Belfast, Northern Ireland

August 23rd, 2026

Last time we were here we docked much closer to the city and we could walk right to the Titanic museum. This time we were further out and you had to buy a $20 round trip shuttle ticket. Luckily the port had lots of double decker buses to act as shuttles so the wait was not long even though the line was.

The shuttle dropped us off by city hall which is centrally located and has lots of things around it. It was Sunday so many businesses/offices were closed.

City Hall. You could go inside and we did not but Linda & Micheal did and said it was very nice with some beautiful stained glass windows. Instead we headed a few blocks away to St George’s market which is a huge indoor market selling fresh fish, baked items and crafts. It is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The market was quite packed and had lots of interesting things to see. We bought a couple of baked goods, an iced coffee and a few souvenirs. We spent over an hour walking around and seeing everything.

After the market we headed out towards the Titanic quarter of town. We had an e-bike tour at 1:30 and wanted to get our bearings. Most of the walk was along the river front.

Some of the architecture of the town and the huge sculpture over one of the bridges that has many names but the one we heard the most was “Lulu with the Hulu”. It is supposed to signify welcome.

The river we were walking along was the river Lagan which is 53 miles long. Currently there is an issue with algae growth on it and the city is trying to figure out how to get rid of the algae but not harm the wildlife.

The river has lots of foot bridges over it.

We walked past a stadium called the O2 which was a large complex with a movie theater, eating places, an ice hockey rink and other things attached to it. Belfast has an ice hockey team called “the Giants” and this is their home stadium. We found a fast food Asian restaurant and had some lunch. After lunch we found our e-bike tour and it was actually an e-bike bicycle shop and the owner was taking us on the tour. Even though we were early he said we could get set up and leave whenever. Turns out it was just me & Kathy on the tour. He brought out a few bikes and we tested them in front of the shop and when we felt settled he locked up the shop and off we went.

Our first stop was to the Titanic museum and we actually went behind the museum which now has the exact size of the Titanic drawn on the ground and this is where the Titanic was pushed into the water on it’s first sail out. It is now reclaimed land and part of the museum.

We then rode down the docks to where an old military boat is docked. The boat is considered still active even though it has not sailed in years but since it is still in water it is considered active.

The boat is the HMS Caroline. The boat was built in 1914 and is a WWI legendary C-class Royal Navy light cruiser. She is famous as the last surviving warship from the epic First World War Battle of Jutland and the second-oldest ship to ever serve in the Royal Navy. We were surprised at how thin the bow of the boat was.

We also went by the old ship yard where they used to pull the boats in and then drain out all the water and men could climb down using ladders in the side of the walls to work on the ships. When they were ready to float out they would flood the chamber and open the gates and sail the boats out, the giant lock was empty this day.

Our next step was right by the 2 massive gantry cranes that have become a symbol of Belfast. The cranes are called Samson and Goliath and can lift 840 tons each. They are over 300 feet tall and tower over Belfast.

On the right hand side of the picture you can see the building in the background and you can see a dark line in the middle of it. This line actually shows where the roof of the building opens and the cranes lift the ship into the building and the building opens up as wide as needed for the size of the boat.

This picture is from the deck of our boat so you can see how they tower over the city. We saw lots of art work in St Georges market that included these cranes in them. The government is spending 3 million pounds to get them back into working order to revive the ship building industry in Belfast and bring new jobs to the city. He said there is an order for 3 battleships and that will create lots of jobs.

After our stop in the ship yards we went along the river to the college section of town. The big campus in Belfast is Queen’s University. School has not started yet and there are lots of public spaces around the campus. We stopped at a rose garden and then at a green house and spent time enjoying the flowers.