Page 285 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

BELF AST  283

It has over 200 hands-on exhibits
and experiments. Among many
fascinating activities on offer,
visitors can try working a replica
of a Port of Belfast crane,
sneak up on a butterfly, lift
them selves up with pulleys,
create an animated film or
compose music on a laser harp.
P Titanic Quarter
Queen’s Road, Queen’s Island. Tel 028
9076 6300. Titanic Belfast: Tel 028
9076 6386. Open Apr, Jun–Aug: 9am–
7pm daily; May & Sep: 9am–6pm daily; The Titanic Belfast, located in the Titanic Quarter
Oct–Mar: 10am–5pm daily.
Closed 24–26 Dec. & 8 = 0 the river, stands the Custom T Giant’s Ring
∑ titanicbelfast.com
House (1854) by Charles Lanyon, Off B23, 5 km (3 miles) S of city centre.
The doomed RMS Titanic, struck architect of Queen’s University. Little is known about this awe-
by an iceberg on its maiden inspiring prehistoric enclosure
voyage in 1912, was built in } Cave Hill almost 200 m (660 ft) in diameter.
Belfast’s docklands, and this Antrim Rd, 6.5 km (4 miles) N of city. It is surrounded by a grassy bank
area is now called the Titanic Belfast Castle Tel 028 9077 6925. averaging almost 6 m (20 ft)
Quarter. The waterfront is being Open daily. Closed 25 Dec. 7 0 in width and 4.5 m (15 ft) in
redevel oped, and space has = ∑ belfastcity.gov.uk height. Bones from a Stone Age
been created for shops, Belfast Zoo: Tel 028 9077 6277. burial were found under the
restaurants, hotels and offices. Open daily. Closed 25 & 26 Dec. & dolmen in the centre. During
Titanic Belfast, a tourist 7 = ∑ belfastzoo.co.uk the 18th century the ring was a
attraction which opened in 2012 It was on Cave Hill, next to popular venue for horse races.
to mark the centenary of the MacArt’s Fort (named after an
fateful voyage, now sits above Iron Age chieftain), that Wolfe P Stormont
the ship’s slipway. Boat, bus and Tone (see p45) and the north- Newtownards Rd, 8 km (5 miles) SE of
walking tours, led by a descendant ern leaders of the United city centre. Closed to the public.
of one of the crew members, Irishmen met in 1795 to 8 by arrangement only.
explore this vibrant area. pledge themselves to rebell- Built between 1928 and 1932, at
Inside the centre, there are ion. The five artificial caves a cost of £1,250,000, Stormont
nine galleries with interactive near the fort were carved out was designed to house the
exhibits that guide visitors during the Neolithic period. Northern Ireland Parliament.
through the construction of On the wooded eastern The huge Anglo-Palladian mass
the Titanic and its recovery. slopes of the hill stands the of Portland stone and Mourne
There is also an underwater baronial pile of Belfast Castle, granite stands at the end of a
explor a tion theatre. The built in 1870. Previously home majestic avenue, 1.6 km (1 mile)
restored SS Nomadic, the last to the Earl of Shaftesbury, the long, bordered by parkland. A
remaining vessel of the White castle now belongs to the city statue of Lord Carson (see p48)
Star Line, is also worth a visit. and houses a restaurant and a stands near the front entrance.
The Visitor’s Centre at the visitors’ centre that interprets Since the parliament was dis-
Edwardian pump house next the area’s history. A little banded in 1972, the building
to the Titanic dry dock is an further along the road past has been used as government
excellent way to get a sense the castle is Belfast Zoo. The offices. Although it has been
of the maritime history that zoo is home to over 1,200 suspended on several occa-
stretches back to the 1600s; the animals and 140 species, sions, the devolved Northern
restaurant and café here make including African wild dogs Ireland Assembly has sat here
for a good pit stop. Elsewhere and Barbary lions. since the 1998 Agreement.
in the Quarter, visitors can trace
their roots at the Public Record
Office of Northern Ireland.
P Albert Memorial
Clock Tower
Queen’s Square.
One of Belfast’s best-known
monuments, today the clock
tower leans slightly as a result
of subsidence. Beyond it, facing Stormont in its parkland setting outside Belfast

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