Category: Lock Down – No place like Home

 

Black Cab Tours

I think of all the things I learnt on this trip the one that amazes me the most is that there is a wall in Belfast  which separates the Protestant area  from the Catholic area.

I had heard of the “peace wall” and for some reason I thought it was a wall where everyone wrote messages on, which is sort of correct but it was put there to seperate the two communities and the gates still close at 7 pm every night.

the wall has been signed by millions of people, including some very famous ones

”open your arms to change,but don’t let go of your values” – Dalai Lama

right above the Wannabe famousAnna Kiwi

The graffiti is mixed with art although it feels a shame when an artwork such as the above is defaced like this.  The one below was left in tact, so far.

The wall stretches and bends around the edges of houses that are the same but seperated by difference.  It certainly an interesting situation

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it seemed crazy and still does that in this ultra friendly, modern and fun city the wall was a reality of some people’s lives.

The Black cab tour through these districts was fabulous and has to be a must do if in Belfast.

The cabbie dropped us of at The titanic museum and yes we all know the story so I shall not tell it but shall say the museum was great.

Belfast was brilliant the only thing that disappointed was not having another day and night to spend here.

Art on every corner

Belfast is brilliant.  We stayed at a great little Airbnb apartment in cathedral square.  We were met by the  owner who had a brother who lived in Wellington so had the two degree connection.   She recommended some places to see and eat and left us to it.

We decided to head to the Christmas market.

We wandered through the Christmas fare, fighting off the children’s flapping balloons and inhaling sweet sickly smells.  None of it actually induces us to stick around too long but I can concur with what Brits tell us, NZ doesn’t do Christmas well.  Everywhere we went whole towns are decorated and the turning on of lights is a big deal.  There are markets and festivals and singing and concerts.

We didn’t last last long and left the sparkling lights behind in search of a restaurant and wine without the balloons and reindeer.   Every corner turned in Belfast can unveil something remarkable or maybe not.  It is a city of anticipation where you are not quite sure what lays ahead but the  possibilities are enticing.

I could fill three blogs with pictures of the street murals.  Some are hidden by buildings, and you just catch a glimpse so you delve further

My favourite was a little lane with umbrellas on the ceiling that lead to a courtyard
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what you can see at the end is a courtyard where every inch is covered in murals.

And then on the outside

You can just keep going and going.

You get the picture.

It’s just such a great place to wander and  the people are really friendly and chatty, I will have to do a seperate post on the rest as run out of time.

Busy, busy day.  We spent the night at Derry and when light came in the morning we walked the city walls.  Evidently they are the oldest complete walls in Ireland.  The day is unfolding to be a stunner.

Having hit the furthest northern point we were now travelling south down the coastal road with the aim to be in Belfast before dark.  Our first stop is Lions gate and it’s beautiful.  You can drive right onto the beach below and see the dome in the distance.

Al’s coffee cart greets you in the car park,  he is not yet set up so he hands us a brochure and promises coffee on our return.  The walk through the ruins in its spectacular location is stunning.  The temple is actually a library which sits at the end of a path that is slowly being eroded by time and elements.

Al is good for his word and makes a great flat white which is very welcome after our fresh, brisk walk.  The sun is shining but it’s still only 6 degrees outside.  We farewell Al who tells us he has the best job in the world and has been doing it for 12 years.

We wind our way to the Dark Hedge, made famous from Game of Thrones.  We arrived with bus loads of tourists so was difficult to get a good shot, but I like this one with reflections in the puddle.

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We move on towards the Giants Causeway, a world heritage site of natural wonder and on reaching it I can say it is.  We feel under pressure for time as you could spend hours here walking the tracks and exploring.  The rocks jut out from the foreshore all like hexagonal towers.

It has its own Giant legend story and that along with the geology lessons is all really fascinating but time ticks by and we cheat and catch a shuttle bus back up the to the top.

We head towards Garrick rope bridge and duck and dive between  beautiful little bays.  The one below we literally stumbled on and is actually a wrong turn.  It was a lucky wrong turn as by the time we get to the rope bridge the light is gone .

We end up giving the bridge a miss and take a picture from the distance. The sun is going down and we are still away from Belfast.  I could tell you a few hairy  travel stories but don’t want to spoil the day so leave them be so they can  fade into the background and disappear.

We arrive at our apartment in Belfast, which is great, and then head out to explore.  There is a lot to explore.

We spent the night at Sligo in a tired hotel and ate a tired dinner and then watched some very tired TV, so we gave in and quickly succumbed to the general mood and were asleep by 9 pm.

We were out the door after you guessed it, a tired breakfast, and stopped down the road for a walk to ensure we leave all tiredness behind us.  The Citron is less bossy so the roads must be wider.    The temperature of 5 degrees definitely wakes us up.  We are on the surf coast so lots of beaches and even brave surfies out, but unlike Sligo they have wetsuits on.

