Belfast City

On Wednesday we ate our breckie and went to Belfast. This is a 1 hour drive south and we cruised on into the parkade as the low fuel light appeared on the dash. There are very few gas stations along the M roads here.

When we arrived here last Saturday, I think I was in the mood to make Belfast my, "Gleaming City On A Hill". The sun was shining and everything looked clean and active, full of happy smiling people. Well, it is a fine city, but it is just a city. It's being torn up throughout the midtown core. There are grubby areas as well as the, "Gleaming" sections. Because we had parked, we stayed in the down town. We had hoped for one of the detailed walking tours, but they didn't go on Wednesdays, so we took the tour of the grand city hall.

The city hall is an impressive marble pile in the heart of Belfast. The foyer is high and a nice mixture of white marble and strong colours. in the council chambers we sat in the councilors seats. Dorian took pleasure in sitting as a Sinn Fein member. There is only one fewer SF members than Unionist. Here are some pictures.






After we finished the tour we took Shush's advice and searched out The Crown Bar. This is a listed pub in the heart of the city. Our pictures don't do it justice. The exterior is intricately carved wood, and inside all of the tables are inside little booths with doors and a brass button to ring to call for service. The bar runs the length of the room and is all done in very colourful tile.

After lunch Dorian set off to see the Cathedral and Sheelagh and I tried unsuccessfully to find some galleries. We met up at the tourist place to join our guide for a tour of Historic Belfast which we had discovered. We visited several churches where meetings were held to establish the heart of British rule in Ireland, and the site of meetings to try to dislodge British rule in Belfast. It examined the Nationalist Unionist question quite fairly I thought.

After our second tour we visited the Linen Hall Library for a brief sit down time and then we trundled off back to the car and made for home. Found gas at last when we strayed off the Motorway and ended up in a small town. If you come here, you will find that many places don't take credit cards, so do be careful.