Day 20 - St George's Market, Eclectic Belfast Walking Tour, Ulster Museum and Dinner at Holohan's Pantry

Friday 4 October 2019
It's our last day so we pack up properly and check out, leaving our luggage with reception for safe keeping until this evening when we take the overnight ferry to Liverpool.  We're not away quite as early as I would have liked but we at least have a little bit of time to stick to the plan and walk over to St George's Market. Along the way we explore a little more, street art lined passageways open to lovely protected squares. There's artwork everywhere, paintings, sculptures in various media. It's brilliant.

 I love the water fountain. It's cheery yellow makes a lovely landmark. There's so much of Belfast we haven't yet seen.

 We are really pressed for time at the market. It's a mix of fresh and cooked food vendors and stalls selling bits and bobs. Luckily there's an artist selling simple artworks of scenes around Belfast and the Antrim Coast, bees and animals. They are lovely.  But first we need to seek out some breakfast. We settle on a crepe each from the creperie and watch as the vendor whips up our choices with practiced efficiency. Served in a cone we find them surprisingly easy to eat.... and delicious.
But already we're running out of time so we head back to the art stall and I get a little carried away! We're off walking in the rain, so we're a bit concerned about keeping the art dry, but not to worry, the little bundle is wrapped in bubble wrap and popped into a plastic bag. They'll be safe in Hubby's manbag while we walk. Luckily they're not heavy. Though our visit to the markets has been a bit rushed, I'm really glad we made the effort to come over here.

A quick sprint up to City Hall, admiring the copper domes of the building along the way. We're meeting Marty from Belfastology for the Eclectic City tour. I pause just long enough to take a super quick look and photo at the memorials as we pass.  One looks like a War Memorial the uniform on the soldier might be Boer War methinks. ...Titanic Memorial. Pause. Snap. We hurry on and find Marty waiting for us. Always people ask how we found out about them and what attracted us to them. I really must learn to write it down. I can never remember by the time I actually show up!  Marty notices an insect that has landed on Hubby's coat sleeve. This is a Daddy Long Legs, a harmless creature that Marty tells us is a sign of coming rain. It's lucky to have one land on you.

City Hall is not all that old having been completed in 1906, but it is very impressive, built prior to World War 1 when the British Empire was at its peak. Having admired and discussed the exterior, the symbolism of the Queen Victoria monument and some nearby buildings and their historical contexts we head inside for a quick look, Marty drawing our attention to key features and cultural and historical references. Oh, how I wish we had more time to take the tour here.

From City Hall we set off, hearing of the history of the city. Marty's overt intention is to leave his customers with a positive view of his home town, to counteract the negative messages many people have received about this place and its struggles. He quotes figures on the results of the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement. A little rounding is involved. Checking on Google later when discussing our day with friends, I find that the turnout in Northern Ireland was 81%, pretty good in a place where voting is not compulsory, 71% voted for peace. In the Republic turnout was lower at 56.3% but of those that bothered, 94.4% were in favour of the agreement.

I hardly know where to start to describe the interesting sights and insider information that Marty shares as we spend what turns out to be more like 3.5 hours than than the official 2 hours exploring and falling in love with Belfast. We stop to imagine original intentions versus actual end results, pause to note lines of sight between landmarks or the best photo angles. We get encouragement to just stand in the road for a good shot or cross against the lights. This is the Belfast way. Having covered the history of the city, popped quietly into St Malachy's, stopped by the Onion Rings and explored the Entries, our mutual enthusiasm for the city tempts Marty to offer an extension if we have time. We have time.

St Malachy's

We pop back up into Victoria Square for an explanation of the symbolism of the sculptural beauty of the main features within the atrium of the shopping centre, head over to Nuala with the Hoola again and hear about Sammy the Seal and the sculpture of him and his family (how did we manage to miss that yesterday?) and then head back via the Merchant Hotel. With some preparatory advice about how we need to behave to avoid disturbing the patrons Marty leads us into the Merchant Hotel dining room. WOW! Marty asks if we need a toilet stop. Nah, that's OK we're fine. Are you sure? Marty asks with enough inflection that we take the hint. Oh. We NEED to check out the toilets here. Oh, yes, let's take a comfort stop. WOW!  We peruse the menu noting the unbelievably reasonable pricing. This is apparently how the owner likes to give back to the local community. Then we are led on a meandering route into the bowels of the hotel finally spending some time chatting to the guys in a seriously upmarket watch shop in an underground vault. I ask about one of the watches and discover that it's a collector's piece. Eye wateringly expensive, but not the most expensive in the store. If you bought it you need to not use it or it's value will be impacted. You would never know all this was in here from the street if someone didn't show you.

