Belfast weekend

Before telling you about our weekend away, I'll start where I finished my last blog posting. Jo's tests at the hospital at Stonehaven on Thursday went very well - and she "passed" with flying colours. They now reckon there's nothing wrong with her heart and she can even come off some of the medication she has been taking since they diagnosed angina a couple of years ago. Result.

So what has been causing the chest pains then? Stress probably - and I think Kelly gets the blame for the most recent episodes!

So it was off to the airport on Friday morning for our short flight across the Irish Sea. We landed at George Best Belfast City Airport which is only a short distance from the city centre. Here's the general layout of the area:

The Lough, of course, goes out to the Irish Sea. The City Centre itself looks like this:

Our hotel was the Europa Hotel, right next to the Bus Centre and the train station (on the left above). It has the reputation of being the most bombed hotel in Europe/the world, having suffered 28 bomb attacks during "The Troubles". Despite this, it has hosted Presidents, Prime Ministers and celebrities by the score - most notably Bill Clinton who gave a stirring speech in support of the peace process at nearby City Hall in 1995. There's even a plaque in the hotel commemorating his visit:

Everywhere was just a short walk away for us - right across the street is the famous Crown Bar, which is a Grade A listed building, restored to its original Victorian splendour - at great cost - by the National Trust. Our room at the Europa wasn't ready yet, so we thought we would have a swift pint in the Crown. The place was mobbed - as it was on every other occasion we tried in vain to get in to one of the dinky cubicles (complete with doors) in the bar.

Our next stop was for a bite of lunch at the cafe in the grand City Hall, after which we wandered on and stumbled across a free Taste of N. Ireland exhibition:

Lots of goodies on offer here - what an unexpected treat. We headed down towards the river - it was getting pretty warm by now. This was what we found:

Back to our hotel - time to check in. We didn't spend long there as we had found out it was the once a year Culture Night that evening, when over 250 acts would be playing for free in the streets and pubs round the Cathedral area - music, dance, poetry, marching, even BMX style biking.

On the way there, we stopped outside the City Hall for a photo opportunity:

The Spirit of Belfast next:

We also looked in to the strangely shaped Bittles Bar:

There were a lot of what initially looked like quite scary sectarian posters and paintings on the walls inside, but on closer examination, it was all quite neutral - Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness together in harmony, for instance. Nonetheless, we moved on, anxious to get to the heart of the cultural action - and it wasn't hard to find. Busy, busy, busy, but a really nice atmosphere. We enjoyed  a group of Belfast hillbillies, who played rock music with folk instruments, wearing Confederate hats.

We actually queued to get in to one of the pubs - The John Hewitt (a Belfast poet, not the Aberdeen footballer), where some of the "customers" would suddenly and apparently spontaneously, burst in to excerpts from your favourite operas. Great fun.

It was getting late and we still hadn't eaten. What to do? The only answer is:

Very good it was too - and table service.

Enough of day one - Saturday and Sunday posts to follow.