We Spent 1 Day In Newcastle & It Was Totally Worth It!

If you’ve never been to Newcastle, let us show you all the reasons you should!

This is a city we had only made a fleeting visit to before so we didn’t know what to expect returning to Newcastle as tourists with a bit more time to spend exploring. But after a non stop day of discovery, the only regret we had was not staying longer.

So join us in Newcastle, or Newcastle Upon Tyne to use it’s full name, as we discover why this city is one of Britain’s most underrated destinations.

Love discovering new cities? Why not check out another one of Britain’s best next https://youtu.be/hzl_mFgGt-0?si=ZqdLOJ8i7QWKhlqr

00:00 Welcome to Newcastle Upon Tyne
00:53 Best breakfast in Newcastle?
02:50 Great North Museum: Hancock
08:15 St James’ Park (Newcastle United FC)
10:03 Chinatown
12:18 Newcastle Castle
14:39 Trying Newcastle Brown Ale (Bridge Hotel)
17:25 Newcastle Cathedral
20:04 Toon Tours (Sightseeing Bus)
23:05 The Angel of The North
24:39 Motel Mexicana

#Newcastle #newcastleupontyne #northeastengland #northumberland

[Music] Good morning from Newcastle upon time all the way up the tippity top of northeast England. Now this is definitely somewhere we’ve been wanting to go for a very long time or go back to. We have been here before 6 years ago I think but we haven’t really explored much of the city. We were only here for a very short time. So, there’s lots on our itinerary to actually tick off today and see for the very first time. But first, coffee. Now, I know a lot of you really enjoy the fact that we do coffee first in all of our adventures. And the last couple of videos, we haven’t done that because we had breakfast included at our hotel. Well, not today. But first, coffee is here back is is back here in Newcastle. You can tell I haven’t had one yet. Let’s go do coffee. So, this is our choice for coffee and breakfast this morning. Olive and Bean on Clayton Street. Now, this has been recommended to us over on Instagram and also Google personally recommended it to us when I typed in best breakfast in Newcastle. I need caffeine. [Music] Okay, let’s talk about Olive and Bean real quick because that was a great little spot. We had some really nice breakfast. Nice smashed avocado on sourdough with poached eggs. Only criticism is the poached eggs could have been runnier. They were they were firm. They were one slight runny one and then the rest were quite firm, but decent overall. Decent start of the day. Now the coffee was really good. I had an iced Americano and added some sugar-free vanilla pin vanilla vanilla. Added some sugar-free vanilla syrup in there as well. So it just took the edge off of it a little bit. You had an iced latte. Yep. And when they’re served in a mason jar, we are easily pleased by the aesthetic. Also, the milk was foaming at the top of my latte. I didn’t really know what they done, but it tasted really good anyway, which is the main thing. And not too badly priced either. We managed to sit at one of the little bars on the bar stools looking out the window. So, we got to witness all the Jordies going about their day-to-day life. One of our favorite things to do is people watching. I feel like it’s one of the best British pastimes there is. It’s also how we get our best fashion advice of what not to wear. Overall, really nice little place and a really great recommendation from Instagram. This is why I love getting recommendations on Instagram because we go to places like that that we probably wouldn’t have gone to. So, if you don’t follow us on Instagram, give us a follow on JX26 because and become part of the adventure because it really helps us out, help plan our trip. Local recommendations is one of the best things you can get when you’re at a new city. Speaking of local recommendations, this is another one that’s been recommended. We’re going to go and do a free museum. It’s just free. It’s just one of our things, isn’t it? And this is the free museum that we’re going to do. It’s called the Great North Museum, but it also says the Hancock Museum, so I don’t know if it’s got two names. They’ve also got a T-Rex in there. Yeah, a full replica skeleton of a T-Rex. I mean, it’s got to be real cuz it’s literally on that sign. Yeah. So, you’re happy. It’s a replica, but they’ve got other things in here as well, like ancient Egyptians. We like a bit of Egyptians. We like a bit of Egyptians. Anyway, let’s go in and have a look. Well, we’ve only just got in the museum and it’s very impressive already. The entrance as you walk in to the living planet bit. We’re not the only ones that have just walked in and gone, “Oh, wo heard another guy after us. He was walking