Blogs from Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 5

Returning from the County Antrim coast to Belfast, the coach let us off at the Titanic Belfast museum. RMS Titanic was built in Belfast as were her sister ships Olympic and Britannic. The Harland & Wolff shipyard is still here as is the basin where Titanic was constructed. Harland & Wolff builds wind turbines today. The corners of the museum are meant to represent Titanic's bow and are scaled to size. This was a brief rest stop, though, no time to see the exhibits. Shortly we were back on the coach which took us to the Belfast City Hall. Free time to explore. The city hall is in the center of the city. Some went to investigate the shops or pubs. Susan and I went into the city hall. Belfast history is told both in a ... read more

To view all the photos from this trip visit: http://www.snap-happy.net/belfastdublin.html 8am: Left Galway City for Belfast City, arriving around 13.30, commencing our bus tour at 14.00 which included the following points of interest: Stop 1: Castle Place Departure Point Carrolls Gift Shop, Albert Clock, Starbucks Coffee and the Award Winning Fish City Stop 2: Customs House Square Big Fish Sculpture, Customs House and McHughs Bar Stop 3: SSE Arena Odyssey Pavilion, Premier Inn Hotel, W5 Interactive Discovery Centre, Odyssey Cinemas and Ten Pin Bowling Stop 4: Titanic Belfast Titanic Visitor Attraction - The World's Largest Titanic Attraction, SS Nomadic, The Wee Tram and Cast & Crew 1.Boomtown Belfast 2.The Shipyard 3.The Launch 4.The Fit-out 5.The Maiden Voyage 6.The Sinking 7.The Aftermath 8.Myths & Reality ... read more

27 septembre 2016 : Nous prenons le bus hop-on hop-off et nous visitons la ville de Belfast et notamment le Peace Wall qui s'étend sur des kilomètres;... read more

I was intending to write this post without saying too much about the history of the place but it just didn't make any sense. Belfast is all about its history and it is like most history – messy. It is a complex city that has been through more than its share of highs and lows. You can see some of those highs and lows around the city from the Titanic Quarter and the Harland and Wolfe shipyards to Shankhill and Falls Road in the west and north, through the flash houses to the east and even with Stormont sitting in lonely splendour outside the city. You don't come to a place such as Belfast without preconceptions if you are a member of our generation from our part of the world. For 25 years our nightly news ... read more

Geo: 54.5973, -5.93019Belfast Day 1 (March 30)At 9:00 am sharp Ken Harper (010), aBelfast tour guide, picked me up from my hotel for a taxi cab tour ofthe working class Catholic neighborhood and working class Protestantneighborhood where much of the violence of the Troubles of the 1970s,80s, and 90s took place. The Troubles was a sectarian conflict thatdrew in troops of the British empire and which resulted in 3,000deaths. Mr. Harper, with his black London style taxi, is highlyrecommended by Rick Steves in his Ireland guide book because hedoesn't take sides on this conflict which other guides might do.On the way to Falls Road, the main roadthrough the Catholic neighborhood (aka Republican meaning a proponentof a unified Ireland that has no ties with England) I asked Ken if heknow of a laundromat where I could wash ... read more