If you think about english industry, Manchester is what pops into your head. In Victorian era it was dubbed "the Warehouse city" or "Cottonopolis" as its history is concerned with textile manufacturing during the industrial revolution. In 19th century people flocked to Manchester from the whole England, Scotland and Wales, the city began to grow uncontrollably. All kinds of industries were introduced, fatories and warehouses were raised rapidly and Manchester has become without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world. It had at its peak 108 cotton mills, and it's just one industry.
Its growing population required developing the infrastructure suitable for transportation and distribution. For that matter a system of canals was used. Development wasn't all good though, the working class population grew and so did poverty. Working class industrial suburbs expanded.
Well, times change, right? We all know that at a certain point automatisation replaced a majority of physical workers, some industries fell and the number of factories reclined and Manchester had to deal with an awfully lot of changes in order to transform into a people-friendly, modern city. It did succeed though and in a spectacular way. A number of modern squares, plazas, pedestrian streets and other public spaces for people to chill were built, canals are no longer a mean of transport but quirky boulevards for people to enjoy.
Manchester is a hipster among english cities. So quirky and exploding with artistic freedom as an attempt to revive this industrial metropolis. There are all sorts of folks here, and everybody seems to be used to the presence of quirky individuals.
I visited two of my best mates from Erasmus, they moved to Manchester recently. They took me around the district rear Manchester University. The part of the university is a Hogwars's like gothic castle I was utterly delighted to see it. The presence of students was feelable with cool venues like The Hatch, a complex of foodstalls and pubs located in containers (painted in wild colours). Awesome place.
On the main square right in front of City Hall a big christmas market was set. It was a saturday evening, so it was super-crowded, but I quite liked it. Apart from classics like mulled wine or sausages you could get traditional english marmelades, nuts with different spices or fudge - in a variety of delicious flavours!
At a certain point the crown got so dense that you were walking with the current of slowly trotting people...
Barton Arcade was another place I saw, and it was amazing. It's a victorian shopping arcade with beautiful original decor. Such a cozy and fancy plae to be. Oh, and the best coffee I had in Manchester there.
The following morning my friend took me for a stroll around the places she liked in the city. I had a chance of seeing central Manchester in daytime. I loved the vibe given by old brick factories and warehouses. Part of them were refurbished and adapted to different functions like offies or apartaments. Yet some building still stand empty and decaying.
But don't think Manchester is just a bunch of old factories, no no no. It has modern and proper fancy office districts. It's the third largest metropolitan district in the UK, so it has to develop.
John Rylands library was epic. It's a library in an old gothic cathedral, with corridors, staircases and the whole general atmosphere straight out of Harry Potter's world. I think it reminded me more of the series than most places in Oxford did, and it was supposed to be the most potterish city of them all.
Stacks of books that were over a century old also added up to it. And it functioned as a library, it wasn't just a tourist attraction. People actually go to work and read there, that's so cool.
Manchester is the mothership of British alternative music scene. Oasis, Joy Division, The Stone Roses and many more started their careers here.
I used to listen to Joy Division a lot and was particulairly interesten in the biography of Ian Curtis, the front singer. I really wanted to visit his grave to satisfy my inner high-schooler that's still somewhere in me. We took a drive by car down to Macclesfield where it is, it was a really nice roadtrip through english countryside that I adore.
Eventually we visited Canal Street, the heart of LGBT quater in Manchester. Usually it's bursting with life and quirky people. On a Sunday evening it was surprisingly calm.
0 komentarze