VIVA City Breaks – Newcastle The Angel City Of The North

VIVA Ems | 16th February 2018

Newcastle photo by Elsepeth Mary Moore

As a Southerner I’ve lived up North in Manchester for ten years now, and it’s safe to say I have been absolutely rubbish stepping outside this great city that I love, and exploring other northern sister cities. So as one of my New Year’s resolutions I’ve decided to make tracks around the North with some VIVA city break reviews starting with the Geordie land of Newcastle.

Newcastle is famous for it’s football team Newcastle United F.C, St James Park is one of the oldest football stadiums in the UK.

This city is also known for the reality TV show Geordie Shore, Newcastle Brown Ale aka Newkie Brown, singer Cheryl Cole who was crowned ‘World Sexiest Woman’ in 2009 and 2010, TV presenters Ant & Dec and Mr. Bean, yup Rowan Atkinson is a Geordie, as well as its high flying nightlife and its saying; Whey Aye Man.

But Newcastle is not just all about the glamorous lives of footballers, celebrities, and going out on the town, this city has some incredible landmarks, culture and history.

Newcastle train station photo by Elsepeth Mary Moore

Newcastle is believed to be the coldest major city in England, but this doesn’t stop our oversea friends visiting, as Newcastle was ranked the 15th UK city most visited by visitors from around the world, plus it has one of the best Universities in the world, according to QS World 2016 university rankings, and has the best student nightlife in the UK which Cyrus, our food editor Chadders’ son can vouch for, he’s told me all sorts of stories which are best kept out of this feature haha!

Newcastle has seven spectacular bridges crossing the River Tyne and all within half a mile of each other. The Tyne Bridge is said to have inspired the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia; the High Level Bridge was the first in the world to combine road and rail; the Swing Bride pioneered the use of hydroelectric power; and The Millennium Bridge, nicknamed ‘the blinking eye’ was the world’s first bridge to pivot sideways in order to allow boats through.

Sage Gateshead photo by Elsepeth Mary Moore

Another gem is the Sage Gateshead located on Gateshead Quays, which is a concert venue and a centre for musical education. Sage Gateshead has hosted concerts from a wide range of internationally famous artists including Blondie, James Brown, De La Soul and Morrissey, just to name a few, and I was told by one of my Geordie friends that this venue has the best sound systems he’s ever heard, the ceiling blocks seem to bounce up and down with the music.

This stunning contemporary music venue is located in Gateshead on the south bank of the River Tyne nearly opposite the Malmaison hotel where myself and my fellow VIVA Girl, Elspeth were staying for the duration of our city break trip.

I have always been a big fan of the Malmaison Hotel brand; its cool, stylish, fun and friendly. Newcastle like to label it as the hippest hotel in town, and with 122 luxurious rooms, Malmaison pride themselves on special standards and sublime suites, and yes we were more than happy with our chateau suites over looking the River Tyne.

Our room facilities include; free WIFI, flat screen plasma TV, hairdryer, ironing board, same-day laundry, kettle, desk, 24hr room service, mini-bar, robes and slippers.

Malmaison photo by Elsepeth Mary Moore

After our long drive from Manchester we chilled out in our suites for a little while, and I must say, my bed was extremely comfortable. Once relaxed it was a struggle to get moving again to take a shower for the night ahead, but eventually I did and then met Elspeth down at the Chez Mal Bar for a few cheeky cocktails before heading out to meet up with some of our Newcastle friends.

Chez Mal Bar has an outstanding list of classic and quirky cocktails, plus a unique and wide range of craft beers and wines. The vibe of the bar feels chilled, relaxed and sociable, but with a hint of that glint a party animal gets in their eyes when it turns midnight!

Although we would have loved to stay longer in Chez Mal Bar drinking our way through the cocktail menu it was time to hit town! We headed just ten minutes walking distance along the beautiful bank of the River Tyne, which was all lit by The Millennium Bridge, to the finest Italian restaurant in Newcastle called Sambuca!

So popular is Sambuca in Newcastle, it has four locations; Forest Hall, Tyne Tunnel, Cassia, and the one we ventured to; The Quayside, as well as locations outside Newcastle which include Sunderland and Benidorm amount others.

Sambuca restaurant photo by Elsepeth Mary Moore

It was one of our good friends’ birthdays and the team at Sambuca really laid it on for us with some of the freshest meat and fish I’d had in ages as well as pizzas, chicken for Elspeth, and some delightful puddings. We were also highly entertained by the sombrero wearing, ukulele playing music man who serenaded us with some of our favourite pop hits whist we drank a truckload of sambuca!

Our Geordie friends then took us on a bit of a bar crawl around Newcastle, hitting the likes of Passing Clouds, The Botanist, No.28 and, now our favourite Newcastle hotspot; Colonel Porter’s with the hidden Archie’s Lab. I was generally surprised at how busy it was for a Tuesday night, but as I mentioned before Newcastle has one of the best student nightlife’s, and I guess it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is for these young ravers!

Colonel Porters photo by Elsepeth Mary Moore

It was morning and unfortunately due to all the traveling, the late night and how comfy the Malmaison beds are, we over slept and missed breakfast in Chez Mal Brasserie. I have eaten a fair few times at the Chez Mal Brasserie in Manchester and the A La Carte menu is superb. I can highly recommend the Seared Cornish scallop & crab risotto as well as the Chez Mal burger, oh and you must try the Truffle & Parmesan pommes frites as an accessory!

We did however pop our heads into the spa to see what it had to offer. Oozing the Zen vibes, Mal offers spa day relaxing and pampering packages, body treatments and spa grooming, not just for the girls but for the male species too. The spa also hosts a small but perfectly formed Gymtonic gym which is fully kitted out with running machines and free weights.

Catpawcino photo by Elsepeth Mary Moore

We took one last little walk along the River Tyne before heading home and came across a rather bizarre cafe, which saw lots of cats walking round! Welcome to CatPawCino. This cute little cafe provides a refuge in the city where you can relax with seven resident cafe kitties and rescue cats from Friendz Feline. It was a great way to spend our last hour in Newcastle!

On route driving out of this beautiful city we stopped by Newcastle’s most popular landmark the Angel of the North. This stunning statue by Anthony Gormley was decreed an official ‘English Icon’ by the government in 2016.