Belfast

 

Hi y'a (common greeting from people in Belfast).  We arrived in Belfast in the middle of the afternoon after over 24 hours of travelling.  We had ridden on 2 busses, flown on 3 airplanes and experienced a very long layover in Johannesburg to get here from Victoria Falls.  Wandering into our new hotel room was a relief.  We had a couple of things we needed to accomplish that evening:  unpack, start washing clothes and find some food (no food service at the hotel).  Oh, and one other important thing:  chill and relax after our busy couple of weeks in South Africa.  We did get the first load of laundry done and then went out for food.  We were aiming for a nearby Marks and Spencer (a department store with good grocery store we first used in England) to pick up something to heat up in our little kitchenette.  Oops we got turned around and showed up right after they closed.  Along the way we went past a restaurant that smelled good and I suddenly was hungry.  We ate there, right?  Wrong. We had not yet showered and felt grubby so ashamed to say we got takeout from the nearby McDonalds with a promise to eat better tomorrow.

One reason we missed closing time at M&S was it was still broad daylight.   We had been in South Africa (same time zone) where sunset was about 5:30 pm.  In Belfast sunset is a little after 10 pm.  Sunrise at 4:50 am.  

Next morning more breakfast and laundry and then we headed out for the food tour we had booked.  It was close to where we got turned around the night before, so we knew where we were going to join it.  The food tour entourage was our guide and a couple from Scotland.  The guide was very nice and knowledgeable but both of us had trouble with his accent at times.  Belfast's city hall is a large building and rather ornate and just over 100 years old.  Belfast had become a city versus a town a few years before and thus now had the right to build a proper city hall versus a town hall.  Our tour started in front of one of the gates to the city hall.  The guide told us some things about city hall and then we started down the block to our first stop. 

city hall

Daisies was the first stop; I plan on going back.  Funny thing if he had not taken us there, we would not have gone there.  It is in one of the few Georgian style buildings in the city and down the stairs (basement) across from a tattoo parlor.  Truth be told Daisies has wonderful hot chocolate and cannoli.  Daisies was started by a lady who had been in finance but took some classes on making chocolate.  She learned well.  We had a small cup of hot chocolate and a cannoli.  Cannoli because there are a lot of Italians in Belfast.  The ricotta cream and the shells are authentic Italian as in shipped in for the store.  In addition to hot chocolate, they have some pastries and what I thought were malted milk balls.  Wrong they are chocolate coated liqueur balls.  Each ball contained half a shot of liqueur and the owner bragged about how you can take them places where you can't take liquids or alcohol.  Also, the limoncello one I had was quite nice.  After that it was time to head out to our next stop.

After a short walk we were in front of a small store; seems it has been around for 100 years and in addition to clothing and items they make they have a small cafe upstairs.  Up we went where we had some wonderful homemade bread (Irish Wheaten), Irish tea and some mild sausages from a local meat market.  It was nice and the shop was enticing.  Matter of fact, the next day Jeff and I went back to the shop (Avoca) for lunch and I suspect I'll go back again and buy a pair of socks.  Although truth be told I'm cold here and keep eyeing their nice warm mohair throws too.  After that we walked around a little bit more and went to Sawers delicatessen.  Our guide shared that the White House orders some deli products from this very store and deli.  We had some wonderful cheese, ham, salmon on bread and a couple of nice jams such as Irish Black Butter which tastes a lot like homemade apple butter.  We also had some Spanish white wine with it.  We walked around a little more and saw the shortest street in Belfast.  We also saw some artwork along the way.

look closely, the white walled portion is a street the rest is not.

unofficially the onion rings; officially the Spirit of Belfast

From there we wandered a little bit till we found Kelly's Cellars (a cellar serves alcohol and food versus a tavern that only serves alcohol).  The place first opened in 1720 so I think it’s going to make it.  Here we had a small serving of Irish Stew which used to include mutton (lamb) but now has beef, some bread and butter and a half pint of Guiness.  I was surprised to get Guiness here since it is a Dublin brand but our guide and the man from Scotland got into a discussion of how well Guiness travels (it doesn't).

inside Kelly's Cellars

From there we stopped at a takeaway place (Mourne Seafood Bar and Restaurant) and got local oysters.  I think they are bigger than the ones grown in Fort Morgan and yes these were farmed.  The one I had also seemed brinier than the raw ones I remember in AL.

