Lori's Travels

Today was our day to leave Belfast and travel to Dublin. After another good buffet breakfast in the hotel, we packed up and made the 5-minute walk to Belfast’s Lanyon Place train station. We got there nearly an hour before our train was due to leave, but people were already lining up for it. So we joined them in line.

At 10:15 they allowed us to board. There were no seat assignments, so we just went into one of the cars, put our luggage on the racks at the end of the car, and sat in a free row of seats, 2 on either side of the aisle. The train filled quickly and left on time at 10:35.

Right away, we could tell it would be a noisy ride: most of the passengers were talking excitedly, laughing, and drinking already. And a large number of them were wearing green and white striped jerseys. We figured out that they were on their way to a soccer match in Dublin. The Celtic F.C. was playing a friendly match vs. the Wolves F.C. at 2 p.m. For the entire 2.5 hour ride, it was very loud and boisterous.

The train went through some beautiful green countryside and several towns both in N. Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It stopped in 4 towns along the way to pick up more passengers, several of whom had to stand for the remaining trip. During the last hour, we had short views of the east coast shoreline. At about 1 p.m. the train glided into Dublin Connolly station and after all the soccer fans departed, we gathered our bags and got off.

We navigated our way to our hotel, walking along the River Liffey which runs through the middle of the city. Our rooms weren’t ready yet, since it was only about 1:30, and we were hungry. We left our luggage with the front desk and went into the hotel restaurant for lunch. It started to pour rain outside, so we were really happy with our decision to eat in the hotel. While we were eating our sandwiches and salads, we noticed two women at the next table with champagne and a fancy collection of dainty foods. We later saw that the restaurant offered a variety of fancy “tea” menus, as in high tea.

We rested in our rooms for a while and then about 7 p.m. we walked across a pedestrian bridge over the river to the Temple Bar area, full of restaurants and bars and tourists. We enjoyed dinner at an Italian place that Rick Steves’ guidebook recommended, Luigi Malone’s.

We enjoyed the breakfast buffet in the Belfast Hilton’s restaurant this morning about 9 a.m. and afterwards took off to see the city. We walked about three blocks to the nearest bus stop for the hop-on, hop-off city tour buses. Gary had bought our tickets online the night before. Within 10 minutes, a double decker bus stopped to pick us up. Our first stop was Queen’s University Belfast campus and the botanic garden there. We walked through the garden in the sunshine and looked around inside their Victorian style conservatory, The Palm House.

We got on the next bus that came by and took it to the International Wall, which is a series of very colorful political murals that features Republican (pro independent Ireland) heroes. In another part nearby was a pro Unionist (royalist, for remaining part of the U.K.) area, with murals of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles and Union Jack flags on the buildings. We also saw some of the walls remaining from the Troubles, separating nationalist and unionist areas.

We then took the bus to Belfast City Hall, where there are free exhibits inside telling some of the history of the city. After touring those, we walked around a nearby downtown shopping area to find a place for lunch. We found City Picnic, featuring a variety of non-Mexican-flavored tacos, flatbreads, burgers, milkshakes and margaritas. It was a wide and strange variety of food, but it worked well for us. Along with our meals, we all got milkshakes.

Then we hopped on the bus again and took it to the Titanic Museum quarter of the city, near the riverfront. We had purchased tickets for a 3:30 entrance to the museum, but we were too early for that, so we walked around outside. It was a pleasant afternoon weather-wise, with partly sunny skies and a temperature in the high 60s.

About 15 minutes before our admittance time, we went inside and waited in line. We were allowed in a little early and began our 2-hour visit to this excellent museum. I didn’t take pictures of the exhibits, but this modern museum used multi-media (videos, audio, artifacts, music and lights) very effectively to tell the stories of life in old time Belfast, the history of shipbuilding there, how the Titanic was designed and built, and of course, the story of the disaster itself. It also told the personal stories of many of the people involved, displayed photos and exhibits of the inside of the ship, and described what was learned from the failings of the accident and measures taken to insure safer ships and navigation in the future. It also told the story of how Robert Ballard found the ship’s wreckage and displayed quite a few artifacts from survivors and the ones who perished. Finally, there was a wall onto which all the names of the survivors were projected, as well as the names of all those who died. All of it was very well done and we learned a lot from touring it.

