When Lewis told me he’d booked a week of annual leave from work, my brain went straight to booking another holiday. I should technically be revising for my last few exams, but everyone needs a break, right? We were after somewhere less intense than Paris as that trip really took it out of us, and neither of us had been to Northern Ireland, so we thought “Why not Belfast?” I’ve also become vegan recently and there seemed to be a lot of vegan options according to Google.
So, here’s what we did on our mini break.
Day 1
Straight off the plane at Belfast International, we hopped on a bus to Grand Central Station. Our mutual first impression as we walked through the city, was that it feels fairly similar to home… but not quite. They have many of the same shops, namely Spar and Tesco, and conversations from passers-by were intelligible. I liked that because it was comforting, yet still a new experience.
We were hungry after travelling, so our first stop was somewhere to eat. We discovered a place online called Umi Falafel, which was very close to our accommodation with plenty of vegan options. I had a plant-based shawarma, which was delicious, and Lewis had a halloumi wrap. We both love Mediterranean food, so it fit the bill for our first meal.
With time to kill before we could check into our AirBnB, we looked at the Queen’s University campus. As it was founded over 100 years before my own university, the architecture was beautiful with plenty of character. I hope Lancaster takes no offence!
After we checked in to our AirBnB and spent time settling in, we went back out to explore the Botanic Gardens. I was most intrigued by the rose garden, which unfortunately wasn’t in bloom at the time of year, but it was still a lovely place to wander. We then walked along the river and absorbed the city’s atmosphere. We agreed that it was reminiscent of the Lancaster Canal as it happened to be quiet. Because of that, it honestly didn’t feel much like a capital city!
Peckish again, we looked for somewhere to have tea. We settled on Maggie May’s Café on Botanic Avenue, which was surprisingly good for vegans. I had vegan taco chips, which I’d never tried before. I felt grateful that the city seemed so accommodating for vegans as it definitely wouldn’t have been this easy in Paris. I do wonder how I’ll manage if I go to France again but that can be a problem for future me.
We went back to our accommodation and watched TV until we fell asleep. I often struggle to sleep, but I found it easy after such a long day.
Day 2
I was eager to try a bakery I’d found online that was renowned for its vegan options called Bread & Banjo. There was a fair selection of treats but I eventually settled on the vegan pain au chocolat. It was delicious and made me wonder why I didn’t go vegan sooner (because this isn’t available everywhere, but hopefully with time…).
We then hopped on a bus towards the Titanic Museum. It was two stops away and we happened to get off the first stop right outside the City Hall. The exterior looked amazing, so we thought that we may as well look inside while we were there. It provided interesting historical facts, of which I was most fascinated by the Irish Suffragettes. There was also a VR headset and a game that showed various landmarks in Belfast. Something for everyone.
It was finally time for the musem. The first thing you notice, is that it’s absolutely huge. I didn’t know a lot about the Titanic before my visit, but the museum talks you through everything from the building process, political climate, people on the ship, to, my favourite part, the recovered remains. I was in awe that they managed to recover a violin despite it missing two strings and its bridge. Even if you aren’t interested in ships, I’d highly recommend a visit.
We would also have gone to the dock to see S.S. Nomadic, the last White Star Line ship in the world, but the weather wasn’t great. In fact, one minute it was nice and sunny and the next pouring with rain! Because of this, we instead went to the nearby shopping centre and had Nando’s for dinner. Our priorities were very much in check.
We were a short walk away from the Cathedral Quarter, which is where we headed next. We passed the Salmon of Knowledge on the way, with whom we took some interesting pictures. We didn’t know its significance at the time, but I later discovered it’s a symbol in Irish mythology and we should have patted it for good luck. Oh well!
Lewis found some spots that he thought we’d both enjoy. The first was a vintage clothes shop, which was already great, until I discovered that the top floor was full of vintage books and records! This satisfied us both as he gets bored when I browse books while I do when he browses records. He agreed that he’d buy me a book, so I chose The Plague by Camus. I’m working my way through his bibliography, making this the perfect choice.
Lewis then took me to the Metropolitan Arts Centre. We saw an exhibition by Kwok Tsui, a Hong Kong-born artist who moved to Belfast. He creates his works with the use of subtraction (removing paint from the canvas), which offers a very interesting sight for the eye. We saw another exhibition consisting of a fake film set and a film screening about the life of Merle Oberon. I thought this place was very cool as it offers the opportunity to experience all sorts of exhibitions at no cost.
