Belfast, Ireland

Sunday, August 17, 2014       Trip from Isle of Dough to Belfast, Northern Ireland to  Dublin, Ireland

With the car packed, at 9:00am we headed back toward Derry and on to Belfast, Northern Ireland to spend the afternoon.

                     Leaving Ballyliffin we passed one of our favorite  restored old homes

The roads were free of traffic until we got to Belfast... we quickly found a parking space and got out to stroll the city. The weather did not cooperate.  Once we got to Belfast, the intermittent showers had us jumping into pubs and shops along the way.

Right away we spotted one of Belfast’s best known monuments, the Albert Memorial Clock Tower, named after Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. Belfaster’s are teased that they have their own leaning Tower of Pissa….because the clock tower leans slightly as a result of subsidence.


You can really see the lean here!

Belfast was the only city in Ireland to experience the full force of the industrial revolution. It’s ship and airplane-building, linen, rope-making and tobacco industries caused the area to be one of the biggest Victorian boom towns. The time of the ‘Troubles’ (fighting between the Nationalist-Irish and the Unionist-Brits) and the decline of the traditional industries have since damaged economic life.

We walked through the Entries…a series of narrow alleys between Ann and High Street.

A really neat area to wander about!

We visited the oldest pub in Belfast…White’s Tavern. It was reeking of  an old aristocratic air with its vintage paintings and old English furnishings….so so cool!! 

 

                            Loved those antique cork screws  above the variety of selections

From here we boarded a Hop on Hop Off  Bus, paying 21 British sterling and got a fantastic two hour tour of Belfast.  From the City Center we enjoyed passing so many points of interest:

Odyssey Pavilion, a huge entertainment center and sports arena

Titanic Museum, a great place to reminisce how the Titanic was built in Belfast

                                        The Northern Ireland Flag and the UK Flag

Stormont Estate, built between 1928 and 1932 to house of the Northern Irish Parliament at the cost of 1,250,000 British Sterling. The Parliament was disbanded in 1972 so the building today is used as government offices. It was interesting that we passed through a guarded gate and one of the guards boarded our tour bus to check us out. Guess it is just a sign of the times.

                            Stormont, six pillars for the six counties in Northern Ireland

                                      Gorgeous manicured gardens surround the estate

Lord Carson, Dublin Irishman who lead the Unionist-Brit Party against Home Rule who formed the six counties in Ulster/ Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom back in 1913.

Shankill Wall Murals… visual protests of the Nationalists and Unionists still exist all along the stone painted walls that separated the two factions. There were so many murals, we could have spent half a day enjoying these various  artists. Our guide told us that the wall murals change frequently and are monitored by the government so that inappropriate words would be taken off.

 

 

Memorial Wall Mural of Bobby Sands, Irishman who did not survive the hunger strike.

 

Our Irish history is a bit fuzzy but we think this is what happened. Ireland wanted to be free of the mother country….Britain. A faction of Brits known as the  Unionist in the north of Ireland wanted to remain loyal to the motherland.  The two separated forming two separate countries in 1922….Ireland and a territory of  the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland now are existing today.

Belfast has so many brick buildings.

We passed the Crown Bar, a flamboyant Victorian pub. It dated back to the 1880’s and is one of two that are owned by the National Trust.  The restored interior features stained glass, marbling, mosaics and a ceiling with scrolled plasterwork. Original gas lamps are in the wooden snugs…we would call them booths.  

                                    See the old and modern architecture side by side

Our final stop took us to the ornate 1906  City Hall on Donegall Square. It has an elaborate tower at each corner and a central copper dome. Statues of  Queen Victoria and Sir Edward Harland, founder of the Belfast shipyard, Harland and Wolff where the Titantic was built.  A memorial to those who died when the Titantic sank in 1912 is close to the building.

We left Belfast around 3:00 and hustled to Dublin traveling down the fastest two lane highways in all of Ireland. At five we arrived in our new home, a one bedroom brick flat right in the City Center across the street from the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

          Our Dublin Flat, second door on the left, St. Patrick's Cathedral on the right

                                          Our home for this week is call New Row Square.
What a fantastic day! Around 8:00 pm we decided to avoid the morning rush hour by returning the car to the Dublin Airport. Luckily. we took our European GPS and were able to find a gas station and the airport car rental center. We caught the 747 Airport Bus (what a clever number for an airport bus) to City Center... back to Christchurch and had a nice little walk back to our new pad arriving around midnight!

 Love those little reminders of which way to look when crossing the street. They are  on every corner in Dublin.

 

Dublin is a youthful city. We have been told that 65 percent of its population is under 35 years of age. This explains why so many were out  and about on the streets walking and riding bikes....Larry and I should fit right in.  We have discovered that the Irish love to stay up late. Even in the west and north we noticed that little villages were 'oh so quiet' in the mornings….a sign that most are sleeping in, perhaps recovering from a late night.

There is absolutely no 'blarney' about today being a busy day. We saw so many things and traveled quite a few miles. Larry and I are looking forward to this week being a bit more slower pace with a lot of walking and riding bikes all over Dublin.