Anyone ever been to Belfast???
May 23rd, 2004, 05:56 AM
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Anyone ever been to Belfast???
if so, what is there to do there? I will be there for one day in September and am having difficulty finding any interesting travel information about the city. Can anyone help?
May 23rd, 2004, 06:27 AM
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Maybe these articles will give you a start:
<b>http://www.canoe.ca/TravelEurope/belfast.html
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/travel...2/etpcity1.xml
http://www.aboutmytravel.com/main.php3?action=displayarticle&artid=382</b>
Good luck!
<b>http://www.canoe.ca/TravelEurope/belfast.html
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/travel...2/etpcity1.xml
http://www.aboutmytravel.com/main.php3?action=displayarticle&artid=382</b>
Good luck!
May 23rd, 2004, 09:27 AM
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I'm not sure what you mean by "this is a tough one"
I've been there 3 times now, although I've stayed with my friends in Bangor, a suburb of Belfast. Each visit was better than the last one. One Sunday afternoon we went on a ride through the "troubled" Belfast neighborhoods. I got to see the separating wall between the two neighborhoods, graffiti and flags hanging on each side, signifying where the people stood. These 2 neighborhoods are the poorest in the whole country.
This may offend some people, but I witnessed and studied some of the latest struggles going on there, and I came to a conclusion that at this time the struggles have NOTHING to do with fighting for independence by the catholics. These organizations represented a very small minority on both sides of the arguement. Most Northern Irish are hard working people, living their live just like you and me and quite a few of them are very succeful and happy to live there, and they are also very proud of their country. My friends are extremly succesful and you know what? She's a catholic, he's a protestant. They have been married for about 25 years now.
The so called freedom fighters or on the other side, the loyalists, evolved to what many here in the US would consider street gangs. They fight amongst their own groups now to control drugs, prostitution, etc. It's no different than if you talked about some of the notorious neighborhoods here in the States in some of the biggest cities. As long as you stay out of there, you will have a great time. It is ok to take tours during the day, just don't go there at night, especially to the pubs and start talking politics. If you could follow this simple direction, you will fall in love with this place.
You will have a great time, take a city tour, go out in the evening and witness the extreme friendliness of the proud Irish people.
I've been there 3 times now, although I've stayed with my friends in Bangor, a suburb of Belfast. Each visit was better than the last one. One Sunday afternoon we went on a ride through the "troubled" Belfast neighborhoods. I got to see the separating wall between the two neighborhoods, graffiti and flags hanging on each side, signifying where the people stood. These 2 neighborhoods are the poorest in the whole country.
This may offend some people, but I witnessed and studied some of the latest struggles going on there, and I came to a conclusion that at this time the struggles have NOTHING to do with fighting for independence by the catholics. These organizations represented a very small minority on both sides of the arguement. Most Northern Irish are hard working people, living their live just like you and me and quite a few of them are very succeful and happy to live there, and they are also very proud of their country. My friends are extremly succesful and you know what? She's a catholic, he's a protestant. They have been married for about 25 years now.
The so called freedom fighters or on the other side, the loyalists, evolved to what many here in the US would consider street gangs. They fight amongst their own groups now to control drugs, prostitution, etc. It's no different than if you talked about some of the notorious neighborhoods here in the States in some of the biggest cities. As long as you stay out of there, you will have a great time. It is ok to take tours during the day, just don't go there at night, especially to the pubs and start talking politics. If you could follow this simple direction, you will fall in love with this place.
You will have a great time, take a city tour, go out in the evening and witness the extreme friendliness of the proud Irish people.
May 23rd, 2004, 11:03 AM
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Thank you I appreciate hearing from someone who has been there, I would never talk politics and I just would like to see some interesting sites and enjoy my day there, however, I still do not know what is there. That is what I meant by this is a tough one. Two replies said take a bus tour..o.k. but what will I see? Just city? Are there castles? Old churches? Anything like you go to see in other European countries? Barcelona...Gaudi, Paris...art, food, the seine, London, The tower, Buckingham Palace, Cork..The blarney castle, Rome...The vatican etc etc. What is in Belfast???
Anyway, thank you all, I will use the links provided by the helpful poster and start investigating.
Anyway, thank you all, I will use the links provided by the helpful poster and start investigating.
May 23rd, 2004, 11:52 AM
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this afternoon i was on top of the mourne mountains. looked to n/east, could see belfast, looked n/west, could see counties antrim,tyrone. looked south, could see louth-dublin bay.
I could'nt see any dividing wall or 'border', all i could see was beauty.
I could'nt see any dividing wall or 'border', all i could see was beauty.
May 23rd, 2004, 04:10 PM
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carols,
A visit to Belfast wouldn't be complete without spending at least a half-day at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. Located about five miles east of Belfast, the museum is surely one of the very best and most satisfying on the entire island, as the folk park recreates life in Ulster circa 1900. The transport part of the complex is even better, offering a comprehensive array of trains, autos, and the like, including a DeLorean (recall "Back to the Future"
, and a very fine exhibit on the Titanic. That great ship, of course, was built in Belfast.
