Street art, Hobnobs and a good night's sleep

We didn't make the 10:35 bus as Roger spent a long time in the immigration queue, but caught the one an hour later. There's not much in the way of scenery to gawp at from the motorway to Belfast -- cows, hedgerows, auto junkyards and a few isolated wind turbines, but no picturesque Irish villages. The journey was fast and we hit the pavement in Belfast city centre by 2 pm. Our first stop was nearby at a tourist ticket shop that doubles as a short term luggage drop (pre-booked on Stasher.com), then to the Belfast Visitors Centre to purchase our city bus passes and to a magic money machine to get a fist full of her majesty' s currency. I learned when I purchased my return bus ticket from the driver in Dublin that the pound coins I was carrying are no longer in circulation. Some time in the last nine months they've been replaced with shiny two-tone nine-sided ones sure to defy any attempt at counterfeit. I spotted a Waterstone's, so nipped in to buy a copy of The Gospel According to Blindboy, a book of satirical and philosophical short stories by one of the Irish podcasters who has been in my ears these past months.

Our original plan had been to spend the afternoon at the Titanic Experience learning all about ship building and ship sinking, but opted to explore the streets and alleyways of the Cathedral Quarter instead. This turned out to be a grand idea as nothing warms my heart more than derelict buildings and street art. Just off the busy shopping streets we found plenty of both, as well as some proper good architecture (Georgian and art deco) and a big cathedral (early c20, Protestant and uninspiring).

After a sit down at Caffe Nero, we reclaimed our bags, boarded a bus and headed to our AirBnB. There was some confusion about the key, but we got that sorted. The place is clean and spacious with most of the mod cons we require. We explored the neighborhood eating options, ending up at Slim Kitchen, a nice bistro serving fresh, healthy and tasty eats as well as booze. Our final destination was Tesco to stock up on essentials -- cereal, milk, more wine and Hobnobs.

Stats:
€2.25 coffee at Dublin airport
€2.20 bottle of water
£22 return bus ticket for Belfast
£6 luggage stash
£3.50 one- day bus pass
£10.99 Gospel According to Blindboy paperback
£3.35 water and banana bread at caff
£24 dinner and wine
£7 bevvies and nibbles from Tesco

19,254 steps, 7.92 miles