We couldn’t leave the Cathedral Quarter without visiting the iconic umbrella alley. Lewis spent ages trying to take the perfect picture of me because he knows how particular I am! Vanity aside, the umbrellas are visually satisfying and I appreciated the inspirational quotes on the walls.
We were completely drained after everything we’d done. We would have gone out for tea, but we were so tired that we went back and ordered a takeaway. We ordered from a pizza restaurant called Pizza Punks, which offered an amazing vegan pizza with vegan sausage and ‘nduja. It’s rare that vegan pizzas have any other toppings besides vegetables, so I was very satisfied.
Lewis was really in the mood for some gelato, so we tried to work out whether the nearby shop had vegan options. There was a gelato shop around the corner that did offer vegan gelato, but it was closed, so he had to venture out to another place we’d found. When he finally returned, he had gelato for himself but he said they had no vegan options. He’d then gone to three different shops looking for something I could have, where he acquired some Fruit Pastille lollies. He was really apologetic, but I didn’t mind as I appreciated his effort.
Day 3
We started our third day by returning to the Botanic Gardens since the glass house and tropical ravine were closed last time. The glass house was filled with all sorts of perplexing plants and beautiful flowers. The tropical ravine contained impressively large trees, along with plaques of information about the plants. I learnt that ferns reproduce with spores, which I never knew before!
Inside the gardens was also the Ulster Museum. We started by going to the café, where I had a tasty vegan sausage roll. We looked at the art floor first, which focussed on the Renaissance and Romantic eras, and we were mesmerised by the intricacity of the paintings. The museum also houses artefacts, sculptures, and even animals, so you’re bound to find something that interests you here.
We got a bus to the Cathedral Quarter once again as I was desperate to try a completely vegan café I’d read about. It was called Hustle and I had a lovely soup with sourdough bread. I ironically find it quite overwhelming when I go somewhere where I can have anything because it’s very rare that it happens! I’m not complaining, though, as I enjoyed the visit and the café’s atmosphere.
We sat near the City Hall for a bit, but the weather was doing the same on-again, off-again act as yesterday, so we went back to our apartment. After gelatogate the previous night, I knew I needed to go to the nearby gelato shop to try their vegan selection. They had two vegan flavours: dark chocolate and strawberry sorbet, which I oddly had together and found delicious. It was certainly worth the wait.
After a few hours of lying down, we went out again to a speed quiz at a pub called The Bowery. I’m not sure if it’s a Northern Irish thing or just where we happened to go, but nowhere seemed to have soda water on tap. This meant I had to pay 3 pounds and thirty pence for a lime and soda with bottled soda water. We ended up twelfth out of seventeen in the quiz, which isn’t bad considering we arrived late.
When we left the pub, we were hungry but all the restaurants were closed. As a result, we went back and ordered KFC. I would never normally choose a fast food place as they aren’t particularly compatible with vegans, but I knew from working there at 16 that their vegan burger is quite tasty. We had an enjoyable night lying in bed with our feast.
Day 4
I had one final quest for our last day. I’d seen a really pretty ring in the window of Cash Converters the previous day and my Grandma agreed to get me one for my graduation, so I went back for it. I tried on a couple of others that were also my size, but I stuck to the first one I’d seen and was very happy with it. I’d been looking all over for the perfect ring and this one comes with memories.
Instead of searching for another food place, we went to Hustle again as we were already close. It was still the morning so we were limited to the breakfast menu, but this wasn’t bad as I had the chance to try the potato bread stack with tofu scramble, vegan bacon and sausage. It reminded me of how much I love potato cakes, and how I need to buy some at home very soon!
A few doors down was a record shop. I told Lewis that I’d buy a record for him to return the favour of my book. After a long search, he found a Pavement record, one of his favourite bands, and I was in shock that it was… a lot pricier than my book. Oh well; love makes us generous. After that, we headed back towards Grand Central Station for our bus to the airport.
We chose a good length of time for our mini break as it gave us time to meander, but not so long that we were bored. I know Belfast has plenty of other things we didn’t see, like the Giant’s Causeway and Belfast Castle, but that would have likely required a few more days. I liked that Belfast was less ‘full-on’ than Paris, which meant it was a generally calmer holiday. We’re already planning our next holiday, which will definitely be somewhere warmer…
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