A much better sleep, but we didn’t surface until 9am after a much appreciated sleep. Not taking any chances, just a banana and juice again plus a coffee.
It was a bit brighter than we expected and the ship was once again, berthed on the port side. We checked the state of the queue this time and were happy enough, as we got on the first double decker to arrive.
Once in Belfast, the bus was besieged by HoHo reps, but as in Dublin, in a friendly way. We opted for the City Sightseeing tour, but this time, we are not so sure we made the right decision, as we were led by the rep to the #1 stop. I asked how many buses on the 90 minute route and was told 7, but I later decided that couldn’t be correct.
The opposition buses seemed to be going through as we waited patiently in a queue for about 40 minutes. Once on the bus, our guide Letitia was fine and very informative.
A fascinating city but more because of its history of conflict than anything else. The route took us out of town as far as Stormont, and Letitia, like most tour guides, didn’t have too high an opinion of politicians – and probably with good reason. Born in 1962, she was a young teenager when the Belfast troubles were at their very worst, and as a cub reporter, witnessed the aftermath of more than one shooting, but to give her due credit, she seemed to give a very straightforward and unbiased commentary of the troubles and she claims, probably quite rightly, that although there is peace, it may still be a fragile one. Police Land Rovers are still armoured, sections of the city are still gated at night but one modern court-house is a glass fronted building whereas the older courthouse nearby has a thick carbomb-proof wall in front.
Crumlin Rd Gaol is now a tourist attraction whilst another old courthouse across the road, linked by a tunnel, is derelict. (I hope I have those buildings correct, as I never take notes!)
All along Shanklin Rd there are murals or memorials, depicting various aspects of the conflict and also various key figures not always local, such as Mandela. One of the walls separating Catholics from Protestants (still) is decorated with signatures (including Bill Clinton’s) and in some ways, it was reminiscent of Jerusalem. Religion appears to have a lot to answer for, when our take is that religion should be about peace and love, not war.
In some respects, quite a sad tour, yet we are glad we did it. As a result of the tour, we realised back at the ship, we were berthed opposite the Titanic museum, the dry dock, and also what is now a film studio, where some of the ‘Game of Thrones’ is now filmed – it used to be a paint shop. Apparently, a popular local Tee shirt depicting the Titanic, which was built in Belfast, says “Well it was alright when it left here!”
Having had coffee in town, we elected to skip lunch altogether, (we are being disciplined aren’t we!) but headed for the buffet for dinner where it was Brazilian themed night. That is a first for us on a ship, having Brazilian night. Maureen would be so thrilled...
Off then to the production show – “What The World needs Now”. The theatre was full. Considering the technology available, this was a real disappointment, featuring the 4 singers and 8 of the dancers – who didn’t really do much dancing anyway – and a total focus on the singing. No costume changes whatever. The female dancers were wearing black halter tops, black trousers and pumps and just sat or stood around for most of the show.
We wandered around aimlessly for a while, (it is a large ship) though we did watch 2 or 3 couples dancing rather well, down in the atrium and we also peeked into the studio for the ‘Yes/No’ challenge. The Vista had a 70’s night so the dancers were just jiggling around, for us, back to the cabin and we watched ‘Malificent’ instead. If this had been in the Med, with warm sunshine, we would have been outside.
An early wake up tomorrow – Greenock, with a Princess half day tour, a drive to the lochs. As a Sunday, we decided that none of the alternatives were very attractive and Greenock will probably be closed. Even so, a late bed time of 11:30pm.
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