Belfast, Titanic, Crown and Graffitti

Our arrival into Belfast was greeted with rain, then snow, we checked into our air B&B then the hunters and gatherers went in search of food.
 Due to the difficulty of driving across country with the snow and slippery conditions, our chauffeur needed a night off.
The kids cooked a chicken roast dinner and we all had a lazy evening and planned our days of sightseeing in Belfast and the surrounds.
Our first visit was to walk to the Titanic museum, where we spent a few engrossed hours enjoying, what this museum has on offer, the surprise was a very sedate rollercoast ride, to see what it was like to be a worker on the titanic, as you can imagine this ship was gigantic, with over 3,000,000rivets used to build this ship.

 On our way we passed the three men, the significance of Charlie Chaplin, is that he was one of the famous passengers on the Nomadic.

The Titanic museum.

The big fish.

Rise, the sun,  moon and sky

 Walking towards to the Titanic museum, this alto grange from Harland and Wolfe is an iconic sight of Belfast and is posted on postcards and you can buy little miniature ones, just like in the photo. I did not realise the significance of this structure until I visited the Titanic museum. Harland and Wolfe are a major shipping company and built the Titanic.

Entry to the museum

Sculpture on entry to museum. Can you not see Rose being held on the bow!.

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DH enjoyed the experience.

Bruce Ismay comminisned  the Titanic to be built

Late 1800’s diving suit.

Launch date.

The Dock cafe.

This is a launch date ticket to the Titanic, apparently they are quite rare.

Haraland and Wolfe, alto grange.

The Dock cafe.

After our visit to Titanic and the Nomadic, we stumbled across this innovative cafe, where you can get, soup, bread, tea and cakes and just pay on an honour system.

Very tastefully decorated as well as

great food, everything is donated and the cafe is run by volunteers, it was stared 6 years ago by a 

minister of religion. The beauty of this cafe is you can bring your own food and just have a seat, as 

well.

Looks like

amazing metal art was also donated and is in the cafe on display 

Our visit to the Nomadic, this small ship was used to ferry passengers to the big cruise ships, like the Titanic. The above is the sailors cabin

Inside the Nomadic 

 Sculpture at end of bridge.

St Anne’s Cathedral 

After our big walk around Belfast we went to visit the Crown bar, one of the most beautifully preserved pub and decor in Ireland. Painted glass, booths that are private, call bells for service, even match plates to strike your matches. The tiles are original and just beautiful,even the floor is great, I. Can  see a quilt happening with the pattern on the floor.

Entry to the Crown, mosaic front step.

Opposite the Crown is the famous Europa Hotel, when talking about this hotel, it is famous for being bombed a few times by the IRA.

Europa Hotel

City Hall.

Key to the city.

Prince Albert clock tower

 The stained glass windows

 Inside the beautiful city hall.

The domed ceilings  in the city hall.

I will finish off with some graffiti around Belfast, all tastefully done, tomorrow we will visit the Giants Causeway 

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Galway, Cliffs of Moher and Clifden.

On our first day in Galway, we spent the morning seeing the sights and what Galway has to offer.

We did an easy stroll into the centre of the city, saw the Spanish arch, the docks, Latin area and visited the local market. Galway is actually the home of the Claddagh story/ring.

The Main Street in Galway, The Claddagh jewellery store is quite famous.

Beautifully decorated and well maintained shop fronts.

The Claddagh ring symbol on the jewellery shop. The Claddagh ring is symbolic to Galway.

The Spanish Arch.

Galway Dock.

Window display with cups and saucers

Galway Harbour

Oscar Wilde and his brother Eduardo Wilde, photo opportunity 

Could not resist getting this photo at sunset. Galway Harbour

Another well adorned shop front.

These bikes are scattered around the main shopping streets

 We had fun at the local markets, very good produce on sale, we hunted and gathered for
.our antipasto dinner that night

Just some of the produce on sale

We had dinner at Moran’s at the Weir, it was a lovely well priced meal.

DH had the cod and salmon.

Moran’s home grown oysters

Mussels

I had the crab claws in a garlic butter, very enjoyable..

Beautiful thatched roof cottage..

 .

The small waterfall on the canal in Galway.

We all had a wonderful day,  then 

had a lazy afternoon after lunch, played some cards and organised our day,

 for tomorrow we drive along the Atlantic way to the Cliffs of Moher.

After our visit to the Cliffs of Moher, we had lunch at Vaughn’s, fish and chips

The puffin which is local to the Cliffs of Moher 

On our way 

we stopped at the chocolate shop.

We also explored some ruins

This carving of wood at the Cliffs of Moher 

We did a costal walk from Doolin, along the cliff coastline, we could not have asked for a better day

 The Cliffs of Moher
DH and  Alex on our costal walk.

The ruins,

The first look of The Cliffs of Moher, sun right into my camera.

O’Briens Tower on the Cliffs of Moher.

Kylemore Abbey

 The next day we drove along the Atlantic way, which goes for over 2,500 kms long. Of course we only did part of this very narrow stretch of costal road.

These religious statues are alongside of the road.

Our day was not a pleasant one due to the weather and poor visibility on the roads, we cut our day short, had lunch in Clifden, visited Kylemore  Abbey and the grounds. 

Due to the weather and the narrow bumpy roads, we all felt it was wise to admit defeat and not go 

to Westport and continue back to Galway.

The next day we left Galway to travel across country to Northern Ireland, where we will spend 3 days.

On the way we experienced sun, rain and snow, arrived safely in the afternoon and booked into our Air B &B.

Cara was enjoying the snow, by walking in it.

We stopped to have lunch and enjoy the snow, very cold. On our arrival into Belfast we also had more snow.

More adventures to follow after our time in Belfast.