I didn’t realize how prevalent the Titanic was here in Belfast.. the reference is everywhere. It was a big ship and a big deal and my daughter is obsessed with it… one of the big reasons we are here. We woke up and went down for breakfast. I usually like to stay at a place where breakfast is included. This hotel was not including the meal so we paid for it and showed up at their restaurant downstairs. They were serving a full Irish breakfast which is what I wanted to have. That part was yummy- the sausage, bacon.. I didn’t indulge in the blood pudding- wasn’t in the mood.
I ordered a cappuccino which was super hot and very delicious. What I didn’t like was the lack of fresh fruit- there wasn’t any.. there was some form of fruit salad but it looked very sorry.. so I didn’t have any. A far cry from the lavish breakfast we had in Athens.. that was scrumptious. We decided we will venture out tomorrow and try some other place.

A while later we got on to a hop on hop off bus and made our way to the titanic quarter on the other side of River Lagan. We got off by the museum and walked over the titanic dock as well as the pump house. It was all very fascinating knowing what all happened in that area. Most fascinating was the museum. We got on a cable car tour that took us through the bottom of the shipyard where the ship came together and we saw under what horrible conditions the workers worked everyday. After a few hours we took a break and went to the titanic cafe and ate a delicious piece of cake and a glass of Rose. After hanging out for a while we made our way back to tour bus and sat and saw the rest of the city while resting our feet. After a couple of hours we made our way back to the hotel. While in the bus I started to look for a dinner place for us to go. My criteria was close proximity to our hotel so we don’t have to venture out too far at night. We end up using Trip Advisor to find good restaurants according to our location. I came up with a place called Ginger Bistro. It turned out it was about two minutes from our hotel and it was rated number 5 on Trip Advisor… so we made reservations and made our way there. I started with a glass of prosecco and shared a plate of fried squid with homemade chili sauce and garlic mayonnaise- it was delicious!!!!

My daughter ordered fish and chips and I ordered escalope of chicken with merqueuz sausage cherry tomato and butter bean casserole with rocket and garlic butter. I usually don’t order chicken when I am out but the waiter highly recommended it and he was right! It was yummy- the chicken was perfectly cooked on top of a mixture of the butter beans and the rocket or arugula was a great addition. It all came together with the merguez sausage. I washed it all down with a delicious glass of Rose.My daughter ordered the lava chocolate cake and I was debating what to get when I remembered reading about one of their desserts- it was champagne jelly, poached pears with rich vanilla custard and baby meringues- wow, it was delicious! The pears with the custard were unbelievable and the jelly made it unbelievable. The baby meringues brought a yummy sweetness and texture. Needless to say I was a happy camper and started thinking, how are we going to top this one tomorrow!!!