A decade after the Belfast Agreement, the former centre of the Troubles is now a must-see city. Just don't go with unrealistic expectations, writes Michael Parsons
DRIVING TOWARDS the North on a grey spring morning, Winston Churchill's gloomy image of the "dreary steeples" of Fermanagh and Tyrone inevitably comes to mind. But almost 90 years and a sea of troubles later the deluge has finally subsided.
The Border, like the Iron Curtain, has virtually disappeared. It takes a while to realise you've left the Republic, but the shock of a newsagent asking £1 for The Irish Times is a reminder that you are, indeed, in the United Kingdom. Surely, however, no place on earth could be less like a Jane Austen home county than south Armagh.
Having only recently come to terms with the switch to kilometres, you suddenly find yourself back in the land of imperial measures. The speed-limit signs are in miles per hour. Be careful! And what's that sound? The car radio starts to spout cut-glass accents from BBC Radio 4, the national talk station here. And look: there's a big roadside poster for Sinn Féin. "Release All Political Prisoners Now!" Are there any left?
If you're tired of shop-till-you-drop jaunts to Manhattan or pampering weekends at spa resorts, then this could be your redemption. Belfast, where a facial is a cheek-tautening wind whistling in from the Mull of Kintyre, is gloriously, refreshingly, breezily masculine. It's chock-full of hardchaws who sound like Jim from Corrie, and who scare the living daylights out of you by asking "What about ye?" until you realise that they're being friendly and simply asking how it's going.
Belfast, according to Lonely Planet, has pulled off a remarkable transformation from "bombs-and-bullets pariah to hip-hotels-and-hedonism party town". But don't go with unrealistic expectations. After all, this is a city recovering from decades of trauma, and although it is just as worthy of attention as Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna or Budapest, Belfast is certainly not a party town.
This quintessentially Victorian city is imbued with politics and history, religion and commerce - a puzzling mix of God and Mammon. Right now it is a must-see for architects, builders, developers, engineers, historians, journalists, lawyers and anyone else with an interest in current affairs. Belfast's physical transformation, while the city is in the throes of a boom, will delight anyone who recalls the appalling destruction during the Troubles.
Although the centre is compact and pleasantly walkable, the hop-on, hop-off open-top bus tour that departs regularly from Castle Place is strongly recommended and well worth the £12 (€15) ticket. The 90-minute tour, which is enlivened by a witty, informative and entertaining commentary, provides a superlative overview of the city. You'll see all the main sights, including the shipyards where Titanic was built and launched, the former hot spots of the Shankill and Falls Roads, with their garish political murals, the lovely University Quarter, around Queen's, and the Legal and Cathedral areas.
Best of all, you'll see some of Ireland's most magnificent architecture, from the sumptuous, domed City Hall to the delightful Grand Opera House - the legacy of Belfast's former status as an industrial and commercial powerhouse of empire. The riverside has been rejuvenated with a host of new buildings, most notably the stylish Waterfront Hall. And some wonderful banking halls are being given a new lease of life - none more sensationally than a former Ulster Bank on Waring Street, which has become the five-star Merchant Hotel.
The skyline - still dominated by Harland and Wolff's giant cranes, Samson and Goliath - also has striking additions. A Ferris wheel, similar to the London Eye, has been installed on Donegall Square.
Most first-time visitors will want to see the areas associated with the conflict that dominated the final decades of the 20th century and to see places that became grimly familiar on television and in the papers from the 1970s onwards.
You might also stumble across places you recognise from the headlines, including Northern Bank, made infamous by the biggest bank raid in British or Irish history; Magennis's pub, opposite the Royal Courts of Justice, where Robert McCartney was murdered; and St Dominic's High School, where the President went.
You might be tempted to take a black-cab tour. Comfortable London-style taxis, which traditionally provided "community-based public transport", offer "political tours". There's no standard itinerary, and some 10 operators advertise on leaflets available at the tourist office.
The average tour lasts about 90 minutes and visits both sides of the divide. The basic price is £25 (€32), so it's cheaper to share. The quality of the commentary - and the level of insight - depends on the driver, but you may find that you already know much of what is being explained, as the tour is aimed at overseas tourists, so feel free to ask questions or request to see specific places.
The most startling aspect of the tour is experiencing the claustrophobic physical proximity of the two "separate" communities in west Belfast - still divided by a grotesque, Orwellian "peace line".
Lurid murals featuring depressingly predictable images have become an unlikely tourist attraction. In estates around the loyalist Shankill Road, gable ends feature loyalist paramilitaries, technicolor portraits of the royal family and depictions of the Battle of the Boyne.
