A Day in Belfast

Connelly Station
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It was an early morning as we headed out to the DART station.  Since today is the beginning of the October holiday weekend we wanted to catch the 9:00 AM bus to Belfast from the Connolly station in Dublin.  We knew if we tried for anything later we may not make it onto the bus since it's pretty much que up and when the bus is full it leaves.  Then there is another wait for the next bus.  Taking the DART into Dublin has been a wonderful experience and the Connolly station was only a short walk from the bus station.  We arrived in plenty of time and couldn't believe how quickly people qued up for the bus.  Jon and I pretty much got the last of the seats on the bus.  The trip took us through the countryside north of Dublin, where we hadn't traveled before.  One stop was in the historic town of Newry, the gateway to the north. It appeared to be a very interesting town and one that may need to be on our list of places to visit.  As we pulled into the Europa Bus Station in Belfast we headed out to Great Victoria Street and immediately felt the difference between Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland.  Belfast certainly has a very British feel to it and we definately felt as if we were in the UK.  It was similar to when we would go to Niagara Falls and cross over to the Canadian side of the Falls.  We could tell we were no longer in the states.  Our first stop was St. George's market, one of Belfast's oldest attractions. We walked around the market amazed at the number of people there, the various vendors and just soaking in the sights and sounds of the Belfast people.  We then headed over towards the county courts buildings.  As Jon stopped to take a picture a lady stopped and asked us if we were visitors.  We said yes and she proceeded to ask us if we would like to see the courts.  Of course we wanted to so off we went with our impromptu guide.  Turns out that she works for a judge of the courts.  She took us through security and we had a most wonderful and grand experience in the Belfast courts.  We didn't know that they still wore wigs and robes and she asked if our barristers (lawyers) still wear the same.  She was quite surprised when we said that only our judges wore robes, but lawyers do not.  She took us into one of the courts where a malpractice trial was taking place.  How exciting to be part of something like this going on in Belfast with the barristers and judges resplendant in their robes and wigs!!  How much better can it get?  Our personal tour over Jon gathered our camera from security and we were back on our way.  Soon we discovered we were getting hungry and came across "Delaney's" where we both had another wonderful and delightful lunch.  Back into the city where we were searching for St. Anne's church.  Located across from writer's square St. Anne's is a massive cathedral with some interesting and beautiful architecture.  We then headed to the river where H&W boat works is located-the builders of the Titanic.  Our tour took us back to Belfast's City Hall which has just undergone an extensive redo and is just now re-opening to the public.  There was a wedding going on at the time we were in there so we actually got some pictures of the wedding party!  More walking around Belfast led us to Victoria Square shopping area.  Eventually we realized our legs and feet were getting tired and we really should head back to the bus station.  We caught the 4:00 bus, which we were glad that we did because traffic was quite heavy on the way back to Dublin.  Our trip took us a little longer, arriving at the bus station in Dublin around 7:15 or so.  Of course, we weren't too tired to catch dinner in town and after a short walk toward Trinity College we found a very, very delightful restaurant called Mona Lisa Bistro.  We soon headed back to the Tara Street Station and to our hotel.  A day well spent touring the north of Ireland!

A day well spent touring the north of Ireland.