 We make a detour up a goat track, to an ancient dome built around the 8th century.  Citron has a tantrum all the way up but it was worth it when we get to the top.  It’s great to wander around this ancient structure  The weather has chased us all morning and I feel like it has finally caught us and it’s going to snow any moment, my hands ache from the cold.

The 360 degree view is spectacular and the weather dramatic.

WE decide to head Malin Head which is the furthest northern point in Ireland. It Doesn’t disappoint as we play tag with the thunderstorms.

The weather is definitely wild.  It’s so windy it reminds me of a Wellington southerly, it’s bitterly cold and cuts straight through every layer you have on.

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the sheep didn’t seem to mind and in the next photo look out for the Eire sign on the grass.  It was out there in world war 2 to let pilots know they had reached Ireland’s coast and neutral territory.

We head back down the coast hoping to catch a ferry across towards the Giants Causeway, but alas no sailings today.

We head to Derry and on our way cross over the border and are now in the UK again.  Tomorrow we head for Belfast along the Giants Causeway and I can report our hotel tonight is not tired just comfy.

Where was I?  Can’t remember where we were last time I blogged.  I think Salthill just out of Galway.  It comes back to me as we left relatively early and stopped on the promenade to take a picture of the diving board.  Move over Wellington city bomb platform.  Might I add it was 5 degrees outside, not sure what the water temp was  and if you look closely you can see a lady who has just gotten out of the water. She has the orange bathing cap on and there were two more getting ready to go in.  One gentleman looked to be in his 70’s but being so hardy he was probably in his 90’s and just looked a Spritely 70ish.

We headed north as the objective was to keep following the Wild Atlantic Way.  It’s probably best to tell you the next in pictures as road trips are about what you see on the way.

I will add here that the Wild Atlantic Way is pretty wild.  Our little Citron bounced all over the road and left me feeling quite car sick.  We took the sky road which wound its way to the top and afforded wonderful views but the roads are incredibly bumpy. I think because so much of it is bog land.

We stumbled across castles
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and a phone booth in front of the “The Pound” ( check out sign on wall) which was after we had been travelling along a skinny road with no markings, no signs and grass growing in the middle of it. I was petrified something was going to come the other way, it didn’t – then whola all of a sudden there is a junction, with a phone box, and a pound. Excellent.

Just a little story about our Citron.  It hasn’t been a very bossy car.  It doesn’t beep when I open my door, or in reverse.  It doesn’t warn us that the light is on, nor get agitated when we approach a brick wall.  It does however beep when it thinks you have crossed the centre line or got to close to the edge of the road.  Sooooo you might say, what’s the problem?  The problem is that when you are on a skinny road with no centreline and the edge just right there then the car has a fit.   It beeps and beeps and beeps.  How annoying is that.

art of the day

tip

stay at Jameson apartments Salthill they are lovely. The staff and the apartments.  They even gave us some bottled water and lollies when we checked out for our journey.

We pick up our rental car and head off towards the Wild Atlantic way or more particular the cliffs of Moher. We stopped for lunch at a creamery thinking it would serve a scone and cup of tea but alas just pub food.  Ate some average soup and moved along.  Got to the cliffs and it was freezing.

There were 15 buses lined up and  car park full of cars.  I would hate to see it in tourist season.  It was nice but you can never beat the west coast of New Zealand for “spectacular” and did I mention that it was freezing.

Moving along we followed the coast road and unfortunately lost the light as we headed to Galway.  There were pretty houses and villages.  Bobbing boats and rolling hills.

We arrive in Galway amongst heavy traffic because the Christmas fair is on. Our accommodation is in Salthill which is just down the road.  After settling into our apartment we grabbed a cab and went into the city for dinner.  Christmas lights are very much a big deal here and they were everywhere.

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Today we enjoyed a morning in and a catch up with the washing, which as you blog readers will know by now for me is always exciting.  After walking the promenade we grabbed a bus and went back to Galway to see it in the daylight.

It’s not as colourful as I imagined and as the sun had disappeared so much of it was very gray.  We walked and wandered and ambled along doing nothing in particular.  There were no amazing sights hiding around corners and so we just wandered back to Salthill and read a book.

Tips for rental car

We try and pick up rentals from the airport even if we don’t have a flight as they (usually) have good in and out transport links.  Or take public transport to a smaller town and then pick up your car.

in Dublin we should have done a loop back to Dublin as the one way hire was way more than the car, but I had already booked our airfares out of Belfast and they weren’t Flexi so was easier to leave as is.  Also in Ireland the insurance is €50 a day, which is exorbitant or else they take €1500 of your credit card and hold it until you return the car.  You are liable for everything they tell you.  The poor young guy next to us in the queue didn’t have 1500 euros to leave them and the insurance was going to be way more than the car hire.  He told them that this was not on there website and he should have been told.  He is right.   Shop around.

check car carefully especially as they have 1500 of your money.  We found a ding and multiple scratches and scrapes which we photoed.

