02 Mar East Belfast
The Lagan Lookout near the Custom House is a good position from which to view the world’s second – and third-largest cranes, Goliath and Samson, across the river in East Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard. This is the city’s proudest international asset: the ill-fated Titanic was built here, and the shipyard is nowadays said to possess the largest dry dock in the world – over 600 yards long and 100yards wide. Worth seeing on any Ireland tours or Belfast tours. The new Titanic museum will be a must see attraction when it opens in early 2012.
There are notable murals at freedom Corner near the beginning of the Newtownards Road, and the areas does have some well known scions. The theologian and author of the Narnia Chronicles C.S. Lewis was born in Dundela Villas, and there’s a plaque commemorating him at Dundela Flats, which stand on the site where the house once stood, off Dundela. Another plaque on Burren Way in the Cregagh estate commemorates the childhood home of footballer George Best. And Van Morrison fans might get a thrill from seeking out his birthplace, a private house at 125 Hyndford St, off Beersbridge Road and the many streets that feature in his songs (Cyprus Avenue, Castlereagh Road and others). Real hidden gems !