Belfast Ferry Port

Another beautiful day. Breakfast at the All Seasons Hotel and the manager gave us a Atlantic Way brochure with a large fold out road map of Ireland. Drove to Belfast Titanic Quarter and visited the Titanic Experience. The experience started with a historical look at Belfast before and during the period Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard. The city was the worlds largest manufacturer of linen yarn from flax as well as woven linen goods. The experience then detailed the construction of the Titanic White Star liner including a “ride” inside a recreation of the construction environment inside the Titanic’s hull. There were displays and information about the double skin of the lowest sections of hill filled with water for the engine boilers and as ballast as well as the steel rib framing about three feet apart for the hull structure. The passenger decks lacked watertight doors and bulkheads that may have saved the ship. There were displays of the fit out of various passenger classes and a theatre with a film of the actual wreck found in 1985 12,000 feet down using remote robotic vehicles. We also visited a tender “Nomadic” commissioned for use in Cherbourg France. We then drove one hundred or so miles to Dublin. The GPS guided us to three separate motorways called the M1, very confusing. Arrived at the Guinness Storehouse car park early and took a carriage tour of Dublin city before visiting the Guinness Storehouse. An informative and fun experience including a display of Irish dancing and the opportunity to pull a Guinness pint behind a bar. Overnight at the IMI Residence (Irish Management Institute) a huge conference centre.Read more