Belfast

Belfast’s Murals Are the Most Honest Public Art in Ireland

The paintings on the Falls Road and Shankill Road do not soften what they depict. Loyalist murals show gunmen. Republican murals show hunger strikers. Both show the same streets that still exist around them. A Black Taxi tour with a driver from one of the communities – drivers from both sides operate and the experience of hearing the same decades of conflict explained from different positions on different streets within twenty minutes of each other – is not tourist-friendly heritage; it is a direct confrontation with what happened here and what the city is still working through.

Belfast is a city that has been underestimating its own appeal for years. The Titanic Belfast museum is consistently voted among the best in Europe. The Cathedral Quarter has a pub and restaurant culture that Dublin travel writers have stopped condescending to. The Giant’s Causeway and the Antrim Coast are an hour north, which makes Belfast a viable base for one of Britain’s best coastal drives.

Titanic Quarter

Titanic Belfast opened in 2012 on the slipways where the ship was built. Nine galleries across six floors cover the construction, the voyage, and the sinking, with period artefacts and some of the most effective immersive exhibits in any European museum. The adjacent SS Nomadic (the only surviving White Star Line vessel) is open separately. Allow three to four hours.

The Falls and Shankill

The Peace Walls – corrugated metal barriers that still separate residential communities in west Belfast – have been a feature of the city since the 1970s and still stand. The gate on Cupar Way opens during the day. Both communities maintain murals; free walking tours are available, and the Black Taxi tours offer rides with narrative from both traditions in one trip.

Food and Drink

St George’s Market (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) has been operating on May Street since 1896 and has the best food market atmosphere in the city. The Muddlers Club in the Cathedral Quarter does contemporary cooking with serious technique. Deane’s Eipic holds a Michelin star and has an excellent-value lunchtime tasting menu. Mourne Seafood Bar for fresh seafood. The Cathedral Quarter pubs have genuine traditional music sessions without the tourist-performance quality that affects similar nights in Dublin.

Day Trip: Antrim Coast

The Causeway Coastal Route north from Belfast is a 200-kilometre drive passing Carrickfergus Castle (12th century, the best-preserved in Ireland), the Glens of Antrim, the Rope Bridge at Carrick-a-Rede, and the Giant’s Causeway (UNESCO World Heritage site, 40,000 basalt columns formed by ancient volcanic activity, no entrance fee for the columns themselves though the visitor centre charges). The Dark Hedges, the beech tree tunnel used in Game of Thrones, are 40 minutes north of the Causeway.