According to timedictionary, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has one of the most beautiful access routes of all cities in the United States. From Pittsburgh International Airport, Highway 376 takes you through the Fort Pitt Tunnel to Pittsburgh. When you leave the tunnel you suddenly have a beautiful view of the Golden Triangle or downtown Pittsburgh from the highway. The first thing you notice are the bridges. Pittsburgh has no fewer than 446 bridges. The ones that connect downtown with the other neighborhoods are almost all yellow in color. Or rather Aztec Gold, together with black the official colors of Pittsburg. The combination is derived from the stripes on the uniform of the city’s namesake: William Pitt, the Briton who liberated Fort Duquesne from the French during the Seven Years’ War. French Fort Duquesne was destroyed and replaced by Fort Pitt in 1758.
Steel city
Pittsburgh was known for years as a steel city, an image that they are finally losing here after years. There was once a time when office workers working in The Golden Triangle brought an extra shirt to the office because the air was full of iron dust and the white shirts were already gray by lunchtime.
“That time is now far behind us.” Speaking is Chris Balouris. Chris grew up in 1970s Pittsburgh. His parents were immigrants from Greece and his father worked in a steel mill. When the steel industry slowly disappeared, the family had to look for another source of income and opened a shop selling Greek meals. ‘With an emphasis on healthy’, says Chris. ‘Nowadays Salonika, as the store is called, is part of various food tours and we can tell our story to tourists from all over the world’, Chris says proudly. Salonika is located in the popular Lawrenceville neighborhood, one of Pittsburgh’s ninety neighborhoods. Lawrenceville is one of the oldest neighborhoods and the second oldest neighborhood in Pittsburgh after Old Town.
Proudly
Newer is PNC Park, the baseball stadium of the Pittsburgh Pirates on the banks of the Allegheny River. The stadium is named after the company PNC Financial Services that bought the right to associate its name with the stadium in 1998. PNC Park opened its doors on March 31, 2001. One of the four sides of the stadium has been left completely open so that as a spectator has a beautiful view of the skyline of downtown Pittsburgh. When the Pittsburgh Pirates hit a home run, a short firework display immediately follows on the open side. In this way, the entire city is immediately informed of this sporting achievement. Only in Pittsburgh…
Near PNC Stadium is The Andy Warhol Museum. The world famous artist grew up in Pittsburgh, in the Oakland Area to be exact. Warhol also has its own bridge: from the museum you can quickly walk to downtown Pittsburgh via the Andy Warhol Bridge. The Andy Warhol Bridge is one of the so-called Three Sisters, three adjacent suspension bridges spanning the Allegheny River. The Three Sisters were the first so-called suspension bridges in the United States and were built between 1924 and 1928. Their combination is unique because all three are identical.
Almost Famous
A nice piece of history is the story behind Primanti Bros. Pittsburgh has traditionally been a working class city. In 1933, Joe Primanti started a sandwich shop in the Strip District near Penn Avenue—nowadays a nice shopping street—selling sandwiches that contained “everything a worker needs during a hard day’s work.” His shop was open from 3 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The sandwich included potatoes, coleslaw, cheese and tomato. The ‘Almost Famous’ sandwich is sold to this day. In fact, the sandwich became so popular that Primanti Bros now has 11 locations in Pittsburgh and several more in other Pennsylvania cities. When visiting Pittsburgh you should try the sandwich. You can do it all day long!
Miners
From the Mount Washington neighborhood, south of downtown Pittsburgh, you have a beautiful view of the city. Extra fun is the way to get there. You do this with the Duquesne Incline, a train that takes visitors up the steep rock face towards Mount Washington. Mount Washington used to be known as Coal Hill and the Duquesne Incline was once built to transport miners. The mines are long gone. Today, Mount Washington is home to a few restaurants with great views of the city. When you eat here, you’re hoping for a home run by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nowhere can the fireworks be admired as well as here.
