Fashion Contrast

The Northern Quarter is one of the most interesting areas of Manchester, with many fun and quirky places for the traveller to explore.

Most visitors to Manchester are too busy viewing the popular tourist attractions to discover the Northern Quarter, a funky and alternative neighbourhood with a fun and lively character. Don’t make that same mistake, because this creative corner of the city is definitely worth checking out. It was actually voted the Best Neighbourhood in the UK, and is the ultimate hangout for the arty, the trendy, the creative, and those who enjoy thinking outside the box.

The Northern Quarter can be found just north of Manchester city centre. As soon as you walk into this part of town, you feel a different atmosphere in the air and the streets become filled with small, independent shops with cute and quirky treasures inside. If you are looking for a vintage record, a pair of punk-style leather boots, a cool place to get a tattoo, or some handmade jewellery, the Northern Quarter is the place. In this neighbourhood you will find designer shops, tons of vintage gear, and welcoming one of a kind coffee shops, restaurants and bars playing late night jazz music.

If you are heading out to explore the kitschy and fascinating wonderland that is Manchester’s Northern Quarter, here are a few tips:

•    Start the day off with breakfast at Koffee Pot. This kind of grungy, earthy coffee shop has a real down to earth feeling, and you will be fully satisfied by their delicious fried breakfasts. The Northern Quarter is filled with comfortable, friendly independent eateries with food that tastes just like your mother made it.

•    Do you feel more attracted to the styles of yesteryear? Do some serious vintage shopping on Oldham Street, which has some of the best vintage clothing stores in the city.

•    Mp3s? What are those? Everything sounds better on a record player and analogue speakers, so search for that elusive album to add to your vinyl collection at Piccadilly Records, Beatin’ Rhythm or the Vinyl Exchange.

•    The best place to shop in the Northern Quarter is Affleck’s Palace. This is a massive shopping arcade made from a five-story Victorian era building. It is an alternative marketplace, filled with over 50 unique stalls selling everything from bright pink leggings to studded bracelets to silk corsets. The styles cater to the Goth, punk and indie crowd, but no matter what your personal taste is you are sure to find something cool at Affleck’s Palace.

•    If it is a sunny day, grab a drink at KRO Piccadilly which is an upscale Danish bar right at the centre of the action in Piccadilly Gardens. The outdoor patio is a great place to sit and people watch.

•    Later in the evening when you want to catch some sweet live music, the place to go is the Night and Day Café. This tiny hole in the wall venue was where bands like Oasis and Badly Drawn Boy played before they made it big.

With major international airlines now offering flights to Manchester the world is set to take notice of this hot fashion city. Have fun exploring the alternative and quirky side of Manchester, in the super-cool Northern Quarter!

Myth and Mystery

Vilnius in Lithuania has increasingly been attracting tourists to its pleasant surroundings, it is a city that is full of interest, vitality and history. The town is full of stylish Baroque architecture along its narrow streets, each full of secret alleyways and peaceful hidden courtyards.

Vilnius is not swamped by masses of high-rise tower blocks or gigantic megalithic buildings but retains a compact and cosy village like atmosphere. Dotted all around Vilnius are many sculptures, statues and monuments, some are classical legends, others are of historical figures and events. Walking around the city you will come across many erected, sometimes more than once, to celebrate Vilnius’s history and founders.

Statues and Sculpture of Vilnius

The Monument to the Barricades, further down Gedimino, at the Parliament Buildings are the remains of the obstructions erected during the 1991 uprising against Soviet oppression. They have been protected in a glass case and are the subject to political comment and graffiti.

The Holocaust Remembered

Chiune Sigihara’s statue in front of the Holocaust Museum celebrates the life of this Japanese consulate worker who between 1939 and 1940, being disgusted with the treatment of Lituania Jews, issued passes for them to escape. His actions managed to save some 6,000 lives in a city where many were sent to their deaths. There is also another monument complete with cherry trees, dedicated to Sigihara opposite the Reval Hotel Lietuva.

This museum along with the KGB Museum documents mans inhumanity against each other, which took place over the 50 plus years of repression that the people of Vilnius suffered.

Reformers, Authors and Founders

The statue of Dr Tsemach Shabad, who was a member of the Jewish Peoples Party and social reformer, stands on the edge of the former ghetto.

Romain Gary, the prizewinning French author who at the age of 14 moved to Vilnius with his mother. He served as a distinguished pilot in the Free French Air Force during WWII and went on to write the screenplay for the epic war movie “The Longest Day”. Gary’s statue is of a little boy with a Wellington boot, representative of an event in his Vilnius childhood when he attempted to eat his footwear to impress the girl next door.

The statue of Grand Duke Gediminias in Cathedral Square was unveiled in 1996 and is a modern interpretation of the city’s medieval founder. After a dream about an iron wolf whilst he was hunting one day, Gediminias decided to build an impregnable castle, around which the town of Vilnius and Lithuania eventually grew.

Myth and Mystery

Statue of the Three Muses, situated outside the National Theatre in Gedimino Street are quite disturbing statues. Fabricated in black steel with golden, eyeless faces they stare out across the street.

Statue of Elektra stood on the shores of the river Neris until in the 1950’s when its was smashed. In 1994 the government in Vilnius unveiled a new replica.

Tree Crosses on the Hill, standing stoically on top of Germinias Hill they represent three Franciscan monks who where martyred and thrown into the river here. The statues were first created in the 18^th century, these fell down in 1869 and the Tzarist authorities refused permission to replace them. In 1916 they were once again standing over Vilnius and lasted through two world wars. However, in 1951 during the Cold War, Soviet troops pulled these down. After independence the present copies were made to commemorate the city’s newfound freedoms. You reach this loft position on Germinias Hill by taking a nice, if somewhat steep walk, through a wooded landscape and where there is a wonderful view looking down on the bright red, rooftops of the old city.

Where to Stay

Radisson Blu continue to open more hotels in Lithuania and have two presitigious hotels in Vilnius. Housed in a 22-storey high rise, the Radisson Blu Hotel Lietuva, Vilnius is the city’s tallest accommodation. Centrally located in the Lithuanian capital’s bustling business district, the lively upscale hotel is only a 10-minute walk from the famed Old Town and is an ample location for exploring all that Vilnius has to offer on the artistic side.

This advert for RBS Coutts harks back to a golden age of sartorial elegance. Clothes maketh the man is the message here – and the man that is being constructed here is presumably meant to be the quintessential City gentleman banker. RBS Coutts are trying to distinguish themselves in so-called ‘alternative investments‘ such as art, antiques and fine wine, and you would certainly expect an expert on any of those things to be immaculately turned out before you handed them your life savings.