There is something beautiful – and in no way melancholic, despite itself – about being alone, in a bar, in a foreign country (because yes, it is foreign, even if the flags fly the same and the words sound the same), drinking and listening to to not only the Irish country songs on the speakers but the conversation of the sitters, the locals with Domino’s pizza boxes piled high and pints of Guinness, Jamieson, flutes (they’re not glasses) of wine.
Something almost humorous about the stuffed animals that line the bar, the walls, because they are outliers to the décor – stuffed foxes with binoculars and hunting rifles the devil’s own goat, amongst wood panelling and LCD advertising, black and white pictures of Irish natives and framed maps of the land, painting replicas- a tin cast of the Irish blessing, Murphy’s Law.
Apprehension of being a lone English(wo)man in a northern Ireland bar is non-existent – perhaps, because, of my solitary disposition. A taxi driver (£44!) who boasted of his recent trip to the Berlin zoo, his favourite animals the hippopotamus – a rhino who is “nothin’ more than an armoured cow”, and a black mamba that’s as black as tar and a strike-and-you’re-dead, son. A group of girlfriends on their usual Saturday night out in Belfast city, living out Dreams of Long Ago.
Back in July, I did something I haven’t done for a long while – a solo holiday ✈️. I spent 48 hours in Belfast, a city I’d always dreamed of visiting but the timing never quite working out as I wished it would. This was my second attempt at visiting in 2024, as my first was cancelled 12-hours prior by the arrival of Storm Kathleen – and I spent the entire weekend just relaxing. Exploring. Taking photos and visiting museums and walking through parks, sitting in pubs and music gardens, markets and just pretending that, for 48 hours, I didn’t have anywhere to be or anything to do.
What was truly stunning were the various wall murals around the city, in the suburbs. I stopped and read every single one I passed. I also saw gooseberries for the first time.
When I originally planned my trip, I was going to watch the Belfast Giants and take a day trip for the Game of Thrones Studio Tour – neither of which I could fit into this trip, sadly. For that reason, I’m excited to visit again – although I would like to go further remote, see Giant’s Causeway, Derry/Londonderry, and some lush green landscapes.
The reason I have always wanted to go to Belfast in particular, was for the Titanic Museum. The whole disaster is just one of those historic events that has stayed with me since learning about it – and now, working for a company that has such strong ties to not only the ocean liner itself, but the vessel that came to the Titanic’s rescue, that interest has only grown. I definitely cannot give the museum justice; not only is the building a very interesting design shape, but the exhibition was on another level.
From interactive stands, to a full on cable car ride through an exhibit of the lives of those heavily involved in the manufacturing of the Titanic, to a wall of the drowned, recovered artefacts of the sea floor and a (deeply moving) glass floor that lets you float (tethered yet free flowing) above the wreckage itself.
Paige Briscoe 
I’m glad you got to see the city. We’re not all bad and the place has history seeping from its pores, and not just Troubles Related.
In Northern Ireland there is a diverse range of geology from ancient volcanoes, to prehistoric sand, Glen’s carved by glaciers and glacial erratic, back through a coastline that would be familiar to the dinosaurs and going back as far as 400 million years.
Please come and visit again. You can literally drive from one side to the other in 2hrs 30mins be it North/South from Ballycastle to Newry or East/West from Belfast to Garrison.
We have a border that cuts through loughs and even properties. Yes, you can enter a property in Northern Ireland and exit via another door in the Irish Republic.
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I never knew that about the geology make-up! I’m truly excited to visit again – and that’s amazing to learn about the border. I’ve never visited an in-person border (having always travelled through air, by train), so that is something that would interest me to witness! Thank you so much for sharing ❤️
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Hi Paige, when the opportunity presents itself to revisit, may I suggest a rest stop in the village of Garrison. This is a good place to not/see the border splitting the 2 countries. You can google it. If, for example, you have a licence to fish in one part of Lough Melvin, but the boat drifts a few meters, you could then land it in a different country. Plus this is on the way to Sligo / Donegal which are 2 beautiful counties in the Republic. Slieve League are the highest cliffs in Ireland and beautiful scenery. Sometimes you smell peat burning and it’s a pleasant and historic aroma that generates images of 1800/1900 Ireland. Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh is a good place to see this and worth a visit.
In Belfast, another Quirke, is Belfast City Cemetery. Near the entrance at the bottom of the Whiterock Road, where the oldest part of the cemetery is situated, there is an underground wall built to keep the Catholic and Protestant burials separated.
There is a sea stack just off the West Coast of Ireland that shows about 400 million years of seabed layers and a good example of the geology hidden under Irish soil.
We are a small, but compact country that has more to show than the violence of the Troubles. Castles going back to the Norman period, Motte n Baileys, Raths, Neolithic monuments that are older than the pyramids in Giza, and other historic sites dating from 11,000 years ago when people first arrived here at the end of the last ice-age via an ice/land bridge between Scotland and what would become County Antrim, before the sea levels began to rise and the Irish Sea made Ireland an Island.
Should the opportunity present itself, I would suggest hiring a car and discovering some of the hidden gems that will make memories to last a lifetime.
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