A Budget Tram Tour of Manchester
A History-Packed Tram Ride to the Imperial War Museum-North
Manchester's tram is a good way to see the sights. This inexpensive tram tour and easy walk takes you from Manchester's newly polished centre through its gritty edges to the Lowry Art Gallery and the Imperial War Museum-North.
The Metro Link Tram to Salford Quays
Take the Eccles line tram from the Peter's Field stop in front of the Central Library for 1 pound 90 one way (nearly US$4.00).
It's 10 minutes through an especially historic stretch, this ride to Salford, sandwiching 150 years into 2 miles.
You pass the knock-your-eye-out Midlands Hotel - stunning in red terracotta glazed tile, every inch carved and cupola'd; then past the aircraft hangar of the Central Convention Centre (formerly called "The G-Mex", although no one knew why and could never find it.), The Halle Orchesta Hall is across the street, the cantilevered razor of the 43-story Beetham Tower and Hilton Hotel tower above; then through Castlefield, the site of a Roman fort when Manchester was 'Mamcunium', "The breast-shaped hill".
Below the tram line, beautiful brick warehouses are now swanky converted lofts, real estate offices, and bars full of sleek marketing executives. But beneath Pomona station along the canal, the polish of city, its clinking vodka cocktails, and open-plan living crumbles around the edges leaving gravelly fields full of rubble, used needles, violent grafitti, and abandoned mattresses beneath the bushes looking as horrible as only abandoned mattresses can: a glimpse of Manchester as much of it was, barely 10 years ago.
But then, with a toot of the tram's jolly whistle, you're back to Manchester's future, and winding through the low blue glass and steel buildings of light industry, townhouses, and the surprising sail-shaped luxury apartment complexes of Salford Quays with Manchester United's stadium, Old Trafford, presiding over it all to the south.
Alight at Salford Quays station and walk down Ontario Basin toward the Imperial War museum which stabs the horizon.
Buffalo Bill in Manchester
The Quays line the Manchester Shipping Canal, built in 1898 to by-pass tarrif-levying rival, Liverpool, and linking land-locked Manchester to the rest of the world, especially Canada, thus the names Ontario, Huron, and Eerie basins. Manchester's was the busiest port in England, employing tens of thousands: the centre of a roiliing and hardscrabble community.
Wonderfully, in 1887, before the Canal was built, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show arrived with a cast of Oglala Lakota Sioux, many Little Big Horn veterans seeking refuge from US prosecution. They performed for a summer to a gob-struck populace, roping bucking broncs and stampeeding buffalo in the English meadows. Several American Indians stayed in Manchester and raised families.
Salford Re-creation
In their short history, these docks boomed. So powerful were they, the Germans pounded them to smithereens in 1941, and Thatcherism finished them off forty years later leaving behind 20% unemployment, urban decay, and rusting hulks stewing in canal water known at times to ignite.
But now, at the beginning of the 21st century, Salford Quays are booming again. You'll pass the the Water Sports Centre . Visitors can sign-up for rock-climbing one-time sessions in winter (2 pounds 50), and long-term classes in kayaking, rowing, and sailing in summer. The water has been cleaned to a fishable "blue flag" quality and is full of swans, geese, teal, and gulls.
Art and War
Continue down the quay - a good, car-free jogging loop - to the surprising, playful post-modern, stainless steel architecture housing the The Lowry Named for Manchester-born artist, L.S. Lowry, the Centre houses a theatre, shopping, restaurants, and cafes, hosts theatre workshops, art activities, and children's shows, gallery exhibitions, and stunning waterfront views (Many venues. Building open 7 days. Their phone is: 0870 787 5780. The gallery is free.).
Walk across the bridge to the deeply thoughtful Imperial War Museum - North (open 7 days a week: March - October 10am - 6pm, November - February 10am - 5pm; last admission 30 minutes before closing. Closed 24, 25, 26 December. Free Admission.) Sited here because of Salford Quays' war-torn past and responsible for its economic reawakening. It opened in 2002. Its jagged architecture depicts the smashed shards of a world at war. Poignant and instructional. Several exhibits geared to children and young people. Some exhibits are screened and parents warned.
Hop back on the tram just beyond the War Museum to return to the city centre.
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