We emerge into the natural light and head down past the Dirty Onion and Thirsty Goat, pleased to have an opportunity to get better photos than we have done to date. Then we prowl around the Cathedral Quarter hearing about the annual Street Art festival and it's rules, seeking out hidden artworks, noting just one that pushed the boundaries for subject matter and controversy. The art is supposed to be cheerful and uplifting not political or controversial. Most are paintings on huge otherwise blank walls but there are tiny sculptures among them also. We laugh as Marty points out one trio of clay faces with a little tile stating that Winter is Coming.  Marty takes opportunties that arise to point out great places to eat or stop for a drink.

Suddenly I realise we've found our way via an unfamiliar route back to Writer's Square as Marty talks to us about the literary references. St Anne's is ahead of us so we move on to cover the history and architecture of the Cathedral and the Spire of Hope as we cross to Buoy Park and face the side of the Cathedral. Photos taken we turn to appreciate a large construction site with scaffolding which will be a new city campus for the University of Ulster bringing an influx of 10,000 more students to this part of Belfast. This is just one of many investments being made.  New hotels have been popping up each year, in one year seven new hotels opened to meet the demand for conferences and Tourists. The pending influx of students has entrepreneurs jostling, securing the most atmospheric buildings and spaces for new bars and music venues.  The energy in the city is palpable as we listen to Marty's enthusiasm for the city and its future. Into the MAC and we hear about the rainbow art installation and community building theatre and arts initiatives. Out in St Anne's Square Marty has a couple of fine surprises for us (nope, not telling, go on the tour) and finally we walk together past some more street art back to where we are intent on getting our car. We've had a wonderful time with Marty. Have had our eyes opened and our hearts filled with the spirit of this vibrant city.

Wow. That's prime real estate for a kerosene bowser.  You must use a lot more kerosene here than we do at home.

Time now for the tedious part of the day, we drive over and come out of the other side of a bicker session as we find the location of Budget Car Rentals from the petrol station. The navigational bickering is not enough to dull the impact of the beauty of Queen's University and the lovely avenue of street trees. The car return goes smoothly and concerned about how little time we have left today we get a cab to the Museum of Ulster. It's already 3pm so we need to move it. We head into the Museum and after a moment of distraction provided by some art glass that is obviously by Dale Chihuly, I am immediately mesmerised by the trio of willow dragons suspended in the atrium. They are perfectly placed so that as you go around the levels of museum displays you circle around these magnificent artworks. They represent the three dragons from Game of Thrones and I am humbled to realise that they were made by the basketmaker we talked to over at the Ulster Folk Museum. There he was sitting humbly working at his craft. The pig certainly hinted at his mastery but oh my! I wonder if he'll ever make anything more spectacular than these dragons.

We make our way around the galleries, the triceratops skeleton is something to see for sure. Hubby poses to give scale to the composite skeleton of the herbivore Edmontosaurus Annectens. However the display that most captures our attention is a permanent display gallery called The Troubles and Beyond, best described by the museum's own guide as "a creative space to share the tangible effects of the Troubles, through artefacts, photographs and personal testimony. This is not just a story of political violence. The gallery recognises that the Troubles did not take place in a vacuum. It is as much a social history as a political one." As we usually do in such galleries, Hubby and I go our own ways, each following our own path at our own pace. I start by watching a video of an older guy talking to a young woman about the pros and cons of collecting artefacts of the period and remembering the social history of the era. Shouldn't we just forget? The man mentions that his daughter thinks he should give the old bus ticket he carries in his wallet to the museum. He shows it to the young woman. It's fascinating to see her reaction to her examination of the ticket and the story about it he tells her. Display cabinets have a summary panel on the end describing the overall context of the decade and in each case the curated artefacts are displayed. On each display there is also an orange circle labled "Stop and Think".  This gallery is completely brilliant and I am sure I am not alone in feeling that this type of open discussion sensitively handled helps the community to "process" a very difficult period. I am delighted to see it, especially after Mark's quite pessimistic feeling on community building in his local area. With all that Marty has had to say and this very positive and sensitive gallery here at the museum, I feel quite uplifted and optomistic for the future here. The displays make clear that all local visitors are encouraged to think about what they have in their possession that might be worth talking to the museum about. Writing this I find myself thinking of my first forays into fiction by Northern Irish authors. Set in the era of the Troubles, it gave an interesting perspective on the times. It was a gentle way to begin to overcome what had been a pretty strong aversion to the subject on my part.