into like a massive elephant and everything.” And then we’re now in this middle section which is all about Hrien’s wall which is obviously very locally significant to the area. Josh has already seen the tower of the T-Rex in the distance. We haven’t seen the full thing yet, but we have already bought a magnet of the T-Rex. I think he’s cool. I don’t know what we’re going to name him, but he is pretty cool. I think he should be called Hancock because it’s the name of the museum. This Hrien’s wall section is actually really cool. All of these artifacts were all discovered by archaeolog. Yeah. archaeologists around the wall site and it shows life on the wall, battles on the wall. It’s cool. Cool. Now, this would be a challenge for another time to walk the length of Hrien’s wall, east to west, all the way over to I’m guessing Carlilele somewhere down that way. Well, I was right. It did end somewhere near Carlile, but Bess on Sowway. Oh, I don’t know if that’s still there. Does that depict that it’s not there anymore? We could be walking into the ocean. Well, as you can see, Josh has found the T-Rex. Not that he’s difficult to find cuz he’s pretty big. He’s pretty big. It’s crazy to think something that big roam the Earth. Yeah, it is a full replica based on fossil discoveries from across time. That is what it would look like. That is what it’s like to come face to face with a T-Rex. Probably without the bad breath. I fit in his mouth. Now, we do love a set of fossilized dinosaur footprints. And we also love hunting them in the wild. Foot footprints. That is not dinosaurs. Yeah. No, we will try and do that again. And of course, there’s a massive ammonite taunting us from our time in Dorset with the Magic Geekdom and us not finding them. Comment down below. Should we all three of us try and do that again? We need I mean we’re not going to have to convince Cara very hard. She’s been talking about it ever since. We’re determined to get one. Even if it’s one that size, I think that one may be a little bit big. I’m not sure that stretch that far. Having that in your bag carrying it home. Exactly. [Music] Okay. There is two actual real mumm people in here. I can’t show you the one over there because it’s very graphic. It’s very graphic. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mummified person like that in a museum before. Really creepy. I’m also worried if I film it, we may get cursed. You are cursed. It is time to journey to the afterlife. My name is Louis and I am the god of our journey to the afterlife. He sounds fine. And you are going to the afterlife. Oh, I think it’s time. In you get in you get. Right. Next trip beyond the abyss of the cave. Why is there have to be snakes? Now it’s hot. It’s like being in the Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser. As well as dinosaurs, Hadrien’s wall, and ancient Egypt, there is plenty more to see, including this cute stuffed blue penguin, this creepy owl, a statue of two naked ancient Greek dudes wrestling, and this giant Roman foot. Well, that was a cracking museum. We were just saying that it was one of our favorite that we’ve been to recently because there’s only two floors in there. It’s not that big, but it’s absolutely packed of really interesting stuff to see. So, you don’t feel like you’ve got to spend hours and hours and then you still haven’t even seen half of the museum. I feel like there was a bit of everything that everyone would enjoy. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it was a a real mix of stuff. I’m going to get run over. But now that we know there are two real mummies in there, that place is definitely cursed and definitely haunted. Oh, imagine staying there overnight. that T-Rex is going to come to life as well because the curse is going to definitely stretch to it. So, we’ve we’ve made a sharpish exit. But, we have just walked along Kings Road South which goes through the grounds of Newcastle University and there’s some pretty impressive buildings along there. But, they’ve got a student open day today. So, it’s absolutely heaving with prospective students. But now, we’re going to go and see one of Newcastle’s iconic sites for some people. Hello, fella. Oh, sorry. I mean, my eye, man. This is Jordi’s one. Wow. And yes, before anybody says anything, I am fully aware that my Jordi accent is terrible. Now, whenever we go to a city in the UK that is home to a famous football club, we always get so many comments about why did you not show insert name of famous football ground here? Well, here we are. St. James’s Park, home of Newcastle United. And the truth is Josh loves football so much that if we went to every football stadium, I’d