Belfast via Galway

Before we start our journey we make a stop at Muckross House in Killarney National Park. It is a celebrated house in the area and one which I was keen to do but thought I may not have time but we make the time before we begin the next stage of our trip. While I am doing that Peter has a look around the national park or at least the little bit he has time to. I am lucky when I get to the ticket office that there is an English speaking tour going at 9.10. It is a busload of Americans but I am fortunate to be able to go with them, if not the next English tour isn’t until 10.10 and it would have been too late.

It was built in 1843 for Henry Herbert  and his Mary. It entertained Queen Victoria in 1861 and it is said that the Herberts spent quite a lot of money refurnishing and extending the house and gardens  for her visit and the Queen had been allocated an entire section of the house for a visit which lasted  just 2 days. The queen very much enjoyed her visit and the Herberts thought that there might be some kind of royal honour in it for them but as time passed nothing came about and then in the December of the same year Prince Albert died and the Queen went into mourning, so any further thought of this went out the window. The Herbert family lived in the house until 1898 when it was forfeited to the Standard Life Assurance Company.

The house was bought in 1899 by Lord Ardilaun who is associated with the Guinness family but he never lived in it just rented it out for hunting and fishing parties.

In 1910 the property was let to an American William Bourn who purchased the property for his daughter Maud on her marriage to Arthur Rose Vincent of County Clare. It is during this time from 1911 until 1932 that the house enjoyed some of the former glory of its heyday. 

Maud Vincent died unexpectedly in 1929 while on her way to visit her parents. Arthur Rose Vincent continued to live in the house until in 1932 he wrote to the then President of the Executive Council of the State of Ireland, Eamon De Valera to present Muckross House to the Irish nation and to make the grounds a national park which it is to this day.

The house has Victorian interiors and in every room there are many items which reflect the manner in which the house was furnished originally. There are many genuine pieces provenanced to the family and some that have been acquired over time to complete the picture. Each room is spectacular in it's own right and I won't go through every one as it is a very extensive house. Needless to say some of the ones that interested me most were the ding room, the Queen Victoria section and the kitchen and downstairs where there were 32 bells to be answered. Makes the 5 at Elizabeth Farm a bit paltry.

The house is beautiful but there are no photographs inside so these are exterior ones of the entrance and the gardens. I thoroughly enjoy the tour. It is definitely the kind of thing that interests me. 

The entrance to Muckross House

Part of the garden

We make our way to Belfast via Galway a one night stopover. We have a couple of these and all that time allows is a bit of a glimpse into the city and then dinner and out again the next morning, and that is what Galway is. We arrive on a Saturday so a pretty busy day in the city centre.We go to a local pub for lunch and a drink which is pretty good and then a walk through the centre of town.

 So far it is the only city that I have felt compelled to have a hand over my bag as it is very crowded and has a diverse range of people, some who we recognise as gypsies.

Some images from our walk through the shops.

A sculpture in Galway in Ayre Square

Mural on a building  in the middle of Galway

Another Wedgewood blue but this time on a building

 The streets are packed with people. We walk through the pedestrian mall that is the shopping centre of the town. One of the things I have seen about in Galway is the Spanish Arch so we follow the tourist signs to the harbour where we find the remnants of the Spanish Arch. As we are wandering around Peter asks me why it is here and I say I am not sure. Well clearly we have ben heard by a young man sitting in the shadow of the arch and he explains it to us. What a nice thing to do.

The Spanish Arch was built in 1584 and stands on the left bank of the River Corrib in Galway. It was added to the city walls to protect the city’s quays. The name really isn’t true as there has been no real association with the Spanish in Galway.

Mural near the Spanish Arch I thought it was great.

The Spanish Arch

We walk a little bit further and then turn back on ourselves and do a little shopping, well mainly for me as I would like a momento of our trip to Ireland. So we go into a jewellery store which has a variety of the Clannad Rings but there is an American tourist in there taking every attendants time so I don’t stay. As we walk back towards our accommodation I see another jewellers and have a look but decide that I probably wouldn’t wear a ring like that as it would mean I would have to ditch one of my other ones. Then I see a Pandora shop! It only takes me a couple  of minutes to decide that this is much better than a ring and choose a four leaf clover charm for the bracelet that Peter bought me. A much better choice.

We stop for another drink before making our way back to the hotel for a rest and then dinner. Dinner is in the hotel where there are two large parties also having dinner, one is a hen's night and the other one looks like a buck's night. They all look and sound like they are having a good time. We have seen quite a few hen's night in our travels and they all dress up in themed outfits or have something to signify that they are on a hen's night. Some of them have been quite funny.

We have an early night as we are back on the road again tomorrow to Belfast for 4 nights.

Belfast Day One

A long drive today as we make our way to Belfast as we encounter a 4 kilometre traffic jam outside one of the towns along the way. we think there must be an accident or roadworks of some kind but when we get to the top of it it is a village fair!! Only in Ireland could they totally stuff the traffic so people can wander across the road like brown's cows to enjoy themselves! a little bit of traffic management would have gone a long way.

We arrive in Belfast and check into our room and think that we might have lunch in the pub attached to the hotel. We walked in and were totally blown away by the amount of noise coming from the place. It is packed and there is an Irish singer blaring out his tunes as well. We leave and decide to have a quick bite at the local take away and then make our way into Belfast town centre. It is about a 15 minute walk which is fine. 

We take in a few sites and take some photos but the day is a bit dull so the photos of the City Hall don't really do it justice as it is a beautiful building. Around the city hall there are statues of all the mayors of Belfast. We take a few photos and set off to find St Anne's Cathedral. 

Queen Victoria outside Belfast City Hall

Coat of arms on the gate at City Hall

As we walk along the streets we come to a building that is the original offices of the Belfast Telegraph and there is a plaque explaining the scars on the stonework as having come from German air raids in WW2 but even though they were being bombed the paper still went out uninterrupted. A feat well worth documenting.

Bomb damage from WW2

We find the cathedral and there is a memorial to the sea port and ship building place that Belfast was, it is 3 large buoys. The cathedral is hard to photograph as it is quite big. This whole area is called the Cathedral Quarter. 

St Anne's Cathedral

We walk on and decide that we might go back to the hotel for a drink.Well the Irish singer has finished and it his place is a version of an 80's dj playing dance music. Seems Benedicts is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon in Belfast. We have one drink and go back and get changed for dinner which we have in the restaurant above the pub. Nice meal but after long day we are ready for bed. Tomorrow our site seeing really begins.