Our last stop on this beautiful island. We couldn’t have picked a better city in which to wind up our trip. Belfast, with a population of around 350,000, is not a large city, but it’s just perfect for us. It has plenty to offer in the way of art, architecture, history, culture, and outdoor activities, and it is incredibly walkable. We’re staying in an apartment a half-mile south of city hall, and our car hasn’t left the parking lot.
Our favorite section of Belfast is the Cathedral Quarter. Off its main roads are small alleyways called “entries” that draw you in by virtue of their snugness. I feel compelled to wander down them, exploring their boutiques, restaurants, and pubs.
The River Lagan waterfront has undergone a major renovation in recent years, beginning with the river itself. A weir was built across the river to allow for control of the tidal river’s water level, making the shallower stretch upstream of the harbor a friendlier place for wildlife, small boat traffic, and development. We chatted for a while with a guy who works at the weir, and he asked us if we wanted a behind-the-scenes tour. Heck, yah! He took us down into the maintenance tunnel that runs under the weir. We walked from bank to bank underneath the river!
The city has commissioned art pieces for the waterfront area as well, including my old friend, the Salmon of Knowledge. [Finn’s Causeway]
Over the centuries, the structure of the river has been straightened and deepened to accommodate increasingly larger ships in the busy harbor. Shipbuilding, a mainstay of Belfast’s economy for centuries, reached a pinnacle in the early 20th century when emigration peaked in Ireland. In 1907 the White Star Line authorized the construction of three Olympic-class luxury liners to assist in the transport of emigrants to America. The second of the three was the HMS Titanic built by Harland & Wolff ship builders in Belfast between 1909 and 1912.
In 2012, the centennial year of Titanic’s maiden voyage and tragic sinking in the North Atlantic, Titanic Belfast, a museum commemorating not only the Titanic phenom but also Belfast’s shipbuilding industry, opened on property that once belonged to Harland & Wolff. We can attest to the quality of the exhibits; we spent three hours taking it all in. We also had lunch in the new Titanic Belfast Hotel on the property, built in the refurbished White Star Line offices. Very classy!
What was formerly known as Queen’s Island, home to Belfast’s prolific shipbuilding industry, has been renamed the Titanic Quarter and has been a huge boon to Belfast’s tourism industry. The two large, yellow Harland & Wolff (H&W) gantry cranes, nicknamed Samson and Goliath, are no longer in use, as shipbuilding has all but died in Belfast, but were left standing to pay tribute to the industry that made Belfast a major world city. They’re visible from many places throughout the city, and we’re always delighted to see them peeking around a corner.