Forget the score, for now anyway.  Dublin was welcoming, There were black jerseys all around, many being worn by people who weren’t speaking English.  We saw a group of French who were buying All Blacks flags.  The atmosphere was great and the biggest problem was that we had to wait until 7 pm for kick off.

We left the hotel at 4.45 as it was a beautiful evening and we were naive enough to think we could stop and have a drink on the way. “You’re dreaming mate”, as gridlock meant no one was going in or out of any drinking establishment and those that looked like they had room also had big burly bouncers on the door who asked if you had a booking.  We did manage to stumble across the All Blacks getting onto their bus but Sonny Bill was the only who would pose for the fans.  The young Irish boys waiting were wrapped however were very worried about how there hair was in the selfie they had managed to get with Sonny Bill.  I said, “you looked great”. He said “I know Grand right” .

We kept on going to the stadium and it looked great all lit up in the distance enticing us inside.

The Guinness was easy to get once in the stadium and we joined our little pod of kiwis to discuss all of our hopes and expectations for the game.

Whether you are a passionate rugby supporter, an event socialite, or a wandering tourist there has to be something for everyone at a game like this.  There is a pulse to it.  A collective pulse that unites everyone even those on different teams.
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The kiwis do not a bad job of the anthem even though there were no words for them to follow on a screen.  It was certainly not the poorest, cringe worthy effort that us kiwis sometimes deliver.   We are soon outshone and outclassed as the Irish belt out both of there versions and it is deafening.  It is the equivalent of there haka. It stirs the blood and screams bring it on.

The haka is received far better than in England, and let the game begin.

I can only describe it as a dance. If you choreographed it you would not do better.  The rise and fall of 50,000 people, like an instantaneous Mexican wave. Up then cascading down. The oohs and ahhhhhhhs providing a rhythm to it all.  When they kick for goal the silence is deafening as “shhhhhhhhhhhhhh” spreads around the stadium like it was a library not a stadium filled with 50,000 rugby fans.

Every now and then the Irish fans would belt out a song or a chant which brings them all together and I am yet again left wondering as to  why NZers can not get just one song to identify with and stir the masses.

The game ends.  Ireland wins. The Irish go mad, all we can do is smile and clap.  They are euphoric.  Everyone is standing but No one moves from their seat.  We have witnessed history and it was great to be there.

The train ride home was met with lots of laughs and good banter, and lots and lots of singing.   The guy next to me said to his mate, “that’s  the second best rugby game I have ever seen”.  I really wish I had asked him what the best one was.

Happy Irish singing on the way home in the train, with the exception maybe of the lady who is possibly still stunned.

Flight to Dublin all ok and drama free.  Taxi rank was ridiculously long so found an Uber and made it to our hotel.  Went out and about for a wander into town.  Went the wrong way by following the twinkling lights but eventually turned ourselves around.  Found the bustling shopping centre which was all lit up with Christmas lights.

Bought the compulsory Christmas decoration, found some Ireland travel maps, got an official IRFU cap for the collection.  Job done.

A lot of ground had now been covered so we stopped at a pub for a Guinness, and G&T then back through Trinity College and along the riverfront to our hotel.   Wandered into bar and chatted with some fellow Kiwis catching up on travels and anticipating tomorrow’s game.

We actually slept until 6.30am this morning so it’s only taken a week to get into the zone.  Another week and we will be home so will have to set the clock the other way.

Headed out to explore some more and the tip from the boys at the hotel the night before had said to buy a visitor pass which we did.   We walked up through/the Temple Bar district

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And then jumped on a tram.  Rode around for half an hour just seeing what we could see and then got off at St Stephen’s green.  They had the most amazing statue, or maybe sculpture, there which was on loan from a private collection.  It’s called the haunted soldier, and it’s of a weary soldier returning home after world war 2.  Its made from all sorts of bits of metal. It’s an incredible piece and certainly has to be art of the day.

Rode the tram one way then the next and decided we had seen all we wanted to see for now and headed back to the hotel.

looking forward to tonight’s game but everyone we have talked to seems of the same consensus that the day games are so much better but I guess for all of you at home the evening game means you get to see it live at breakfast.  Go the All Blacks.

tip

buy a LEAP visitor card.  Can buy them in 1, 3 or five days.  Can catch the airport bus plus the tram, dart and buses.

Art of the day:  The haunted Soldier