The Titanic Quarter

One of the first places that our tour visited in Belfast was the Titanic Quarter. In particular, we visited the museum that focuses totally on the Titanic. We arrived after having a bus tour with a tour guide from the city on our first day in Belfast.

Once we went into the museum, one of the first things that is usually done is the watching of a video regarding the building of the Titanic. There were displays that were interesting, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the ride through the “dockyard”. It was like a roller coaster ride that takes you through various parts of the “dockyard” in which there were displays that described the building of the Titanic and the conditions that the dockyard workers functioned in.

On the ground floor of the museum is a gift shop. I was interested in seeing what they had. I was looking for souvenir spoons in particular, but I found that the prices in the gift shop were steep. I did find souvenir spoons, but it was going to cost me in the neighbourhood of £25. I was not that impressed with them that I was going to pay that much. After all, I don’t have a lot of money and I look for things that are not that expensive. I left the gift shop after that.

The Titanic Quarter actually consists of more than just the museum. The museum is only one venue that resides there. Just up the street from the museum is the Public Records Office for Northern Ireland, otherwise known as PRONI. If you need to do any sort of research involving Northern Ireland, that is the place to start with. After that, there are other places that I will talk about in the future.

Across the street from PRONI is the hotel that we would have preferred to stay in. It is the other Premier Inn that is in Belfast and has much more room for buses and groups. However, there was a concert that week and the hotel was booked when the error had been pointed out to the tour company. There aren’t many trees in the area, so shade is at a premium.

There are other businesses within walking distance of the hotel. Many North American companies are locating the European headquarters of their companies in Ireland, both in Dublin and in Belfast. We drove down one of the streets and there is still a lot of development that has to happen before it will look like the plans that they have made for the area.

There are also plans to have some residential areas as well. Hopefully, Belfast can continue with the development of this area as it does have potential. Some of the pictures included with this blog were downloaded using Google to find them.

Day Twelve – Field Trip, April 2016

Yesterday was a busy day. Today was almost as busy. The only difference was that we did not change hotels. Before coming on the trip, I was doing some shopping and found some Tide, enough for three separate washings ideal for washing a couple of things in the bathroom sink when you are stopped long enough to do so. Just make sure that you can spread out the clothes as you are only wringing them out by hand and that doesn’t take out the water like a machine can.

This morning, we travelled to Leenane to go out to the mouth of Killary Harbour on a catamaran. It was cold. It was wet (some light rain). But the surroundings were beautiful and well worth the cold and wet. I was out in the fresh air for about ten minutes, but went inside to deck and had some hot chocolate and a brownie to warm up, then to stay warm.

On the way to Leenane, we did have a stop for an opportunity to photograph the surroundings. I believe that John Wayne spent some time there when “The Quiet Man” was being filmed.

After our cruise we continued to Clonbur and had lunch at Eddie’s Bar. We had a choice between fish and chips and Irish lamb stew. I chose the fish and chips while my brother had the stew. It was a big meal and it was thoroughly enjoyed.

Our day continued with a walking tour of the village of Cong. This village was the set for the outdoor scenes of the movie “The Quiet Man” starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. The movie was filmed in 1951, released in 1952, and won Oscars for Best Director for John Ford and Best Cinematography. We visited the buildings and places that were shown in the outdoor scenes except for four places because they were a distance away from the village. We had a good guide and had a lot of fun with this activity. Even our bus driver was pulled into the fun.

Once the walking tour was over, we were given some time to visit the museum and gift shop. I was expecting the trip back to our hotel to take about two hours but it took about an hour and a half.

This evening, we have free time to go anywhere we want for dinner and visit the local area.