Woke early on Thursday for our 8:45 AM sailing on the Jonathan Swift, the faster Irish Ferry across the Irish Sea. The Ulysses, the slower ferry, leaves at 8:05 and arrives at 11:30. The Swift passes it en route and arrives at 10:45. Faster. Bouncier. The Irish Sea was angry this day, my friends. We love the high seas. I am writing this about halfway across the Irish Sea. Weather, you ask? Brilliant sun, no clouds.
On landing we had a two hour drive through Wales into England to get to our hotel, the Nadler Liverpool. The Liverpool docks area, once a wasteland of old docks and warehouses, is now a vibrant area, much of it pedestrianized, full of shops and restaurants, reminiscent of Quincy Market in Boston. We enjoyed our stay here a couple of years back (it’s down there somewhere in the blog archives) enjoying Beatle Mania and watching the Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey. We reacquainted ourselves with the Albert Dock area and had a nice lunch (it was only 1:00 PM) at Pret A Manger. I love Pret. The concept is simple: fresh sandwiches and salads, all pre-made the same day and all delicious. They have expanded to parts of the USA and have an outlet in Copley Square. Were I still working (God forbid!), I would there for lunch everyday. Albert Dock is filled with museums (The Maritime Museum, the Tate Liverpool, the Liverpool City Museum, the Beatles Story, etc.). We have done them all previously. Instead we sat outside at a pub (The Pump House) and enjoyed cider and beer in the sun.
I had some nice daytime photos of Liverpool, but when I went to download them to my computer, the SD card failed. Horrors! Fortunately I download my pictures everyday, so the only ones lost were those I took today. I walked down to the Super Tesco near our hotel and bought a new SD card (£11 – cheap crisis!) So the pictures below were taken after dinner at 9:30 PM. It is light here until 11:00 PM and light again at 4:00 AM.
Last time we were here, we dined at a Spanish-themed tapas place called Lunya and liked it. So as we passed by on our walkabout, we made a reservation. Dinner was very good. We indulged in the gourmet tasting menu, and we had good chat with the waiter, a man from Greece, who was our waiter the last time we were here. Elaine remembered him and he remembered Elaine. I remember nothing. Here is the menu from their web site. We had substitutions for some dishes, but you get the idea.
Tapas Banquets Tasting Banquet
Habas picantes – Giant Gordal olives – Borettane balsamic onions
Ibérico Bellota meat platter – Torta de Cañarejal and breadsticks
Catalan tomato bread
Herby crumbed rabbit – Stuffed courgette flower
Mackeral and white asparagus – Presa Ibérica
Gambas Píl Píl – Patatas bravas
CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE
Sorry about your SD card, I feel your pain as a fellow photographer! I like those liver birds on top of the buildings at the dock! Say hi to Elaine! Miss you guys. The weather on the mainland has been HOT. We will be excited to wear our cold clothes when we get to Russia!! But the sun is gorgeous for sure.