We took the camper into the city. After much turning and twisting we found a parking spot in walking distance to the St. George market and some other sites.
The market on a Sunday is more for art and snacks. Not much vegetables and fish. The building itself is underwhelming. Just a metal construction with no decoration. Similar to the one in Melbourne. The market buildings in S. America are much more elaborate. Just like the opera house. This one here is just a brick structure and we could not even go inside the building. The banks and government buildings are however big and have interesting facades. We went on a tour of the City Hall. This impressive building was built after Queen Victoria elevated the town in 1888 to a city. Belfast is known for its ship building (such as the Titanic) and its linen industry.
We spent a lovely day roaming the streets and taking in the sites. The sun made it double enjoyable. We decided to go back to last night seaside park and stay another night. It’s only 9km outside Belfast.
This morning we drove to the Titanic Experience. We managed to park Tasman on the nearby parking lot. A large dedicated building has been erected on the site where the Titanic was built between 1909 and 1912. A state-of-the-art multimedia museum. Thousands of workers found employment at various ship building wharfs as well at the many flax/linen factories in Belfast. Both were the largest in the world at that time. In the museum you board a “shipyard” ride through a mockup Titanic construction site several stories high. Along the whole route are large photographs explaining how the ship is built. It is a massive undertaking to construct the steel hull. Once this is completed, the ship is launched and then the floors were laid and the cabins, dining rooms and theaters were built. All in all, this process takes 3 years to complete.
In May 1912 the ship started on its maiden voyage. At the end of the tour, the tragedy of the sinking of the ship is tastefully exhibited. Also, the results of the disaster investigation are discussed. A classic example of many small human mistakes and 2 large design failures. One being not enough lifeboats for the 1300 passengers and 900 crew on board and the other that the internal bulk headings were too short so water flowed over the top from one into the other resulting in de fast sinking of the ship.
Outside the experience building you can see 2 smaller ships from the same era but also stained-glass panels depicting Game of Thrones caricatures (one of the studios is also along the wharf).
From here we drove South to Downpatrick but were too late to see the inside of the Cathedral in which St Patrick is buried. Also, the local Goal Museum was just closing when we arrived. Further South along the coast past Newcastle we found a camping site on a parking lot in Annalong, close to the sea.
