Travel Guide to Belfast: Northern Ireland’s Capital City Has Become One of the Top Spots in Europe
Resting on the river Lagan and at the mouth of Belfast Lough (which is where the name Belfast comes from – literally “at the mouth of the river”), the city has already had past triumphs, once being one of the major cities in Europe and known as “the Athens of the North” due to the trade associated with the docks.
In fact, the docks are a good metaphor for today’s Belfast, as that area has been hugely regenerated in the last few post-Peace Agreement years, with the addition of the Waterfront Hall arts venue (www.waterfront.co.uk / 02890 334455), and the Odyssey Arena (www.odysseyarena.com / 02890 739074), home of the Belfast Giants.
Fairytale
An ice hockey team that gripped the public’s imagination from day one – perhaps because they were had no affiliations – the Belfast Giants (www.belfastgiants.com) chose the legendary Giant’s Causeway hero Finn McCool as their symbol, and it was almost a Hollywood fairytale when they won the superleague in only their second year – then the play-offs the year after!
IMAX chose to place their first Irish cinema inside the Warner Village Multiplex at the Odyssey too, and it’s gradually grown into a huge complex that has a superclub – The Refinery – a games arcade, a bowling alley and endless bars and restaurants including Soda Joe’s, a classic American 50’s diner, and the Hard Rock CafÃ?©. There’s even a science museum called W5 – Who, What, Where, When, Why – and the Giant’s home also doubles as a music venue, finally putting Belfast on the tour map for all the world’s top bands and singers.
Moving down the Lagan, you see the famous yellow cranes – Samson and Goliath – standing like sentinels over part of the planned Titanic Quarter, the newest home, business and leisure project for the city. The river really comes to life in the summer, and one of the best things to do is to go to the weir at Donegall Quay and catch a ride on the riverboat Joyce Too (www.laganboatcompany.com / 02890 330844). On their Titanic Tour, you pootle up past Harland and Woolf – the shipyard where they built the fated sealiner – and end up at Cutter’s Wharf, where you can have a drink sitting outside, hopefully in the sun!
Raise a glass
There was a map made of Belfast years ago that divided a part of the city into Darkness and Light – one marked the location of churches, the other pinpointed the pubs – and I’m sure you can guess which was which. It’s true that Ulstermen and women like a drink, and so there are drinking haunts all over the city. Owned by the National Trust, the Crown Liquor Saloon (www.ntni.org.uk / 02890 249476) is probably the most famous pub in Belfast; it’s snugs and amazing dÃ?©cor are known by everyone round and about, though it’s not the oldest in town – that’s a title disputed by the cosy White’s Tavern and McHugh’s by the docks, the latter only having actually kept a smidgen of it’s old timberwork. This is all before you really even hit the town centre, where you can go to The Apartment – which has a great view over the City Hall – or one of the many other bars.
The main streets of Donegall Place and Royal Avenue have also seen the arrival of an apparently endless line of brand name stores, new restaurants, bars and cafÃ?©’s, and with the White House-like City Hall at the top of the town centre, you really feel a metropolitan sensibility within the heart of what still seems like a small town. Happily though, you can still enjoy a bit of craic with the super-friendly locals, and savour an Ulster Fry, the traditional fried breakfast that you have to experience at least once.
Around the city
Overlooking the city is Cave Hill, a public space with a deep and rich history that combines Napoleon’s Nose, the 1798 rebellion, Robinson Crusoe, Belfast Castle (www.belfastcastle.co.uk / 02890 776925) and the O’Neill fort from the 1594-1603 war. It’s an impressive view from the castle and the hill, but thankfully the walk up is as not much of a hike as it seems.
It’s also a blessing for the visitor or local that Belfast is such an easy city to get around: walking is never out of the question for most venues, and taxis are nearly always cheap; the so-called “people’s taxis” – which wait until they fill up and have a flat rate fare – even more so.
In the West of the city, another established event that also gets a wide international audience is Feile an Phobail / the West Belfast Festival (www.feilebelfast.com / 02890 313440) which is Europe’s largest community arts festival and has something for everyone. Taking place in late July/early August, it is based at many locations and running at all hours, it has comedy, bands, debates, exhibitions, street theatre and children’s events, and the last few years have also seen the first Belfast Film Festival (www.belfastfilmfestival.org / 02890 325917) which takes place around March, and the vast expansion of the Cathedral Quarter’s own arts festival (www.cqaf.com / 02890 232403) at the end of April/beginning of May.
Belfast is a large student town; the south of the city is dominated by the elegant Queens University, which is home to the largest and most prestigious arts festival in Ireland, the Belfast Festival (www.belfastfestival.com / 02890 972626), which attracts over 50,000 visitors in late October/early November, all of whom are looking for new experiences in film, dance, theatre, comedy, poetry, jazz and more. Queens is also situated on the so-called “Golden Mile”, the long road strip that is always alive with revellers on a night out.
Gardens and history
Queens is cheek-by-jowl with the Stranmillis area in the south of the city, an area that has arguably experienced an even greater revitalisation than most. Now one of the trendiest – and most expensive – areas to live in, it’s noted in the oldest records of the city and a hidden gem there is the tiny Friar’s Bush cemetery (www.friarsbush.org / 02890 320202 ext 3438), which dates back to the 14th and 15th century and is one of the oldest in Ireland.
It’s rumoured that St. Patrick built a church here, yet many people pass by without giving it a second glance, and it’s well worth a visit to see the infamous “plaguey pit”, the “Friar’s Thorn” – a twisted thorn tree where mass was performed – and the “Friar’s Stone”, the grave of a priest who was shot in the heart whilst performing the
then-illegal ceremony.
Yards from the cemetery is the Botanic Gardens, with its beautiful Victorian cast-iron and glass Palm House – a heated haven for exotic flowers, trees, bushes and plants – (www.gardensireland.com/palm-house.html / 02890 324902) and the Tropical Ravine, a tropical jungle hothouse that lets you watch bananas and other exotic plants grow throughout the year.
Also in the Botanic Gardens is the impressive Ulster Museum, which holds regular exhibitions of contemporary and traditional art (www.ulstermuseum.org.uk / 02890 383000). Last year saw exhibitions of work by Turner, Fuseli and DaVinci – as well as long-standing features and exhibits about the history and wildlife of Northern Ireland and a famous Egyptian mummy!
There are still tours of the more infamous areas of the city, but like the paramilitary murals they are slowly disappearing, and with low-budget airlines (www.easyjet.com / 0871 7 500 100, www.flybmi.com / 0870 6070 555) making regular flights to the City and International airports – flight time just under an hour – the fact is that Belfast is a vibrant European city waiting for many to discover it for the first time.
