Belfast

Belfast often gets a bit of a bad rap as being a city that’s only good for a pub crawl, but the four of us quite enjoyed our day in Northern Ireland’s capital. Belfast certainly didn’t have the charming historic riverside districts of Dublin, nor the sparkly technology buildings that go along with the Republic of Ireland’s low corporate tax rate. But the quaint pubs of the Cathedral District and gritty Saint George’s Market, coupled with the magnificent street murals covering many of the buildings in central Belfast certainly made for a memorable afternoon.

The forerunner of the modern day Christmas market in the UK and Ireland was Vienna’s December Market in the Middle Ages. It was first recorded in 1298, when citizens were granted permission to hold a Krippenmarkt during Advent. Open air winter street markets were popularized with Christmas in Germany, with the first Christkindlmarkt taking place a century later, in 1384. The Germans had historically been responsible for the Christmas markets that became a common sight in cities across the UK, but thanks to Brexit the German vendors responsible for many of the stalls stopped making the trip across the English Channel. I don’t intend to knock the UK’s Christmas markets, but the German vendors seem to have been replaced by gaudy food and drink stalls (that seem to all be run by the same owner) that were mirror images of each other as we ventured into the Christmas markets in many of the towns we visited across the UK. Belfast’s Christmas market in front of City Hall was, however, refreshingly filled with an array of unique, local stalls hawking some quite tasty eats and a diverse array of crafts. Max and I enjoyed a walk through the open air market – following our COVID vaccine checks at the gate – while the girls where doing a spot of clothes shopping across the street. We would have had a tough time choosing lunch as there was so much delicious-looking food from which to choose, but we were saving our appetites for Saint George’s market across town…

Saint George’s Market was founded in the late nineteenth century and is the last remaining Victorian market operating in Belfast. Open Friday through Sunday, at the time of writing the market supported more than 300 vendors peddling everything from fresh meats and produce to delicious food to local arts and crafts. We visited on a Saturday, which was the food, craft and garden day (Friday is the variety market while Sunday offers food, craft and antiques). The market’s footprint wasn’t huge, especially in comparison to the expansive Kirkgate Market we’d visited in Leeds, but the diversity of stalls had the four of us mesmerized as we perused all the goods on offer. Some great food to be had: Wild Man sampled his first deep fried British banger (I didn’t think it was possible to make a sausage more unhealthy, but you can always cover it in batter and deep fry it in oil…), while Lilia enjoyed a delicious serve of mac and cheese that was made by tossing hot pasta and cream on a huge wheel of fresh parmesan (photo below). The mac and cheese was really quite exceptional.

Belfast is famous for its street murals, which seemed to decorate buildings everywhere we looked as we were exploring the city on foot. Some of the murals told stories of the city’s troubled past, with a handful painted in memory of key political figures involved with periods such as The Troubles. Many of the murals, however, were simply colorful street art decorating the facades of buildings. They added a lot of character to the otherwise plain brick walls lining the streets of central Belfast, we all enjoyed spotting them down alleyways and nondescript streets as we walked. Some exceptional examples of street art, one could spend an entire day (or more) traipsing about Belfast taking in all the artwork. I think my favorite was the futuristic scene on the left in the gallery below, which painted a scene from a mix between Back to the Future and Blade Runner.

It was also fun to explore some of Belfast’s “entries”: narrow alleyways no wider than three adults standing side-by-side, the entries would veer off the bustling central streets and provide an almost hidden pathway between two sides of a city block. The entries were often lined with hidden pubs and bars, unfortunately we had no luck in scoring a seat at the ones that would allow kids, but it was still interesting to wind through the narrow alleyways decorated for Christmas. As with all the other populated spots we’d visited on our tour of Ireland, the buskers and street performers of central Belfast provided endless entertainment as we walked. Definitely the highlight was a trio of gents dancing and performing the limbo under a burning pole!

We’d been extraordinarily fortunate over the prior seven months when it came to travel disruptions. Thinking back, I believe a slightly delayed train from Ljubljana to Vienna was about the worst of our hiccups, which, given the ground we’ve covered, was a reasonably mild inconvenience. Our good luck came to an end with our flight out of Belfast: after checking in for an early AM flight, at 10:14PM I received a text from British Airways that our flight in no less than nine hours had been canceled. The gent on the phone intimated that it was canceled due to a lack of passengers – that is, it was going to cost British Airways more to fly the route than the money they’d receive from customers – so they decided to scratch the flight. Jerks. Fortunately there was an easyJet flight the next morning direct to Glasgow that we were able to hop on. Booking our tickets at 11PM whilst sitting in the bathroom with my laptop on my knees with the kids asleep is an experience for which I need to extend a sincere thank you to the employees of British Airways. Merry Christmas!