Belfast with the Dragons - Day 5 - 4th September

Day 5

Our last day in Belfast started with breakfast at the hotel.  The hotel is ideally suited just off the man city streets and near the Opera House.  Once again our breakfast was all we could have asked for with the attentive staff willing to fetch us anything we did not see layed out.

After breakfast we finished packing our bags, checked out and took a ride to Bangor.  I was not expecting it to be quite as nice as it is, there is a small harbour with lots of boats berthed there, a very pleasant sea front with splendid houses lining the long beaches.

There is also a tower house dating from 1632 in the heart of the port which, some while back, came near to being torn down as councillors thought a wider road was more important. However sanity prevailed as at a meeting off the full council the motion was defeated.  Pity those who defeated the bill were not on Newport Council when similar motions were passed!! 

Here are a couple of views of the Tower House:-

After this we headed back to Stormont in Belfast for a look around the Government Buidings grounds. It is amazing that it is completely open to the public and you can stroll most everywhere unhindered.  There is one place that is out of bounds though, and that is the castle that lies within the grounds.

The drive from the main gate to the steps to the Stormont building is exactly 1 mile long.  There are six columns on the front facade that represent the six counties of Northern Ireland and there are 365 Windows. One for each day of the year.

THe private Stormont Castle 

Stormont with it's six pillars and 365 Windows

The one mile drive from gate to house

Then it was into town for a last drink at the bar of the Linenhall hotel on Linenhall Street, the most famous street in Belfast when they were the largest manufacturers of linen in the world.  Whoever thought of wetting the stalk of flax so it could be ripped open to get to the fibres inside, then go through a number of processes before becoming a tablecloth or bedsheet must have had some imagination.

The Linenhall Hotel

As it was, a Belfast Linen Shed like the ones in Linenhall Street 

Then it was time to head off to the airport to catch our flight home after a really enjoyable few days in Belfast.

I will certainly be coming back again.