A cheap day out in Belfast: Belfast has dusted down its troubled old image and emerged all bright and beautiful, writes Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor.
Forget the grainy images of the old Belfast, the place has been rebuilt over the past decade. You might well be surprised, even if you've never before been to the northern capital.
Many arrive with expectations of military checkpoints and high-level security. Chances are you won't see anything of the sort. Downtown Belfast is relaxed, presentable and uncrowded and a pavement café culture has taken root.
Morning
A good place to kick off the day is the Europa Hotel where you can sit in the first floor lounge overlooking Great Victoria Street. While you relax over your coffee and croissant, ponder the fact that you recline in Europe's most bombed hotel. It's still a popular haunt with politicians and journalists, especially those from overseas. Despite its eventful past there's no security now and its "ordinary" four-star present stands as a pleasant and stark contrast.
Next door you'll note the red-brick splendour of the Grand Opera House. Inquire if you can join a tour of this elaborate beauty and peek at the back-stage area. Grab a few seconds and just take a seat in the wonderful ornate auditorium. It's as if decades of applause is absorbed in those old walls and, in a moment of empty silence, some leaks back out. (£3 (€4.45) adults, £2 (€3) children)
Head round the corner towards Donegall Square and City Hall. It's worthwhile to take a moment inside - admission is free - under its impressive dome of this striking Edwardian building. Stand on the sport were Carson signed the solemn pledge to defend Ulster nearly a century ago. Thousands of others did too, some of them in their own blood.
The Lord Mayor's parlour is upstairs and his personal bathroom is an exact replica of the first-class cabins on the ill-fated Titanic. It's unlikely that the First Citizen steps past in full regalia and invites you for tea - but you never know. It has happened. . .
Lunch and afternoon
Try taking a run out to Stormont. Admission here is free and it is more impressive in real life than on TV and, yes, you can drive through its massive gates and along the impressive Prince of Wales Avenue to Parliament Buildings. There are tours of this extraordinary building including the ominously silent Assembly chamber just off the Great Hall where you've seen so many politicians giving press interviews. The trouble is you need an invitation from an Assembly member to avail of a tour. However, don't be put off. Ring one of the parties and ask - it's as simple as that. There's a fine restaurant in the basement, again you need to be accompanied. But it is subsidised - you can get a full three-course lunch for under £4 (€6) - which is just as well since elected members are on part-salary because of the Assembly's suspension. Then again you could take a picnic on the lawns and take in the views of the city from the cranes at Harland and Wolff over to the Castlereagh Hills.
If that's not your thing try opting for a guided tour of the city. Open-top tour buses depart from Castle Place, five minutes from City Hall - or an hour or more from City Hall if you sample the city centre stores along Donegall Place on the way. Tours leave on the hour from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and it's a great way to see the city without worrying about driving through the "wrong" area. The price is £8 (€11.86), but they also offer concessions.
The hop-on-hop-off tour takes in the Titanic Quarter, Laganside and the Odyssey entertainment complex in docklands - all have sprung up since the ceasefires of 1994. It takes in the Falls and Shankill Roads - a no-holds-barred look at real Belfast, its murals, its new facades and remnants of its industrial revolution wastelands. Fascinating.
Evening
Visitors must go for a jar in the Crown. It's directly across the road from the Europa Hotel - your starting point. Now protected by the National Trust - Northern equivalent of An Taisce - there is simply no better example of a 19th-century pub.
Gas lit and authentic down to the barman's white apron, there are nonetheless a few concessions to the current century. Televisions cater for punters who place their bets at the bookies next door. But if you install yourself in one of the confessional-style snugs you can forget modernity over a few scoops of Belfast ale. Afterwards, sample one of the best chippers around. Long's, on defiantly loyalist Sandy Row about 10 minutes away, will sort you out with a fish supper for a couple of quid. Good stuff and great value.
If you're still up for more action, you're just a step away from what the locals call the Golden Mile. It's a bit of an overstatement as Belfast is hardly Las Vegas, but the area does hum at the weekends.
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