2/2 Belfast: A Modern City

I have come to Belfast to visit good friends--a former student, colleague and confidante--and her husband and four very active sons. They live in a very traditional Belfast three-storey, brick, terraced home, and it is crowded, without storage or closets. But they manage to squeeze me in and I am happy every minute of my stay. I am given the top floor room at the front.

This Canadian/American family is not only generous but stimulating and I am instantly comfortable with them, just like I feel with my own family in Caversfield near Bicester. An added bonus is that Justin is a superb cook and I get to enjoy new and delicious meals.

My host family lives in an older section of the city--the Queen's Quarter--the south end--the centre point of which is Queen's University. In another blog I will rave about the local amenities that make this a perfect neighbourhood in many ways.

Michelle had asked me what I wanted to see in Northern Ireland, and since I had waited until the last minute to decide to make this trip, I had not done much research. (Plus, I think Northern Ireland is not doing an adequate job of persuading tourists to come here, and has not been reassuring enough that it is safe.) Nevertheless, I had mentioned the Giant's Causeway and Carrickfergus Castle and Ballymena, so the first day we drove around the Antrim Coastal Route.

I had flown into Belfast City Airport, named the George Best Airport. George Best was, of course, the professional footballer from Belfast who spent most of his career with Manchester United. One of the first celebrity players, his profligate ways directly led to his death as a consequence of alcoholism, at an early age in 2005. GQ named him one of the 50 most stylish men of the past fifty years. Pelé named him as one of the top 125 players still living in his 2004 FIFA list.

A local saying apparently goes, "Maradona good, Pelé better, George Best."

A musical about George Best entitled Dancing Shoes had its world premiere in Belfast this week.

Michelle had promised rain, and I thought she was just wrong when the sunny skies followed me all the way to the Antrim coast. But then, just as the plane started over the Belfast Lough, preparing to land, the rain started. Fortunately, against the forecasts and the odds, the sun came out the next afternoon and it stayed sunny until I arrived back at the airport three days later!

I decided I wanted to see Belfast, and like all cities undergoing great development, Belfast is a mix of architectural styles. One church we saw whose style I liked is the Crescent Church, an independent evangelical church.

One might assume this is a church--and it once was, owned by the Presbyterians--but now it is known as The Spire Mall and Conference Centre, located at Fisherwick Place. It was built in 1905 and converted in 1992.

Walking downtown from Stranmillis, I saw this rather battered old building, now a coffee shop, and liked the sailing ship weather vane. The MARTINS logo in some windows implies it was some sort of pub in a past life.

We walked past a bar named Filthy McNastys with its homage to Van Morrison, a local Belfast boy from Bloomfield, born here in 1945. I explained to Michelle that in 1965 whilst hitch-hiking in the UK, I had somehow discovered Van and his Northern Ireland R&B band, THEM, with their garage-band rendition of G-L-O-R-I-A, and had purchased their first album. It was vinyl, of course, and I backpacked with it in my knapsack all across France, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark and Sweden. Home in Canada I introduced THEM and Van Morrison to all my friends. Years later, I loaned the precious album to "Waynie" a sad friend who turned out to be a drug addict, and never saw it again.

Looking for our bus tour we chanced upon the Lord Mayor of Belfast involved in some sort of PR outing with a man on stilts, who told me after we went through that I walked right into their photo! Did I see a camera? Oh well.

Donegall Street is being converted into a pedestrianized street and is already lined with modern shops. It will join other modernized and upscale streets in the neighbourhood.

As a person curious about architecture, I noticed these contrasts on High Street.

As I am most familiar with the hop-on, hop-off bus tours, we agreed upon that, taking the two youngest boys with us. (We chose Allen's Tours, which I would not choose another time.)

Our bus tour began near the Albert Memorial Clock Tower built between 1865 and 1870 and described as a mix of French and Italian Gothic styles. The tower contains a two-tonne bell. Originally built on wooden piles on marshy ground, the top of the tower is four feet off the perpendicular because it is sinking. Since it is near the docks, it was once a place where prostitutes hung about, leaning on the tower while waiting for sailors to say hello. Our tour guide suggested it was the hefty women who pushed the clock off kilter! Since 1992 when it was damaged by a Provisional IRA bomb, it has been cleaned, restored, and stabilized. (He couldn't tell me where the women went.)

Part of the new Odyssey Complex is the Odyssey Ice Arena, home of the Belfast Giants. The guide admitted that it sounds like the name of a ball team, but the owners had decided that in this city calling them the Belfast Bombers was just too ironic. Most team members are not Irish. (Imagine Sid McKid.)