A nice street mural - this is a chef that an Australian was impressed with and did this mural for him

Albert Memorial Clock near waterfront
Leans to  the right

Another good street mural - done in 1 night

notice the hanging umbrellas

We wandered towards the waterfront and pointed out the 2 large shipbuilding gantry cranes Samson and Goliath which are part of the H and W shipyards.  Shipyards are big here and have been for hundreds of years. Then we walked into the The Dark Horse which he called a European style coffee bar.  Here we could have an irish coffee or a whiskey or a cider.  Jeff chose the whiskey which he said was nice while I had the cider.  The cider was good but to my surprise I got the whole bottle which was a good size and I was unable to finish after everything else we had during the tour.  We hung around for a little bit talking with the other couple before we walked back towards our hotel.  This time we did stop at Marks and Spencer before they closed and picked up a light dinner and stuff for breakfast.  One thing that I noticed our guide said a lot and seemed odd to me at the time was how the people of Belfast were friendly and nice people.  That would take on new meanings after a tour tomorrow.

 Bar inside the Dark Horse

outside courtyard of the Dark Horse with artwork

We had read in a couple of places that the black cab tours were excellent especially their political murals tour.  We were able to book a tour for the 2 of us in a London black cab for a 1 1/2 hour tour.  We grew up during the troubles, but there is so much more to it than either of us realized.  Matter of fact to this day, there are people who will not go into the other's side/area be it the Catholic or Protestant side.  Yes, to this day there is still an undercurrent of trouble and of hatred which made the comments from the previous day's guide's comment strike home.  Many in Belfast want it over but some are still living the unrest.  One thing we learned yesterday is that full size wall murals are a thing here in Belfast.  Yesterday they were mostly apolitical and outsiders doing it.  Today we were in the Shankill and Falls Road neighborhoods where all of the wall murals are menacing and have political meaning.  They might be memorials to a "war" hero or to the average folks caught in the crossfires or you may find an automatic weapon aimed at you.  Let it be known that the paramilitary groups are still strong and to some extent controlling in this part of town. Our guide was a Catholic who married a protestant.  They dated for 5 years before they got married in Canada.  He was an older man, so I am not sure how they survived the "troubles" as a mixed couple.  We also saw the wall that was built and still stands.  It is a little over 6 miles long and has gates they used to lock on the weekends and at night.  The wall is the backyard for some houses on the Catholic side and for Protestants it is across the street from their houses or their view from their front windows.  The Catholic houses have a backyard of just a couple of feet before the wall.  This wall is TALL.  They made it taller over time to stop the incendiary bombs being thrown over.  He also talked about how it all started.  I always wondered why England doesn't just leave the island of Ireland completely.  Well actually they did start to back in the around 1912 and the English nationalists in Northern Ireland went berserk so Britain stayed.  According to our guide the British Nationalists were always picking on the Catholics.  That went on until someone on the Catholic side had enough which was the day in 1969 when all the troubles began.  The fighters for each side became well trained milita.  On the protestant side many recieved training from the British military at a nearby camp.  Menwhile the Catholic militia received funding from overseas (heavily American) and went to Libya to be trained by Ghadify's  army.  Having just been at the apartheid museum in South Africa that caught our eye because the South Africa military during apartheid also got training from Libya.  So no real victims here just lots and lots of animosity which is still alive only softened or under the surface.

Rubber bullets were used against protestors.
While intended for below the waist, one women was killed when one struck her head.

