Americans visit one of UK’s ‘friendliest’ cities and three things blow them away

An American couple travelled to Belfast after it was ranked as one of the friendliest cities in the UK.

The Northern Ireland capital was named by magazine Condé Nast Traveller as being the seventh most friendliest city in Britain last year. And Jeremy and Cara – who run The Magic Geekdom Youtube channel – have now released the video of their first ever trip there.

The affability of locals lived up to expectation and Cara said: “It is funny though because I feel like so many people we have talked to here, everyone has just been so friendly. It is a very very friendly city and everyone has given us so many recommendations and places to go.”

She added that they could not possibly have explored all the recommendations, but noted that City Hall was a “stunning building” and the Botanic Gardens were “just so beautiful and peaceful”. They also praised the picturesque grounds of Queen’s University.

But despite enjoying the above landmarks, below were three things that stood out most to the globe trotters.

Guinness 

Being in Ireland, Guinness was obligatory for the tourists, and they decided to have their first taste inside The Dirty Onion pub – one of the oldest buildings in the whole of Belfast having been built in 1780.

Opting for a half pint, Cara, holding up the glass, said: “My first Guinness in a very long time because I didn’t think I’d like it but maybe I will like it now. It is supposed to be better here, right?”

After having a sip, she said: “Ohh, that’s good! It is creamy, yeah that is nice, we might be having a few of these today. We probably could have gone for pints, huh?”

On day two of their trip, they also went to the Duke of York boozer, and explaining why, Jeremy said: “We have finally made it to the pub that essentially everyone has told us if you are in Belfast you have to come to the Duke of York.”

Cara added: “And we have and multiple people tell us, everyone in Belfast, that this is the best place to get a Guinness, so cheers!”

Not one to hide her enthusiasm, Cara, after taking a gulp, added: “How do they do it? It just tastes so nice.”

Titanic Belfast 

Just a short walk from Belfast city centre is the unmissable Titanic Quarter – one of the top visitor attractions.

The couple ventured there after enjoying their Guinness and Cara remarked: “We went from the cosy fire at the pub to exploring what is maybe one of the most well done museums we have ever been to.”

They were impressed by the stunning building, made to look like ship prows, with Cara explained: “It basically told the entire story of the Titanic from it being built to them discovering the wreckage later on and it was just so fantastically well done, so respectfully done and truly truly highly recommend it if you are visiting Belfast.”

Construction of the Titanic started in Belfast in 1909 where eight Harland and Wolff workers died during their shifts.

St George’s Market 

One of the oldest and most popular attractions in Belfast is the award-winning St George’s Market – a Victorian building that had a £4.5million refurbishment in 1997. It was built back in the late 1800s but there has been a market on the site since 1604.

Making their way there, Cara remarked: “We walked to St George’s Market and so far the city is beautiful there is so much neat architecture here.”

Entering, she added: “Wow, it is massive in here. This is like sensory overload; there are so many cool independent shops and so many amazing looking food options – they have it all.”

After enjoying a “really good” breakfast bap at Sizzle & Roll, Jeremy remarked that he could see why the market had won awards.

Posting the, one fan wrote: “So nice to see you in my hometown, knocking about my childhood haunts.” Another said: “I visited Belfast a couple of years ago and loved it.” A third went with: “If you think this was good, you really need to travel all of Ireland.”