After years of having neglected the shortest flight from Belfast, I have finally visited Liverpool. I had chosen cities such Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle over Liverpool for a variety of reasons – but eventually got to visit Beatles land for a quick weekend break. I was travelling with Amy, her friend Cailín and Cailín’s boyfriend Ciaran. Cailín had studied in Liverpool and Amy had visited a few times – but Amy had done little sightseeing, it was more to sample the nightlife.
Our first day, we swiftly dropped our bags off in our AirBnB which was in a fantastic location amongst the heart of Liverpool’s city centre (in and amongst the nightlife) before travelling to the home of Liverpool FC, Anfield.
Advance tickets to Anfield were £23 each – which I found a little pricey, although the tour itself was very interesting with a hi tech 3D experience on the upper stand showing a video of the crowd from a game vs. Tottenham a few years prior. It allowed you to briefly experience the live atmosphere despite the stadium being empty.
The top level of the stadium briefly runs through all the club’s most famous managers (whilst quickly skipping over Rafa Benitez who now manages cross city rivals Everton). You can actually see the Everton stadium, Goodison Park from Anfield.
Following the Anfield tour, we ate at an Italian down at the docks – the docks have recently lost their status as a UNESCO World Heritage location – and afterwards we embarked on a night out to Liverpool’s famous night life.
The next morning myself and Amy got up early and visited the Beatles Museum at the docks.
It took about an hour to run through the museum with an audio guide, where we learn about everything from the formation of the Beatles, to their trips to Hamburg and how their manager Brian Epstein died tragically young.
Then the end of the tour focuses on the later lives of the members and how George Harrison and John Lennon died prematurely.
I have a lot more love for the Beatles after visiting the museum and image Beatlemania would have been an exceptional phenomena to witness first hand.
Following the museum, we ventured over to the nearby Beatles Statues and the Liver building to take in the ambience of the city.
Afterwards we raced to a bottomless brunch in the Baltic Market area of the City, which is a trendy area filled with bars and restaurants.
Our last night was spent sampling a range of the local bars and sense of normality compared to Ireland, which was still enduring quite strict COVID restrictions in comparison with Liverpool, before heading to bed at a somewhat reasonable time to ensure we caught our flight home the next morning on time.
Our last day was rather tame, there was a Korean barbecue across the street from our AiBnB that I was curious about trying, so we had a pre-flight snack there, and me being the adventurous eater that I am, I opted for Ox Tongue.
The City offers so much in terms of nightlife and has a thriving student population, however areas outside of the City centre have been left to rot by the government (like so much of Northern England) and it’s quite impoverished. It’s sad to see.