We drove to the Parliament Buildings at Stormont; here we found the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive. We could see Stormont on the south hill, from Stranmillis, where Michelle lives.

Stormont was originally modeled after the US Capitol in Washington, but the 1929 Stock Market Crash drastically reduced the money available, so a domeless building was erected instead, in a Greek Classical Style fronted with Portland Stone. It opened in 1932 to house the old Parliament of Northern Ireland.

To camouflage Stormont during the War, it was painted with a mixture of dark bitumen mixed with cow manure, to hide it from the German bombers. The "paint" did considerable damage to the stone and took seven years to remove, and the building has never regained its pristine white colour, especially at the top where the stains are still visible.

The main statue in front is of Edward Carson, a beloved Unionist leader, who died in 1935, but was still alive when the statue was unveiled, given "by the Loyalists of Ulster as an expression of their love and admiration." He was given a State Funeral in the Belfast Cathedral, quite an accomplishment for a man who was essentially the leader of the Opposition.

Beacon of Hope is a sculpture by Andy Scott standing in Thanksgiving Square next to the River Lagan, marking the revitalization of this part of Belfast. It was erected in 2007 and is made of stainless steel and cast bronze. She holds aloft a "ring of thanksgiving" and stands on a globe that is meant to represent "the universal philosophy of peace, harmony and thanksgiving" and has marked on its surface the names of global cities important to Belfast migration and exportation.

The Irish have nicknamed her "The Belle on the Ball" and the "Thing with the Ring."

Part of the River Lagan development. Above is the new Waterfront Hall.

"The Big Fish" at Laganside. This 10-metre salmon was commissioned to celebrate the recovery of the River Lagan. The skin of the fish consists of ceramic tiles decorated with texts and images from the history of the city, and is by artist John Kindness.

At Lagan Weir, where the tidal barriers control the tides of the river to keep the mudflats covered--and thus conquer the odours--are new developments including the £60 million Obel Tower, opening in 2010, featuring apartments worth up to 1/2 millions pounds each. The Obel Tower will be the highest structure in Belfast, at 85 metres. (It does not really lean, but such are the consequences of snapping photos from a bouncing bus.)

The Royal Courts of Justice house the High Court of Northern Ireland and was built from 1928-1933. It suffered IRA bombings in 1990, but has been restored and is part of the extensive rebuilding going on in this part of Belfast.

The Belfast City Hospital is one of the ugliest buildings anywhere and it was apparently criticized by Prince Charles in one of his "critiques" of architectural disasters in the UK. Our guide conceded that the building is ugly, but his suggestion that "If Charles wants to see ugly he should look at Camilla," confirms my suspicion that he is NOT a loyalist.

The littlest house in Belfast sits next to the Greater Victoria Baptist Church and we were told that one of the pastors raised his family with six children in this wee place. We did agree that is might be a very long house, like a Belfast 3-storey on its back!

The Grand Opera House opened in 1895 and was designed by Frank Matcham. Apparently the auditorium is magnificent and was used for a variety of types of entertainment in theatre and performance arts over the years. It was a cinema from 1949 to 1972, and faced demolition until it was listed and restored by the 1980s. Clearly, it is still being maintained.

The Grand Opera House has been damaged by bombs targeting the Europa Hotel nearby, badly in 1990 and 1993. [See my Blog, Belfast: The Troubles.] Now it has been revitalized, like so much in Belfast, and features musicals, dramas, variety shows and concerts.

The prolific architect Sir Charles Lanyon designed the old Law Courts on Crumlin Road but they have fallen into ruin. According to the tour bus guide--whom I feel certain has Nationalistic leanings--she was purchased by an Englishman for One Pound, but he did nothing with the building, so now it will be restored with public funds, likely costing millions.

He neglected to tell us about the Crumlin Street Gaol (aka HMP Belfast), across the road, and connected to the Law Courts by undergound tunnels. Also designed by Lanyon, the gaol is also derelict. Previous famous inmates have included Éamon de Valera, the 3rd Irish President; Michael Stone, the Loyalist paramilitary; and Ian Paisley, the 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (2007-2008).

One thing that Belfast clearly intends to capitalize on in its current economic revitalization is its heritage as the birthplace of The Titanic. The Titanic Quarter, an 185-acre business and residential development project now underway is the largest regeneration project in Northern Ireland's history and will be the largest waterfront redevelopment in Europe. It is hoped that the $3 billion project will be completed in time for the centenary of The Titanic's 1911 launch into Belfast Lough. [TIME.]

"She was alright when she left here!" - Belfast T-shirt slogan

One can't tell a Nova Scotian like me much about the fate of The Titanic. After she struck that iceberg off Newfoundland on that ill-fated night of 14 April 1912, Halifax became important as a recipient of many of the victims of that tragedy and many of their dead are buried in our capital city.

