Belfast – A Traveling Fool

Back at the ship, I had enough time to swallow down some pain pills, grab my cane, and get some lunch before heading back out again to visit Hillsborough Castle. This is the official royal residence in Belfast. There were other groups exploring the gardens, but ours was the only group in the castle itself at that time. This was another private tour.

I always take a collapsible cane along when traveling, just in case. Fortunately, this would be the only time I would need it on this trip. All of that standing and listening during the last two hours of the Titanic walking tour had been a bit much for me. A nice dip in the thermal pool or a lounge in the whirlpool when I got back from seeing Hillsborough Castle would help. It actually was too, and I was much better by the following morning.

Hillsborough Castle is more of an 18^th century Irish Big House than a castle. But the Hill family who built the house and founded the town, called it a castle to try to make both the house and themselves seem to be more “old money”. Hillsborough wasn’t built as a country house. It was always a townhouse.

In 1925, Hillsborough was sold to the British government to be the residence of the Governor of Northern Ireland and then the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. It had these roles for over 50 years and was called Government House.

The house was the location of the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. In 2002, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh stayed there as part of the Golden Jubilee tour. US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair both visited the castle in 2003. Peace talks were held there in 2010 between the British and Irish governments and representatives of Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). In 2014 Hillsborough Castle became a royal palace when Historic Royal Palaces took it over and began restoring both the house and grounds.

Our tour of the castle unfortunately didn’t allow any photography indoors. We began at the State Entrance Hall. This has been the entrance hall to the building since it was built in the 18th century. According to the castle’s website: “By entering the castle through these doors, you are following in the footsteps of royals, politicians, pop stars and many other distinguished guests, including Her Majesty the Queen and other members of the current Royal Family.”

The Ante Room formed part of the original house, which was built in the mid-18th century. It was created from a much smaller hallway in 1936, following a devastating fire in 1934.

The Throne Room was built as an extension in 1797. It was originally three rooms, which were combined to create a grand Saloon in the 1840s. Queen Elizabeth II received guests at a ball to celebrate her coronation here in 1953. Still the grandest room in the house, the Throne Room is now decorated with green silk damask fabric and used for investitures, citizenship ceremonies, weddings and an annual concert given by King Charles III.

The Red Room was originally the Drawing Room of the house and has been the setting for historic political meetings since the 1970s. It was in this room that Queen Elizabeth II met President Mary McAleese of Ireland in 2005 – the first time that the two heads of state had met on the island of Ireland. Royal visitors would have entered the gardens through the French window. In the 1960s it had to be lowered so that the petite Princess Margaret could step over the sill comfortably.

The State Dining Room has been in constant use since the house was built. The doors to the kitchens and ancillary areas are shielded by leather screens so that servants could enter and leave discreetly. During state dinners, the host is expected to sit at the center of the dining table with their back to the fireplace. Queen Elizabeth II continued this tradition during her first visit as Queen during her Coronation Tour in 1953.

The State Drawing Room dates from around 1810, but was rebuilt in 1936 after the fire in 1934 that destroyed many parts of the original building. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement here in 1985. The present decorative scheme is based on the inter-war ideal of a country house drawing room, in colors favored by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Contemporary works by Irish artists have been chosen for the walls, including paintings belonging to King Charles III.

I especially liked the State Drawing Room. Despite its large size, it was quite cozy with the furniture grouped in intimate seating areas. In addition to the paintings by Irish artists, there was also a painting done by King Charles III. My favorite was a large painting of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, that had been done when she was 90 years old. As a painter myself, I really admired how the artist executed the painting and how they evoked the late Queen’s personality.

The gardens were quite beautiful and laid out in such a way that the feeling was that of being in the countryside rather than in town. I was very glad to have seen Hillsborough Castle. There wasn’t a tremendous amount of people there that day, so I could take my time and periodically sit down to contemplate it all. It was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

That evening, we had a talk from Russell Lee on “Mary, Elizabeth & Mary – A Tale of Three Queens”. I had one of my Lemon Drop Martinis, relaxed, and enjoyed it thoroughly. His talks were quite entertaining as well as informative.

Next time – Ullapool & A Beautiful, Scenic Drive in the Scottish Highlands

Many years ago a traveling exhibit of the Titanic came to the Union Depot in St Paul, Minnesota. They had quite a few artifacts, including a large section of the ship’s hull. I found it to be absolutely fascinating. A few years after, I was out in New York City as part of a tour of the Eastern seaboard of the US. On the USS Intrepid was a small exhibit with some artifacts from the Titanic. Then, when I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I went to the Maritime Museum (I have a couple of ancestors who were ships captains in that area at the time of the American Revolution) and saw a permanent exhibit of several artifacts from the Titanic.

