Walks · Belfast City District · English
5 narrated stops, 15 minutes of stories, 4.2 km on foot. Press play at each stop — no app needed — or open the walk in Avsha and let the stories keep coming as you move.
Stop 1 · 3 min
In short: This National Trust-owned Victorian gin palace features ten private snugs with original push-bells and gunmetal match-strikers. Its ornate interior includes carved oak ceilings and etched glass crafted by Italian artisans who also worked on the Grand Opera House.
↓ 450 m · 7 min to the next stop
Stop 2 · 3 min
In short: C.S. Lewis Square features seven bronze sculptures by Maurice Harron representing characters from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. These figures include Aslan, Mr. Tumnus, the White Witch, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Maugrim, Father Christmas, and the Wardrobe.
↓ 750 m · 11 min to the next stop
Stop 3 · 3 min
In short: The tower leans because it was built on wooden piles driven into soft, silty river mud. Over time, the massive weight of the structure caused these wooden supports to shift, resulting in a four-foot tilt toward High Street.
↓ 250 m · 4 min to the next stop
Stop 4 · 3 min
In short: The Big Fish is a ten-metre ceramic sculpture created by John Kindness to celebrate Belfast's riverfront regeneration. Its scales depict historical maps and newspaper clippings, and its belly contains a sealed time capsule containing messages, photographs, and artifacts for future generations.
↓ 2.8 km · 39 min to the next stop
Stop 5 · 3 min
In short: Sir Charles Lanyon designed this red-brick Tudor Gothic building, which opened in 1849. Modeled on Magdalen College in Oxford, it is the architectural soul of Queen’s University Belfast and was where Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney studied as an undergraduate.