Viking Vela In Search of the Northern Lights and British Isles Explorer Cruise Day 20/32 – From Liverpool, England to Conwy, Wales, and back
As we awoke this morning, we were sailing through a wind farm off the coast of Liverpool, England.
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| We were surprisingly close to the turbines |
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| We started to see the surrounding town |
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| The more metropolitan area |
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| The more industrial area |
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| We arrived at low tide - you can see how shallow it was just outside the channel |
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| The skyline of New Brighton, a seaside town on the Wirral Peninsula - Dome of Home (officially the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul and St. Philomena sits on top |
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| The Wallasey Town Hall, located on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside |
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| Museum of Liverpool and the historic Royal Albert Dock |
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| As we maneuvered on the River Mersey, we saw the iconic Three Graces - the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building, and the Port of Liverpool Building |
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| The skyline is a study in contrast |
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| Old and new are together, everywhere you look |
So, I mentioned yesterday that we have a plan for today. What is it? Today, we were supposed to be in Wales, but thanks to Storm Dave, we're in Liverpool instead. We will remain in Liverpool overnight since we were originally supposed to be here tomorrow, on Easter Sunday. We're not ones to be told we can't go somewhere, so today, we're going to Wales on our own.
Thanks to Google Gemini, we put together a travel plan for today as follows.
We will walk approximately one mile to the Lime Street Train Station. We'll board a train to Chester, where we'll change trains for Conwy, Wales. The whole trip should take two hours. Once in Conwy, we'll explore the castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, walk the medieval city walls, and see the Smallest House in Great Britain (at the Quay). We'll likely grab a meal along the way before catching a return train to Chester, swap trains, and arrive back at Lime Street Station this evening. That's the plan. Here's how it went.
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| Leaving the ship |
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| Beatles references are everywhere - the animal is a Superlambanana - a hybrid of a banana and a lamb, and they are displayed throughout Liverpool |
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| Memorial to Heroes of the Marine Engine Room |
We headed into town towards Lime Street Station, taking in the sights and incredible architecture.
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| Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas |
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| Mercure Liverpool Atlantic Tower Hotel |
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| Castle Street |
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| The parking barricades are cool |
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| Dale Street, featuring the historic Royal Insurance Building |
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| Municipal Buildings on Dale Street |
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| Westminster Chambers |
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| The statue of King George V |
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| Statue of Queen Mary |
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| St John's Gardens and St George's Hall |
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| The trash cans are even cool |
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| World Museum |
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| Sir Arthur Bower Forwood, looking a little forlorn at having pigeons on his head |
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| Wellington's Column, a Waterloo Memorial |
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| Walker Art Gallery |
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| Radisson RED Liverpool |
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| The other side of St George's Hall |
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| The iconic lion statues guarding the entrance to St George's Hall |
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| Bold gulls walked right up to us |
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| St. John's Beacon and the surrounding St. John's Shopping Centre |
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| What a skyline |
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| Lime Street Station |
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| Not our train - ours was well below ground |
Once we arrived at the station, we were a bit confused. The app said we would transfer in Chester, but the train schedule mentioned transferring in Flint. We talked to an agent, and he got us straightened out. Our tickets were correct. All of them.
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| We needed eight tickets between the two of us |
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| The tickets said, Flint |
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| The app said Conwy and mentioned Flint - it was not at all straightforward |
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| The station had a lot of activity |
We took a break and people-watched in the station, waiting for our 12:26 train. The entire station is not climate-controlled, so it was a bit chilly. I glanced at the board and saw that our train was cancelled! Yikes!
We went back and asked an agent what to do. He said that the trains to Chester left every 15 minutes. Just take an earlier one. Why didn't they tell us about that first?
We made our way to the platform just in time to see the next train depart. 15 minutes later, the next train arrived.
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| Our train arrived |
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| En route to Wales |
We hopped on and were on our way to Chester with a 30-minute cushion to make the train to Conwy.
