GoT and Guiness

Day 11 - (11 June) Our first full day in Belfast and the sun is out so we decided to take a walk around the centre so, back we went across the Langan Weir pedestrian bridge and followed a route in our guide book (Insight Guide) "City meets the Waterfront." We found ourselves at City Hall to see the Titanic Memorial Garden and we decided to look inside while we were there. This was more interesting than we thought with the ground floor rooms set out telling different aspects of Northern Ireland's history. They also do a lovely cup of tea, loose leaf tea brewed in a teapot using Thompson's Tea, a local family firm of tea merchants since 1896.

House of Stark
There is also a series of six Game of Thrones Glass Windows situated around the town to mark the start of the final season. We have been finding them as we walk around, here are a couple we have found so far.

House of  Baratheon





GoT was filmed in Northern Ireland, both on location and in the Titanic Studios here in Belfast right on the waterfront. There are various GoT tours and an exhibition of props, costumes and set decorations on offer.

Guinness - well we both like Guinness and it is lovely here, so on the way back from our walk we decided to find the Crown Liquor Saloon, a Victorian gem of a pub now owned by the National Trust and mentioned in all the tourist literature as must see.


 It is famous for its ornamental ceiling, its Victorian tiles and glass and it's atmospheric snugs.

Our snug at the Crown Liquor Saloon.
The sides of our snug.
It lived up to its reputation and, Guinness in hand, we headed for a snug with some spare seats. We ended up spending several hours chatting comfortably to a young couple we met in the snug. Herself (as they say over here) was a local lass who had married an Italian - American from San Francisco and that is where they now live. Himself came from generations of Sicilian fisherman who had emigrated to America in his Grandfather's day. They now have a restaurant on the the famous Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and we promised to go and see them next time we are there. We had the snug to ourselves all afternoon except for one young man who popped his head into our snug and asked us "Want any weed?" and when we declined he disappeared as rapidly as he had appeared!! It was one of those magical afternoons spent in wonderful surroundings with good company.  We chatted and laughed easily with our new found friends about all sorts of subjects and it was a fitting end to a day in Belfast.

Josh in "our" snug, mellow after two pints of Guinness!

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