It was at the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard on Queen's Island in Belfast at which The Titanic was designed, built and launched. Very little remains from the time of the launch except the very drydock in which she was built, and the slipway into which she slid into the water. The collapse of ship-building, the German Blitz of 1941, and site preparations make this a pretty bleak place to see today. But standing at the site now are the two giant cranes, "Samson" and "Goliath." Built in 1974 and 1969, they dominate the skyline and will be incorporated into the Titanic Quarter project, which will also include the Titanic Signature Project, dedicated to the construction of the ship.

As defenders of the focus of the project point out, despite jokes about who built her and who sunk her, it is important to remember that The Titanic was built at the peak of Belfast's industrial might and that, as TIME quotes Una Reilly of the Belfast Titanic Society, "The Titanic was at the cutting edge of technology when she was built." The Harland and Wolff shipyard built many, many great ships, and at one time employed 35,000 workers. Therein, sadly, is another problem for Belfast: few of those workers were Catholics, and in one terrible incident in July 1920, Protestants drove Catholics from their jobs at the shipyard, beating them with sticks.

The Clifton Street Orange Hall has been a key target for IRA attacks and has been vandalized many times. In many ways, this Orange Hall is seen by Catholics as especially provocative, since it is the only one with a statute of King William of Orange on its roof. Combined with Orange Parades in Catholic neighbourhoods, it is hardly surprising that violence has erupted in the past.

Completely unrelated to anything else, except that perhaps it shows the modernization of Belfast, is the very upscale and popular gay bar called Kremlin.

Also called Belfast Cathedral, ST ANNE'S is the cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Belfast and was started in 1899, with the Nave completed and consecrated in 1904. A window from the original parish church has been preserved in the Sanctuary. Much of the rest of it was built during the 1920s. German bombs destroyed much of the cathedral in the 1941 Belfast Blitz, with rebuilding from the 1950s to the 1980s, delayed by funding and The Troubles.

St Anne's Cathedral was topped in 2007 by a 40-metre spire named The Spire of Hope as part of the redevelopment plans for the Cathedral Quarter. This spire reminds us of the Millennium Spire in Dublin. This spire is apparently visible through a glass platform in the Cathedral's roof directly above the choir stalls, allowing it to be seen from the Nave.

The now modernized Pottinger's Entry connects High Street with Ann Street in the City Centre and features the original cobbled-stone surface. These narrow alleys are like the closes in Edinburgh and traditionally housed many shops and businesses. Other Entries are named Joys, and Sugarhouse, and Winecellar. We ate lunch in the historical Victorian pub, The Morning Star, located here.

Off Arthur Square is the ultra-modern new Victoria Square Shopping Mall. Malls like this provide upscale shopping for the shoppers of Belfast, but underscore a significant problem, especially for a divided city like this: the poorer people cannot afford to come here, and in Belfast that has traditionally meant the less prosperous Catholics, thus exacerbating the sectarian differences.

Apparently, atop the Victorian Square Mall is a glass dome providing great views of the city. Had I known, I would have gone up.

The Irish have nicknamed this public sculpture "The Onion Rings," but its official name is The Spirit of Belfast. Created by Dan George and unveiled in 2009, it is located in Arthur Square near the entrance to the Victoria Square Mall. (Behind it is the Belfast Masonic Lodge.)

The coloured lighting of the sculpture is meant to reflect the texture and lightness of linen, whilst the metal reflects the strength and beauty of shipbuilding, these being the two great historical Belfast industries.

(I know I have overdone it with the "through-the-onion-rings" shots.)

More iconic and of much longer duration in Belfast are the police cars, heavily armoured vehicles so out of place on pedestrian walkways. Nobody bats an eye when the police drive slowly past.

Unfortunately, they are a reminder of the reality of Belfast's Troubles, but perhaps may be part of the solution of putting that past behind them.

What would Ireland be without pubs?

We drove past the only pub owned by the National Trust: The Crown Liquor Saloon is Belfast's best known and popular with the increasing number of tourists coming here. It was originally known as The Railway Tavern in 1849, and was later bought and refurbished by the Flanagans before 1885. Patrick Flanagan hired Italian craftsmen who were in the city building churches and persuaded them to work on his pub in their spare time. So they decorated it with stained glass and elaborate mosaics.

In 1978 the National Trust bought the pub and spent £400,000 restoring it to its former Victorian glory as a Victorian Gin Palace. The Trust renovated it again in 2007 for another £500,000.