We again had issues in Chester with the Flint/Conwy confusion. Finally, I found an agent who got us straightened out. We were waiting for the right train. It went to Flint and continued to Conwy. In fact, it continued to Holyhead, where we were supposed to be today. Why the app and the schedules don't explain that seems silly, but whatever. We got on the train and headed to Wales. About 45 minutes later, we set foot in country #113, Wales.
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| Boots on the ground in Wales |
We started our walk about in Conwy. Conwy sits within Medieval walls and comes complete with an impressive castle.
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| St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church |
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| Stations of the Cross |
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| Lancaster Square |
But it was already 2:30, and we were hungry. The Erskine Arms was right across the street and looked inviting.
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| The Wales flag |
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| We had to travel to Wales to have flowers presented in a bottle from Tennessee |
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| A beer - yes, please |
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| I enjoyed proper fish and chips, minus the minted peas |
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| Arlona enjoyed the meat pie with potatoes, carrots, and broccoli |
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| Arlona turned her fork upside down, properly U.K. style |
After lunch, we wandered throughout Conwy.
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| The tower of St Mary's Church |
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| Conwy Castle, a medieval fortress |
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| Atop the city walls in Conwy |
We entered the Castle and explored the grounds.
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| Looking out from the Castle |
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| Inside the castle |
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| Arlona, contemplating life with the Castle Guardian |
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| Llywelyn's Coronet" sculpture located inside Conwy Castle |
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| Looking out at the town |
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| Lawn bowling, just outside the walls of the city |
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| Arlona climbed up to the top of the highest tower |
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| If you look closely, you can see me taking a photo |
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| The picture I was taking - the world's first tubular bridge on the right |
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| The chapel windows |
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| Me, looking over all that I reign |
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| Looking regal |
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| In the stockade |
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| The wind cooperated with this photo |
We finished our time in the castle and then wandered in the walled city.
After touring the castle, we wandered until we found the smallest house in Great Britain. The Smallest House in Great Britain is a one-up, one-down cottage measuring just 72 inches across, 122 inches high, and 120 inches deep, and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
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| The smallest house in Great Britain |
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| There were lots of short doors here |
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| City walls |
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| Liverpool Arms pub on the quay |
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| The Castle Hotel on the High Street |
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| Y Capel Guest House |
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| Prince Llywelyn the Great (Llywelyn ap Iorwerth) in Lancaster Square |
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| A view of the outside of the city wall |
We did a little more wandering and decided to catch an earlier train back to Liverpool. This time, we had the routine down, and it went incredibly smoothly. Rather than go all the way to Lime Street Station, we got off at James Street. That gave us just a five-minute walk back to the Vela.
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| Tate Liverpool art gallery building and Royal Albert Dock |
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| Museum of Liverpool |
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| The Beatles, located on the Pier Head waterfront |
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| Royal Liver Building |
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| The Three Graces of Liverpool- Royal Liver Building (1911), Cunard Building (1916), Port of Liverpool Building (1907) |
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| It was low tide - really low tide - the ramp from the town down to the pier was roughly a 30° slope down |
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| You can see how crazy the slope was |
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| A look at the riverfront skyline at night |
It was a great day. I didn't talk about the weather. Storm Dave was making itself known. In Conwy, the winds were brutal. Temps were down today and hovered at around 47°F all day. We had a few spits of rain, but not much beyond that, so we were lucky.
Walking from the James Street Station to the ship, we got blasted by some pretty significant wind gusts. We absolutely understand Captain Olav's decision to come to Liverpool rather than Holyhead, where we would be exposed to the full strength of this storm.
Tomorrow is a full day in Liverpool. We will take Viking's included excursion, Iconic Liverpool. Most places will be closed since tomorrow is Easter Sunday. We will see what we can see. Today was a great day, and we're happy, tired, and ready for a good night's sleep.
