Belfast

Magnificent Victorian structures still line the streets of the emerging Northern Ireland capital, but instead of housing linen mills or cigarette factories, they now are home to chic hotels and fashionable bars. Smart restaurants abound, and the people of Belfast, who for years would not venture out of their districts, appear to be making up for lost time. Each area of the city has changed considerably in the new peaceful era, but perhaps none more than the docklands around the Harland and Wolff shipyards. New developments—dubbed Laganside and the Titanic Quarter—are springing up all around the now-deserted shipyards, from luxury hotels to modern office blocks. And in the center of the city, Victoria Square is a gigantic new shopping and residential complex, replete with geodesic dome, floors of glossy shops, and renovated Victorian row houses.