Travel: bit more of the craic!

Craic - fun/enjoyment and having a good time!

We arrived in Belfast and managed to ditch our bags fairly quickly as we were wanting to spend the afternoon at the Titanic experience. This certainly was well worth the time and covered the history of Belfast through the linen mills and the major shipbuilding period. The highlight was the ride on cars (rather like a gondola) suspended on a moveable (up and down) attachment that took us through a miniature shipbuilding yard.

Where's my Leonardo deCaprio?

Inside Titanic Exhibition looking out with cruise ships in background

Model of the current Titanic Exhibition Hall in comparison with size of Titanic

We found our accommodation, then a supermarket and it was good to be able to sit down to a “homecooked” meal, albeit a simple one!

Saturday and we found our way to a local hotel to be picked up by our coach and driver to take us to the Giant’s Causeway via various points of interest. A wet day but not cold and we enjoyed all that was on offer. Lots of walking and we must be getting fit by now!

Giant's Causeway

A little giant at the Causeway

Selfie at Causeway

Sunday was taken up with travelling south to the Mourne Mountains with stops on the way at Belfast Castle, the folk museum and a family history stop at a small place called Killinchy. Unfortunately I could not explore the church I wanted to see in any great detail as a large number of people were arriving for a funeral. We only know this as Pam asked someone was it a “wedding or funeral”! Everyone was very dressed up and an interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon! And so to the mountains a granite area with many stone walls enclosing small paddocks, and stretching up into the mountain area. Our driver for the day was a bit of a find, he had taken us to our accommodation on the first day and had offered his services at a rate equivalent to what it would have cost for a rental, fuel and so on – and none of the stress of finding our way around!

Boulder Fences - Mountains of Mourne

First sighting of the Mountains of Mourne - Slieve Donard, the highest mountain in Northern Ireland

Our final day in Belfast, was quite varied from how to make a spade the old-fashioned way, the political environment and the fantasy world of CS Lewis.

Part of mural - Falls Road

CS Lewis - The White Witch with tempting Turkish Delight

So – on to Edinburgh!

Barbara

So let me tell you about some blokes I came across in “The North of Ireland” or “Northern Ireland’’ depending on the perspective one is listening to. Samson and Goliath – these are the nicknames given to the enormous dock cranes in Belfast operated by Harland and Wolff. They are painted bright yellow and dominate a grey skyline, I was mesmerised by their size and power, plus they made handy markers as to where we were in relation to our digs.

Samson (or Goliath)!

Jonathon greeted us every morning in Belfast, and is a ruggedly handsome man. Admittedly he lay down on the job all the time we were there, and for a good few centuries before we arrived! I’m talking about a rock formation that lies on Cave Hill, that overlooks the city from above Belfast Castle. We could see him from our flat. If looked at in a certain way you can see a face – the face they say that author Jonathon Swift saw every day and got inspiration to write Gulliver’s Travels. So I said hello to Jonathon each day.

Jonathon's face above rooftops- chin at bottom right - use your imagination! but he is there

Then there was Pete. Now Pete was a portly taxi driver. Portly, as he openly admitted to enjoying an odd Guinness (or two) and Irish Stew every night. Pete became our driver for the day on our trip to see the Mountains of Mourne. I nicknamed him ‘’Carrickfergus Discount” as one of the first places we visited, a folk museum, he knew the man in the ticket booth and asked him to let us in for free, which he did! Now Pete is ex-military, and I guess that he still has some pulling power. Pete talked, quite a lot, and had lots of interesting quips/comments/opinions to share. He lives in Carrickfergus just north of the city, travels regularly to Germany (where he was stationed), and to the Canary Islands for “’warm holidays”; he was in the Falklands; he found us the dirtiest toilets we’ve used to date; he gave us a great tour round and we got home in one piece – so all in all – a decent bloke – and for those who follow Coro – he spoke just like Jim McDonald! That was Pete.

With Pete at The Silent Valley

Pete and Pam heading into The Silent Valley which is the site of Belfast reservoir

The car ferry that took us from Strangford to Portaferry

The reservoir at The Silent Valley

I will now move on to Patrick – our Black Cab Political Tour driver – Patrick turned up in a Red Cab – anyway – he gave us a value for money tour and commentary of the Falls Road, Shankill Rd, Peace Wall area, plus a real bonus, as we were standing outside the Sinn Fein headquarters the current MP came out, knew Patrick (of course) we were introduced, shook his hand, told us he had a nephew living in Auckland, said a few words and moved on. The Peace Wall remains covered with murals and messages of peace from all over the world, including a few scribbles from Kiwis. Alongside this wall are the mean looking heavy metal gates that still get closed every night and the tall barbed fences that convey a threat that this peace could break down at any minute. The murals that adorn the walls can change depending on the political climate anywhere in the world, and the peace messages get cleaned off once a year….

As for food, well, we have indulged in new(ish) potatoes – well we are in Ireland. And found a very tasty lolly cake alternative called “fifteen” made with digestives, small soft marshmallows and glace cherries, it seems you get about 15 slices from the recipe, hence the name.

As we leave the Emerald Isles, I realise that we have only scratched the surface. I have more appreciation than ever before of the dreadful time the locals endured during the “troubles” and how skilled many of them now are at relating that time to tourists. They love visitors, as not only does it mean economic upturn but a chance to meet other people and learn from them as well. Beautiful, green, political, hardworking folk, helpful locals everywhere, horses, hedgerows, narrow lanes and a sense of hope. Let’s hope so. And I haven’t even told you about our visit to the Spade Museum in the middle of the wop wops….

Off on a ferry, then bus then a train on our way to Edinburgh. Farewell to the Emerald Isles, hello to the land of tartan & haggis

Pam

More pics!