Breakfast Irish Style
23rd of May 2023
It wouldn’t be right to be in Ireland and not try a traditional breakfast, so we started the day in a café about a 10 minute walk from our carpark. Jenny had a Belfast Bap and I had a full Irish breakfast. It kept us going for most of the day.
Queens University
Fortified with our meal and an excellent coffee we got back on the Hop on Hop Off bus and our first stop was the Queen’s University. We enjoyed the rich architecture and had a walk through the grounds and by this time it was getting close to midday so another coffee in the café. Next to the university is the Botanical Gardens and the Ulster Museum, both of which were extremely enjoyable. The beautiful gardens were blessed with an ornate Victorian Conservatory and a Tropical Ravine with two areas for different climate plants.
Botanic Gardens
The Ulster Museum
Next to the Gardens was the Ulster Museum, a nice museum with all sorts of interesting displays and art to see. We didn’t go through it all as we were heading of onto the bus to visit the part of Belfast where most of the troubles happened and see the various mural that told both sides of the story.
The Murals of Belfast
We could have stayed longer in the Museum, but time was marching on, and we wanted to see the murals around Belfast. On the bus again hopping off at the end of Shankill Road where we started our walking tour of the Belfast murals. Our tour took us past the Peace Wall and finally finishing up at the Bobby Sands Mural, a two and a half hour enthralling walk. I won’t go into the politics and history of “The Troubles” in Northern Island if you are interested google it. The only comment I have is that, how can you put away the past and move forward when you are faced with giant murals of the misdeeds that occurred on nearly every corner of the neighbourhood. It was interesting as well as a bit depressing.
We were amazed that they still shut a lot of the barriers at night, so if you must get home or to another destination after that time it’s a longer drive to get to your destination. There are a lot of photos as I couldn’t decide which one’s to exclude.
The Peace Wall
This Peace wall has been signed by millions of people from all over the world, many dignitaries included.
After our long walk we found a corner local pub to have a Guinness or two and a cider for Jenny. The locals greeted us warmly and were curious as to where we come from. Out in the suburbs the drink prices were far cheaper 5 pounds for a Guinness instead of 7 in the tourist areas. This pub sold no food whatsoever, not even a packet of chips or nuts. The barman told us we were welcome to go the local mini-market and bring back some food if we wanted. This happened to be a stoke of luck as I bought some Real McCoy chips flavored, Flame Grilled Steak, the best chips we have had all trip and now our favorite.
Door of the Day
Again, back on the bus and to the Bunyip. A burger and chips from the local Lebanese take away and our day was done.
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Some excellent photos and great memories
Wow…loved the photos…saw more than us.