Titanic again

Given that we had plenty of time to get down to Dublin Airport and I wanted to visit the Titanic Experience, we headed off there in plenty of time for the opening at 10 am. That was a really good move, because by the time we left it was really crowded. Last year it was Ireland’s most popular tourist attraction, and with good reason.

The Cobh Titanic museum which we saw the previous week was really good, but this was at another level entirely. We really liked the fact that it didn’t just concentrate on the sinking, but rather the whole story.

Belfast in the late 19th century and its industries was a bustling city, bigger than Dublin at one stage. The shipbuilding industry was the world’s biggest in the early 20th century, and many other industries were on a world standard as well. The exhibits showed working life and the various industries, such as linen, tobacco, and whisky, in the city at that time. However, the decision to build three “super liners” meant that the industry had to step up and install bigger and better facilities.

The exhibits relating to the Titanic itself, its design and its first sailing were very impressive. But reading the stories of some of those on the ship, why they were there and what happened to them, made for a very sombre experience. We would recommend it to any of our friends who visited Belfast.

It was then time to head to Dublin Airport where we fly out in the morning. The Travelodge proved hard to find, and was a lot further from the airport than we envisaged. We eventually found it, booked in, and then went to hand the car in. That was not much of a problem and we enjoyed the 50 minute walk back to the hotel.

The Travelodge was a rather tired old “motel” in our terms, so rather than eat there we walked into Sword and had a very pleasant dinner at The Lord Mayor’s Pub.Read more