On the road again
View from lift in Dublin |
We say goodbye to our posh studio pad apartment overlooking HaPenny Bridge and the Merchants Arch.
Onwards to Carlingford we pick up FLOG, our little black Golf car for the next 3 weeks.Flog on the ferry |
Instead of expressways we decided to take a more scenic route to our next stop in Crawfordsburn, about 9km from Belfast. With me driving, Bradleys job was navigation, after apple maps tried to take us through a caravan park and up a dead end. I diplomatically suggested we link my android superior phone with google maps to the car to preserve our marriage. It also took me a few minutes to realise that 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 were miles not km. Again a slightly fraught conversation with me screaming at Bradley "what the bloody hell is 40 miles in km!". You will all be pleased to know we both arrived safely and are still married ...
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Mount Stewart |
Along the way we stopped in at Mount Stewart House and Gardens, a testament to the Londonderry family's rise from local landowners to global influential figures. (1744) the house is stunning with vibrant interiors overlooking formal gardens. Nice collection of art as well with the famous George Stubbs 20 million quid "Hambletonian - 1800". Bradley definitely was a reincarnated Baron in his past life, I could see him in the study with a brandy and cigar. I felt the best part was the many retired volunteers roaming the estate who were ecstatic to be asked questions about their beloved Mount Stewart.
The Old Inn in Crawfordsburn is a whopping 400+ years old (1614), thankfully there is internal plumbing, four poster bed and ornate ceilings. Oh did I mention, heated pool, wet, dry and Swedish sauna, fully equipped gym and an award winning restaurant, feels like home. Its OK, we should manage.
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The Old Inn |
7/8
Belfast - perhaps not the prettiest of places with two horrible histories at its foundation.
The Troubles
We headed into Belfast for a black taxi political tour with our guide Michael. He was a hoot and shared many stories growing up as a kid during this period. "Go outside and play with your friends, but Mum, there flinging bombs out there" His joke about the Titanic, the protestants may have built the Titanic, but it was the Catholics that built the iceberg! He showed us the wall that was built when the Troubles began in 1969 and was used to partition the community. Michael explained that, as a child, it was just normal to have to carefully consider what side of the street you walked on, what shops you went to, which bus you stepped on, what friends you had. Much has changed obviously, but it is strange to see these normal suburban streets and consider the thousands that were killed and maimed on them over thirty years.
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The wall remains |
8/8
The Titanic
...as the smart ship grew in stature, grace, and hue, in shadowy silent distance grew the iceberg too. (Thomas Hardy).
Still a horrific tragedy even by today's standards, the Titanic exhibit was amazing, we spent over 3 hours reading about life in Belfast before, during and after the sinking. It was a great balance of economics, trade, employment, manufacturing and personal accounts of survivors with amazing images of the ship. It was fascinating to see the photos of the dockyard and the explanations of how ships in those days were built. The riveters were our favourite, stamping all the steel plates together by hand with over 3 million rivets in the Titanic - we will never complain about the tedium of teams calls again! The stories of the people on that voyage were illuminating; people who missed it because they were at the pub, people who joined it because they got free tickets. Fate is fickle. We got to stand on the actual spot where they launched it from, and marvelled, as the 100,000 people who originally watched it must have, at what was then the largest moving object ever built.
❤️ ☘️❤️
ReplyDeleteLooking great you two 😃😃 so happy you are enjoying a few of our recommendations 😂 ☘️
ReplyDeletewe really did achieve a lot over drinks that night 🍹😂🍹😂
Love the blog! Looks like a great time. look forward to the next update. Love Mum xx
ReplyDeleteYour comments about navigating reminds me of our time driving around Italy. Ireland looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the blog. I saves me the trouble of travelling there.
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