Blogs from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 8

Je ziet hem zodra je het busstation uitloopt: King Billy, het gelaat omkranst door een weelderige zwarte pruik, meer dan levensgroot op een muur geschilderd. In Nederland kennen we hem beter als stadhouder Willem III – de verre voorvader van Bea en Wim-Lex die op een goede dag met zijn vloot het Kanaal overzeilde en de Britse troon inpikte. Hij schijnt in Londen tamelijk enthousiast ontvangen te zijn, want onze Willem was tenminste een degelijke protestant, net als de Engelsen zelf, en maakte een eind aan de regering van de vermaledijde paap Jacobus II. De katholieke Ieren waren natuurlijk minder gelukkig met deze onverwachte wissel van de koninklijke wacht. Jacobus wist in Ierland een leger op de been te trommelen, maar dat werd door de kloeke Willem in de Slag aan de Boyne (1690) verslagen. De ... read more

Lazy day today. Woke up early again because the beds in this hostel are shit. I easily woke up 8 different times last night, which is better than the night before I suppose. Here's hoping for less than 5 wake ups tonight. (Ok I need to do a run down of my experience at this hostel because it's been comically sad lol. This is more as I reminder for myself, so I'll put it at the end of the entry.) I went to Bangor today which is supposed to be a nice little seaside town. Yes, well, I suppose it would be if it weren't raining and people were actually around. It was sad and empty haha. All that being said, it was a nice morning/mid-afternoon visit. It had a nice small town vibe, a beautiful ... read more

This past weekend, I took a trip to the capital of Northern Island. Belfast is a city that has a violent history, but was very welcoming while I was there. The Tall Ships Festival was going on during my stay, and it was awesome to see sailboats from all across the world in the harbor. I also visited the Titanic museum to learn more about one of the most famous disasters in history. I was in Belfast from Friday-Monday, and while I was there I visited a lot of the local pubs and had some of the best Guinness of my life. I also did a Black Taxi tour, which toured the divided Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods of Belfast and examined the murals of the Belfast Wall. The wall is taller and longer than the Berlin ... read more

Paying just 9 Pounds for a Rambler ticket gets you unlimited hop-on, hop-off service on all Ulsterbus, Goldline and Metro services along the North coast in Northern Ireland. The bus stop is right outside our door here so with just a few overnight things in our daypacks we were off to tour the north coast. It was a beautiful scenic tour along the North Channel as we passed through Glenariff, Cushendall, Cushendun, Maghercashel, Ballyvoy, Ballycastle and got let off at the entrance to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge next to the town of Ballintoy. For 5.90 Pounds each, you get access to the pathway and steep stairway along the cliffside down to the rope bridge across to Carrick Island. It's a very popular tourist attraction and the view... read more

It appears that any first-time visitor to Northern Ireland is going to have certain images in their mind of the prolonged troubled period in which random life-threatening incidents blighted the average citizen's ability to go about their business in a calm and non-vigilant fashion. The peace process in itself has not been without its occasional foray into the unstable zone, but on the whole, there's never been a better time to visit Belfast and surrounding area. Economic strides have been made in recent years, all of which have added to the path of Ireland's progress, and the city's two premiermost shopping plazas, Victoria Square and Castle Court, are centrally-located hubs of commercial activity. On a more firmly-established note, the sprightly shopping enclave that is St. George's Market is a largely food stall-filled city institution which never ... read more