5 Essentials: what and do in Seattle in one day

In our road trip through the United States, today was a day of “only” 330 kilometers.

We left Portland bound for Seattle, and as is usual in recent days and in the coming days, the landscapes captivate our attention.

Huge forests, mountains and lakes dominate everything around us. Everything big, immense, clean and cared for. Eternal.

We spent the entire morning on the road until noon, when we finally arrived at Seattle.

But before we head to the center downtown from the city, we decided to see the company headquarters Microsoft in Redmond, about 20 miles from downtown Seattle.

We parked the car in the visitor parking lot. Microsoft and we went to reception to ask if we could visit the offices.

The answer was that, obviously, not, and the receptionist looked at me with a very surprised face, as if wondering if I was crazy, on drugs or drunk. Anyway, we had to try it.

After so many years with a computer screen in front of me with the anagrams of Microsoft and Windows, had to be seen. It was a hobby of mine.

Not being able to enter, we decided to walk around the outside of the buildings. There were about 10 buildings, at least five stories each. Nobody with a tie and we could see from the outside the indications of what each building housed.

After 20 minutes of wandering around, we headed towards downtown Seattle.

What the city of Seattle is like

Seattle It is the largest city in washington state (not to be confused with “Washington District of Columbia” or “Washington DC” at the other end of the country, which is the capital of the United States and which we visited at the beginning of this trip).

The metropolitan area of ​​the city includes the whole Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue.

The city is located between the lake washington and the bay known as Puget Sound, Along the Pacific Ocean.

It is located 155 kilometers south of the border with Canada, and is an important cultural, educational and economic center of the region and the country.

It has a population of around 600,000 inhabitants.

The denomination of Seattle is an Anglo-Saxon interpretation of the name Ce-Atl of the chief of the local native Indian tribes.

Seattle It is also known as “Gateway to Alaska” (The Gate to Alaska), “Rain City” (The City of Rain) and “Jet City“, due to the influence of the multinational Boeing, originally and founded in the city.

This city is also reputed to be the homeland of the grunge music, which is called the sound of seattle, and bands that promoted that movement in the early 90s such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden y Alice in Chains.

As a curiosity. Seattle It is the hometown of the famous rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

It is also famous for the large amount of coffee consumed, in addition to the fact that coffee chains such as Starbucks and others less known in our country.

The best things to see and do when visiting Seattle for tourism

The symbol and greatest tourist attraction of the city is the Space needle (Space Needle), a telecommunications tower built in 1962 in the city center and inspired by the tower in Stuttgart, Germany.

It is a structure 184 meters high.

Public Market Center in Seattle

After parking the car, we walked around the entire center downtown from seattle, touring the fantastic Pike Place Market, better known as Public Market Center, where we have eaten in a buffet lines very nice with sea views.

We have visited the market and its surroundings, where we can see the wealth of the city, the civilized nature of human behavior and the various shops. delicatessen.

The Chinese flower shops are especially worth highlighting.

Using flowers with really bright colors, they make truly exceptional bouquets for their color and presentation.

We took several photos of these flower stands that really impressed us.

Space Needle tower in Seattle

During the rest of the walk through the city we enjoyed a long coffee in a Starbucks, we have seen the monorail, and also the aforementioned Space Needle communications tower, which we decided to go up the next day.

Here we tell you about our experience climb the Seattle Space Needle.

After tower visit, we walked through the parks and gardens that surround it, where you can see various sculptures, configuring a well-kept fairground, where also several exhibition palaces with original and futuristic shapes.

Seattle Monorail Train

We stopped for a while next to a huge fountain-spout, whose interior you can access, and where there were many children playing and getting wet with the hot water that emanated from the fountain.

We could also see the monorail elevated running and full of tourists. We don't ride.

Pioneers Square in Seattle

After taking the car again and parking it closer to the downtown, we took a long walk through various places in the city, including Pioneer Square and square that honors the Indian chief Seattle.

Seattle is a city ​​with sculptures on the street, many flowers, bars and restaurants with outdoor terraces, well organized, New York type taxis and several limousines circulating.

As the city of origin of Starbucks, we see quite a few coffees from this chain.

We decided to return to Public Market, where we had been the day before, which was very lively.

We toured the entire market again, to admire the Chinese flower shops again, and to listen to singer-songwriters and some group of gospel.

In one of the largest fishmongers in the market we saw a crowd of people and we approached to see what was happening.

It was funny because there was a lady buying a fish at one end of the fish market and the clerk, once the piece had been selected, threw it hard through the air to another receiving clerk located about 8 meters away, next to the box, as if It was an American football play.

This receiver, with a piece of paper in his hand, received the fish in mid-flight, instantly wrapping it in the paper. Fun. This happened every time someone bought a fish.

After eating at the same bar buffet lines from the previous day and resting for a while lying on the grass of the market gardens, we headed to look for the car to travel the 200 kilometers that would take us to Vancouver in Canada.

We leave Seattle with the feeling that it is a pleasant city to live in, rich, varied in ethnicities and races, and with many cultural activities.

It is a city with very lively streets, as in Portland y San Francisco, and unlike Dallas, Yellow y PhoenixFor example, they were calmer.

At tour to vancouver, the landscape again incredible. And now in Canada, more of the same in terms of landscapes.

We headed directly to the motel located about 25 kilometers from the center of Vancouver, where we were going to stay a whopping 3 nights in a row, it was like a miracle!!

Seattle Pictures

Here you have more photos of our visit to seattle, in the northwest of the United States.