On the nationalist Falls Road side, the best-known mural is a huge likeness of the hunger striker Bobby Sands beside the Sinn Féin office. A vivid series of wall paintings demonises President Bush and celebrates the struggle of the Palestinians with a rendition in Arabic of the slogan Tiocfaidh Ár Lá.
Dozens of memorial shrines dot the city. The most vivid is on the Catholic Bombay Street, where the tricolour flies above a railed and paved garden with plaques recording the names of "martyred volunteers" from the IRA. Adjacent terraced houses are backed by steel cages to prevent missile attacks from neighbours across the peace line. But, for now, all seems quiet on this western front.
See www.gotobelfast.com
Michael Parsons stayed at the Europa (www.hastings hotels.com) courtesy of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board
Essential Belfast
Where to stay
Belfast has a good mix of hotels, from the reasonably priced Jurys Inn and Days Hotel to five-star luxury at the Hilton and the Merchant. But the city's most famous hotel is the 12-storey Europa, on Great Victoria Street. Once the "most bombed hotel in the world", the Europa was the unofficial HQ for the media covering the Troubles. Trevor McDonald of ITN has recalled: "All major news stories broke from the Europa, and on more than one occasion the hotel itself was the headline story." He described it as "inescapably the place to be - you had to be there to discover what was going on". It is still a great base from which to explore Belfast.
Eating and drinking
Belfast has not traditionally been noted for its culinary delights. Deanes on Howard Street has the city's only Michelin star.
A less expensive alternative is Deanes Deli, on Bedford Street (there's also a branch at Queen's). The food is simpler, the prices lower.
The other leading gastronomic light is Paul Rankin, who operates Roscoff Brasserie, on Linenhall Street, and Cayenne, on Shaftesbury Square.
If you visit only one pub it has to be the Crown Liquor Saloon, a Victorian treasure owned by Britain's National Trust and, quite simply, one of the world's most famous bars.
The filthy rich should head to the Merchant Hotel, which reputedly serves the world's most expensive cocktail, the Mai Tai. It's £750 (€950) a shot, apparently, and, no, The Irish Times didn't try it.
First stop
Belfast Welcome Centre, on Donegall Place, has helpful staff, an internet cafe and a stock of excellent free maps and guide books. There is also a left-luggage facility.
Belfast has the same bland retailing uniformity as most cities and towns in these islands, with British chains now omnipresent.
There's an Ikea at 306 Airport Road, off the A2.
Men should visit Smyth & Gibson Shirtmakers, on Bedford Street. Once Northern Ireland was a world leader in shirt-making - another industry now almost extinct. But this shop, which operates a surviving factory in Derry, sells hand-made luxury shirts and offers a bespoke service. It stocks leather gloves, cufflinks, ties and Creed fragrances, including Green Irish Tweed - not a touristy gimmick but a scent created by perfumers in Paris.
Smyth's Irish Linens, at 65 Royal Avenue, sells a range of Titanic memorabilia.
Markets
Aficionados will enjoy either of two big weekly events held under cover at St George's Market, a purpose-built Victorian building on Lower May Street. On Fridays, from 6am until 1pm, a mix of stalls sell fish, food, clothes and oddball bric-a-brac. On Saturday, the same venue hosts a food and garden market from 9am until 3pm, offering local, continental and speciality foods. Both markets are served by a free shuttle bus every 30 minutes.
The Titanic
A €1.3 billion project is under way to create a Titanic Quarter on the site of Harland and Wolff, once the world's greatest shipbuilder, in time for the centenary of the sinking, in 1912. There's a rich cargo of ongoing events and activities, including an interactive walking trail, boat trips around the harbour and a new exhibition at the Odyssey. Further details from Belfast Welcome Centre and www.titanicconvention.com.
The seat of government in the North, about six kilometres from the city centre, is served by the infrequent 20A bus from Donegall Square West. (Check the return timetable or you may have to hitch a lift from the Chuckle Brothers.) The neoclassical building, commissioned in the 1920s for the new Northern Irish entity, opened in 1932. The opulent marbled entrance hall, which has more than a whiff of Mussolini, is alone worth the trip. The Northern Ireland Assembly sits every Monday and Tuesday. Access to the visitors' gallery is on a first-come, first-served basis. The gift shop sells silver cufflinks embossed with a six-flowered flax plant (the assembly's logo) - the ultimate gift for a political man.