how to be a tourist in pittsburgh

I’m not going to lie to you. There’s not much. At least not in the two half days that I experienced it. There’s the Duquesne Incline, the Strip District, and the Church Brew Works. But I think that pretty much sums it up.

Duquesne Incline – is an inclined plane railroad that goes up Mount Washington. It was originally used to carry cargo, but was later on used to carry passengers as they didn’t feel like making that 400-feet hike. Open 365 days a year (Monday – Saturday 5:30 am to 12:45 am and Sundays & Holidays 7:00 am to 12:45 am), it’ll cost you $2.50 each way. This is probably the best way to get a view of Pittsburgh, though I only got to ride the railway at nighttime. I’m sure you’d see a lot more if you go during the daytime. There’s also the Monongahela Incline but that was closed at the time of my visit.

Duquesne Incline 5
Duquesne Incline station
Duquesne Incline 17
View from the top!
Duquesne Incline 19
And now we’re back down!
Monterrey Bay Fish Grotto 17
Another way to catch a great view of Pittsburgh is the Monterrey Fish Grotto (plus they have great seafood!)

Strip District – here, you’ll find a plethora of bars, restaurants, grocery stores, specialty shops, and stores selling Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins memorabilia. In fact, that’s all you’ll find. It’s also where the original Primanti Brothers is located (which by the way is really not that good, despite how much they paid the Travel Channel to sell it).

Primanti Bros 11
Primanti Bros.
Primanti Bros 7
Pastrami and cheese

Church Brew Works – ahhh, beer. This was probably my favorite part of the Steel City (not that I had that many to choose from). Originally known as St. John the Baptist Church, this Roman Catholic Church was built in 1902. It closed its doors in 1993 and when it reopened, it revealed itself as a brewery in 1996. While their beer is not particularly good, Church Brew Works is still worth the trip. A church-turned-brewery is definitely a sight to behold.

Church Brew Works 3
Church Brew Works
Church Brew Works 10
The pews
Church Brew Works 20
Check out the stained-glass windows

Church Brew Works 29

3 thoughts on “how to be a tourist in pittsburgh

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s