Upon exiting the museum about 5:30, we walked along the River Lagan waterfront for 25 minutes to return to our hotel. There we relaxed in the executive lounge for a while before walking to The Kitchen Bar, a pub serving food that was 10 minutes from the hotel. I enjoyed some Irish stew and the others tried some other Irish pub dishes, with Matt adding a pint of Guinness to his dinner.

Today we traveled from Edinburgh to Belfast in Northern Ireland. To do so, we needed to get from the east coast of Scotland to the west coast and then catch a ferry. For the first leg, we chose to have a driver pick us up at our hotel and drive the 3-hour trip to the Stena ferry terminal instead of taking two buses or renting a car to drive on the left side of the road (yikes!) and onto the ferry. Having a Scottish driver was a wonderfully easy way to go. George from DayTrip picked us up at 9:30 and dropped us off at 12:30 at the terminal. Along the way, it was a cloudy, rainy day while driving on a freeway that took us through Glasgow and several small towns along the west coast, ending up at the terminal at Cairnryan.

We had to wait in the terminal for about 90 minutes before they issued us boarding passes, checked our suitcases, and let us into the shared waiting area with the car drivers and passengers, where there was a busy coffee stand. The ferry was named the Stena Nordica and was very large, 500 feet or more. We boarded about 3:15 and we were on our way by 4:00. The crossing took about 2 hours and was very smooth, with nearly no wind but very low clouds and drizzle. We ate a very late lunch in the restaurant area and then walked around the ship. There were lots of passengers, filling most all the tables and chairs. There was also a small movie theater (full), “hygge” lounge (full), premium (paid) lounge, and picnic tables outside in the drizzle. We couldn’t find a table after exploring the ship, so we sat on the carpeted floor for a while until Caroline found us a vacant table during the last 30 minutes.

After disembarking, we gathered our suitcases in the baggage reclaim area and walked outside the small terminal, then caught a taxi to our hotel, which is another Hilton only about 10 minutes away. The weather in Belfast was overcast but dry.

Our hotel is close to downtown and on the bank of the River Lagan. Caroline and I have a corner room with a spectacular view!

Leaving our luggage in the rooms, we met in the executive lounge for a drink and then went to eat light appetizers in the hotel restaurant because it was getting late and we weren’t so hungry.

We’ve spent Tuesday and today seeing the sights both in Edinburgh and outside the city. Yesterday demanded an early start because we took a day trip to the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness, a round trip journey of more than 300 miles. After breakfast at 6:30, we rendezvoused with our Scottish Tours guide Chris and 50-some other tourists at 7:45 a.m. at a coffee shop on the Royal Mile to fill a tourist bus for our jaunt into the countryside. Chris had a strong Scots accent, wore a kilt, had both arms and legs fully covered with tattoos, and was a fun guide and an excellent bus driver.

Our first stop was the cute town of Pitlochry on the way to the Highlands. The bus stopped for about 40 minutes, allowing us to go to a coffee shop, walk around the little downtown area, and for Caroline and I to spot a European goldfinch singing high in a tree near the bus. We picked up a couple of small quiches in the coffee shop as takeaways for our lunch later in the day.

After driving a couple more hours, with narration by Chris, we arrived at a hotel on the shore of Loch Ness. We had about half an hour to eat at the cafe there before getting on the boat for a short cruise on the loch. Because the bus crowd created a long line wherever we stopped, we opted to walk down to the lakeshore early and eat our small quiches there for lunch. Then we boarded the boat.

We sat on bench seats on the top deck of the boat for the 30-minute cruise and kept our eyes peeled for Nessie. There was a recorded description of the natural and cultural history of the loch during the ride. Then the boat docked at Urquhart Castle and let us off. Walking around the ruins of the ancient castle was interesting, reading many interpretive signs along the way. It also gave us an even better view of Loch Ness and the possibility of spotting Nessie. Although we saw a suspicious wave formation in the water, Nessie didn’t make an appearance for us.