Mammoth tusk with scrimshaw

We move on to try to get a look at the upstairs galleries. I'm finding it hard to settle on standard topics of natural history. Nearing the end of my exploration of the Irish Art galleries, a friendly staff member strikes up a conversation with me. She explains to me some features of the architecture of the building and asks about historic buildings in Australia. My observation that our most treasured buildings in Sydney date from the Macquarie era, leads to some further questions about who Macquarie was... and we're down the slippery slope of discussion about a period of Australian history that I feel quite passionate about. We end up chatting away for quite a while longer than I had intended. I tear myself away to make sure I don't miss an opportunity to stick my head in the museum shop. We select some little things that we think our grandaughter might like for her birthday and that I haven't seen anything similar to at home. Another friendly chat with the men behind the counter as we pay. Hubby chooses some local chocolate to add to our bundle and we're out and intent on a quick squiz at the Botanic Gardens, making sure to pay attention to the sensitively done extension to the original museum building. It really is very well done.

My first priority is a photo of the statue of Lord Kelvin which brings back happy memories of touring the University of Glasgow. Unfortunately we're too late to enter the glass Palm House or Tropical Ravine. We don't explore very far before we decide to head down to Holohan's Pantry in the hope of an early walk up table.
We take our place among quite a number of other people trying their best to get a photograph that does the grand Lanyon building justice, not an easy task due to the scale of the thing. It's an easy walk down to Holohan's Pantry and we're in luck, shown to a table in the, as yet, quiet restaurant.  Our choices are a complete no brainer, we're here for the Boxty and we intend this to be a comprehensive investigation of the subject. Hubby takes no persuasion to go for the Leitrim Boxty with Scullerymade Black Pudding.  A bit of discussion with the man serving us and I'm having an early delivery of the Fermanagh Boxty Dumplings to start. For mains, Hubby's chosen the seafood filled Holohan's Pan Boxty so there's nothing for it but for me to get my own version to have the meat filling. Service is very friendly, we even get a quick lesson on how to make the pan boxty to try at home. It's quite similar to potato cakes my family has always made but much more finely grated potato and heavily worked mix, cooked in butter. Definitely going to give that a try! The Boxty dumplings are like a light and fluffy gnocchi, very delicious.  Apple tart and Sticky Toffee Pudding round out a most enjoyable dining experience. A wonderful way to finish our culinary explorations on this island.

Our timing is good. A nice evening walk back to the Premier Inn to collect our luggage will put us at just about the right time for getting across to check in for the ferry. It's a lovely evening and a very pleasant walk down through the night time lights, past the Crown Saloon. I set my googlemaps to take us past Kelly's Cellars for a quick squiz. A Wee Toast Tours group whizzes past, laughter brightening the street all around. At Kelly's Cellars the music's playing and there's people enjoying themselves with friends outside. The broad pedestrian plaza here is perfect for the celebrations I've seen posted online. Lights and artwork brighten the night. What a lovely way to end our time in Belfast.

It's an easy exercise claiming our baggage from the friendly ladies on duty at Premier Inn, they call us a cab and in no time we're in position checking in to Stena Line for the overnight ferry to Liverpool. When I first suggested that I liked the idea of this means of getting to Liverpool, most thought it would be better to fly but the luggage arrangements on the carriers I checked didn't seem convenient or sufficient. In the end I decided that I really do want to go by boat. Now we've been to Titanic Belfast, I'm even more keen to experience leaving these shores via the water.

We're quite early but so are many others. We're required to check our large suitcases and just take our small carry on bags with us. Luckily we're just in time for a seat in the waiting area. There's a very clear demographic on this sailing, it's almost all men. Just a few ladies with their husbands. Outside towards the docks all we can see is stacks of shipping containers. Eventually we are all shuttled to the ship via a bus that drives into the car deck for us to alight and head upstairs. We don't get a good view of the ship along the way at all.

On board, we head up a flight of escalators, the ship is pretty schmick and impressive. We keep going up to and find that our cabin is very comfortable. We have a porthole. I head upstairs to explore and check out the views of the docks.

It's getting quite late, and we arrive in Liverpool very early in the morning. It's virtually impossible to get a full 8 hours sleep even without the excitement of a new experience. We get our nightly battery charging underway, I check that Hubby's taken his sea sickness remedy and reluctantly hit the sack. What a wonderful time we've had, but another week across the stops we made would have been perfect.