Our two hour ferry boat ride across the Irish Sea from Scotland landed in Belfast on Tuesday, October 8. As we looked at our itinerary prior to the trip, the morning in Belfast, Northern Ireland didn't particularly spark a lot of interest for any of us, but the half day that we spent there turned out to be one of the more fascinating parts of the trip.
A woman named Moira boarded our bus and gave us a guided tour of the city, the first stop of which landed us near the Harland and Wolf shipyards where the Titanic was built and from where it was launched on that fateful maiden voyage in April, 1912.
This building is a museum and cultural
center dedicated to Titanic
Seemed odd that a huge part of the tourism industry of a city would be voted to a devastating human tragedy, but there you are.
Much of the tour of Belfast, as you might expect, was devoted to "The Troubles" that devastated Northern Ireland for much of the twentieth century. We learned that while The Troubles are painted as as Catholic vs. Protestant divide, to the natives it was every bit as much, if not more, a British vs. Irish divide. We got to see many of the "peace walls" that divided the city for so many years. Most of them are gone, but many still stand.
As you can see, murals festoon many of the walls, and we were given the opportunity to sign the walls ourselves. I personally found this to be a very moving experience.
We left our mark on Belfast
We then left Belfast and headed into the Republic of Ireland and its capital, Dublin. As we approached Dublin, John played U2's recording of "Where the Streets Have No Name", which was very cool and very appropriate. When we arrived, we headed straight to this place....
....where we enjoyed a very festive dinner and evening with our new friends.
On Wednesday morning, we had a tour of the Guinness Brewery, which has been around since 1709!
Marilyn enjoying a Guinness with Alijandra,
one of our many new friends
A view of Dublin from atop the Guinness Brewery
We then had the afternoon all to ourselves to explore Dublin.
Dublin Street scene. I ran into a guy wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jacket.
He's a native Dubliner, but his fiance is from Johnstown, PA
Lunch at this great little pub where we watched Scotland
defeat Fiji in a Rugby World Cup match on the telly
The "Molly Malone" statue. The natives tell us that she
was selling more than "cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh".
Seeing how she's dressed, I believe them!
That evening, we had a night of Irish entertainment....
On Thursday morning, we left Dublin and made three stops. The first was at the Irish National Stud in Kildare, the center of the Irish thoroughbred breeding industry. It was a very interesting tour in a beautiful setting.
This is Invincible Spirit, the Primo, A #1 stallion at the National Stud
Another shot with John Barleyman,
our Primo A #1 Tour Guide
Then on to Kilkenny where we saw yet another castle and had lunch at a great place called Left Bank.
The bar at Left Bank
The place was more continental than Irish. We had a great lunch there, and a sign in the place was promoting a "Motown Night" of entertainment for the upcoming weekend. Sorry we missed that.
The day ended in Waterford, the oldest city in Ireland, and the home, of course, of this little business that might be familiar to you.
Snapped this photo as we awaited in line for our tour of the Waterford Crystal factory.
Many of the people that we got to know and spend time with on the tour are in this picture.
Our hotel in Waterford flew both the Irish and American flags because,
I was told, "so many of our guests come from America."
Street scene from our walking tour of Waterford
Over 90% of the Irish emigration to North America in the early 20th
century left from this dock in Waterford,
which was right across the street from our hotel
Another scene from our walking tour
Dinner at this Waterford pub - not a great dining experience,
but enjoyed the conversation with two
couples from Massachusetts while there.
The next morning it was an early start to get to the ferry boat that would take us on a four hour journey back across the Irish Sea and land us in Wales, and the final two days of our journey.
The Ferry from Ireland to Wales. It was huge!
The bar and lounge area on the ferry.
Made the four hour trip really enjoyable.
Marilyn with new friend Tracey from Australia,
a special lady, as it turned out!
Just had to take a pic of this ad that was posted on the boat
Who are those guys?
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