We booked on a three day tour operated by
and their buses were green!The tour left at 9 o'clock on the Friday morning so after breakfast and leaving most of our luggage at the Ripley Court Hotel, where we were returning after the tour, we headed off to our collection point, Paddy's Palace, a hostel less than 10 minutes away.
As we waited the crow grew. Not everyone was off on the 3 day tour although our bus ended up with a collection of people doing tours of various lengths. I'm sure that only the Irish could have thought up the arrangements that dealt with people doing such a range of tours and, somehow, mostly pulled it off!
It took a bit of time to clear the morning city traffic and finally get out into the country.
Our first stop was at Monasterboice, the site of an ancient monastery, near Drogheda in Co. Louth. Ancient Celtic crosses and other monuments filled the small patch of land along with the ruins of the two church.
Monasterboice is said to have been founded by St. Buithe (d. 520), a follower of St. Patrick, in the late 5th century AD. (There is evidence that the site had pre-Christian sacred significance as well.).
As can be seen in the above photos, there was quite a crowd at the site and parking was difficult with more than a few buses jockeying for space to set down and pick up their passengers.
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| Modern graves were present as well as the ancient as can be seen in front of the ruins of one of the churches. |
Just before we got to the border with Northern Ireland he went through the border controls. Well, there used to be patrolled checkpoints and anything could have been the normal still. In the end he put us out of our misery by telling us that the only thing that would let us know that we had crossed into NI would be the road signs which changed from green to blue and from kilomtres to miles. The currency changed, too. We were no longer dealing with Euros but Sterling.
We trundled through Belfast and entered the port area where the Titanic Museum is situated. We had choices. We could visit the museum or go back into the city and do a Black Cab tour of the areas that were segregated during The Troubles. We opted for the Black Cab option.
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| Part of the Titanic Museum which was built to resemble the liner |
In the meantime we grabbed some lunch before leaving the docks.
The Black Cabs came into being during The Troubles as buses could not cross from one area (catholic/protestant) to the other. When people needed to traverse an area they ran into a problem. The eventual solution were the Black Cabs which were permitted to cross through the various areas. Today, the Black Cabs run tours through the heart of the areas taht were the key no go zones during The Troubles.
We were part of a convoy of cabs. Our first stop was in a protestant area.
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| A mural on the end of one of the rows of houses in the protestant area from The Troubles |
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| Another mural |
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| These houses from that bygone area are now being replaced by modern houses |
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| A row of the new houses |
Our driver provided background commentary about the time of The troubles so that we could better understand the issues faced by the general population.
We were in Belfast just ahead of one of the protestant celebrations. We came across a number of huge bonfires that were being built in readiness for the day.
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| One of the many huge bonfires being prepared for the celebrations |
After spending some time walking in and around the protestant estate we headed off to the catholic enclave.
The Catholic enclave was surrounded by a high wall on the inside of which was wire mesh covering the yards of the houses backing on to the wall. Projectiles were often thrown over the wall and the mesh provided some protection for the residents.
Much of the wall is now a proclaimed peace wall with visitors leaving messages of peace on this symbol of divide and hatred.
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| The peace wall |
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| Jen standing in front of the peace wall after adding her message |
There was a memorial garden adjacent to the wall which listed those of the community who were killed during The Troubles.
Our Back Cab drove through the enclave and passed the Sinn Fein headquarters which acted like a social club for those caught inside the wall.
All in all this was a very thought provoking experience.
Once back in the city centre we visited the Town Hall before going over to one of the shopping centres which had a glass dome providing views over the city.
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| The Belfast Town Hall with a statue of Queen Victoria on the right hand side |
The following series of photos were taken from the Dome.
Mark picked us up near the Town Hall and then dropped the passengers off at the various places we were staying. Belfast was full of one way streets, too, which made the shortish trip quite time consuming.
Day 2
We were looking forward to the days offerings. There was the World Heritage listed Giant's Causeway, the Antrim coast and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge to look forward to before we reached (London)Derry.
Everyone has heard of the fabled Giant’s
Causeway in Northern Ireland and the picturesque Antrim coast. Yet
hidden just a few miles inland are The Dark Hedges an
ancient avenue of beech trees that looks like something from the mists
of Celtic twilight. Thick gnarled limbs form an arched Druid’s tunnel
where shadow and light plays through entwined branches. They twist into
fantastical, wind-tortured abstract shapes. Legend tells that a gray
lady haunts the thin ribbon of road snaking beneath the ancient beech
trees.
The Dark Hedges – also known as Bregagh
Road – can be found in Stranocum near Armoy in County Antrim. They line
the avenue leading to Gracehill House, which is now a golf club. The
branches form a green
tunnel that is one of the most delightful and mystical in
Ireland. While few tourists frequent the small country lane those who do will find the Dark Hedges to be a
place of haunting beauty that is simply breathtaking. Thick old limbs
embrace forming a natural tunnel through verdant farmlands.
The timeless aura is evocative of a Tolkienesque landscape.
Our next stop was the ruins of Dunluce Castle.
Dunluce Castle is one of Northern Ireland’s most iconic historic monuments, perched on the north Antrim coastline on a dramatic rocky promontory.
