What's the Craic? aka Pubs and Live Music in Belfast

The best thing about Belfast and generally Ireland is pub life. I will miss it so much! Firstly when we got to the city, we were of opinion, that we will find the best pubs by getting lost. And we found in a side abandoned alley a pub with definitely the cheapest beer ever - 2.5 pounds for Guiness. Normally it is 3.5 to 4 pounds per pint (130 to 150 czk). And on Tuesdays they have beer for 2 pounds! It was a little miracle. The Central Catholic Club, alias CCC is mostly filled with locals, older generation, very nice and talkative. Anyway, in all the pubs locals just start to talk to you freely and mostly it turns into very nice and enriching conversation.
If you would like to find a nice pub to go, I would recommend Cathedral Quarter. It is center of nice pubs, music and all kinds of art. Every year there is a Cathedral Quarter Festival, which is full of concerts, theatre plays and colours. The only problem with Cathedral Quarter is that it is really far away from university area and even if we would like to go there, there is too many great pubs on the way. There is lots of them and they have many things to offer. One of the main attraction of Irish pubs is live music. Another is that they are unbelievably cozy and comfy.

Cathedral Quarter life

One Irish friend enlightened me and told me that you know you're in true Irish pub when you feel like home. And I found mine in Kelly's Cellars and Fibber Magee's. Both in a city center, both with really amazing music. Kelly's Cellars is said to be the oldest continuously functioning pub in Belfast and you can feel that. There are old pots on the ceiling, funny cool old posters, the best choice of beers I found in Belfast. And the music is also the best, even though mostly it is not the Irish folk music I admire so much. On the other hand Fibber Magee's has plenty of Irish music and you can also dance. So we were there traditionally nearly every Thursday. After first beer some people there put aside their shyness and start to enjoy life. Often it ends with all the people in pub dancing and when Irish people dance, they don't care with who, so you are just still meeting new people. After a quite long dance with an older guy I received the most epic compliment ever. He asked me where I am from. So I told him I'm from Czech Republic. And he replied: "O' fock, I thought you're from Donegal!" Actually a day after St.Patrick's Day Fibber Magee's was filled with dancing people, but as the dance and talking went on, finally we discovered, the only survivors after St. Patrick's are Czech, Danish, Scottish, Belgian, Indonesian, Spanish, Serbian and one Irish person.

My beloved Kelly's Cellars

My favourite corner in Fibber Magee's where normally the band plays

The traditional Irish music is very specific, with lots of decorative additions to plain melody, which are dependent on the player himself. So in a way you need really great playing technique and creative soul to be good in Irish music. Traditional instruments are harp, tin whistle (flute), fiddles, bodhran (a drum), banjo, guitar and bagpipes. When you put these all together, the result is surprisingly cool. If you would like to listen to something more traditional and spontaneous I recommend Madden's Bar. It is nice, tiny place, really close to Kelly's Cellars. People just come there with their own instruments, play songs and drink beer.

Traditional Irish instruments

Madden's Bar

Just to make this post complete I need to share with you songs, which everybody in Ireland knows and any event is incomplete without playing these at least once. So enjoy and imagine whole pub singing out loud together with these melodies.

Wild Rover and Whiskey in the Jar - Irish classics of classics

Galway Girl and Tell Me Ma (also known as Belle of Belfast City - you know why this one is so much played in Belast :-P) - Songs to melt every girls heart

And my favourite song - The Lonesome Boatman played by the band we are going for dancing nearly every week. The young guy with bigger tin whistle looks like Spanish leprechaun according to a Spanish friend. Stylish poster of FC Celtic can be seen in the background.

Motto of the day: The true (Irish) pub is the one where you feel like home :)