#douglas Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

April 28, 2026April 28, 2026

Douglas – the Isle of Man

coming back from Ireland I wanted to spend more time in Wales and then I saw the Isle of Man which I knew from my childhood study of stamps and coins and so I decided to go there. This is an independently governed tax Haven among the British Isles and it’s a very beautiful island with interesting small cities and fascinating modes of transport which will keep you entertained for at least three days.

Getting off the ferry the Isle of Man — Arriving on the ferry from Larne just north of Belfast

GayetyTheatre the Isle of Man — This theater is still in use several times out of the month

Empress Hotel the Isle of Man — The Empress Hotel

Local beer the Isle of Man — The local brew was pretty good

Manx cat Bill Smale — The famous Manx cat with no tail

Normal cat Bill Smale — But this is the cat you see walking around

HQ restaurant Bill Smale — At the HQ restaurant I had very delicious salmon tacos and a crab croquette

Promenade Bill Smale — The promenade is about 3 km long reaching from the ferry terminal to the electric train terminal which takes you to the northern part of the island

The Bee Gees — I did not check why the Bee Gees are statued here

Rescue to — Two photos below this you will read why this safety tower was built. This might be a complicated harbor to sail into

Purple tower — The tower is beautifully lit up at night

History of the tower — The history of the construction of the rescue tower

War memorial — Of course you need to have a memorial for World War I and World War II

Map of the island — Douglas is on the southeast coast. You can take a electric train to the north, a steam train from Douglas to the southern port on the other side and there is another train which goes from the middle of the electric train line up to the highest point on the island. In addition there is bus service. You don’t need to rent a car here

Irish giant deer — The ancient Irish deer some of which were alive with humans. They call it the Irish giant deer because there were so many fossils found in Ireland

Old writing stone — One of the famous stones left from the neolithic period with the old writing system of scratches on the corner

Sound translation of the scratches — This is the writing system transferred to sounds which then can be translated

A translation — Another carving on the stone as a translation

The symbol of the Isle of Man — Nobody knows the origin of the three legs of man

The three leg symbol is used for everything related to this island

Old price list — An old drink price list

The TT race — I learned what TT means. It’s the famous race set up at the turn-of-the-century to compete with races on the continent

Yearly race — This race is held on this island every year

First racing motorcycle — One of the first motorcycles used

The local parliament building — The island Council building

Old hotel — Another old hotel

A birds view — This war memorial gives birds a good view of what’s going on at the promenade