As it was a bank holiday we had a little lay in and had a leisurely breakfast at 9. We left the B & B and had a short walk to Bangor train station to take us into Belfast.

We alighted near the Botanical Gardens and then did a three mile circular walk taking in Queens University, the Botanical Gardens which were quite splendid considering they are free, including a temperate greenhouse and the Palm House and then along the embankment of the River Lagan.

Having worked up a thirst we had a water break in the Ulster Museum before setting off to find the sight seeing bus. 

Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long and we boarded for our tour of Belfast. We once again travelled down the Falls Road and Cupar Way as well as the Shankill Road, but this time with some interesting and informative commentary from our bus driver. Unbelievably the peace gates are still shut around 6.30 every night. We got off at City Hall and had a walk around inside taking in more history of the area before boarding the bus again to continue the tour.

This section took us out to the Titanic area/Harland & Wolff docks, seeing the two famous cranes called Samson and Goliath before bringing us back to the city centre.

Next on our list was The Crown Liquor Saloon, a National Trust property, the pub dates back to 1826 and the fixtures and fittings are original. It’s definitely a bit quirky with individual booths. Obviously we had to have a drink here!

We then walked to the Albert Memorial Clock which is Belfast’s answer to Pisa’s leaning tower because of its slight tilt. 

Then as the Victoria Shopping Centre was just up the road we set off there as the bus driver on the tour says it had a great viewing platform at the top of it. He wasn’t wrong with an almost 360 degree view of Belfast. We saw most of the sights we had seen on route as well as Cave Hill which looks a bit like the profile of Napoleon!

Next stop dinner, Dave found a lovely pub called The Northern Whig. It was then onto The Dirty Onion for our rendezvous with Abbie and Caitlin. Unfortunately at that point it started to rain so we changed venue to one with a roof and went round the corner to The Duke of York which was down a cute alleyway with umbrellas. 

With the rain stopped we returned to The Dirty Onion before having a final drink at The National.   These pubs are totally different to the UK, with most having live music, small bar areas indoors and then larger outdoor areas with little cover. 

Having now lost our bearings, luckily Caitlin led us back to a different train station for us to catch the last train back to Bangor. With a little walk back to the B & B we just made it to bed by 1.00am.