Seattle: The Emerald City
Welcome back to the blog! I hope you all had fun during Christmas, and it’s great to have you back here. I hope you are ready for the final blog post about my big road trip through the west of the US. Even writing those words feels weird, but all good things come to an end. This last blog post will be all about my favourite US city: Seattle.
Seattle is where the road trip began in August, and where it ended in September. Upon arrival in the US, there was not much time planned in for exploring Seattle, so when finishing the road trip here, I decided to spend more days than initially planned in the Emerald city.
Pike Place Market
I guess the best way to start talking about Seattle, is by bringing you closer to Pike Place Market. This place is the heart and soul of Seattle. However you start your day in Seattle, chances are you’ll spend a few hours here. Pike Place Market is an awesome experience. As Seattle is quite hilly, the lower floors are next to the pier, while the 4th one is on the level of the main street. When entering the market from one of the main entries, you’ll either be greeted by beautiful bouquets of flowers, or by fish. If you’ve ever seen videos of people throwing fish to one another and shouting, it was taken here. If you want to buy some of the freshest fish on the west coast, Pike Place is the place to be.
But the market has even more to offer. There are various restaurants, and you can grab a bite while strolling through shops of handmade crafts, old newspapers and magazines, prints, jewellery, and much more than you can imagine. I guess whatever you can imagine, you can buy at some place in the market. You can even take tours through the market, and those tours last around 4 hours, so you can imagine how extensive it is. Whatever I did during my days in Seattle, in the end, I always came back to Pike Place to eat dinner, grab a snack or to walk amongst tourists and locals.
The Great Gum Wall of Seattle
If you are already in Pike Place market, you should not miss out on visiting one of the weirdest attractions of the city: the Great Gum Wall of Seattle. This alley is pretty much self-explanatory. The walls are plastered with gum. How did the gum get there you ask? Well, people stick it to the wall, every few months the walls get a proper cleaning, but within days it’s filled again. While I was not really disgusted by that place, I’m pretty sure many people might find it gross. I thought it’s a funny way to change a boring dark alley into something way more special. But be prepared, as it’s real gum that’s stuck to the walls, it smells!
Starbucks
Besides McDonald’s, Starbucks may be the most famous American company worldwide. But only a few people do know that Starbucks was actually founded in Seattle. This was in 1971, and you can visit one of the oldest Starbucks in the city. It is located just a few metres from Pike Place Market, and there’s always a massive queue of people waiting to get in to take pictures. If you want to know the reason why there’s ‘1912’ written above the entrance door, I genuinely don’t know and was not able to find it out, so if you know why, feel free to let me know!
Kerry Park and the Space Needle
The main attraction or building of Seattle is surely the Space Needle. It was built for the 1962 World’s Fair and was never meant to last. But here it is, decades later, being one of the main highlights of the city. If you want, you can get up the Space Needle, but be prepared, it is REALLY expensive, and, at least during my visit, it was only possible to go up there in the mornings. But the main disadvantage of going up the Space Needle and taking a look at Seattle’s skyline is: you can’t see the Space Needle from the Space Needle. This may sound weird, but it is a fact that this is THE icon of the city, it is what differentiates Seattle’s skyline from other American cities. Therefore, I suggest you head to some of the other places that offer a great view of Seattle. My personal favourite is Kerry Park. It is a pretty famous lookout, and therefore, there was even a wedding being photographed while I was enjoying the view onto Seattle AND the Space Needle.
Bainbridge Island
Even though this blog post is quite lengthy, this all is just a fraction of everything I got to experience and see in Seattle. One of the highlights was a Free Walking Tour, and I can only suggest you do one yourself while there. During the tour, I learned more about the history of this city than I’m even capable of forgetting, but the tour guide was also able to give some personal suggestions, and this one was just perfect: if you have a chance, take the ferry to Bainbridge Island.
On a pretty day, this is the cheapest way to get the best views. You could take the ferry to Bainbridge Island, enjoy the most amazing views on the skyline, rent a bike on the island, explore the city, enjoy some fantastic brunch, and in the afternoon you catch the ferry back just in time to see the sunset while getting back to Seattle. All this for around 10$! I was not that lucky with the weather, as it was raining really heavily. Therefore, I decided to head back to Seattle without exploring Bainbridge Island, where the weather was even worse than in Seattle. My ride back was shared with hundreds of Seahawk fans that were getting to the city just in time for the game of the day. The atmosphere was excellent, and the people were all so excited and happy!
Miner’s Landing and the Ferris Wheel
When in Seattle, you definitely have to take a walk along the Pier, and one of the most famous ones – if not the most famous one – is undoubtedly Miner’s Landing. Back in the days, when the Gold Rush was occurring, people came to the US to search for gold and follow their dreams. Due to railroads, for many of those, Seattle was where they got on land, and this is how this place got its name. If you ever come to Seattle, you’ll notice the odd shape of the piers, which was caused by the rails that started right next to the dock. Nowadays, you’ll find shops and restaurants along the piers. Just metres from Miner’s Landing, you’ll find the Seattle Ferris Wheel. I spent afternoons just relaxing by the wheel, and I can only recommend this area.
I can’t really explain my love for this city. Already on arrival, it just felt like home, and I loved everything about it, so I was sad there was so little time to explore. When I got back, my positive personal impression was simply confirmed. I just loved how comfortable the climate was (it rarely gets really hot or cold), all the greenery, and simply the vibes of the city. Seattle is just as hilly as San Francisco, but no one seems to talk about it. Just wandering through Pike Place Market, watching the sunset from the Pier, feeling all the emotions just before a Seahawks game, everything was just great. Neither Seattle, nor my time in the city was perfect, but all those struggles did not feel that bad during my stay there.
In general, I have to admit that during this road trip, lots of places surprised me. Areas of which I had little or no expectations blew me away, some major tourist hotspots were unimpressive. But my favourite places were undoubtedly in the Pacific Northwest, and I often got asked whether I’d make this road trip again and I’d say some parts I’d definitely revisit. I’d love to explore the PNW some more, as I really feel as this area has even more to offer than I’ve already seen, and Seattle is a city I’d immediately return to!
I hope with this series I was able to show you that there’s more to the western US than just LA and San Francisco and I can only recommend you explore some parts of this country on your own – you’ll might be surprised how much you’ll enjoy it! I hope to see you again next week, and I wish you all a great start into 2020!
