Saturday May 3

Belfast, Northern Ireland

This morning we arrived in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, and a city of about 400,000 residents. After breakfast we had to be at our station 8:25am for our bus tour which began around 9:00 and finished around 12:30. We had a great tour guide who pointed out some of the sites as well as gave us a history of the political & violence issues over the years which lasted until the mid 90's. 

There is many great old buildings, church and castles on the tour but it was difficult to get any photos unless we stopped. We did get to stop at Belfast Castle, Queen's University, the Peace Wall and City Hall which allowed us to get some great photos. As well there are a few taken from the bus which will give you an idea of the types of houses & apartments in which they live. Not much in the way of wooden structures here. Lots of Titanic information as the ship was built at the shipyard here which was the biggest shipyard in the world. At one time over 30,000 people worked at the yard.

The Peace Wall was a series of walls that separate the predominantly Irish Republican  or nationalist Catholic neighbourhoods from predominantly British Loyalist or unionist Protestant neighbourhoods. The gates in the walls open at 7:00am and close at 9:00pm each day. However, you can drive a mile and get around them. The walls are filled with many painted murals which sometimes change overnight. There are over 20 miles of these walls but the one we saw along Cupar Way was about 1 mile long.

We are back at the ship and after lunch Gladys is gone to the spa for a manicure while I went for a walk and did a little putting as they have a practice green onboard.

Our dinner entree this evening. Gladys had the Branzino while I had the lamb. Out waiter also brought along some Tandoori Chicken for us to try. See the menus for this evening below. We both had the soup for starters while I had the Tiramsu & Gladys the Peach Clafoutis for dessert.

We took in the evening show at the theatre with comedian Ralph Harris who was quite good and funny. He is going to do another show later in the cruise. The we finished off the evening by taking in a couples show where they asked 3 couples various questions. Each couldn't hear the other's answers so that was quite hilarious too.

We are in Glasgow tomorrow but have nothing planned so we may go ashore and look around. You have to take a train into the city.

This is our menu for the evening with the dessert menu below. It's a similar menu each evening. You could also go to the dining hall where there is a buffet morning, noon and evening. We prefer to sit down and be served.

Taken alongside the cruise ship this morning.

View of the port of Belfast from the Cruise ship.

Some 11 dogs gathered in the parking lot outside the Belfast Castle this morning. Some were not on leash and one came towards us. Almost a panic. There are more dogs over here than home!

Belfast Castle

Us in front of the Castle.

Belfast Castle grounds - beautiful.

Gladys in the herb garden at the Castle.

An unusual tree in the garden. Not sure what it is as the tour guide didn't know.

Botanical Gardens near Queens University. Just gorgeous. So many beautiful plants and flowers.

Some of the flowers outside in the Botanical Gardens.

Gladys with a purple flower inside the Gardens.

Some more of the flowers.

Queens Iniversity main campus. Some 25,000 students attend school there.

Belfast City Hall

Us in front of City Hall in Belfast.

Queen Victoria statue in front of City Hall. Apparently she visited Belfast once for 5 hours. She certainly left a mark. 

Titanic Memorial near City Hall.

On this plaque are the names of those who were lost in the sinking of the Titanic.

Peace Wall

The Peace Wall is full of murals and many reference the political issues over the years. Some seem to be supporting the Palestinians as they carry on a similar political dispute with Israel. Here are a few of the murals taken as we drove by on the bus.