This strong defensive location has seen occupation for over 1000 years. However it was the powerful MacQuillan family who, around the year 1500, started construction of the castle we see today. The first written record of the castle was in 1513.
In the 1550s the ambitious Scottish MacDonnell clan seized Dunluce from the MacQuillans. After a generation-long struggle amongst the Scots, Irish and English, the MacDonnells finally achieved their ambitions of staking a permanent claim at Dunluce in 1586, under the famous warrior chieftain Sorely Boy MacDonnell. Despite constant unrest, during the later 16th century the castle saw many architectural changes and additions.
Dunluce reached its zenith in the early 17th century, with Randal MacDonnell rising to the title of first earl of Antrim. During this period the buildings of the mainland Outer Ward were erected and Randal established a small town at Dunluce in 1608.
The town was burnt in the aftermath of the 1641 Irish Rebellion and was ultimately abandoned. However recent archaeological investigations are starting to bring Dunluce Town back from the ashes, revealing stunning archaeological remains of cobbled streets and merchants’ houses in the fields around the castle.
I apologise in advance for the may photos that I have included in this blog.
It is a truly stunning place.
The day was not over.
Next was the notorious "Carrick-a-Rede" Rope Bridge which spans the cliffs some 30m above the above sea so that fisherman could have access to the best places to catch the migrating salmon. Today the site is operated and maintained by the National Trust.
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| Crossing the rope bridge |
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| The islands gained after crossing that bridge |
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| There were some truly lovely vistas |
Having got rid of some of our passengers who were returning to Dublin the rest of us went on to Derry (or Londonderry as the Brits refer to it). We were supposed to have a walking tour however we didn't manage to connect with our guide until it was too late in the day.
Mark took us to our B&B and we received a very warm welcome from our host.
In the evening we trundled down to the centre of the town to eat but decided against staying around for the promised craic as Peadar O'Donnell's music pub was already packed and the noise level high.
Overnight it started to rain.
Day 3
The day started with a fabulous breakfast and a few surprises.
The four of us and a single girl were staying at the B&B. While we were having breakfast one of the lads from our group came down the stairs and ran out the door. Interesting. He returned not long after to retrieve something that he had left behind.
After breakfast Jen and Sue returned to their room which overlooked the entrance to the B&B and were intrigued to see the lass who was supposed to be staying at our B&B come in to collect her luggage.
We won't ask what the young ones got up to overnight!
Once collected by Mark we drove down to a spot near Guildhall Square where we met out guide. After giving us some of the background of the town we went up on to the town walls. Derry grew up alongside the River Foyle and this provided an important access route for the town.
This is the only remaining completely walled city in Ireland and one of the finest examples of Walled Cities in Europe. The Walls were built during the period 1613-1618 by the honourable, the Irish Society as defences for early seventeenth century settlers from England and Scotland.
The Walls, which are approximately 1.5km in circumference, form a walkway around the inner city and provide a unique promenade to view the layout of the original town which still preserves its Renaissance Style street plan to this day.
The four original gates to the Walled City are Bishop’s Gate, Ferryquay Gate, Butcher Gate and Shipquay Gate. Three further gates were added - magazine Gate, Castle Gate and New Gate.
The Walls vary in width between 12 and 35 feet.are the most complete in Ireland and one of the finest examples in Europe of Walled Cities. The city claims Europe’s largest collection of cannon whose origins are known precisely. Many of them thundered in anger over the two seventeenth century sieges. In 2005 the surviving 24 cannon were restored, and under expert supervision and often by hand, craftsmen, cleared the barrels of centuries of rubbish, stripped off layers of paint and corrosion and bathed, sponged and waxed the cannon back to their former glory. The cannon are displayed throughout the City Walls with the impressive Roaring Meg located on the double bastion.
We began our tour at the Shipquay Gate which overlooks the Guildhall.
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| The Guildhall |
The wall was not flat. In places it curved up and over a spot while at other times if was stepped.
We left the wall at Butcher's Gate which gave us ready access to the Bloody Sunday Memorial.
Bloody Sunday – sometimes called the Bogside Massacre – was an incident on 30 January 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland. British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march against internment. Fourteen people died: thirteen were killed outright, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to his injuries. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers and some were shot while trying to help the wounded. The Bloody Sunday Memorial lists the names and ages of those who died as a results of that days shootings. Not only were the victims unarmed many of them were teenage apprentices.
Similar to what happened in Belast, many buildings sport murals in the Bogside.
Our guide spoke of his experiences as a lad during The Troubles and the issues that people have had and are still having as they deal with their post traumatic stress.
Leaving Derry we headed south.
We stopped at Drumcliffe, the burial place of the great poet W. B. Yeats.
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| The churchyard had lovely views across to the nearby mountains |
With the weather being chilly and rain falling we stopped for lunch at the seaside village of Strandhill. This is Ireland's premier surfing beach. The water did not look inviting. While there were a couple of people out in wetsuits no one was tempted to go for a swim with or without the council warning.
In the latish afternoon we arrived in the town of Galway where we were to change buses. Those of us returning to Dublin were offloaded while the group of people continuing the tour taking in the south went on with Mark.
They certainly took their parking regulations seriously in Galway as this car attests.
On leaving Galway we headed east across the country and arrived in Dublin in the early evening.
All in all it was a very interesting and pleasant 3 days.
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