Belfast

After an amazingly good breakfast, we headed to the bus stop to begin our Belfast day. Another couple from the b and b were there, as was a local woman. The bus didn’t come. The local woman said the earlier scheduled one didn’t come either. Finally one arrived. We got on and bought two day tickets. Belfast has a great bus system. Every route comes into the centre to the City Hall and then leaves from there on its route. So you never need to figure out which direction the bus is going. Cool.

Belfast City Hall

We arrived at City Hall and were in time for the free tour of this interesting, huge, and historic building. Underlying everything in Belfast is the history of the “troubles,” and that was true in the seat of government as well. We enjoyed the tour and the history very much.







From City Hall we set out on our own tour of East Belfast. Our friend Greg Steeber and his daughter Greta were here a couple years ago and discovered an East Belfast C. S. Lewis tour. Lewis was born and raised in the Belmont/Strandtown section of Belfast, and they are proud of their famous writer son.

C. S. Lewis Statue at Holywood Arches Library

Aslan in the Library

We start at the Holywood Arches Library where there is a statue of Lewis looking in a wardrobe by Ross Wilson. The statue was surrounded by metal fencing. When we went in to the library, a librarian told us they are redoing the area, including a Narinia play area for children. Great! From there we walked up the street - a long walk - along Dundela Street. We saw the plaque on the place where Lewis was born. Then we continued to Belmont Tower, a National Trust building (used to be school) where they have an ongoing Lewis exhibit and a great community coffee shop. We indulged in coffee and a shared piece of apple pie. We left there and walked on neighborhood streets to the church where Lewis was baptized and where he and his brother memorialized their parents with a stained glass window. Sadly, the church was not open nor was there any way to see if it could be opened. It was decidedly inhospitable with no information anywhere. We chose not to go further (quite a ways) to Campbell College where Lewis went as a child and where he saw the lamp post that became part of Narnia, nor to Little Lea, the house where he grew up. It was a lot of fun to follow these trails where the imagination of C. S. Lewis was allowed to flourish and grow.

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We caught a bus back to the centre. (After the bus failed to appear in the morning, every time we needed one afterwards there was one right there!) We got on one more to go to the Titanic Belfast exhibit. This covers several acres to show the places where the Titanic was built. We (very luckily) got on a small tour called A Wee Tram that went to all the outside places. It was just great and really interesting. We got a great picture of the immensity of this effort and of the gigantic shipbuilding infrastructure of Belfast. That all went away after World War II. But the old buildings have been put to good use. One huge old warehouse is now Titanic Studios which is where Game of Thrones is shot! We did not go into the Titanic experience - way expensive and we think we got a way better deal!

Titanic Belfast

We headed back to the bus for the centre - practically waiting for us - and then found our bus back towards our b and b. We got off at Queen’s University to go to The Barking Dog - our “Stick with Rick” dining choice for the day. On our way there we wandered through the botanical gardens - very nice. Thing are still blooming all over the place! Our dinner at The Barking Dog was fabulous - one of the best for the trip so far. We again boarded a bus which came right when we needed it and made our way back to An Old Rectory. A great day. We love Belfast.

Belfast Botanical Gardens