North Coast of Northern Ireland, Carrick-A-Rede

A slow start to the day, with breakfast, then heading to the centre of town to find some pins for the kids pinboards and morning tea. We checked out of the hotel at 11 and headed to the bus stop with our bags to the International Belfast Airport to meet Phil.

An exciting ride saw the bus driver stop, break the emergency glass to get the fire estinguisher, and race out of the bus. A car had overheated and caught on fire. Alexander was really frightened, Cameron thought it was great to watch. The bus driver was most apologetic when he got back on the bus for the delay...no one complained!

Arriving at the the airport, we looked at the boards to see all the flights arriving were from the UK...which I thought was a bit strange for the International Airport. Then I checked Phil's text message that said he was arriving at the City Airport...opps...wrong airport. So a quick 20 minute ride in a taxi to the other airport, we found Phil at the coffee shop with his coffee. The hire car was not going to be ready for another hour, so we all had lunch at the airport.

Once the hire car was sorted, we headed up to the North East Coast of Northern Ireland ....beautiful!!!


We stopped at Carrick-A-Rede, which means the rock in the road. The road is the sea route for Atlantic Salmon on their westward journey past Carrick Island. For over 350 years, fisherman would build a rope bridge to Carrick Island so they could catch the salmon as they migrated. The rope bridge is 20 metres long and up quite high, but it wasn't that scary....except when the person behind you delibrately makes the bridge wobble....





Across the water is Rathlin Island, which is looked really pretty with the sun just starting to set.

It is a lovely part of Northern Ireland!!

Walking around Belfast

The boys and I had a great time touring Belfast, and thankfully the boys have a great sense of direction, when I got a bit lost every now and again. They knew exactly where we were!
The Belfast Wheel is situated right next to the City Hall. The locals call it the 'Belfast Aye'. Here we are waiting for our turn.

City Hall with the Belfast Wheel behind.

The view from the top, facing north

Cameron at the very top of the wheel.

Alexander at the very top. We stopped at the top for 13 minutes, Alexander wasn't so keen about being so high!

The Robinson & Cleaver Building was built in 1888, was originally the Irish Linen Warehouse, and then a department store. Currently, it has been sudivided for commercial businesses.

Next to the Belfast Wheel is the Titanic Memorial, dedicated to the victims of the Titanic.

The City Hall was completed in 1906, and has recently just been renovated. Very impressive. Many people use the gardens at the front as a meeting place. While we were in Belfast, it was school holidays. It must have been Emo day in Belfast. Around the statue were heaps of Emo kids meeting up with their emo friends! :)

The Grand Opera House was opened in 1895. It suffered a lot of damage during the time of the "Troubles" as it is situated right next to the Europa Hotel which was the home of journalists at the time. History of the Grand Opera House, link here...
Queen' Arcade. Cameron has been studying the Roman's at school. He is fascinated with mosaics!

Main Bus Station Sculpture.

Detail of the bus station mosaic.

The Linen Hall Library was established in 1788 to 'improve the mind and excite a spirit of general inquiry'. The floor to the library is made of small mosaic tiles.

The library has over 260,000 books. At least half of the collection is devoted to local history and Irish books, with a strong political collection of books and pamphlets from both sides of the fence.

Queen's University main building is a stunning red bricked and yellow sandstone building. It was founded in 1845 by Queen Victoria. It currently has over 25,000 students.

Next door to the University is the Botanic Gardens The Palm House was built from 1839-1852.
It was lovely inside.
Another mosaic that Cameron found!

Next to the Botanic Gardens is the Ulster Museum. The museum has been closed for the past 3 years due to renovation, and had only been open for 4 days when we visited. School holidays, grand opening, free admission and a grey day meant the museum was packed. We arrived just after opening time at 10am, and not too many people around. Here are the kids playing on the sculpture outside the museum.

Inside we saw a Tasmanian Tiger.