Halifax was the nearest port from where the ship sank. It was where the survivors and many of the bodies were taken. The graveyard contains several of the people who didn’t survive. Most of the markers had names, but some were marked “unknown”, including the grave of a child.

When I had been to Belfast in 2005, the only memorial to the Titanic was a statue in front of City Hall. The Harland and Wolff cranes, Samson and Goliath, were still there and still being used. But there just didn’t seem to be much interest at that time to highlight the fact that the ship had been built there.

The four hour Titanic Belfast Walk excursion in the morning was listed as “demanding”. They weren’t kidding. We spent the first two hours in the Titanic Belfast Exhibition. That wasn’t too bad. It was a very large exhibit, spread over several floors, but there were benches to sit on here and there. I could pace myself quite well. Demanding or not, I didn’t want to miss it.

The exhibit tells the story of the building of the ship, the maiden voyage and sinking, plus the discovery of the wreckage. It contains the following galleries:

Boomtown Belfast – Belfast at the start of the 20^th century. Includes the original Harland and Wolff shipyard gates and an interactive floor with the construction plans for the Titanic.
The Shipyard – a ride aboard a mini-car up and around a replica of Titanic’s rudder while depicting scenes of the ship being built.
The Launch – overlooking the actual slipway from which the Titanic was launched, scenes are shown of the launch.
The Fit-Out – the first, second and third class cabins are depicted. There is a computer-generated 360 degree tour of the ship from the engine room to the dining salons and the bridge.
The Maiden Voyage – depicts the journey from Belfast to Southampton, and from there to Cherbourg, Cobh and westwards.
The Sinking – the sound of the Morse code SOS messages and the audio of survivors telling their stories can be heard as the image of the sinking ship is projected against a wall of replicas of the life-jackets.
The Aftermath – this part of the exhibition is dominated by a full-size replica of one of the lifeboats. The British and American inquiries into the disaster are depicted. There are also interactive screens to see if a relative might have been part of the crew or one of the passengers.
Myths & Legends – this depicts the movies, plays, books, and poems written about the Titanic and some of the myths and legends perpetuated by them.
Titanic Beneath – the ship is presented as it is now.

I don’t have any difficulty walking. In fact, I enjoy taking walks when I travel to become acclimated to new areas. I also take almost daily walks around the neighborhood or in nearby parks when at home. While onboard the ship, I also took frequent walks just for the exercise.

Standing in one place for a long period of time is another thing. I had some severe injuries to my back several years ago that put me in a back brace for several years. Plus I had some surgery next to my spine (slightly higher up than my previous injuries) in June of 2021 for some cancer. They got it all. But my back continues to be a bit sensitive about too much standing without any place to sit. The second two hours of the excursion were all over the Titanic Quarter to see the actual locations associated with the ship.

Those two hours required an enormous amount of standing while the fellow leading the group droned on and on. If someone asked a question, that meant what seemed like at least another 15 minutes or so while the question was being answered. There was one point when I thought I would just stretch out on the concrete. We did stop outside of a pub and it became quite apparent that the guy was settling in for an especially long discourse. I wondered if I could sneak in, get myself some refreshment, and slip back out before the group noticed. But I didn’t want to run the risk of being left behind. We were being picked up from a different location from where we had been dropped off. I didn’t want to get lost and need to take a taxi back to the ship.

To be fair, the walk did cover a lot of ground. We began at the slipway where the ship was built and from which it was launched before being fitted out. The Nomadic, which was a tender for the Titanic as well as the Olympic was docked not too far away. Our guide said that she was also involved in the evacuation of Dunkirk in World War II. She is the last surviving White Star ship in the world.

The former Harland and Wolff offices have been turned into a hotel. Behind the hotel, the enormous gantry cranes called “Samson” and “Goliath” can be seen. In the Titanic Quarter there is a film studio where parts of “Game of Thrones” and other TV shows and movies have been filmed. It is called Titanic Studios.

We also viewed an unexploded bomb from World War II and the HMS Caroline, which is one of the longest serving war ships still in existence. Our last stop was the drydock where the Titanic was fitted out. The earlier slipway had been filled in, but this one had not been altered. So we could see it in its original state.

The SSE Arena, with a capacity of 10,800, is also part of the Titanic Quarter. Sports events and concerts are held there. We drove by it on the way back to the ship.

Next time – Belfast: Hillsborough Castle & Gardens, a Royal Residence.