It is decorated with polychromatic mosaics & tiles. The altar-style bar is of red granite, and has heated footrests. Gas lamps light the highly decorative carved ceilings. The Crown has ten snugs, used in Victorian times to accommodate women. Each of the snugs has the original gun-plate metal for striking matches and the antiquated bells for summoning wait-staff. Privacy is provided by etched and stained glass windows featuring shells, fairies, pineapples, fleur-de-lis and clowns! This site is a certain place for me to imbibe a pint of Harp when I visit Belfast again.

Next to the Mourne Seafood Bar is Kellys Cellar, Belfast's oldest pub (1790) located in the City Centre, next to St Mary's Chapel. It used to be in an alley off Royal Street, but the surrounding buildings are gone now and it sits rather forlornly at the edge of the square next to Castle Court, the shopping centre. It is described as "resolutely old-fashioned" and provides traditional pub fare and music. Historically, it was a meeting place for the United Ulstermen plotting the 1798 uprising, and the story is that Henry Joy McCracken, the leader, would hide under the bar when the British soldiers came looking for him. The pub re-opened in 2007 after restoration.

One of Belfast's oldest pubs, The Morning Star is in Pottinger's Entry between High Street and Ann Street and is identified by the Victorian sign hanging from an elaborate iron rod. We came here for the £5 mid-day buffet, which provided quite satisfying food, albeit with signs that warned that it was "one-plate, one-trip" to the buffet table, with "no sharing." I was puzzled by the sign that read "Pilers will be Prohibited!"

Across from my hosts' street on Stranmillis there are several well-appointed eateries. But my first choice would have to be the Indian Restaurant, LOLITA. Who names a restaurant that!!??

I have no idea what this coach was for or where it was going, but this pair could take me anywhere in style. The coachman and coachwoman were impeccably dressed (liveried) and mannered, like The Royal Family's Coachmen.

St Mary's Chapel, with a steady stream of supplicants, opened on Crooked Lane (now Chapel Lane--it's been straightened) in 1784. It was the first Catholic church in the city, at a time when there was an ecumenical spirit. The sign says: "Indeed, the area's Protestant inhabitants contributed substantially towards the cost of the building, and the 1st Belfast Volunteer Company . . . lined the Chapel yard as a guard of honour, in full dress, and presented arms to the priest as he passed into the Chapel."

In the mid-1700s, the Catholics of Belfast met at Friar's Bush Graveyard in Stranmillis [see below] and at the home of John Kennedy on Castle Street. By 1860 the number of Catholics in Belfast reached 45,000 and St Mary's was too small, so architect John O'Neill was hired to draw up plans for a new church, with the proviso that the new include as much of the old as possible. That work was finished in 1868 and included the walls in the Romanesque red-brick façade seen here. He also added a tower which was removed during renovations in 1940-1941. A Lourdes Grotto was added to the right in 1954.

St Mary's Chapel was busy and it is beautiful. Unsure of "rules" about photos inside Catholic churches I snapped just one photo (and my camera didn't explode).

The most magnificent public building in Belfast may well be the City Hall. Despite being in a city needing to be cautious about security, the lawns welcome people and one can wander freely inside.

Sir Thomas Brock created the statue of Queen Victoria at the entrance to City Hall, in honour of her declaring Belfast a city in 1888. Completed in 1906, Belfast City Hall's style is Baroque and it is sheathed in Portland Stone. The 53-metre dome is covered in copper, and is topped by a lantern.

This statue of Thane, on the Titanic Memorial, was also designed by Sir Thomas Brock. This memorial is to those who died on The Titanic's maiden voyage in April 1912.

One statue is a memorial to "a great Irishman," Frederick Temple, the 1st Marquess of Dufferin & Ava, who was Governor General of Canada from 1872-1878, as well as Viceroy of India, amongst other accomplishments.

In tourism material I saw the huge Belfast Wheel towering over City Hall. It was a 61-meter Ferris wheel with 42 air-conditioned capsules holding six adults and two kids each--something like the London Eye. It opened in October 2007 and gave panoramic views of Belfast. How could I have not seen it?

I now know that the reason I couldn't find the Belfast Wheel is because it closed on 11th April 2010 and was dismantled in May this year. I do not know why.

The interior of City Hall is beautiful, and contains memorial nooks such as this one, and includes several striking stained glass windows.

The Famine Window is an evocative memorial to the people of Ireland who suffered from the Great Potato Famine, 1845-1852. One million died and at least another million emigrated, most of them young Irish men and women, making the population of Ireland fall by almost twenty-five percent. Again, Canada's connection is clear: in 1847, nearly 100,000 left for Canada, although many died; the most tragic story is of the Grosse Isle deaths, where 3,000 died at the immigration depot, mostly of typhus. There are 5,000 buried in the graveyard at Grosse Mourne, now a national heritage site, making it the largest potato famine Irish burial site outside Ireland. Many Famine Irish went to St John, Montreal Quebec, and Ontario, especially Toronto.

