Tag Archives: Suki Tea

Belfast Leg 7: Dunchers, kites and coffee snobs

1 Reply

 

Now off to the crowning glory of the Titanic Quarter, ‘Titanic Belfast’! Well, not quite. Having both been before, we decided that at £17.50 for a standard ticket, it was just too expensive to visit again. Do note though, that your £17.50 also includes entry to the SS Nomadic so if you’re planning to visit both attractions, this is actually a really good deal.

The building itself is pretty spectacular (extremely silver, and extremely angular, apparently in an effort to depict the angular prows of ships) and cost a mere £77 million to construct and kit out with all things Titanic. As well as the standard museum experience, the building boasts multiple exhibition spaces, conference facilities, café, bistro, gift shop and a replica of the famous staircase as seen in James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’. Access to the staircase is not included in the standard ticket price and presumably does not include a meet and greet with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Although we didn’t revisit the museum, we popped into the café (for Titanic related treats), the gift shop (for Titanic related memorabilia) and to the ‘Robots’ exhibition where we came face to face with life-sized replicas of some famous TV and movie ‘bots. All the pieces were on loan from Scotland’s ‘Museum of Movie Magic’ and for £6 admission each, we though this was a really decent price for an hour of fun and photographic opportunities with the likes of R2-D2, T-800, Robbie the Robot and RoboCop.

We wandered outside to the Slipways and Plaza (covered in a previous blog here) to visit the memorial, commemorating all those who died on Titanic’s ill-fated journey. Names of the crew and passengers who passed away are listed on huge panes of glass.

In the mood for something a little more light-hearted, we hopped onto the ‘Wee Tram’ for a tour around the area. Although we’re now well familiar with the Titanic Quarter, we couldn’t resist donning a duncher (a flat cap worn by the shipyard workers in Harland and Wolff) and seeing some of the sights from aboard a more unconventional mode of transport. The tour harked back to the trams which ran through Belfast in the late 1800’s to the mid-1900’s and is certainly a unique way to take in the scenery. The ‘Wee Tram’ has been one of our favourite attractions on our coastal tour so far; it was at the bargain price of £5, includes a live tour guide, as well as an on-board TV screen with even more facts and figures, it operates the extremely useful ‘hop-on/hop-off’ system, and is wheelchair friendly to boot. If you can only do one thing in the Titanic Quarter, make it the ‘Wee Tram’.

After this, we happened upon Belfast’s first ever kite festival, ‘KiteTanica’ (pat on the back to whoever came up with the name). A fun event for kids (we saw plenty walking around with little personalised kites) but a bit underwhelming for adults, maybe due to the lack of wind that day. Still we got a few shots of giant inflatable animals, floating around the harbour.

To cap off our busy day, we visited T13 (as blogged about here) for the first annual Northern Ireland Coffee Festival. Since I’m not a coffee fan I was just hoping for a nice cup of tea and a sit down, while Rachel went straight to the hard stuff. Included in the entry ticket (£6) we were each given a free drink voucher, and the promise of live music, barista competitions, screening of coffee related documentaries and various food and (obviously) coffee stands. Plus this was all happening until 7pm! It’s rare that a daytime event in Northern Ireland goes on past 4pm or 5pm so we were looking forward to spending a fair few hours here.

Unfortunately, the whole event wasn’t as good as it could (or should) have been. Our free drink voucher was apparently worth £2 maximum (which was not stated anywhere) and so this led to frantic scrambling for change at the front of a busy queue. Many of the food stands shut well before 7pm and the documentary screenings fell by the wayside too, long before the event was over. The coffee ‘experts’ were out in force too, advising us exactly how to enjoy our hot drinks (“You’re putting milk in a macchiato? Really?”).

There were a few positives at least; the location was very good (T13 is such a multifunctional space, and could be used for anything really) and some food and drink stands were there until the bitter end. Indie Fude, an artisanal food company, had some beautiful stuff from all around Ireland, and the friendly guys at the Suki Tea stand generously gave us some of their milk after we were shooed away by the coffee purists.

Sadly the event was overall a bit disappointing, which was a shame as it had so much potential. We do hope it returns again next year when, fingers crossed, some of these problems will be ironed out.

-Clare