Northern Ireland

After picking up a car we headed to the next stop on our Irish getaway - Belfast.  After having some initial reservations about being in Northern Ireland, we felt surprisingly safe. The first afternoon we walked to the Botanic gardens and saw a very cute but very shy red squirrel. 

The next day we did an organised tour to the Giants Causeway, driving along the beautiful Antrim Coast.

The Irish believe that the Causeway was built by a giant named Finn MacCool who needed a way to get to Scotland to fight another giant, named Benandonner. Trust the Irish to come up with a plausible explanation!

Aimee stopped off to give Mel a call for her birthday while we were there!

Daredevils Daniel and Stephen walked across Carrick-a-Rede bridge which spans about 20 metres and is 30 metres above the ground. The bridge links the mainland with the tiny island of Carrickarede and was mainly used by salmon fisherman. Now it's used by tourists - and lots of them!

A very sobering thing we did in Belfast was a bus tour of the peace walls and political murals. It is hard to believe that in 2013 people still live behind a 30 metre high wall as a way of 'keeping the peace'. Some roads are physically blocked off each evening. Just after we left Belfast there were road closures (including the motorway) because of bomb threats!

Northern Ireland is hard to comprehend. Some people are staunch supporters of the Queen and English rule and others want a free Ireland. Irrespective of their differences we found the people of Belfast welcoming and friendly. Hopefully, time will heal their troubles.

Bobby Sands was a member of the IRA who considered himself a politcal prisoner when imprisoned for allegedly being involved in a gun battle with the royalist army. He died in 1981 while on a hunger strike. He was 27 years old. These murals are on Falls Road in Belfast.

On the flip side, we drank in some very cool pubs. The best one was The Crown, which has snugs and the most beautiful stained glass windows.  It is actually owned by the National Trust. We missed the opportunity of taking a photo from the outside as scaffolding went up the day after! Note the pints of Smithwicks (pronounced Smithicks).

We also saw the largest Celtic cross in Ireland which happens to be is at St Anne's Cathedral.  The stained glass windows are not bad either.