Tere!

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. Though I saw lots of tourists from all over the world, I didn’t see anyone who seemed to be from Japan. (I believe there are some, but I didn’t really see anyone who might be Japanese.)

Then, what could we do in Belfast which might not be so fascinating for the Japanese people?

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Table of Contents

     1. Belfast walking tour
     2. Belfast castle
     3. Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast
     ★Summary

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1. Belfast walking tour

Belfast is cosmopolitan (at least for me) but quite compact. It might be suitable for shopping, but I wondered about sightseeing in Belfast. Famous sightseeing places seemed to be outside of Belfast.

However, there is still famous stuff in Belfast, so in terms of Belfast city sightseeing, I took part in the Belfast walking tour.

Booking is required, but the walking tour per se is free. Since this sort of walking tour wants some tips, at the end of the walking tour, it’s polite to give some tips. In my case, I had no idea how much I should give, so I gave the guide 2 GBP which was the biggest amount of cash I had. I wanted to give him 5~10 GBP, but I didn’t want to ask him to give me the change because it sounds weird, and the notes I had were 20 GBP or something. (Sorry, Mr. guide.)

Before participating in this walking tour in Belfast, I wanted to go to the loo in the accommodation I stayed at, but since girls occupied there, I headed to the meeting point of the walking tour, and asked the guide where the public loo was. He told me there were loos in Belfast city hall. It was free.

The Belfast walking tour started in front of Belfast city hall. We sometimes stopped, and listened to the guide’s talk. His historical or political talks were interesting. The guide lived somewhere else temporarily, but other than that, he has lived in Belfast all in his life. He had some experience in guiding in Belfast, so he was reliable.

The Belfast walking tour ended at the salmon statue.

The guide also recommended a few nice pubs in Belfast. (I didn’t go to any of them as the next day was St. Patrick’s Day, and in all the pubs there would be a crowd.)

The walking tour took two hours. I would recommend you to wear some trainers that you are used to so you can prevent yourself from injuries with your shoes. Luckily, when I attended the walking tour, it wasn’t even showering.

2. Belfast castle

In the afternoon of the day I joined the walking tour in Belfast, I went to the Belfast castle, too. You can take only one double-decker called Metro from the Belfast city centre to the Belfast castle.

Once you arrive at the nearest bus stop to the Belfast castle, you need to walk to the Belfast castle. The Belfast castle is situated in the middle of a mountain (or just a steep hill), and at some point it’s sharply inclined. Also, after the shower or rain, the ground is pretty slippery so be careful. You need to climb the mountain quite a lot.

The admission is free to the Belfast castle. If it’s sunny, the coastal side that you can see from the Belfast castle is spectacular. If it’s not a cold season, then you might see some flowers in the garden at the Belfast castle.

However, the inside of the Belfast castle was a bit creepy. Perhaps it was because of the silence there. I didn’t check any rooms in the Belfast castle. I also didn’t see many tourists there.

When going back to the Belfast city centre from the BElfast castle, you should probably have enough time, particularly in the afternoon on a weekday, after 3 pm.

It seems schools in Belfast finish then, so the pink doubledeckers as Metro appeared to be used as school buses. I saw a number of buses from the city centre, but the bus to the city centre was delayed a lot.

However, I patiently waited, and could get on one. Therefore, it’s better to avoid putting any plans with specific time after visiting the Belfast castle.

3. Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast

What is more about Belfast, I went to Crumlin Road Gaol. This gaol was used in real life in the past. I purchased a ticket online in advance, and it cost 13 GBP. I went there in the morning. I felt the Crumlin Road Gaol was far from the Belfast city centre as Belfast per se is really compact, but it takes only around 20 minutes by walk from the city centre to the Crumlin ROad Gaol while I took buses on the way to the Gaol.

This kind of gaol has realistic creepiness. Since I’m chicken though I’m interested in such places, I walked very slowly, and sometimes followed other visitors. 😂 There are two points where there are automatic announcements, detecting human visits: one is inside of the gaol, and the other one is outside of the gaol. The system suddenly starts announcing, so the elderly woman in front of me said her heart would have stopped. Besides, that lady was affected twice. It’s not good for elderly people. 😂

The Crumlin Road Gaol used to keep women and children as well, and there are explanations on it and dolls too. You can see the hanging room as well.

The Crumlin Road Gaol also has a restaurant, and you can have lunch or dinner at the restaurant where you might slightly feel the gaol. (The menu isn’t like a gaol menu. You don’t really feel the gaol in the restaurant unless you pay attention to the atmosphere there.)

★Summary

Usually I go and see sightseeing places by myself, so I took part in the walking tour for the first time in my life, which was the right decision. If you can have a fun or experienced guide, you can listen to fruitful stories from them.

As for the Crumlin Road Gaol, I had to be brave as I’m chicken, but I’m satisfied that I could go there. (And I still like this kind of creepy place…) It seems they have events at the gaol from time to time like on Halloween, but that’s too much for me.. That’s too scary…

Aitäh! 🙂