We boarded the bus again and started back toward Edinburgh via a different route. It was a windy road that took us into the mountainous area of the Highlands and to Glen Coe. The mountains are low by Washington standards, only about 1600 feet, but very rocky and they don’t support tree growth so they’re bare except for grass and heather. I didn’t get good photos of the hills because of the bus crowds at the very short photo stops. There were a few stops on the way back, including a 40-minute stop at a rest area/restaurant for dinner, where we bought sandwiches and drinks and then quickly ate them. Our final stop for the day was our opportunity to view some of the Highland’s “hairy coos”, Gaelic for hairy cows, which are cute because of the hair over their eyes. We stopped at a place that had three in a field, with a convenient bus parking lot immediately adjacent.

We finally arrived arrived back in Edinburgh about 9 p.m., and then walked about 15 minutes back to our hotel. It was still light because sunset is after 9:30 p.m. It was a very long but interesting and fun day.

Then today, Wednesday, was our day to see the Edinburgh Castle. We had reserved an entrance time for the middle of the afternoon. First thing, we enjoyed another breakfast in the hotel, and it didn’t have to be so early this time. Then about 10 a.m. we left and walked to the National Gallery, the free national art museum that holds paintings by not only by Scottish artists, but by other European artists too, like Botticelli and Rembrandt. After touring that gallery, we walked a few blocks to the National Portrait Gallery, also free. There was a wide range of sculptures, paintings and photos there.

Lunch was Thai food at a nearby Noodles ‘N Rice because we needed a change from pub food. Then we ambled up the hill toward Edinburgh Castle, looking at some souvenir shops along the way.

The castle has a very long history, starting as a meeting place between local clans and the Romans in the year 1 AD. It stands on the highest point in the city, with a cliff on one side below it. Our entry tickets allowed us to wander throughout the castle, with its cannons, prisons, memorials, museum exhibits, and an incredibly old chapel. And it gave us an amazing view of the city. There was a short rain shower while we were there, but we avoided getting too wet by breaking out our rain coats and ducking into the castle prison exhibit.

Returning to our hotel about 4 p.m., we took a short rest before enjoying a drink in the hotel bar and then going out for Italian food a couple blocks away on the Royal Mile.

We started this morning with breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant, selecting things from the breakfast buffet. One of the available items was haggis, an iconic dish of Scotland, so we tried it out. It didn’t taste bad but we were disappointed that it was very dry. Perhaps there’s a better version somewhere else in the city.

Then we set out to explore the Royal Mile more than we had yesterday. It’s an historic cobblestone street that runs in the oldest part of the city, between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, with lots of pubs, museums and tourist shops in between. The weather was good for walking: mostly cloudy, dry and temps in the low 60s. At one end, we visited the new Scottish Parliament and went inside. Since the Scottish MPs weren’t in session, we could go into the large debate chamber, which was quite beautiful using lots of light colored oak wood. We also listened to a 10-minute talk about Scottish Parliament, which was reestablished in 1999, and their building, finished in 2004. After leaving Parliament, we peered through the fence at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is where King Charles stays when he’s here, but we didn’t want to pay admission to go in.

Then we walked up the street to the other end of the Royal Mile, where we visited the inside of St. Giles Cathedral and the approach to Edinburgh Castle (which we’ll tour on Wednesday). And we found a pub on a side street for lunch. We shared some fish and chips and a chicken sandwich among the four of us because we weren’t too hungry. Then we walked to the National Museum of Scotland a few blocks away. We spent a couple of hours in this huge, free museum, looking at exhibits about Scottish history and natural history too. The museum has five floors and a terrace on the roof with a view of the city, and it would take days to see it all.

We returned to the hotel and took it easy for an hour or so, then went to the hotel’s executive lounge for the free drinks and snacks they offer every evening. There, we decided that we’d head toward a pub for dinner and we got a recommendation for one nearby from the concierge. The pub turned out to be quite popular, nearly full on a Monday night, and not with tourists. Caroline was brave and ordered a small pizza with haggis on it, which turned out to be good. We walked back to the hotel, happy with our sightseeing for the day.