{"id":56,"date":"2024-06-16T15:33:11","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T20:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/?p=56"},"modified":"2024-06-16T15:33:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T20:33:16","slug":"the-historical-belfast-city-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/2024\/06\/16\/the-historical-belfast-city-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"The Historical Belfast City Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since before arriving in Belfast, a quick google search will show that some of the best places to visit in the seaside city is City Hall and St. Georges Market.\u00a0 Luckily today I, along with my classmates and friends, were able to do so on one of our first free days to explore the country however we choose.\u00a0 We began the day by navigating the U.K.\u2019s public transport system, finding the bus stop on the other side of the street heading into what we hoped was the city center.\u00a0 In anxieties for getting off at our correct spot, we did not explore the second floor of the double decker bus but planned to do so soon (why don\u2019t we have these in the States?).\u00a0 Fortunately, we found the beautiful Belfast City Hall as it was not hard to miss with its massive Baroque architecture and got off to explore.\u00a0 Belfast City Hall is in the heart of the city center, allowing us to travel almost anywhere else of interest in Belfast by a good walk.\u00a0 There was plenty to see and admire outside the building, but we needed to see more, so we booked passes for a guided tour of the inside and visited St. George\u2019s Marketplace while we waited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belfast City Hall in the city centre<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St. George\u2019s Marketplace is a large indoor market with various local vendors that takes place from the morning to afternoons on weekends.\u00a0 I was initially shocked to walk into freezers of fish and lines of vegetables but further in it was amazing to see the variety of art and vintage collections that people were selling.\u00a0 After a walkthrough I was eager to buy Celtic jewelry and locally painted pictures of Northern Ireland\u2019s best spots, as well as highland cow stuffed animals as gift souvenirs.\u00a0 The most special experience I had at the market, however, was speaking to a local crystal vendor named Pattie.\u00a0 I joined in to listen to his and Maddie\u2019s conversation and found he had been talking about politics in Northern Ireland as a Catholic man.\u00a0 He was excited for us to be studying abroad and told us to continue visiting other countries and that \u2018the ones you hear the worst about are probably much better than you\u2019d expect\u2019.\u00a0 It was lovely to hear his perspective and I found it\u2019s been very common in Ireland as a whole for the community to stand in solidarity with Palestine, unlike much of America where it holds controversy.\u00a0 Many Irish people like him find empathy with their community, suffering under colonialism as the Irish have for many years.\u00a0 I found it funny as he told us that Northern Ireland elections are taking place on the 4th<\/sup> of July and he noted that being a special day for us from the States, which is ironic as it celebrates our independence from the British.\u00a0 Although critical of American politics himself, Pattie was encouraging of us and a gift to speak to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the vendors at St. George’s Market<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Back at Belfast City Hall we began our quick tour of the civic building and learned a great deal of the way the government runs here in Belfast.\u00a0 They appoint a Lord Mayor who has four-year terms and can choose to have their portrait taken to hang on the walls of the Hall.\u00a0 There were many portraits of previous Lord Mayors, men and women, in all different styles but with their common Chain of Office, a big and heavy chain of gold to wear around their neck.\u00a0 The original Chain of Office, of 1787, is in display.\u00a0 Belfast\u2019s current Lord Mayor just began his term on the 1st<\/sup> of June and is named Micky Murray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Surviving 1912 Lord Mayor portrait<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As a great surprise to me, we learned that Belfast was the third most bombed sight in the U.K during the WWII Blitz, and City Hall fell victim to the violence as well.\u00a0 1,000 people died in 1941 due to a bombing of the City Hall and one portrait of a Lord Mayor survived, now framed in the Hall and unmoving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jack, Jesse, Paige, Maddie and I behind the Lord Mayor’s stand<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Finally, we were taken to the Counsel Chamber and were able to sit in representatives\u2019 pews, all separated by political party and \u2018two sword lengths apart\u2019, as inspired by the English parliament\u2019s.\u00a0 A mace is brought to the chamber before meetings as a symbol of power as they were previously used in battle.\u00a0 Although it seems a grand gesture for government meetings, our tour guide said they were quite casual and nice to watch when you can\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside Belfast City Hall<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Overall, today was filled with adventure, splurging money, and learning local history in the inner city of Belfast.\u00a0 It gave me a wider context in which the government works along with an appreciation for the local art and artists who were so inviting and encouraging to us.\u00a0 This easily won\u2019t be a one-time excursion into the city center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A goodnight from our campus kitty<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since before arriving in Belfast, a quick google search will show that some of the best places to visit in the seaside city is City Hall and St. Georges Market.\u00a0 Luckily today I, along with my classmates and friends, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1470,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/belfast-northern-ireland-2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}