendy restaurants and a few clubs if you wish!

For more information on planning your trip to Liverpool: Visit Liverpool

For more information on planning your trip to Wales: Visit Wales

By: Angela Guezen

Photos by: Jen Crane