Cross a tilting bridge
There might be fog on the Tyne but there are spectacular bridges to see when it clears, a mighty seven of them crossing between Newcastle and Gateshead. Some are architectural wonders and all combine to make for great photographs – especially at night, when the lights of their arcs bounce off the water. The Tyne Bridge, opened in 1928, is the city’s most iconic, but the Robert Stephenson-designed High Level Bridge dates back to 1849 and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge – for foot passengers and bikes – one of only a few tilting bridges in the world.
Join the Toon Army on the terraces at St James’ Park
“Brave the dark at St James’ Park in the Gallowgate End in the rain” goes I’m Coming Home Newcastle, Busker’s paean to being a geordie. Newcastle United have played at the city centre ground – the sixth-largest football stadium in the UK – since the club was founded in 1892. St James’ Park also hosts rock concerts and stadium and rooftop tours are available.
Eat a stottie cake
This flat, round loaf is a north-east favourite. Taking its name from the geordie word for bounce – “stott” – it has a heavy, dough-like texture, often flavoured with cheese savoury (a mix of cheese, carrot, onion, mayonnaise and seasoning) or ham and pease pudding (not a pudding at all but a savoury dish made from split peas). Newcastle is also home to Greggs, the UK’s largest bakery chain, started up in the 1930s by John Gregg, who delivered yeast and eggs around the city on his bike.
Stand at the foot of an angel
The Angel of the North, by British sculptor Sir Antony Gormley, towers over the A1 and A167 as they head into Tyneside. Standing at 20-metres tall, the rust-coloured angel is blessed with huge wings, gently angled forward to embrace visitors and residents. A tribute to the area’s industrial past, the iconic giant settled into its place on the hill and in public hearts in 1998.
Embrace nature in the city at Jesmond Dene
This narrow wooded valley became a park in the 1850s, allowing city dwellers to wander through greenery, sit by waterfalls and contemplate wildlife – all within a stone’s throw of urbanity. Following the river Ouseburn between South Gosforth and Jesmond Vale for 3km, the park is packed with native and exotic trees, as well as birds such as kingfishers.
Visit the UK’s second-biggest contemporary art gallery
Housed in a vast old flour mill in Gateshead, the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art has no permanent collection, preferring to promote a dynamic series of shows and exhibitions from today’s most celebrated artists across six floors. The vast industrial building also provides artists with studios, has a small cinema, and is home to SIX, a rooftop restaurant with views across the Tyne to Newcastle’s twinkling quayside buildings.
Soak up a concert at Sage Gateshead
This domed concert venue, designed by Sir Norman Foster, is also a centre for musical education and home to the Royal Northern Sinfonia chamber orchestra. Echoing the arches of the adjacent Tyne Bridge, Sage Gateshead contains three acoustically sweet performance spaces, the largest of which seats 1,700. Nightly concerts cover a broad range of genres and styles and it also co-hosted last year’s BBC Radio 6 Music festival.
Take a Metro to the coast
It’s a short hop on the Metro to Tynemouth, where the mouth of the Tyne meets the North Sea. Take the air as you ponder the 2,000-odd year history of Tynemouth Castle and Priory, then sate your appetite with some excellent fish and chips – just watch out for hungry seagulls swooping in for your catch. Two stops farther along the coast is the Blue Flag award-winning beach of Whitley Bay.
Spend more than a half hour at The Great North Museum: Hancock
Here, in the Hadrian’s Wall gallery, you’ll find the best collection of Romano-British antiquities outside of London, including a wealth of archaeological finds from the 73-mile fortification. The Living Planet gallery, spanning two floors, combines touchscreens and live specimens to educational effect, while Fossil Stories tells the story of prehistoric lifeforms through animation and full-scale dinosaur skeletons.
Visit one of Europe’s most beautiful streets
Walk up from the Quayside to stunning Grey Street, which sweeps up from the Tyne to Grainger Town, the historic heart of Newcastle, and Grey’s Monument. Classic architecture with Doric pillars defines the buildings on what architecture scholar Nikolaus Pevsner described as “one of the finest streets in England”. Sir John Betjeman was similarly glowing in praise: “As for the curve of Grey Street, I shall never forget seeing it to perfection, traffic-less on a misty Sunday morning. Not even Regent Street, even old Regent Street London, can compare with that descending subtle curve.”