Europa Hotel bombed 33 times during the troubles
Guests were predominantly Journalists and Politicians

Later in the day we did a tour of the city hall which is amazing inside.  It has several types of marble and many impressive rooms including a ballroom which was hit by the Germans during WWII.  We saw the robes that their Lord Mayor, city council members and some other key leaders wear for ceremonial purposes.   We sat in their city chambers, and we were awed by the beauty of the building.

city chambers

city chambers

room rebuilt after German bombed it

Time for a hop on hop off bus tour and the Titanic Museum.  The museum has been recommended by every tour guide we have encountered as really good and a must see.  We got on the first bus of the day and were able to get undercover upfront.  Only bad thing was our ticket for the Titanic Museum meant we only got to ride through 5 stops before we lost our great seats.

Titanic Museum

The Titanic Museum would live up to the hype - we were there for over 2 hours.  It was opened in 2012 so very modern.  It is a white star shaped building to represent the White Star ship line that owned the Titanic.  It is quite tall, and the museum has you working your way down then up and finally down again as you learn about the design, making and sailing of the ship. The story begins however, with what life  was like  in Belfast  at the time.  Women and children working in the linen mills for meager wages. The Titanic and its 2 sister ships were so much larger than other ships of the time period that new dry docks and even ports were built specifically for them.  There are recreated stories from men who helped build it and you learn how they did build it.  You meander a lot in this museum very few straight lines.  You ride an elevator that makes you think of a bucket hoist, you ride in a car for a moving description of the docks, you see many memorabilia from the day it was christened to items recovered from the ship.  At the end you go through an exhibit that talks about the international inquiries and commissions to ensure such tragedies are not repeated.  There is even an area that talks about the discovery of the ship on the seafloor back in 1985.  We each enjoyed different portions of the museum more.  Oh, the museum is built in the area of the old shipyards, and they point out to you at one point that looking out the nearby window you see the exact area where Titanic was built.  After we were done at the museum, we went to the nearby Titanic Hotel and had lunch in their drawing room.  Drawing room as this building originally was the headquarters of the company that built the ship and the drawers/engineers had rooms with huge windows for bright light and this room was almost atrium like.

top left looking down into the water for the shipwreck, bottom left, as Titanic left the shipyard (no engines yet), right a violin that was being played as the ship went down

Time to hop back on the hop on hop off bus.  It is full now and we start out downstairs.  We go past a university (Queen's University) - pretty buildings.  We move to the upstairs - it's cold and windy but we stay for the rest of the route.  We missed the stop for the botanical gardens, or we would have gone wandering through them.  We drive around the Catholic and Protestant areas from the troubles and learn that the "wall" I was referencing above is called the peace wall.  The bus says it is now the largest open-air art in the world.  Jeff and I both agree very glad we did the cab tour the day before.  Make it back to city hall where the busses originate and bee line for our hotel room so we can warm up!!  After warming up we head out in search of food for dinner.  We are cooking tonight.  We want to drink one of our bottles of wine from South Africa (well tonight and tomorrow) and we want to enjoy a favorite dish from Marks and Spencer since the stores are only in Northern Ireland.

The next morning, we head to a weekend only market - St George's Market.  It is in an old building and has a mixture of fresh and ready to eat food and stalls of crafts and miscellaneous stuff to buy.  We wander for a while, but it is too early to eat so we left before lunch.  I did however buy a small coin purse.  We would end up in a modern-day shopping mall and go up top to see the view and had hoped to see the bees but no luck there.  The bees are not accepting visitors.

St George Market

Game of Thrones Studio Tour

Jeff here, I am a fan of Game of Thrones.  Since Carol isn’t a fan, I headed off to visit Linen Mill Studios where much of the work was done.   The show’s two creators met in Dublin, so they didn’t travel far to find people to create their vision.  The story of what it took to create the sets, costumes and special effects was very impressive.  

Iconic throne in top left