never get in my way. No. He’s not a football fan. I’ve never never I’ve tried it. No, I will take him to a game one day. I’ve actually been to a game inside St. James’s Park. Probably about 20 years ago. I I think if you actually dare, the atmosphere would be better. He wants a giant foam hand and a rattle. And I’m like, it’s not the ‘ 60s anymore. And a hot dog, even though that’s not British. No. And probably not very good. But there’s some sort of convention going on here today. We think it’s probably some sort of like gaming or some version of like a Comic-Con event because there’s some people dressed up in some really weird costumes. I wonder what Alan Sheeran and Bobby Robson as their statues are outside would make of that. I’m really intrigued. I just want to go be nosy. Anyway, I don’t know about you. I need a drink. I’m gasping. Away the lads. It’s Yeah, I don’t think that’s quite how you say it, but away. Oh, yeah. We can’t say away. Sorry. No, that’s something different. Now, we do love stumbling across a Chinatown when we’re in any city. Normally, because it means there’s some really good sweet treats around somewhere. But we’re not hungry at the minute. What we are, though, is thirsty. We see bubble tea. And I am hungry. Just to clarify. He’s always hungry. Yeah, I should have known better. But I do want a bubble tea. We could go there. Time for the stab your bubble tree challenge. How many times is it going to take you? 3 2 1 Oh, I am a pro now. You are a pro. I am a pro. You know this ain’t going to happen. Oh, professional. Well, we chose a place in the end called Bubble Char to go and get our milk tea from because we saw lots of other people coming out of it. So, we thought, “Oh, that’s a good sign. It must be good.” And then as soon as we set foot inside, we understood probably why there was a lot of people coming out of it because it was really cool decorated in there. They had like some form of trading card game stuck in the seats at the back and then they had some sort of manga type thing playing on the screen and I’m like, “Oh, all these people going to this convention at St. James’s Park. They’re going to love this.” Yeah. I mean, I I thought it was really cool. I felt like I wasn’t even in England. It was like you set foot straight into a different country all of a sudden. It was really nice. And the milk tea was really nice. We just went for our standard brown sugar milk tea as well, cuz it is one of our go-tos. However, we did notice they have got a new thing in there which is an iced coffee tapioca. I’m so intrigued. But we didn’t notice that until after we had ordered our drinks. That’s one for next time if we ever make it back here next time. But what’s really cool as well is that Chinatown is just inside a section of the old city wall that literally runs right along the back of it. So, it’s kind of weird. You kind of have this really historic piece of English history with the city wall and then the other side is Chinatown. Oh Josh, if we’ have walked a little bit further, we could have ended up in the Yum Meow Cat Cafe. [Music] Now, obviously, we couldn’t come to Newcastle and not visit what’s left of the castle that gave it its name in the first place. There’s no steps there. Well, you can go to the top of the castle key, which we will be doing. So, I’m sure there will be steps. Careful. This is the black gate. There would have been a port cullis there to drop down on your head and squish you. At least I would have to walk up the steps. Entry to the castle is £1250, and the self-guided tour starts in the Barbacan, where there is a small museum room to explore before heading off down the walkway and under the railway arches, where you will be greeted by the impressive sight of the Norman Castle Keep and 99 stairs to climb to the top. [Music] How did you enjoy the 99 steps to the top of the castle keep for the best view of Newcastle? I don’t know why, but my legs just don’t like it. And I did not know there was that many. I thought it was going to be one flight. Yeah. 99’s 99. I hate to break it to you as well. You haven’t quite made it to the top yet. That N. No. What? That my poor legs. Oh my god. How am I going to get down? [Music] Now, I’ve got to say that castle actually exceeded my expectations a little bit. Once you get inside the keep, it’s like an actual maze walking through all the passageways and everything. There was a funny moment though when we came to a balcony area that was set up a lot higher than Josh realized and he walked to the edge of it, looked over and he was going to make a comment and shout over the balcony and it probably freaked him out. It did. I mean I was trying to be funny