The city of Belfast is not very ancient, but people have lived on these lands for centuries. Cool windy climate, beautiful nature outside the city, pubs on every corner, lots of red Irish people everywhere – this is the first impression of every tourist who visits Belfast. But if you spend more time here, this city will reveal its secrets to you and show you its true face, interesting and friendly to guests.
Facts about Belfast
- Officially it is believed that it was founded in the early 17th century, but people lived here at least 5000 years ago. This is exactly the age of the stone ruins discovered here by archaeologists.
- The first gas lanterns to light the streets appeared in Belfast about 200 years ago.
- It was here that the infamous «Titanic».
- Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Do not confuse it with Dublin, the capital of another country, Ireland (interesting facts about Northern Ireland).
- The native Irish in the city are a minority, since it was once actively settled by the British and Scots. English is spoken here as well as Irish, even better, since far from everyone knows Irish.
- As in all of Northern Ireland, there is a lot in Belfast compared to other cities in the world, red-haired people – about 10% of the population.
- The population of Belfast is 280 thousand people.
- The world’s largest repair port for ships is located here.
- Belfast has a Queen’s University that has been in continuous operation since the 12th century. Moreover, they began to accept women even earlier than in the famous English Oxford. Here is such an equality.
- The largest market in Belfast is the market of St. George. If you find yourself in this city on a Sunday, you should visit this place – on this day there are always curious exhibitions with interesting exhibits.
- There are many different museums, including one dedicated to «Titanic». And two more museums are located on real ships, and one of them, «Nomadik», is interesting in that it carried passengers to «Titanic» from the port.
- Back in the 12th century, Belfast, the castle, was erected here, which later gave the name to the whole city. It is simply impossible to visit here and not visit it, despite the fact that it was actually rebuilt from scratch in the 18th century.
- During the Second World War, the city was seriously damaged by German air raids, but the most ancient and valuable buildings miraculously survived, although not all.
- The head of Belfast bears the official title of Lord Mayor.
- The climate here is quite mild, without brutal heat and severe frosts. True, it is quite cool here all year round, but the locals are used to such weather, and at +15 they can easily walk around in shorts and a T-shirt. Belfast has never experienced frost below -14.9 degrees, but in summer the temperature has never risen above +29 degrees.
- Belfast received city status by decree of Queen Victoria only in 1888.
- The local sculpture «Big Fish» 10 meters long. But not everyone knows that inside it there are time capsules with messages to posterity.
- Several million tourists visit Belfast every year, that is, purely guests of the city are 7-10 times higher than the number of its inhabitants. The only beer museum «Guinness» receives more than a million visitors a year.
- The local clock tower is equipped with an exact copy of «Big Ben», the clock on the Tower of London. By the way, she, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is «falling» because of its slope (interesting facts about the Leaning Tower of Pisa).
- Catholics and Protestants in Belfast are about equally divided. Nowadays, they coexist harmoniously together, but in the past this difference has repeatedly caused conflicts, so the Catholic and Protestant quarters were separated by a high wall, called the «Line of Peace». You can see it to this day.