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October 2, 2001

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Unless you approach Belfast from the sea you cannot help but come upon the city suddenly because of its fine setting: a 'Hibernian Rio' as one writer has called it, ringed by high hills, sea lough and river valley.

A village in the 17th century, this robust northern metropolis of nearly half a million people - a third of Northern Ireland's population - has
much in common with Liverpool and Manchester, those breezy cities across the Irish Sea. Belfast was the engine-room that drove the
whirring wheels of the industrial revolution in Ulster. The development of industries like linen, rope-making and shipbuilding doubled the
size of the town every ten years. The world's largest dry dock is here and the shipyard's giant cranes tower over the port.

Today the city and the river front are again being transformed. Much of the city centre is now pleasantly pedestrianized, with benches
where you can sit and listen to the street musicians.

There are many exuberant Victorian and Edwardian buildings with elaborate sculptures over doors and windows. Stone-carved heads of
gods and poets, scientists, kings and queens peer down from the high ledges of banks and old linen warehouses.


Ulster Museum - In the Botanic Gardens - it's collections include contemporary international art, Irish art, Irish furniture,
glass, silver, ceramics, and costume, and a display of life in Ireland over 9,000 years. Perhaps the best known collection is the
gold and silver jewelry recovered by divers in 1968 from the Spanish Armada treasure ship Girona, wrecked off the Giant's
Causeway in 1588.

Linen Hall Library - Located near City Hall, this facility was established in 1788 to improve the mind and excite a spirit of
general inquiry. Includes an important Irish collection of over 20,000 volumes, with a Robert Burns collection. Archive material
can be viewed by appointment.

Crown Liquor Saloon- Belfast's most famous pub, the Crown Liquor Saloon, once a railway hotel, has been restored by the
conservationist National Trust.

Botanic Gardens - The Palm House dates from 1839, an elegant structure of curved glass and cast iron recently renovated.
In the Tropical Ravine, plants grow in a sunken glen.

Home Front Heritage Centre - Nostalgic exhibits from World War II. The museum of the Royal Ulster Rifles, a famous regiment raised in 1793, is in the same
building.

Belfast Zoo - In a picturesque mountain park high above the city.

Cave Hill - Climb the hill beyond Belfast Castle for a great view. A prominent rock at the top, known as MacArt's Fort, is where the United Irishmen planned rebellion
in 1795.

Belfast Port and Harbour - City bus tours pass by the wharf where Titanic was built. Occasional tours of the harbour and the historic Harbour Office.

Lagan Valley Regional Park- Pleasant walks along the towpath past canal locks and lock-houses.

Dixon Park - The City of Belfast international rose trials are held in this beautiful park every year in July. At any time in the summer, there are always at least 100,000
blooms to see.

Visit an art gallery, step into St Anne's Cathedral, go souvenir hunting for fine Irish linen, pottery and hand-cut crystal in Belfast's covered arcades. If the sun is
shining, drive out to Stormont for a glimpse of this impressive former parliament building.

In the evening book into the, Grand Opera House or see a theatre performance. You may decide to end up at a musical pub like the Duke of York, or atmospheric
Kelly's Cellars.

The City Hall, built around 1903, dominates the main shopping area. Built in the grand Classical Renaissance style, with an Italian marble interior, it looks rather like
American state capitol buildings except for the big statue of Queen Victoria at the front. She came to Belfast in 1849 - gave the town the status of city - and must have
been held in high esteem by its citizens since dozens of streets, a hospital, a park,a man-made island, the harbour deep-water channel and the University were all named
after her.

Half a century and half a mile separate the City Hall from Queen's University, with its mellow brickwork and Tudor
cloister. It was built in 1849 by Charles Lanyon who designed more fine buildings in Belfast than anyone before or
since. The university area is full of charming Edwardian terraces with magnolia trees in their front gardens.

This southern part of the city is good for moderately priced restaurants, pubs and accommodation, and for shopping
and theatre. The Botanic Gardens and the Ulster Museum are here too.

Some of Belfast's grandest buildings are banks. On Waring Street - round the corner from the North Street tourist
information centre - the interior of the Ulster Bank (1860) is like a Venetian palace, and the Northern Bank in the
same street started life as a market house in 1769.

The Belfast Harp Festival was held in this building in 1792 when the famous gathering of ancient Irish harpers included blind 94-year-old Denis Hempson who played his
Londonderry harp with long crooked fingernails.











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