Sheffield

What a day yesterday! What an adventure! What an amazing guided tour we had!

I chose Sheffield from my list of cities-to-visit because of a friend living there that I have not been seeing for ages and I thought it could have been a good idea to meet. But we didnàt manage, so I probably need another trip to Sheffield later on.

I spotted few days ago that some guided tour were organised (with no booking, so if you wake up one morning and ddecide to visit Sheffield, no need to pre-book), starting from the Tourist Office, which is quite handy as you are already there to ask for information.

Mark Newton (Sheffield Walking Tours is his website) comes from Sheffield and has a real passion for everything that is history, culture and outdoor activities in and around the city. He was such a good guide! With other 3 young foreign people, he took us on a 90 mins walk around Sheffield city centre, showing us around all that this city has to offer. Who would have known that Sheffield was a mix of culture (tons of theatres, libraries, plays, without mentioning the important Engineering Colleges or the Irish/Italian and other communities that came in the city), economy (it was a really wealthy city back in the 1980s, and it has a past in heavy industry, coal, steel etc.), history (some of the buildings in the city date back to the 12th Century), religion (the oldest free Catholic Cathedral in England is in Sheffield, along with Methodist, Anglican, a Sinagogue and other smaller churches) and I could go on for hours.

Did you know that Sheffield has a ‘Walk of Fame’? Well, it has. Just in front of its Town Hall (which is worth a visit, just for the collection of steel products, 100% made in Sheffield), you can admire some of Sheffield VIP people, known all over the world (from sport, cinema to Literature, music). And did I mention that Sheffield City Hall is a Grade II listed buolding? It would take me ages and more than one post to write all about Sheffield. The best thing to do? visit it! Maybe with one of those tours (Mark is really great and helpful: he gave us every bus/tram line we might need to go here and there, to visit this and that, to eat in that or that pub etc.), that are definitely worth the £5 you will spend. Otherwise you will just miss the best of Sheffield.

The proof of the pudding!