Another "don't miss" is the Crown Liquor Saloon, an authentic Victorian pub that dates from the 1830s. Its interior is richly decorated - a terrific - albeit very touristy - place to have a pint.
Best of luck.
A visit to Belfast wouldn't be complete without spending at least a half-day at the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum. Located about five miles east of Belfast, the museum is surely one of the very best and most satisfying on the entire island, as the folk park recreates life in Ulster circa 1900. The transport part of the complex is even better, offering a comprehensive array of trains, autos, and the like, including a DeLorean (recall "Back to the Future"
, and a very fine exhibit on the Titanic. That great ship, of course, was built in Belfast. Another "don't miss" is the Crown Liquor Saloon, an authentic Victorian pub that dates from the 1830s. Its interior is richly decorated - a terrific - albeit very touristy - place to have a pint.
Best of luck.
May 23rd, 2004, 04:30 PM
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Hello carols...Ditto the Black Cab Tour and the Crown Liquor Saloon(in downtown Belfast). Also the City Hall is a classical Renaissance building to see. We were there last May for a day and a half, and enjoyed it immensely. We didn't get to Belfast Castle (http://www.belfastcastle.co.uk/), not enough time! Hope this is of some help...Helen
May 25th, 2004, 05:59 AM
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carols:
To answer your later question.
Belfast is really the one British industrial city of the 18th-19th century that was developed in Ireland - and, surprisingly, the one whose Victorian heritage has been less damaged by Hitler, crass 1960s developments or straightforward decay than most of its equivalents in England, Scotland or Wales. The Troubles didn't destroy anything like as many buildings as incompetent and corrupt city officials did in Britain.
It's also the most beautifully located of any of them. But it's really another provincial city in what's possibly the world's most centralised country. Even within Ireland, the gentry built the fine squares in Dublin, while the industrialists made the money in Belfast's shipyards.
For a host of reasons, it has virtually no beautiful churches, and for different reasons, it doesn't have anything to touch the stylishness or art resources of Milan or Barcelona (or even Lyon or Turin). It has terrific people and some great monuments to civic pride - and even Imperial pride, since Stormont is just about the only building in these islands that's recognisably from the mindset that created New Delhi. And it has the standard gentrified spiel of most post-industrial towns "Look what it used to be like, and look how well we've preserved the old stuff and popped in lots of winebars and fusion restaurants"
It has the Troubles, and their aftermath. Which gives being there an edge Liverpool and Glasgow don't have.
And really, it's the troubles that are the must-see. Unless you're a fan of Victorian cities, there isn't really anything about Belfast that stands up and grabs you, as the Burrell does in Glasgow, or the Cathedral does in Cologne - which is to underestimate the number of perfectly nice things there are to do that people have listed above.
But there is the undoubted frisson that comes from going along the Falls, the Shankill and all the other names that used to be so depressingly familiar from news bulletins. In seeing the murals. In thinking about the peaceline. And in the sheer joy of knowing it's now very, very unlikely the pub you're having such a good time in will be evacuated - or worse.
To answer your later question.
Belfast is really the one British industrial city of the 18th-19th century that was developed in Ireland - and, surprisingly, the one whose Victorian heritage has been less damaged by Hitler, crass 1960s developments or straightforward decay than most of its equivalents in England, Scotland or Wales. The Troubles didn't destroy anything like as many buildings as incompetent and corrupt city officials did in Britain.
It's also the most beautifully located of any of them. But it's really another provincial city in what's possibly the world's most centralised country. Even within Ireland, the gentry built the fine squares in Dublin, while the industrialists made the money in Belfast's shipyards.
For a host of reasons, it has virtually no beautiful churches, and for different reasons, it doesn't have anything to touch the stylishness or art resources of Milan or Barcelona (or even Lyon or Turin). It has terrific people and some great monuments to civic pride - and even Imperial pride, since Stormont is just about the only building in these islands that's recognisably from the mindset that created New Delhi. And it has the standard gentrified spiel of most post-industrial towns "Look what it used to be like, and look how well we've preserved the old stuff and popped in lots of winebars and fusion restaurants"
It has the Troubles, and their aftermath. Which gives being there an edge Liverpool and Glasgow don't have.
And really, it's the troubles that are the must-see. Unless you're a fan of Victorian cities, there isn't really anything about Belfast that stands up and grabs you, as the Burrell does in Glasgow, or the Cathedral does in Cologne - which is to underestimate the number of perfectly nice things there are to do that people have listed above.
But there is the undoubted frisson that comes from going along the Falls, the Shankill and all the other names that used to be so depressingly familiar from news bulletins. In seeing the murals. In thinking about the peaceline. And in the sheer joy of knowing it's now very, very unlikely the pub you're having such a good time in will be evacuated - or worse.
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