Liverpool, England, seen from the waters of the River Mersey

© Alan Novelli/Alamy

Liverpool, England, seen from the waters of the River Mersey

We approach Liverpool by the River Mersey. And to hear natives of Liverpool tell it, the Mersey is the only river that matters. The Mersey helped build Liverpool into a powerful port city during the 19th century as industrialisation really took hold. Today you may know Liverpool by some of the famous musicians – Beatles, cough – that got their start in a city once called ‘the New York of Europe’.