and then I realized how high it was and I cracked my pants. Luckily, right opposite the cast Castle Keep is a pub that we’ve seen online that looks really interesting. It’s a really old pub. I think it’s one of Newcastle’s oldest. And I think you deserve a drink after that. Yeah. And we want to try a drink that again, going back to the Instagram thing, one of you guys recommended that we go try. Well, I don’t know you recommended it. I think you said we had to try it while we were in Newcastle. I don’t know that’s the same thing, but let’s go in and uh train. That’s a really loud train. Let’s go in and try one. It’s a Newcastle brown owl if you hadn’t guessed. or as they call it up here, a nookie brown. Yeah. It doesn’t sound nice, does it? No. So, we have our Newcastle brown ale and the barman told us to read the back before we drink it, which I did. And apparently, it’s known affectionately as dog because local Jordies would say, “I’m going to see a man about a dog.” And I had no idea that is where that saying come from. He’s also given us a half pint glass to pour it into his tri. He said it’s meant to come in a schooner, but they don’t have any schooners. I don’t know what that is. I just think back to Belfast when we tried Guinness for the first time and we got absolutely slaughtered by the locals that our first ever Guinness was a half pint that we tried and now we’ve been given a half pint glass. But I think it’s probably okay because we’ve got a full bottle of Newcastle Brown each. So I think we’re getting away with it here. Well, the first thing, it looks a lot lighter in color than I expected it to. And it smells like beer, which I guess you’d expect. Cheers. Oh, actually, that’s not bad at all. I expected to hate it. Exactly the same as I expected to hate Guinness. It’s actually quite pleasant. I’m not going to lie, I feel a bit You feel scriffy after that. I don’t to be fair, we haven’t eaten that much. We haven’t eaten that much and we don’t We’re not big drinkers and it was quite a big ale. Feel a bit Really cool pub though. Yeah, really nice. Wooden bar and everything going on in there. That’s why we went in there cuz it looked cool when we looked online. So, not disappointed. Anyway, we’re going to go catch a bus. Yeah, we’ve decided we’re going to do possibly the most touristy thing we could probably do in any city we ever visit. We get so many comments of people saying, “Oh, you should get the bus.” So, yeah, you should do a sightseeing bus. We’re going to do it and give it a go. Even though it’s blowing an absolute hulie, we’re going to sit upstairs. If I lose my hat, you guys owe me a hat. So, we have a slight change of plan because the next sightseeing bus doesn’t leave the train station for 45 minutes. So, we thought, let’s go and have a nosy around the cathedral. Bearing in mind it’s completely free to get in. Yep. It’s better than standing bus stop for 45 minutes. I’m not wasting time 45 minutes over there. We could be doing other stuff. And hopefully they’ll have a L we can use cuz that Newcastle brown owl, it’s making its way through. Look at that clock on the front of the cathedral. It’s really unusual for a cathedral clock. It’s almost like it’s an add-on. I’m almost expecting a little bird to pop out at some point and go coo. Also, I was really confused. That’s the second clock we’ve seen here. That is the wrong time. Maybe they don’t worry about time. Just do what you want when you want. True. And what we want to do right now is go in the cathedral and have a we I was going to say have a we [Music] now is it the most impressive cathedral you’re going to see? Absolutely not. But it’s still got everything we love about a cathedral in there, including some absolutely beautiful stained glass and a really I’m okay. And a really impressive set of pipe organs. Do they have toilets that you can use? Yes, they do. Most powerful hand dryers in the country, can I add? And do they have cake? Yes, they do. Yes, they do. Also, we came out of the back entrance of the cathedral and we stumbled across the vampire rabbit of Newcastle, which is this mysterious grotesque like gargoyle rabbit over a doorway. And I don’t think anyone really knows why it’s there, but it’s kind of cool looking. Um, anyway, bus tour. Let’s go. By the way, this cranberry and orange flatjack from the Cathedral Cafe is absolutely banging. Very moist. Now, this is really random. We’re walking back towards the train station to catch the bus and we’ve just noticed that this bar serves the vampire rabbit coffee and they’ve even got a vampire rabbit coffee sign in the window. You’re looking at cocktails. Oh well, I didn’t know if it would be on