Belfast - Northern Ireland - Travel - Accommodation - Tourism
There's
a growing phenomenon around the world called 'Living
History', where skilled re-enactors bring to life the
look, taste, smell and flavour of the past. Living history
is what Belfast is about. If you're looking for history
that is packaged and ready to sell, history you can
only view through a glass, try elsewhere. If you want
the real thing and you want to experience it with all
your senses, take a walk around Belfast.
Start
at the waterfront. A few yards from the Lagan Lookout,
you will see water gushing beneath an archway and underneath
the city. This is the source of the river Feirste. It's
Gaelic name is Beal Feirste or crossing of the sand
bank. It's where it all began. A port since the 12c,
Belfast's waterside is not only a vital part of the
city's personality, it has been an engine of the wealth
that created its extraordinary architectural heritage.
It was
largely in Victorian times that the great industrialists
and entrepreneurs of Belfast - shipbuilders, engineers,
linen barons - made their money and left their mark.
Their burning pride in their city stands all around
you. The City Hall, whose influence radiates outward
from the heart of the city, is not just a magnificent
piece of Classical Renaissance architecture - it's a
statement. 'We are equal', its great marbled halls announce
'to any city in the world'. That pride finds an echo
in a hundred such magnificent buildings, red brick and
sandstone, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian that spread
around the city.
Many
other strands of Belfast history are within touching
distance. Inside the beautifully carved stone and ironwork
of St George's Market near the waterfront, a vital artery
of city life flourishes again. This recently-restored
Victorian masterpiece is the last reminder of the great
markets area of Belfast, where, for hundreds of years,
the smells of fresh, country produce mingled with the
cries and sharp wit of the vendors. They still do.
And that's
the key to Belfast history - it's alive. From the city's
great literary heritage, rekindled at the elegantly-restored
Linen Hall library with its priceless collection of
books; to living history of a different kind - the buzz
that hums around countless, beautifully-preserved city
pubs, such as The Crown Liquor Saloon in Great Victoria
Street, the world's most exquisite Victorian pub.
Whatever
its scale, history here still has the power to touch.
The great exhibitions at the Ulster Museum reveals the
bigger picture of Belfast's heritage but at Culturlann,
the Irish arts centre in the Falls Road, and Fernhill
House in the Shankill, you get the people's story too.
And while you're in the area, join the crowds of tourists
queuing to be photographed at those world-famous Troubles
icons, the political murals. In Belfast, history is
all around you
Other
principal cities are Aghadowey,
Ballykelly, Ballymagroarty and Castledawson.
For more information click:
www.belfast.local.ie
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