International Tour of Liverpool
Possibly more than any other place in the entire world, Liverpool is proud of its history as a maritime city that's visited by people from across the globe. Daily Mail-style views on immigration are not tolerated here, and this city has actively welcomed visitors for hundreds of years, although not all of them particularly wanted to be here (cough, major hub of the slave trade, cough cough). Evidence of the international flavour of the city is everywhere. 'The World In One City' is one of the many slogans used to promote Liverpool, so let's hop in the metaphorical hot air balloon and follow in the footsteps of Fogg and Palin and take a tour.
Liverpool is often called the unofficial capital of Ireland, and there is usually a huge influx of hardened Irish drinkers every weekend. They tend to congregate in the many Irish bars, like O'Neill's (Wood Street), The Liffey (Renshaw Street) and Pogue Mahone's (Seel Street). The Chinese community in Liverpool is one of the oldest in the country, and Chinatown (the environs of Nelson Street) is like a little part of Hong Kong uprooted and re-sodded in Liverpool. Aside from the plethora of Chinese restaurants there is also a magnificent Chinese Arch.
Liverpool's unpleasant association with Africa is commemorated at the Mersey Maritime Museum (Albert Dock) with an entire floor given over to the International Slavery Museum. But the present associations are more celebrated with the Africa Oye festival in June (Sefton Park). Architecture round the city also includes the unusual Swedish Church (Jamaica Street) that provided succor for Scandinavian sailors, and the Jewish Synagogue (Princes Road) that's one of the finest in Europe.
Eating out in Liverpool can be a true international experience. Naturally there's plenty of obvious eateries: French (such as Bistro Pierre, Hardman Street), Italian (Il Forno, Duke Street), Indian (loads of places in and around Renshaw Street) and Spanish (Esteban, Lark Lane). There are also more exotic places, such as the long-established Valparaiso (Hardman Street) from Chile, Sapporo Teppanyaki (Duke Street) from Japan, Christaki's (York Street) from Greece, Chilli Banana (Lark Lane) from Thailand, St. Petersburg (York Street) from Russia, Cafe Porto (Rodney Street) from Portugal and Savina (Duke Street) from Mexico. All these places are run by people from these countries, although beware of the horrendous theme chain, such as Eddie Rocket's (Bold Street) which is about as American as Joss Stone.
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