This window, 1906-2006, celebrates modern Belfast, with several iconic images, including The Titanic, the salmon sculpture on Laganside, The Beacon of Hope, and more.

Around the tympanium of the interior dome is a 1951 mural representing the life & history of Belfast, by the artist I have now newly discovered, John Luke (1906-1975).

The Grand Staircase is beautiful, and is, in fact, the only area closed to the public. The interior of City Hall uses Carrara, Pavonazzo, and Brescia marbles. The effect is quite stunning.

Across from Belfast City Hall is another fascinating building with a completely different appearance. The Scottish Provident Building opened in 1902 and its Glasgow Sandstone façade contains panels reflecting Belfast's industrial roots, presumably spurred by solid Scottish cash! Its Edwardian features include an eclectic mix of dolphins, sphinxes, and lions, and references to Canada, England, India, the Sudan, and Scotland.

"For almost 150 years, the Ulster Hall has brought spectacle and delight to the people of Belfast. It was built at a time (1862) when Belfast was attracting major artists and needed a bigger concert hall. . . . Beside the main entrance to the Ulster Hall is the Group Theatre. Originally the Minor Hall, it presents contemporary, international and Irish plays, with a particular emphasis on the humourous and light hearted, and has a tradition of showcasing the cream of local talent on the professional stage. The Ulster Hall is among Belfast's premier venues, catering for concerts ranging from rock gigs to organ recitals. Political debates and rallies are also held here and the Hall is a popular venue for the world-reknowned Ulster Orchestra."

The people of Belfast used to build water fountains with "STYLE!" Now, of course, there are no water fountains at which citizens can obtain water. This one is next to the BBC building.

Another typical Belfast building: The Union Theological College of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. It was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon and was built in 1853. "It is a powerful example of Renaissance Revival" with Roman Doric columns. From 1921-1932, it served as the meeting place for the Northern Ireland Parliament, before it moved to Stormont.

Next to the Ulster Museum [See my Blog 4/4 Belfast] is the entrance to the famous Friar's Bush Cemetery. This is Belfast's most ancient burial ground and dates to at least AD 485. The signage tells us that it is just under one hectare, with a low central mound, on which are two stones, "The Friar's Stone" bearing the date of 485 and the other being a worn pillar that may represent the presence of an earlier church. Some believe it may have been used in pre-Christian times and that it could be linked to St Patrick. Very high walls surround the cemetery and it is not open to the public or to tourists, although guided tours can be arranged.

Friar's Bush was used as a meeting place for Catholics from the late 1600s until 1784, when St Mary's Chapel opened. The Marquis of Donnegall built the high wall and the Gothic gate-lodge with its carriage arch in 1828, when it was extended to Stranmillis Road.

The only way to look into the cemetery is from windows in the Ulster Museum. (It really is this green!) By the late 18th century it was recognized as the Catholic Cemetery and was used as such until it closed in 1869.

During the cholera epidemic of 1832-1833, Friar's Bush was used as a "cholera pit" and the low mound close to the entrance is still called "Plaguey Hill." (It was re-opened in 1847 for victims of the typhus outbreak.)

"Friar's Bush is revered in the folk memory and traditions of the people of Belfast."

It seems an odd place to end an album about the regeneration of Belfast, a city that is bristling with revitalization. Unfortunately, Belfast is also a city that has bristled with fear and violence, but every effort seems to be about putting those days in the past, although the wrongs and injustices will not be forgotten or erased, nor should they be.

TIME referred to Belfast as a city that has been a tourism desert for at least thirty years. It seems to me that the drought is over, and everywhere I look I see change and a vital spirit. This is actually a good time to see Northern Ireland: there aren't too many tourists. Many, I think, are Irish, with some Europeans, Indians and Asians. I wonder if North Americans have realized what it has to offer, and that it is safe.

If the Titanic Quarter Project comes off, it could very well put Belfast on the map for international tourism. One part of me says, "Here's hoping" whilst another part says, "Let's not encourage other tourists to come here and spoil it for us." Whatever happens, I thoroughly enjoy the Belfast of 2010.

And if anyone is considering a trip to Ireland, I strongly suggest you consider Northern Ireland first. In fact, a dream trip would be to travel from Dublin to Connemara, up through Mayo & Sligo, north to Donegal, and down the Antrim coast to Belfast.