A Trip to Liverpool: Pier Head & The Three Graces

My slow travel blogging continues!

Over the next few weeks I've got lots of photos to share with you from my trip to Liverpool... which may have happened over two years ago but is still well worth blogging about, because Liverpool is pretty awesome.

Holidaying in England in the spring is always a bit of a gamble weather-wise, but you can get some excellent hotel deals and if it chucks it down with rain it just means you (well, I) end up spending more time in museums and cafes which is really no great hardship (regular readers will know how much time I already spend in museums on my trips, rain or no rain).

I was really lucky with my Liverpool trip though, the weather was completely glorious and I got to spend a lot of time going for walks around the city and swooning over the architecture.

The most famous building in Liverpool has got to be the Royal Liver Building (even I'd heard of that and I knew next-to-nothing about Liverpool before I visited). This is one of the "Three Graces" on the city's waterfront: the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building (both pictured above), and the Port of Liverpool Building (below).

This is a rather fabulous trio! They create a very striking and impressive skyline, and if you look closer there are loads of interesting decorative details to reward your attention.

 

 

 

The Three Graces are located on Pier Head, which was the landing site for passenger ships travelling to or from Liverpool - including liners crossing the Atlantic. Your first impression of England would definitely be a good one if Liverpool's waterfront was the first thing you saw! You can still catch a ferry from here, albeit to much more local destinations.

There's a fabulous mix of old and new on Pier Head. The way totally different styles of architecture nestle up against each other is one of my favourite things about cities. One of the newest buildings is the Museum of Liverpool, which opened in 2011 (pictured on the left, below). 

 

The museum is free to visit and, as you might guess from the name, tells the story of Liverpool and its people. I particularly enjoyed the galleries devoted to Liverpool as a global city, and the city's overhead railway. So many fascinating things, all very thoughtfully displayed.

Also on Pier Head you'll find the Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas...

... if you walk along the waterfront, make sure you look up to see the church's ship-shaped weather vane and (of course) the two famous Liver Birds on the Royal Liver Building.

 

It feels a bit weird to write that you "loved" a memorial to a disaster, but I was very struck by this one: the memorial to the "Engine room heroes" of the Titanic.

Apparently this was the first monument in the UK to depict "the working man" and has been rededicated to include all those who died in maritime engine rooms in World War One, as well as the 244 engineers who died on the Titanic. The inscription reads "The brave do not die, their deeds live for ever and call upon us to emulate their courage and devotion to duty."

If you're familiar with the details of the Titanic story, you might be surprised to see a memorial in Liverpool (since the ship sailed from Southampton) but it turns out the White Star Line (which owned the doomed liner) was founded in, and based in Liverpool.

Just round the corner from the Three Graces is the wonderfully stripey Albion House which was built as the headquarters of the White Star Line.

Looking this building up for this blog post I discovered that it's now "a 64 bedroom luxury Titanic-themed hotel" which I honestly find deeply weird. The Titanic disaster is a very interesting, famous bit of history but I'm not sure I'd want to stay in a horrible-maritime-disaster-themed hotel - how about you?

That's enough Liverpool snaps for now... I'll be sharing lots more sometime soon!

For more slow travel blogging jam-packed with museum visits and swooning over architecture, why not read about my trips to Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.