The Belfast dAIry

Belfast is not big and not very old either. Yet you can spend a couple of days with much left to be seen. The city has five quarters, not four. And it seemed to me that each quarter is different in so many different ways! The city has drawn out a few "trails". You can find them at any tourist information centre marked out on the map.

The City Hall is by far the most impressive point in Belfast. A massive structure, it has glorious internal design as well. Some of the windows have been commissioned to depict glass paintings telling us of incidents in the history of Northern Ireland. The lawns are dotted with weird cement cows but unlike in Milton Keyes these actually depict people and ideas.


You will find a lot of interesting architecture and stories on the City of Merchants Trail including Belfast's very own leaning tower!



And the other thing that Belfast is proud of is building the Titanic. The largest ship ever built, and it sank. I read in somewhere that it is fascinating how much Belfast talks about Titanic but not all the great ships that it made that did not sink. What about Olympic and Britannic ? Titanic Museum has opened up to celebrate 100 years. But we couldn't go in cos we needed to book in advance. Anyhow we walked the Titanic Trail. Oh, And did I say this is now called the Titanic Quarters ?



Oh one other thing there is about Belfast. The Murals. The freedom of expression manifested. They are not like street art. They are art. They are on the street. They have  a message but more importantly they have a strong message. I never knew anything about Belfast or it's turmoil and that which continues even today in a more subdued fashion.


You must go to the Queen's Quarters to the see the lovely Queen's College and the magnificent Ulster Museum. You can truly spend days there. And the Royal Botanic Gardens. It's quite a different city once you come to the quarters.



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