The road to Belfast

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We took a couple of days to drive from Cork to Belfast in a hire car with Patto and Jen. On the first day we did a tour of the Waterford Crystal factory where we saw craftsmen blow, cut and engrave the crystal. We also headed to Kilkenny but unfortunately when we went to a local pub it appeared they were all our of their signature brew! We had a Smithwick instead which is made at the same factory and similar to Guinness but easier to drink. We stopped at a small town called Athlone for the night at a local B&B.

The next day we went to the 5000 year old Newgrange passage tomb, where the sun shines in only on the morning of the winter solstice and the hill of Tara, which didn’t look very impressive but was apparently the site where kings were inaugurated years ago. We purchased a very classy green t-shirt for Terry so he can also be a king of Tara. We ended our day at the small seaside town of Carlingford where we had a cheap pub meal and a few pints. We met a very drunk guy who Jen thought was German but it turned out he was actually from Belfast and just had had a few too many.

The ride into Belfast was pretty easy although we realized our hire car wasn’t covered to travel into Northern Island - whoops! We found our hostel and Jen’s brother Mick and his girlfriend Kim before heading to the parade. It wasn’t very impressive but we had a great day, visiting as many local establishments as possible.

The next day we did a black taxi tour of Belfast including the Catholic and Protestant areas and political murals which was fascinating and sad. There is so much pain and anger on both sides of this divide and it's hard to imagine growing up here after the peace and security we take for granted at home. We stopped at the historic Crown hotel for Irish stew lunch and stayed there the rest of the day in a very cool booth drinking Guinness with Ribena… which tastes a lot better than it sounds.

The weather turned quite cold and it even started snowing which was a real novelty for us!

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Photos

The Hill of Tara
Just for you Terry and Gwenda.

Random Phallic Object
The boys were fascinated with this at the Hill of Tara.

St Patrick's day
Our first Guiness on St Pat's in the first of many pubs.

Belfast Murals
Newer murals showing support for oppressed peoples across the world... love the Bush one.

Crown Hotel
These booths were originally for ladies so they could have a quiet, respectable drink in private.

Comments

[J&K]

Phallis
Mick, you look far too comfortable and happy with a large phallus in your hand!