Belfast is the vibrant and lively capital of Northern Ireland. The city has a rich heritage as well as some wonderful Victorian and Edwardian buildings, with elaborate sculptures over the doors and windows. There are numerous galleries and museums to explore, lively pubs to visit and an exciting nightlife. Belfast Botanic Gardens contain the tropical ravine, rose gardens and fine herbaceous borders. Palm House is a unique building becomes one of the earliest examples of curvilinear cast-iron glass-house construction as well as it has acquired a reputation for good plant collections.
The capital of Northern Ireland (pop. 400,000) is an industrial city that has become synonymous with sectarian violence, but we hope you don't have the impression that Belfast is all crime and grime. The city center is compact, and many areas are now off limits to automobiles, making it a pleasant city to walk through. Belfast has charming architecture -- as you walk, be sure to look up at the buildings, where you'll see ornate carvings ranging from faces to figurines. Be on the lookout for the Ulster Bank (built in 1860, it looks like a Venetian palace and holds the gold collection from several Spanish Armada shipwrecks); the Ulster Museum (it has very nice botanical gardens -- the glass Palm House, in particular, is fascinating); the Crown Liquor Bar in South Belfast (even non-drinkers will appreciate the pub's incredibly ornate decor); the Sinclair Seaman's Church, which has a ship's bow for a pulpit; and the City Hall (on warm days, the lawn is covered with sunbathers; we recommend that rather than join them you go inside and check out the staircase and mural).The Belfast Cathedral and Queen's University buildings are also worth seeing, and you can tour the impressive grounds of Stormont, Northern Ireland's parliament building.
Belfast Castle is a 200-acre estate spreads down the slopes of Cave Hill, which offers one of the most panoramic views of Belfast Lough and the city. This familiar landmark include a public park, which is ideal for walking, jogging, picnicking, and enjoying extraordinary views of the city.Ormeau Baths Gallery is the city's principal exhibition point for contemporary visual art. This striking and versatile facility can program multiple simultaneous exhibitions in a variety of media, and has become the premier showcase for the best of Northern Irish contemporary art.
Belfast City Hall magnificent public building with classical renaissance style in Portland stone. It features the porte-cochere and grand entrance, grand staircase, principal landing and dome, council chamber, great hall, banqueting hall, reception room, east staircase and corridors.Ulster Museum which preserves 9,000 years of Irish history with exhibits on the award-winning gallery 'Early Ireland'. Its well known collections includes gold and silver jewelry recovered by divers in 1968 off the Antrim coast from the 1588 wreckage of the Armada treasure ship Girona.
