Sounds like a movie title doesn’t it? I can tell you my 24 hours in Belfast went pretty quick, so sure felt like I was on the set of a hollywood blockbuster!
I’m gonna have to let you know up front, my 24 hours in Belfast actually happened on the 14th October 2009! As a professional photographer I have literally hundreds of thousands of photos on my hard drive, and during a recent browse discovered my photos and notes from my trip in Belfast. With the Biggest, Baddest, Bucketlist over for me – I thought, I’d put the pen to the paper (figuratively) and share my twenty-four hours in the birthplace of the Titanic.
I sort of ended up in Belfast without wanting to be. I have family in Nottingham, and family in Newcastle. While exploring my options of travel between these two cities, separated by 257km’s of road, I discovered it was cheaper to fly via Belfast than direct. Infact it was cheaper to fly via Belfast, than it was to even catch a bus or a train!
While booking the flights, with a 4 hour stop over in Belfast, I thought “I’m going there anyway, why not stay a night and see what Belfast has up it’s sleeve”. Not knowing much about Belfast, it was great visiting such a diverse city without much prior knowledge.
Landing in Belfast, I jumped on a bus which took me into the heart of the city. I jumped off at the Belfast Town Hall, which one would assume is the centre of the city. Walking around speaking with some locals, it wasn’t long before I was checking in at a little backpackers just 100m up the road.
I’m pretty good at getting my bearings in a new city, but having bused in and dropped off I felt a bit unsteady. Luckily there’s a Belfast Ferris wheel, which not only provides great views across the city, but helps find your bearings – at least which way the ocean is haha. It only opened in November 2007 with a 13 minute trip time giving you views 60 meters in the air across the city.
I’m not sure if it was my father who suggested I had to pop in to Whites Tavern, or I had read it was the oldest tavern in Belfast and feared of being disowned by him if I didn’t, but I paid the tavern a visit either way. Of course Guinness is the poison of choice when in Ireland, even if it’s a product of southern Ireland from Dublin.
I wouldn’t usually include such a strange photo as this, but while I was on my 2009 trip around Europe I was eagerly chatting to a lovely girl back home by the name of Emma. She’d seen some shoes online that she wanted from a chain store in the UK, and I happened to spot this store while in Belfast. Well fast-forward to April 2013 (where I am writing this blog) and I’m now a month into married life with Emma.
Tour buses are a great way to soak in a lot of the city in small doses, and only having 24 hours to get it all in, opted for this double-decker bus to show me the sights. It’s particularly handy that they give you headphones for a running commentary during the trip.
Before long we were pulling into an industrial part of Belfast.
Then the little voice in my head (via the headphones) started telling me that this was Harland & Wolff’s shipping dock, where the Titanic was constructed. I’d always thought the ship was built in the UK for some reason, so was quite exciting to stumble upon this.
We then passed under two massive gantry cranes, know as Samson and Goliath which were the shipping cranes used to construct the Titanic.
The tour bus then took us out of the city a bit to the Stormont Parliamentary Buildings. They were used in the World War II as the operations room for the Royal Air Force.
Next it was into the residential parts of Belfast, which look like any normal British town with the addition of massive painted murals on the walls. These murals have become symbols of Northern Ireland, depicting the region’s past and present political and religious division.
There are over 2,000 documented murals since the 1970s.
After my new knowledge of the Titanic, I found this Thai restaurants choice of name quite funny, Thai Tanic.
It was then back to the backpackers where I can’t for the life of me remember what I had for dinner, clearly not that memorable though.
In the morning it was downstairs for a typical Irish breakfast of fried toast, potatoes and eggs. I then jumped in a taxi and head up the slopes of Cavehill Country Park to the Belfast Castle.
The Belfast Castle that stands today was built in 1811–70 after it’s predecessor was burnt down in 1708. The former castle, which was built in the 12th century, was situated in the heart of the CBD, but when the rebuild took place it was decided to build the new residence in the city’s suburbs.
It is said good fortune will come to those visiting Belfast Castle as long as the tradition of the castle cat is kept. The story goes that there has always been a resident white cat at the castle and the surrounding gardens celebrate this tale with nine references made to the cat in paving, sculpture and garden furniture.
Jumping back into my awaiting taxi, it was airport bound to finally catch my connecting flight to Newcastle. One of the funnest 24 hour stop overs I’ve ever had, spontaneous excursions keep you alive!