Blogs from Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 5

Hillsborough Co Down in Northern Ireland dates from 1661 and named after Sir Arthur Hill. Hillsborough Castle is a two-storey Georgian mansion and is the Queen's official residence in Northern Ireland.... read more

“It takes a great deal of courage to see the world in all its tainted glory, and still to love it.” - Oscar Wilde We started the day sleeping in until 8:30 (!), followed by a delicious breakfast at the Bullitt Hotel restaurant. I has the veggie Irish (poached eggs, grilled halloumi cheese, mushrooms, potatoes, grilled peppers, tomato chutney, and sourdough toast), and Susan had the full Irish (poached eggs, mushrooms, sausages, bacon, black pudding, white pudding, and sourdough toast). Yumm. Well fortified for the day, we headed to the Ulster Museum, a nice smallish museum near Queen’s University. We visited the exhibit on the Troubles, which was well done, then explored the history floor, which encompassed Irish history from the Bronze Age to modern times, which was very informative. I enjoyed the small Egyptian exhibit, ... read more

“Sinking head down. Come soon as possible.” Titanic to Olympic, 1:10 am, April 15, 1912 We enjoyed our last breakfast at the Anchor House B&B in Dublin this morning. Both Susan and I had poached eggs on toast with beans. I’ve had more eggs and beans the last while than I’ve had for a long time ?. We left just before 9 am and walked about 10 minutes in the rain to Connolly train station, where we entered the code into the machines and got our tickets for the train to Belfast (we had booked the train tickets online). After a short while we boarded our train and found our seats. Most of the seating is laid out with four seats facing each other, with a table in between. A sweet older couple from Newry, Northern ... read more

Tourism in Northern Ireland has a lot to offer and has come on in leaps and bounds in the last few years. The natural splendours of the North Antrim Coast – Giants Causeway, Dunluce Castle et al – take some beating in the scenery stakes. However, I probably won’t be the first to comment that some of the highlights of any trip to Belfast are based on the less obvious attractions of a ship that hit an iceberg and sunk and 30 odd years of civil unrest. If you look at a map of Belfast, you see division. I say that specifically in terms of the road geography. The M1 motorway sweeps in from one direction and the M2 from another. They are linked by what is known as the Westlink, which physically cuts off West ... read more

The last time I was in Northern Ireland was in 2001. I used to travel there at least half a dozen times a year on business and had done so for the previous 10 years. At the time, my work colleagues had tried to avoid any visits there and after my recruitment, it soon became "my area". We had grown up watching news of "The Troubles" and despite the heavy duty military presence and constant security alerts, I enjoyed pretty much every trip. I can recall everybody always telling me to be "careful" and the employer recommendation was to overnight away from Belfast. I soon dispensed with that idea. I was often in some form of perceived danger, but mostly through overdosing on Guinness. I thought I had seen all the good, the bad and the ... read more