Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
annic
(see sidebar). An upper-floor viewpoint employs innovative electronic windows to
project an image of the huge, partially built
Titanic
in dry dock beside you, masking the
reality oftoday'sbarrenshipyardbelow.Anothergallery surroundsyouonthree sideswith
animated screens that glide through multiple decks, giving you a realistic feel for the ship
in all its full-steam-ahead glory.
The human story of its passengers—from promenade-deck aristocrats to heroic crew
members to steerage-class rabble—is also here. The passenger manifest encompassed vir-
tually every segment of society: In today's dollars, a first-class ticket would cost $70,000,
while a third-class ticket would cost $650. You'll see a broad cross-section of displays
from the ship's short but opulent existence.
The big-screen “Titanic Beneath” theater shows the now-famous underwater footage of
the wreck nearly 12,500 feet down on the ocean floor. Only 20 percent of the dead were
ever recovered. Don't miss the see-through floor panels at the foot of the movie screen,
which allow you to stand on top of the watery debris field as the virtual wreck slowly
passes beneath your feet.
Those with an unsinkable interest in the
Titanic
may want to walk down into the massive
footprint where it last rested on dry land, to get a feel for how colossal the vessel was.
Personally, I'd skip the entry cost and just take in the free view down into the dock from
behind the fence.
Cost and Hours:
£6, or £1 more for tour, also covered by £18.25 combo-ticket with
Titanic Belfast, daily 10:00-17:00,
www.titanicsdock.com
.
Getting There:
From the Titanic Belfast, it's a 300-yard walk to the Dry Dock and
Pump-House. En route, you'll pass the massive
Titanic Studios
building, where parts of
Game of Thrones
and
City of Ember
were filmed.
It will be a happy day when the sectarian neighborhoods of Belfast have nothing to be
sectarian about. For a look at three of the original home bases of the Troubles, explore the
working-class neighborhoods of Catholic Falls Road and Protestant Shankill Road (west
of the Westlink motorway), or Protestant Sandy Row (south of the Westlink motorway).
Murals (found in working-class, sectarian areas) are a memorable part of any visit to
Belfast. But with more peaceful times, the character of these murals is slowly changing.
The Re-Imaging Communities Program has spent £3 million in government money to
replace aggressive murals with positive ones. Paramilitary themes are gradually being
covered over with images of pride in each neighborhood's culture. The
Titanic
was built