there as well. I don’t know. Squiffy on one brown owl and you’re looking at cocktails. Sorry to interrupt the adventure around Newcastle, but real quick, if you are enjoying exploring the city with us, drop down below, hit the subscribe button because you’re not going to want to miss what we’ve got coming up next, just 20 minutes down the road here in the city of Durham. It’s absolutely stunning. I mean, look at this place. So, we are on board a Toon Tours bus, which at the risk offfecting some locals, sounds a little bit like something out of Roger Rabbit. This isn’t something we’d normally do coming to a city, but as it was recommended, you’ll see the magnificent Hadrien’s Tower. Built in 2020, it stands at 83 m high, making it the tallest building in Newcastle. So, we thought, why the heck not give it a go? And maybe we’ll see something or learn something about Newcastle that we didn’t know before. Hopefully, we stay dry. Yeah. So, there’s some black clouds above us and I’m a bit like, we’ll be fine. And hopefully, we keep hold of our hats cuz it’s a bit blowy. kind of have to a bit of this kind of job. Hold the hat down. [Music] Well, toon tours completed it, mate. Not too bad. It was everything I expected it to be, though. Y we definitely saw some places we wouldn’t have seen otherwise, like the hip and trendy neighborhood of Oozeburn down by an offshoot of the riveroo. We also got to go over the swing bridge over the river Tine onto the Gates Head side of the river and then we got to come back driving over the iconic Tine Bridge. So, there’s a few things ticked off our bucket list. I also nearly got decapitated by several trees on the way round. That’s why I sat on the inner seat. Yeah, he was smart. And I also feel like I’ve got a face full of dust, which is a reminder why we don’t normally do those sort of tours cuz everything goes by so fast. I feel like you don’t get really time to really appreciate anything. But the ticket was only a tener each. Yeah. Which wasn’t bad. And we also did learn there is a bus you can get to the Angel of the North, which they said on there. And we weren’t going to do that. We wanted to, but we didn’t think we would have time. But apparently they run till midnight tonight. So we may later this evening journey up to the Angel of the North. But first need a we and something to eat. Sounds fair. I was also going to say that I really appreciate the fact that all of the commentary was in a thick Jordy accent. They were, weren’t they? Right. Food. We drink. Coffee. Coffee. Yeah. Oh, coffee. Well, good evening. As you can see, we are back in our hotel. It’s about an hour and a half after you last saw us because we had a little bit of a fail. We headed into Granger Market, which is like a massive indoor market full of independent traders, hoping to find some food and grab a coffee from a place called Pumpre. Google told us it was open until 5. It wasn’t. So, here we are. Luckily, we have a plan B. We have a plan B. I have a plan B. But first, we’re going to take a bus to the Angel of the North. We made our way through the city center, past the monument to El Grey, you know, the tea guy, and on to Elden Square bus station, Stan G for the aptly named Angel 21 service. Grabbed two adult returns for a fiverr each, and in no time at all, we were on board one of Newcastle’s finest carriages, heading over the highle bridge towards the Angel of the North. Just 25 minutes later, here we are. [Music] It’s quite big, isn’t it? It’s bloody big. In fact, it’s 20 m big with a very impressive wingspan of 54 m and it’s seen by 33 million people every year. There’s been a few signs here today in Newcastle that we are definitely getting older. The first is that we started liking ale. The second is that we were two of only eight people on top of a sightseeing bus. The other six had an average age of around 67. And one lady even had a headscarf on to protect her perm from the wind. Yep. And we had hats on to protect our no perm. The third is that we’ve come to Newcastle, a city famous for its night life, and we’ve chose to spend our evening here. I’m not sad about it, but I think it’s time to liven things up a little bit and enact that plan B I spoke about. Welcome to the Motel Mexicana. I [Music] It’s Friday night and it’s two for one cocktails. This could be dangerous. Shockingly, despite our love of coffee, we’ve never tried an espresso martini before until now. I mean, it smells really strong, but I’m really curious. Oh, I love that. Absolutely love that. That is really sweet. I was expecting to be really spirity, but it’s not. It’s just like a ice latte with a bit of booze. [Music] Maybe we are getting old. [Music]