A final page for Belfast – this is a short compilation of some of the distinctive sights we saw during our stay for which we have minimal photographic coverage, or not much to say.

The center of everything in downtown Belfast is probably Donegall Square. This square is something of a transportation hub, with stops for several of the city's bus lines (this is the square where we'd been dropped off on arrival by our bus from the train station). Many businesses (especially banks) and buildings surround the square. Some of the buildings date back a century or more, having survived both World War II and the Troubles, and while some of them have seen better days and could use some restoration, it's clear that they don't build them like this anymore. One such building, opposite the northeastern corner of the square, is the gothic revival Pearl Assurance House, originally built for the Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation, Ltd. in 1902.

A very different building (though completed the same year), opposite the square's northwest corner, is the Scottish Provident Institution building. While Scottish Provident still exists (they're providers of such things as health and unemployment insurance), they no longer occupy this elaborate building. It is home to a Sony Centre, though.

But Donegall Square is dominated by the immense building in its center, the Belfast City Hall. This domed, baroque revival building was being built at the same time as the buildings mentioned above, but was not completed until 1906. Planning for the City Hall began in 1888, when Queen Victoria promoted Belfast from "town" to "city" status. The interior, which we did not see, apparently houses copious marble accents and statuary, in addition to impressive stained glass windows. The building was damaged by bombs during World War II (though its windows had been removed as a precaution), but the damaged portion was quickly rebuilt. The building is now the headquarters of the Belfast City Council.


The City Hall is surrounded by a grassy area which is popular with sunbathers (when the sun is out) and picnickers. During our visit the City Hall grounds were also home to a travelling art project called CowParade, which involved many elaborately decorated fiberglass cows. This project has apparently been travelling the world, and in 2012 it invaded Northern Ireland.

At the west end of the City Hall grounds there was a large video screen which is used to display programming of general interest, and occasionally to show movies. But during our stay in 2012, it was showing a live feed of the London Summer Olympics, probably non-stop.

The Victoria Square shopping mall is located a couple of blocks to the northeast of Donegall Square. Besides shops and restaurants, the mall has a glass dome, and within the dome is an observation deck from which fine views are to be had. We took the elevator up on our last day in the city, the rainy day which had started with our second visit to Titanic Belfast. So the visibility wasn't as good as it might have been, but we nevertheless could see a few things.



From Victoria Square we returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage, and then made our way to the train station. We boarded a train for our next destination on this trip, a return to the Republic of Ireland's capital city, Dublin.