{"id":670,"date":"2013-09-30T06:42:08","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T13:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/?p=670"},"modified":"2013-10-18T18:25:44","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T01:25:44","slug":"northern-ireland-morning-in-belfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/?p=670","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland – Morning in Belfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

We left Dublin early Monday morning and drove straight to Belfast, with only a stop for the necessities. \u00c2\u00a0Our magic carpet looked like this:<\/p>\n

\"Vagatron<\/p>\n

Sean Nee, our tour guide dropped us on the street in Belfast, and this is him driving the Vagatron by the Grand Opera House looking for a parking place. \u00c2\u00a0Yes, Vagatron. \u00c2\u00a0The name for the modified Land Rover Defender used by the Vagabond Adventure Tours. \u00c2\u00a0The box on the back seats 12, comfortably I might add, and the trailer behind carries our luggage. \u00c2\u00a0The company, Vagabond Tours, has the tour well thought out. \u00c2\u00a0I highly recommend trying Vagabond \u00c2\u00a0if you want an active, very interesting tour. \u00c2\u00a0The company also offers a less strenuous tour, Driftwood Tours. \u00c2\u00a0The company website:\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/vagabondtoursofireland.ie\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Northern Ireland is part of the U.K., consisting of six \u00c2\u00a0of the original nine counties that comprised the ancient province of Ulster. \u00c2\u00a0There were originally five provinces in Ireland , Leinster, Meath, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. \u00c2\u00a0Over time, Meath was absorbed into Leinster. \u00c2\u00a0This link shows the four provinces and also a list of the counties of Ireland:\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/www.enjoyireland.com\/provinces\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The start of our trip beginning in Belfast, was not only the start of a marvelous experience, but also the start of a reeducation for me. \u00c2\u00a0The history of Ireland I learned in the States was entirely from the British point of view. \u00c2\u00a0I was of course aware of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, but had no understanding of the historical background. \u00c2\u00a0Even given the whirlwind nature of our visit, we got an education in the realities on the ground so to speak. As I am trying to write this, I keep getting sidetracked following links about Irish history, the Troubles, etc.<\/p>\n

The reasons for the Troubles are complex and the resentments of the Catholic population in Northern Ireland toward the English and the Protestants run deep. \u00c2\u00a0 The Irish were denied their rights to their religion, their language and their land by their Protestant English overlords. \u00c2\u00a0I could spend hours writing about the topic, but it is beyond the focus of this travel blog. \u00c2\u00a0A search on the internet will provide you with an education on this topic. \u00c2\u00a0Or, spend some time in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

Belfast on a Monday morning is a bustling city. \u00c2\u00a0Beautiful architecture:<\/p>\n

\"Grand
\nThe Grand Opera Building.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"City<\/p>\n

\"Another
\nTwo photos of the Old City Hall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Bldg
\nBuilding for sale<\/p>\n

\"Another
\nAnother Belfast building<\/p>\n

This seems like a reasonable activity for just before noon on a Monday morning:<\/p>\n

\"Having<\/p>\n

Sean dropped us in front of this bar (wonder why?) \u00c2\u00a0Be a beautliful place to spend a little time.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

After hanging around the streets of Belfast for a while, we caught up with Black Cab Tours for a tour of Belfast.\u00c2\u00a0http:\/\/belfastblackcabtours.co.uk\/<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0Our group split up into two cabs, one driven by a Protestant, one by a Catholic. \u00c2\u00a0More to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We left Dublin early Monday morning and drove straight to Belfast, with only a stop for the necessities. \u00c2\u00a0Our magic carpet looked like this: Sean Nee, our tour guide dropped us on the street in Belfast, and this is him … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=670"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":720,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670\/revisions\/720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.travelswithwesley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}