A Dodo

A very large Amethsyt (the name of the boys house team at school)

A squirrel. he was unbelievable soft to hold....think we might try and catch one back in Berlin for a pet!!!

Cameron is studying 'Space" as well, so he was really excited to see a piece of the moon!

A quilt for me. The quilt is thought to be made from dead soldiers uniforms from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815
The Ulster Museum also has an Egyptian Mummy, Takabuti, who lived around c660BC. A great video link here! There were interesting displays from the Iron Age, Stone Age and Irish History. We were there for over 4 hours, and could have spent plenty more time there!

The last stop of the day was Aunt Sandra's Candy Store . An old fashioned candy store, where we bought some handmade "puff candy" a mix between Violet Crumble and Crunchie. The staff were busy in the back of the factory making chocolate coated apples "Candy Apples". They make over 90,000 Candy apples for Halloween. We didn't realise Halloween was so big in Ireland, but seeing all the shops and homes decked out in pumpkins and skeletons we were proved wrong! Here are the kids holding a giant lollypop......30,000 licks worth we were told! I'm not sure how impressed Dentist Bill would be!

The Troubles tour

Before leaving W5, we asked one the staff members to call for a “Black Cab Tour” to pick us up outside the Odyessy Complex to do the political tour of Belfast. Our Black Cab arrived 5 minutes later, and we got into the back of the cab to learn about Belfast and the “Troubles” through Shankill and Falls Road. I asked for the “not so gruesome” tour for the kids, and our tour guide was really great with explaining things to the kids, and then explaining in more detail to me when the kids were out of earshot.
Our first stop was through Shankill to look at the Protestant murals and to explain and offer some understanding of some of the different murals that represent the history of the area and their view of the “Troubles”. Then we moved onto the Fall Street Catholic area to look at their memorials and understand these murals.
I am not going to talk about these murals, but provide you with links if you want any more information on each mural.
Murals in Shankill..

The Red Hand of Ulster. Read the Mythical Origins in the link

Depicting the release of prisoners from H Block "The Maze" Prison. Read the Peace Process.
1969 Gold Rush.

I love this story. A block of tenement buildings were knocked down in Christopher Street. Some of the children were playing in the rubble and found a stack of gold coins and the rush began. As word spread, people raced to find some for themselves. It was rumoured that 2 brothers who were money lenders lived in the building, that they were possibly Jewish and didn't trust the bank....but details are sketchy! But a great story!!

A mural depicting the UDU, UFF and UDA

The boys thought this was fascinating....no matter where you stood, that gun was pointing directly at you!!

A mural depicting the Orange Walks.

Depicting the Battle of Talavera in 1809
Depicting the "Every Child has a right to play"



Depicting King William's War

Depicting Oliver Cromwell

Joe, this one is for you. The Divis Tower. Our taxi driver said you wouldn't recognise this building with a roof!


Falls Road Murals

Along the International Wall... (these were difficult to photograph as the Falls Road is really busy with traffic)
Depicts Frederick Douglass

Black and White Mural "Everyone has the right to live free from sectarian/racist harassment!!!", and a taxi advertisement...(taxi driver couldn't explain why this was on the wall)

Depicting Liam McCarthy , and a mural depicting the American blockade of Cuba.

Sinn Fein headquarters
On the side of the Sinn Fein building is the mural of Bobby Sands.
The Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden, (difficult to find a link to any information to this memorial online, other than other people's blogs), It is a memorial to remember the IRA members and civilians who lost their lives in the "Troubles".



Poster of the Bombay Street Riots

Then it was off to the Peace Lines .
You can write messages on the wall, and to commemorate some of the "famous" people who have written on the wall, some of the quotes have been stamped out in metal for people to read.
(Note the one under the Dalai Lama's quote...."Peace starts with a BBQ + VB. Well done Daveo from Loftus! ;)


While I was in the bookstore, I picked up a book by Susan McKay, Bear in Mind These Dead. I am only 100 pages in, but it is an informative read on the Troubles, and the victims families. A great read for anyone interested in the subject