Discover Belfast and the Beauty of Northern Ireland
It was a last-minute decision and based on google flights. I had four nights free, so where should I go? I was in London and according to google the cheapest place to fly to for my dates was flights to Belfast, Northern Ireland. So for £68 I bought a round-trip ticket to Belfast and was on the airplane two days later.
To be perfectly honest I really didn’t know much about Belfast. I have not heard anything about the city or country in countless years, and the few things that did come to mind were no longer relevant because it had been so long. After arriving realizing that what they call “The Troubles” (bits that I remembered from TV) only ended 16 years ago. So, when I go to any city that I don’t know I always contact the tourism board to see what information and recommendations they can give me. Yes, I know I can google search a lot of things, but I was busy and with only two days before I was due to arrive, I just didn’t have time to do it.
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I met with Fiona from the tourism board, Visit Belfast. she was wonderful and very helpful. She gave me a lot of information about the city and the booming tourism industry occurring there right now. Additionally, she told me about numerous things to do in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I had the pleasure of meeting her for lunch at the magnificent Mourne Seafood Bar. The food was fantastic, having seafood chowder and shrimp and lobster linguine, and the service was perfect. Their restaurants, located in Belfast and Dundrum, are unique in Ireland as they source all their shellfish from their very own shellfish beds. This restaurant is a MUST for lunch or dinner or both.
There are several ways to see the city from bus tours to cycle tours to taxi tours. I took a 2.5-hour private taxi tour with Value Cabs Tours. The amount of knowledge the taxi driver had about the city was absolutely amazing. 2.5-hours and he barely stopped talking the entire time. I highly recommend using Value Cabs tours to get an amazing amount of information about the history and city as well as a great way to get to know your way around the city. Shorter tours are available and up to four people in the taxi.
The Titanic Belfast …….. where to start. The size of the building, built to the same height as the Titanic itself, is beyond the words of enormous, gargantuan, and mammoth. Standing beside the building and looking up, just makes you realize how grand that ship was. On the taxi tour, I was brought to another area where it was being built, and looking all the way across the hall of the ship were four tiny statues of life-size people. I would not have seen them if they were not specifically pointed out by the driver.
The SS Nomadic is known as “Titanic’s little sister”. She was originally used to bring 172 first and second class passengers out to the Titanic, which was moored offshore in Cherbourg because the vast Titanic could not be docked in the shallow waters. 100 years later she now sits outside in the shadow of the Titanic Belfast open for tourists to recount her fascinating past.
McCombs Causeway Coast tours was a great way to spend the day. It was very informative and interesting. The country is beyond beautiful. While waiting to be picked up, it was a little strange to know that I was standing in the lobby of the most bombed building during “The Troubles” in Belfast. The tour was a full day including crossing the Carrick-a-Rede Rope bridge, by-passing some of the locations where Game of Thrones is filmed, and head on to the Giant’s Causeway. This day trip from Belfast, Northern Ireland is a must.
Interested in seeing some plants that are estimated to be over 150 years old? Then you want to go to the Botanic Gardens. Established in 1828 by the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society, the Botanic Gardens is home to the Tropical Ravine (at the time of writing closed for reconstruction) and Palm House, one of the earliest examples of a glasshouse made from curved iron and glass.
I have never had a Guinness before going to Ireland, so I thought the best place to have one would be at the Crown Bar formerly the Crown Liquor Saloon, the most famous bar in Belfast. It is the only bar owned by the National Trust and has A Lot of history (more on that later). So as I was told by a local Belfast man, “the first Guinness is ok, but you must have two. The second one is always better than the first”. So I had my first, second, and third Guinness there.
You can’t go wrong with a night at Robinsons & Fibber Magee. It is 5 venues under one roof. I didn’t see them all, but there is always something going on there. Robinsons is a great place to hang out with friends for the evening. If you are looking for live music, then you will want to go to Fibber Magee. They have live music every night.
Only in Belfast, Northern Ireland can you see the 2500-year-old mummy of Takabuti from Egypt at the Ulster Museum. The museum is located in the Botanical Gardens, with approximately 8000 m² of public display space. There are many collections available for viewing – art, human history, and natural sciences. Discover world cultures, animal life, rocks, fossils, and minerals.
There are so many things to see and do in Belfast. It is a city that should be on your Must-See list; I had a great time in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I’m glad I had the opportunity to go for the few days I had and look forward to going back again one day.
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