The city of Hull in the county of East Riding of Yorkshire will not be in the top five of British city trips for many people, but that is unjustified:it is a nice harbor city with a picturesque Old Town, beautiful historic buildings, atmospheric and nostalgic pubs, educational and mostly free museums, the trendy Fruit Market and the most beautiful aquarium in the world. Between Rotterdam and Zeebrugge there are ferry services to Hull, from Schiphol KLM and Jet2 offer flights to the nearest airport Leeds Bradford. Below are some surprising facts and facts about Hull.
Hull:the only city in England with cream telephone boxes
An icon in England; the cast iron red telephone box introduced to the country in 1921 with a modified type from 1935 – the iconic K6 model. The Post Office (the GPO – The General Post Office) was responsible for installing the payphones and painted them red because the PO boxes were already red. But because Hull has its own telephone company (KCOM), they did not follow this trend and the payphones are cream colored to this day. A walking route can be found here:https://www.kcomhome.com/media/2872040/phone-box-trail-2019.pdf
The smallest window in England
'The Land of Green Ginger' is a street name in the center of Hull – survival has it that it refers to the surname 'Lindegreen' of a Dutch family – where you will find a small crack in the facade of the George hotel – in fact it is not even a window but it is a household name and very popular attraction in Hull. It was used in the 17th century to see if stagecoaches were approaching so that the staff could immediately meet the guests. The hotel is also a pub with a beautiful interior.
The Deep:one of the most beautiful aquariums in the world
Great for children. Housed in a striking building on the Humber River, this aquarium offers over 3,500 different species of fish. The latest additions are some gentoo penguins. The aquarium has eight attractions:'Awakening Seas' gives a glimpse into the 4 trillion years of development of the Earth's oceans, the 'Lagoon of Light' shows colorful tropical fish, coral reefs and mangrove trees where visitors find crabs, sea urchins and starfish are allowed to touch and where divers hand feed the fish every Saturday at 2 pm. Different types of sharks, rays. Turtles and green sawfish swim around in the 'Endless Ocean', an aquarium with 2.5 million liters of water and 87 tons of salt and in the attraction 'Slime' you can see all kinds of animals, including the blue poison dart frog. Bugs teems with teeming beetles and other invertebrates and the Amazon Flooded Forest showcases the flora and fauna of the Amazon River. "Cool Seas" shows the rich wildlife in the oceans surrounding the Arctic, and "Kingdom of Ice" reveals the life of penguins. https://www.thedeep.co.uk/
A bridge as a tourist attraction
Yes, the Scale Lane Bridge connects the inner city to the east side of the River Hull but is more than a bridge. A beautiful state-of-the-art design – it's shaped like a pinball in a pinball machine – that pedestrians and cyclists can simply stand on when it opens and closes. Birdsong can be heard at a standstill, but as soon as the bridge opens, ship bells start to ring rhythmically. The design has won several awards.
The Ale and Fish Trails
The Hull Traffic Bureau has released a nice brochure with different walks:the City Walking Trails Guide, which can be collected free of charge from the Welcome Pod in the Hull Paragon Interchange station building. Hull was once England's third largest port city so it was teeming with pubs. Quench your thirst with the Ale Trail, a stroll past 15 downtown pubs, including the 1337 Ye Olde Black Boy on Market Place, Hull's oldest pub, and Ye Olde White Hart on Silver Street, the pub with a historic background as it was here that the decision was made in 1642 to ban King Charles 1 from entering Hull, indirectly starting the first English Civil War.
To honor Hull's past as a fishing town, the artist Gordon Young designed in 1992 a 3.8 km walk past several attractions in Hull, showing 41 fish sculptures along the way.
Enjoy yourself - a 'Pattie butty'
Say fish and chips and you immediately know it's about England. Say your Pattie butty to a Hullensian – a Hull resident – and he/she will start to salivate. Although there are several versions, the most common is fried mashed potatoes with sage in a sandwich with french fries. Available in fish and chip shops throughout the city.
The most Instagrammable street in Hull:Princes Street
In the county of Yorkshire, there are only two towns left with medieval streets. Hull is one of them. And in the center you will find Princes Street, a beautiful street with cobblestones and beautiful buildings from the Georgian period.
Hull's funfair
When you hear the word funfair, don't think of a carousel, a popcorn stall and an attraction with bumper cars. While the first edition in 1278 (!) was modest in design, it has now grown into one of the largest funfairs in Europe with a huge range of thrills and rides. Every year there are also many visitors from abroad who are fond of the ancient and modern attractions. Take your children with you and you will no longer have a child. In 2020 it will take place from 9 -17 October.
The Wilberforce House Museum
The name Wilberforce may not mean much to the Dutch, but this English parliamentarian is well known in his own country. Born in Hull in 1759, he became an advocate against the slave trade and initiator of the Slave Trade Act 1807, which officially banned the transatlantic slave trade. A visit to the museum gives you a glimpse into the life of this abolitionist and the slavery past.
Free entry to museums
Hull has many museums, the majority of which are free to enter:these include the Maritime Museum, Streetlife Museum, Hull &East Riding Museum, Wilberforce House, Hands on History, Arctic Corsair and Spurn Lightship – the latter two closed for renovation.
The Dinosaur Museum Dinostar and the Ferens Art Gallery with masterpieces by Frans Hals, Lorenzetti, Canaletto, Hockney and Chadwick, among others, charge an admission fee. The Humber Street Gallery is free.
IHull resident makes fame as a pilot Amy Johnson was born on July 1, 1903 in Hull. After a short career as a secretary she took flying lessons and became a ground engineer. In 1930, at the age of 26, she flew solo from England to Australia in 16 days. In 1994 a new aircraft crashed in the estuary of the Thames. In her memory, a statue was erected to her in Hull in 2016.
