Live From Liverpoole, England

Home of the Beatles: Liverpoole

Liverpoole is probably most famous as the home of the Beatles, and during my day in Liverpoole a few years back I saw no lack of Beatles-focused tours and tourist traps, including a tour on a yellow submarine.   However, we found many ways to explore Liverpoole without Beatles mania interfering.

The view of Liverpoole from the radio tower.  Our cruise ship can be seen in the port on the left.

After walking along the coastline of Liverpoole for an hour to acquaint ourselves with the city we couldn't help but wonder what the deal was with the Seattle Space Needle like tower constantly looming above us.  Looking like some sort of observation tower, we turned our path towards the tower in an attempt to track down the base.  Since we did not see any advertisements for the tower, I doubted it was any sort of tourist attraction.  However I was proved wrong when we entered and the receptionist informed us for the price of a few pounds we could ride the elevator to the top for a view of the city.

Enjoying the view of Liverpoole.

15 minutes later we piled into a freight sized elevators with a few other tourists and a guide who explained the tower was an operating radio station.  We were allowed to walk along the exterior hallway of the tower, which had expansive views of the city, but were requested to be quite so as to not interrupt the live broadcast.

The tower in Liverpoole doubles as an active radio station.

The tour guide then left us to wander the exterior hallway and enjoy view of the city on our own.  I have often found observation towers boring prior to my experience in this Liverpoole tower.  However, I found it difficult to leave the Liverpoole tower.  Still new to travel in Europe, I was enthralled by a scene so foreign.  Yellow and red brick hues littered the scene, with double decker buses scurrying about the streets like lines of fire ants.

One last view from the tower of Liverpoole.

Not wanting to waste away all our time in Liverpoole in the tower, we left the tower after half an hour, but not before sneaking into one of the radio booths for a photo.  We meandered around the shopping district for a couple of hours, during which time we grabbed lunch with a delicious elderberry soda.  I purchases a couple of belts and other accessories I forgot to pack for my European adventure from a Ross, before we ventured to the next attraction: the Liverpoole Cathedral.

Outside the massive Liverpoole Cathedral,

The Liverpoole Cathedral is a 30 minute walk uphill from the downtown/shopping district area, and like most Cathedrals in Europe a small admission fee is charged for entry.  This was the first cathedral  I visited in Europe, and I was slightly disappointed it was built so recently (opened in the 1970s) not a cathedral born of the renaissance.  

Inside the Liverpoole Cathedral.

Despite the youthfulness of the cathedral, its interior offered beautiful gilded altars and cozy chapels to marvel at.  We also enjoyed a beer in the cathedral cafe, while listening to visitors pat about the tile floors.  Possibly my favorite part of our visit to the Liverpoole Cathedral was the view of Liverpoole itself from the steps of the cathedral.

The view of Liverpoole from the cathedral; the radio tower can be seen in the distance.

After our time at the cathedral, we began out 45 minute walk back to the port.  Throughout the day we had observed statues scattered throughout Liverpoole half in the shape of a lamb and half in the shape of a banana.  These lambanana statues while all having identical shapes, are decorated in various colors and designs each lambanana decorated by a different person (an artist, celebrity, or person important to the city).  I found lambananas quite frankly adorable, and made sure to get a photo with one before leaving the city.  It seemed an appropriate end to my day in this quirky city.

One of the many lambanana statues scattered throughout Liverpoole.