Belfast

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Now a full week in to our trip, we really needed rest so we slept until 10:00. This was a good day to choose to sleep in as it was a full day of walking tour with no tickets or timed entry. After we did get up and ready for the day we took a cab to the Crown Liquor Saloon, perhaps the most famous pub in Belfast. The Crown is actually owned by the National Trust of UK (official conservation organization), it is across the street from the Europa Hotel (the most bombed hotel in the world). The first floor is your standard pub setting, but there are “confessional boxes,” booth built in the style of a confessional with a door so you have total privacy

This was our spot for lunch, so we headed upstairs where there is a larger menu. We got there just at the right time (we had reservations) as the crowd was just beginning to show up for lunch. It is a typical pub menu, we started with smoked salmon and brown soda bread. Soda bread is good, but it required a tremendous amount of butter as it tends to be very dry. We had our first pie of the trip. Jerry had a chicken, leek and ham pie and I had a Beef and Stout pie. Both were good, but not near as good as the one I had in Windsor a few years back.

After lunch was our walking tour, we managed to fit the entire day in to half a day. The tour was mainly of the Victorian era buildings. Belfast, is an interesting place. The people are very friendly or as on cabby put it, nosy, however it does have a dark vibe to it, similar to Budapest. This makes since because for 3 decades it was a war zone and they are still rebuilding and trying to attracted tourists.

First on the list was the Europa Hotel, and no it is not Victorian in style, but it is a significant part of Belfast History. The hotel was bombed over 25 times during the “Troubles” and every time it was rebuilt, at the expense of the UK government. President Clinton and Hillary stayed there in 1995, to make a point, I am sure. Now the presidential suite has been renamed the Clinton Suite.

Directly next to the Europa Hotel is the Grand Opera House, built in 1894. Still used as an opera house but it also hosts Broadway shows, the current showing is “Cher, the Musical”. It was a short walk to Ulster Hall, originally built in 1865 as a ballroom. Ulster Hall is also known as the Grand Dame of Bedford Street. It is now the home of the Ulster Orchestra. A few blocks further we came to S. Malachy’s Church. The churched opened in 1844 and is a redbrick Tudor revival. The interior is quite different than most churches, which tend to be deep and narrow, this was shallow and wide.

That concluded the walking tour in the Central District, we then headed to the Cathedral Quarter. The route took us passed the City Hall once again, this time we stopped to visit the Titanic Memorial Garden, a monument to those that died on the Titanic (which was built in Belfast) and lists every “soul” that died. It was a really nice day, sunny with a light breeze, and I guess a day like this can’t help but bring out the corner preacher, something I really do not associate with Europe. Not much needs to be said, he just spouted the normal hate that street preachers typically do.

We continued along our first stop being St. Anne’s Square and the Cathedral. The cathedral is in the Irish neo-Romanesque style. (I have no idea what that means). The area was bombed during WWII by the Nazi’s. Also off the square is the Metropolitan Art Center. This is a very modern structure with changing modern art exhibits. It is free, so if your interest in Modern Art (which we pretty much are not) it is worth visiting.

The last two stops were the Albert Memorial Clock Tower. The clock is named after Prince Albert and leans slightly. It is in Queens Square next to the Custom House. This is not the nicest section of Belfast, drug deals and the homeless are prevalent in this area. That concluded the walking tour. The final stop before heading back to the hotel was Whites Tavern. The oldest tavern in Belfast. It is down an alley off High Street. It was pretty quaint a working fire place greets you when you enter. We took a seat at the bar; Jerry had a Guinness and I had a Jameson Ginger.

Dinner was a disaster. We had reservations for upstairs at the Morning Star pub, when we got there, there was no seating in the upstairs and the staff didn’t really seem to know what they were doing. Three different servers asked us for our order in 5 minutes and when I did order a gin and tonic, it was clear it was never going to show up. We order, but did not have a good vibe, especially when they brought the bottle of wine and just sat in on the table, unopened. We eventually just left and went back to the hotel for dinner.

The hotel restaurant was nothing special, decent food to meet the basic requirement of eating. Just to be consistent; Jerry had a fillet with Red Pepper & Paprika butter (the butter was the best part), I had what was described as “Succulent Bacon Loin” it was ham good ham, but ham none the less.

Unfortunately, Belfast ended on a low note. Up next Scotland.

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Photos

Chicken, Leek & ham Pie
Dish of the Day