Getting to know Belfast
July 8, 2019
Today we had a lovely breakfast at our hotel. I ordered hard-boiled eggs and soda bread. Soda bread is when baking soda and buttermilk are used instead of yeast. It was very good. The eggs were very good as well and were obviously from yard chickens. We caught a cab to the Titanic Experience. This building is shaped like a five point star seen from above (for the White Star line) but each point from the side looks like and is the same size as the bow of Titanic. Inside the tour was very interactive.
Belfast had three big industries, shipbuilding, linen, and growing flax, which linen is made from. At the beginning of the 20th century, Belfast had 35,000 shipbuilders at the Harland & Wolff company, which built ship number 401 or Titanic. Today there are only 140 working in shipbuilding. The giant yellow H&W cranes are an iconic site in Belfast.
After Titanic, we toured its last remaining tender the SS Nomadic which carried many passengers to Titanic and other ships like it. It could hold 1000 people and transferred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Charlie Chaplin, Marie Curie. And many other celebrities. It was relatively luxurious and is decorated in the style similar to Titanic.
We then went across the street to the temporary exhibit inside the large tent where Game of Thrones was filmed in later seasons. Inside are primarily the costumes of the cast and some of the props such as weapons and dragon skulls and the crypt statues. It was fun to see. The season 8 set was visible from the Titanic exhibit, but was not part of this experience, unfortunately. Tomorrow we are taking another GoT tour, and that should be enough! Spain, Croatia and now Northern Ireland!
We then got on the Hop On Hop Off tour bus and made our way completely around the city and even to the very real Falls and Shankill Roads - and the Peace Road between them. “The Troubles” supposedly ended in Belfast on Good Friday, 1998, but still today, Catholics (the losers) and Protestants (the winners) are still separated by high walls and the Peace Road that still closes its gates at night. The majority of Northern Ireland wants to stay as part of the UK (unionists), but the Catholics want Northern Ireland to be a part of the EU with the rest of the Irish island (nationalists). The tour operators all feel as if there is no end in sight. July 12 is a day on which the opposing sides will burn large bonfires and the flags of their opposition. We’ll be glad to be not here on that day.
Today we had a lovely breakfast at our hotel. I ordered hard-boiled eggs and soda bread. Soda bread is when baking soda and buttermilk are used instead of yeast. It was very good. The eggs were very good as well and were obviously from yard chickens. We caught a cab to the Titanic Experience. This building is shaped like a five point star seen from above (for the White Star line) but each point from the side looks like and is the same size as the bow of Titanic. Inside the tour was very interactive.
Belfast had three big industries, shipbuilding, linen, and growing flax, which linen is made from. At the beginning of the 20th century, Belfast had 35,000 shipbuilders at the Harland & Wolff company, which built ship number 401 or Titanic. Today there are only 140 working in shipbuilding. The giant yellow H&W cranes are an iconic site in Belfast.
After Titanic, we toured its last remaining tender the SS Nomadic which carried many passengers to Titanic and other ships like it. It could hold 1000 people and transferred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Charlie Chaplin, Marie Curie. And many other celebrities. It was relatively luxurious and is decorated in the style similar to Titanic.
We then went across the street to the temporary exhibit inside the large tent where Game of Thrones was filmed in later seasons. Inside are primarily the costumes of the cast and some of the props such as weapons and dragon skulls and the crypt statues. It was fun to see. The season 8 set was visible from the Titanic exhibit, but was not part of this experience, unfortunately. Tomorrow we are taking another GoT tour, and that should be enough! Spain, Croatia and now Northern Ireland!
We then got on the Hop On Hop Off tour bus and made our way completely around the city and even to the very real Falls and Shankill Roads - and the Peace Road between them. “The Troubles” supposedly ended in Belfast on Good Friday, 1998, but still today, Catholics (the losers) and Protestants (the winners) are still separated by high walls and the Peace Road that still closes its gates at night. The majority of Northern Ireland wants to stay as part of the UK (unionists), but the Catholics want Northern Ireland to be a part of the EU with the rest of the Irish island (nationalists). The tour operators all feel as if there is no end in sight. July 12 is a day on which the opposing sides will burn large bonfires and the flags of their opposition. We’ll be glad to be not here on that day.
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| The launch pad of the Titanic in 1911 |
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| Hand of the King pin |
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| British pounds have some see through portions! |
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| Margery was soooo thin! |
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| Arya and The Hound |
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| We added our faces to the wall |
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| David in front of the Titanic Experience building |
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| The main chandelier in the Parliament building that was a gift from George V to Belfast. After the recent fire at Windsor castle, there was an inventory done and when the queen realized where the chandelier was, she asked for it back. After lots of back and forth, she backed off, but said they had to tell everyone that it was hers and that they could notbcharge anyone to enter and see it. |
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| Tyrion and Sansa outfits |
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| David at the Crown Liquor Saloon - an establishment from 1826 |
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| The Northern Ireland Assembly building where all political parties gather. Similar to our Senate and House chambers, sort of. The tour guides said no one has shown up to their elected jobs in quite a while, however. Not sure why? |
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