Seniors Depart For Northern Ireland

Belfast from Irish: Béal Feirste, (meaning “mouth of the sandbanks”) is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, the second-largest city on the island of Ireland after Dublin. Senior travelers find it situated around the River Lagan, which runs through the city. Get your coffee my friends and let’s visit Belfast this morning.

The site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giant’s Ring, a 5,000-year-old henge, is located near the city, and the remains of Iron Age hill forts can still be seen in the surrounding hills.

During its early history, Belfast was a center of the Irish linen, tobacco processing, rope-making and shipbuilding industries. In the early 20th century, Harland and Wolff, which built the RMS Titanic, was the biggest and most productive shipyard in the world.

Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was a global industrial center until the latter half of the 20th century. Belfast was granted city status in 1888.

Industrialization and the inward migration it brought made Belfast the biggest city in Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century. Today, Belfast remains a center for industry, as well as the arts, higher education, business, and law, and is the economic engine of Northern Ireland.

Seniors Visit Titanic Exhibition

Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital, has a population that runs right at 290,000. It is a port city known in part for its political murals, documenting the ‘Troubles’ of the 20th century.

In the city’s renovated dockyards, the Titanic Quarter includes the Titanic Belfast Museum, an aluminum-clad edifice reminiscent of a ship’s hull, shipbuilder Harland and Wolff’s drawing offices and the Titanic slipways, which now host open-air concerts.

Senior visitors will find the world’s largest Titanic exhibition, the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland and one of the top attractions in all of Ireland. Housed in an iconic, six-floor building, Titanic Belfast is located in the heart of Belfast.

After that visit, I’d head off to Northern Ireland’s treasure house of the past, the Ulster Folk Museum. Take this video visit with my travel hero Rick Steves as we visit Belfast and the Best of Northern Ireland.

 Seniors Find Easy City to Visit

They say that it’s never been easier to tour the city, thanks to a number of bus, taxi, boat and pedestrian options. Don’t miss the Belfast Cathedral, and make sure to experience some of the award-winning restaurants, bars, clubs, galleries and theaters.

TripAdvisor offers over 200 things for senior travelers to do. They feature Crumlin Road Gaol, a former prison situated on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast. It is the only Victorian era prison remaining in Northern Ireland.

Senior travelers can fully enjoy the plethora of amenities and historic sites this exciting city has to offer visitors. -jeb