The City of Belfast, Northern Ireland isn’t known to be one of Europe’s greatest tourist attractions. After several years of conflict known as The Troubles, the city is seeing a resurgence of investment and visitors. The city is home a large amount of history having built the Titanic Luxury Liner that sank in the north Atlantic over one hundred years ago. It is also home to a few tourist attractions such as the Titanic Experience Museum. We would spend the day exploring the tourist attractions and getting to know the city.

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This post is one chapter on our trip to Portugal, the United Kingdom (England and Norther Ireland) and Ireland. This trip was redeemed through American Airlines Advantage and enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Activity: Expericing the Tradegy of Titanic at Titanic Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland

We started our first day in Belfast, Northern Ireland, having experienced visiting the Blarney Stone, Cork, Ireland the day before. The goal today was to see the Titanic Museum across the water and take in some of Belfast’s sights. After breakfast at the AC Hotel by Marriott Belfast hotel and an easy morning, we headed to the St Georges Market by foot along the waterfront.

The St Georges Market:

I always enjoy visiting a good public market, even if it’s just to see the types of food on offer for sale. The St George’s Market was Ireland’s oldest market having opened in 1896. Today’s it houses many fish mongers and butchers, in addition to selling many antique wares. I always enjoy looking at the local produce and cuts of meat when I travel. It sets the imagination and ideas for cooking at home.

After seeing everything we needed to see at the St George’s Market, we then wandered across the River Lagan towards the Titanic Experience Museum. It’s a brand new neighbourhood near the museum, with new condominium developments.

Eventually, we saw the distinctive Titanic Museum building on the horizon. It’s a unique looking space and it would certainly the building again given its unique shape and style.

Immediately outside the Titanic Museum was the SS Nomadic in dry dock. The SS Nomadic was the tender that was used to ferry passengers to the Titanic on the ill fated voyage.

We passed over visiting the inside of the SS Nomadic for the time being and headed over to the Titanic Museum.

Visiting the Titanic Experience Museum:

The citizens of the City of Belfast built the Titanic Luxury Ocean Liner at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, the ship sank on its maiden voyage in the year 1912 where several thousand souls perished on board after the ship struck an iceberg. The Titanic Experience Museum was recently commissioned to honour this event. We would have an opportunity to visit the museum, which is a perfect rainy day activity in Belfast.

We entered into the Titanic Experience. In a very similar format to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland, the whole endeavour was an over the top multi media experience.

The starting feature was about Boomtown Belfast and the Shipyard.

Moving to the fourth floor, the museum showcased the Launch and the Fit Out of the Boat, followed by the Maiden Voyage and the Sinking. There were some interesting artifacts, such as original plates and tickets, but they did make of the minority of the museum. Those that would be looking for a more tradition museum experience would probably be disappointed since many of the artifacts haven’t survived or aren’t kept in Belfast for display.

This was followed by the aftermath and myths and realities, followed by a showcase of deep sea diving for titanic beneath the water.

I was highly anticipating the souvenir shop but it was mostly disappointing bric- a brac that didn’t have much semblance to the original White Star Line memorabilia; not that I would know that was but Titanic Collegiate sweatshirts and souvenir tea spoons didn’t really do it for me. I ended up with a souvenir bathtub rubber duck that was likely made in China.

Boarding the SS Nomadic:

After the Titanic Museum, we walked back over to the SS Nomadic. Our museum tickets afforded us entry on board the SS Nomadic. The SS Nomadic was the boat used to tender guests to Titanic at the French port Cherbourg and was featured briefly in the James Cameron film Titanic.

The visit to the attraction featured the requisite digital barman, among other reconstructed parlours. It was a bit surreal wandering around on the boat knowing of past passengers past in the same space had perished on the Titanic.

Walking through Belfast:

After the day of museums, we headed back into town to take in the attractions of Belfast. The weather was not really co-operating with us, and the day was grey and gloomy.

We eventually got into central Belfast, where we had an opportunity to see the city along with some of their murals that have been on display through the years.

Surrounding City Hall Belfast:

We eventually found our way to the City Hall. It’s an interesting imposing space in the centre of town, complete with a Titanic memorial at its east end.

Peeking into the Crown Liquor Saloon:

We popped our head into the Crown Liquor Saloon, if not at the least a very interestingly decorated pub. The interior dates from 1898 and the place is known for being one of Belfast’s most famous bars.

Locating Belfast’s Entries:

We didn’t have much planned for dinner. We eventually located Belfast’s Entries; thin alleyways that used to be the life lines of commercial and residential Belfast. We eventually found a neat pub for dinner. I enjoyed a great steak sandwich along with a Archway Lager Pint. WT73Jr enjoyed the Celtic band that played for several hours on our visit. Afterwards, WT73Jr got to try his first Guinness which we found from a local grocery store. Unfortunately, it was non refrigerated which didn’t make it all too an appealing circumstance (laughing).

We eventually retired to the AC Hotel by Marriott Belfast to get ready for an exciting day at The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland.

My Thoughts on Belfast:

Belfast was an interesting city to visit for a day or two. While we didn’t get out to see many of the murals, it was a neat experience to be able to see the Titanic artifacts along with a city that is slowly coming back to life.

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If you visited Belfast, Northern Ireland, did you find the historical component of the city engaging ?

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