Seattle is a beautiful city nestled between the ocean and snow capped mountains.
I will tell you a about each of these places in several articles.
The places a lot of people have heard about: The Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, Seattle Aquarium, The Underground, University of Washington, The Monorail, Pacific Science Center, Woodland Park Zoo, the Original Starbucks and the Great Seattle Wheel.
Lesser known but still popular: the Music Project building, Seattle Art Museum, Uwajimaya, the International District, Volunteer Park, Gas Works Park, The Arboretum, the Ballard Locks and Ship Canal, Green Lake, Alki Beach, Boeing Museum of Flight, Tillicum Village, the Houseboats on Lake Union, the West Point Lighthouse, and the piers along Alaska Way.
The Space Needle
Seattle Center
400 Broad Street
Seattle, WA 98109
Open 365 days a year
Addmition: Adults $24.00 Child $15.00
Driving Directions: From I-5, take exit 167
The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. It was designed to look like a flying saucer. It has a rotation restaurant at 500 feet. If you leave your purse on the window sill, it will come back around to you in about 45 minutes. The observation deck is at 520 feet and includes a gift shop and restrooms. It’s a fantastic way to get an overview of the city, see the mountains that surround Seattle and Elliot Bay with all of it’s boat traffic.
Pike Place Market
From 1st Ave. and Pike St. to 1st Ave. and Pine St.
Open 7 days a week, 362 days a year.
Public Market Parking Garage
1531 Western Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
Pike Place Market was established in 1907. The Market has several levels and takes up about nine acres. There are way too many places to list so I have included this website to look through, but be warned, you can spend hours looking through this directory because it is so much fun. http://pikeplacemarket.herokuapp.com/directory
It’s even more fun being there. Bakeries and flower vendors make it smell amazing. The fish market has it’s famous fish throwing to watch, and scattered around there are street musicians playing sweet music and street magicians entertaining anyone who wants to stop and watch.
Pioneer Square
Several blocks south of Pike Place Market. This is where the original Seattle was built in the 1850’s. A huge fire destroyed the wood buildings in 1889. The buildings that were built in the 1890’s were made of stone and brick. Over time the street level kept rising so that now the main floor of most of the buildings are actually the second floor of the buildings. More on that next under The Undergound.
Seattle Aquarium
1483 Alaskan Way, Pier 59
Seattle, WA 98101-2015
Open 9:30am to 5pm daily
Seattle Aquarium fees: Ages 13 and over – $21.95
Ages 4 to 12 – $14.95
Three and under – Free
The aquarium has a 120,000-gallon tank with more than 800 fish and invertebrates indigenous to the Pacific Northwest’s local waters. The main viewing window is a huge 20×40 feet area. Divers go into the water three times a day: at 10am, 11:30am and 12:15pm. They wear special masks that let them talk back and forth with Aquarium interpreters on the outside of the tank and answer questions from the audience.
There is also an undersea dome with a 360º view into a 400,000 gallon tank filled with hundreds of fish including Salmon and Sharks. Fish feeding happens daily at 1:30pm.
Best place to park is the Public Market Parking Garage at 1531 Western Ave, Seattle, WA 98101.
The Underground and Seattle Underground Tour
Because the original streets of the area of Pioneer Square flooded quite often during the early days of Seattle, city leaders decided to raise the street level after the 1889 fire. To do this, they built concrete walls that formed narrow alleyways between the walls and the buildings on both sides of the street, they filled the area where the street was with dirt and rock. Pedestrians climbed ladders to go between street level and the sidewalks in front of the buildings. Eventually they paved the streets and covered the sidewalks with pavement and skylights. This turned to original sidewalks into tunnels.
In 1907 the city condemned the underground area, which were now basements. Over the years the areas were left to deteriorate or were used as storage. This area was also being used by prostitutes, gambling halls, speakeasies, and opium dens.
In 1965 a man named Bill Speidel established “Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour” and took customers on a tour of what was left underneath Pioneer Square. Over the years the tour has become very popular. The underground areas have been continually renovated to be safer and more visually appealing. The tour remains a popular attraction for visitors and locals alike.
Meet for the tour at 608 First Ave, in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, between Cherry Street and Yesler Way.
The tour lasts for 75 minutes. Tickets cost:
$17 Adult (18-59 yrs)
$14 Senior (60+ yrs)
$14 Student (13-17 yrs or with valid college ID)
$9 Child (7 –12 yrs)
Kids 6 and under are admitted free, but may find the 75-minute tour challenging.
More On Seattle Part Two has information on:
The Pacific Science Center
University of Washington
The Monorail
Woodland Park Zoo
The Music Project
Seattle Art Museum
Uwajimaya
The International District
More On Seattle Part Three has information on:
Volunteer Park
Gas Works Park
The Arboretum
The Ballard Locks and Ship Canal
Green Lake
Alki Beach
Boeing Museum of Flight
Tillicum Village
The Houseboats on Lake Union
Wandering Iris 