IRELAND #1: BELFAST AND ARMAGH

In September 2015, we joined a group of 30 American and Canadian travellers who flew to Ireland for a 17 day excursion with Road Scholar. It was an escorted coach tour called "Ireland's Coasts from North to South". It was a marvellous learning experience which began in Belfast, moved to the north coast, then the west coast and eventually the south coast, and ended in Dublin on the east coast. The sightseeing was quite fabulous, and the lectures, discussions, field trips, demonstrations, and personal explanations were lively, interesting, and in some cases quite gripping.

I will post photos in six or seven separate numbered postings which correspond to the route we followed. Most of the photos focus on the memorable sights. They vary in quality, partly because my camera fell and broke during the excursion.

Our group posed for the first group photograph in front of the Northern Ireland Assembly building at Stormont. They look happy and full of anticipation in the bright sunshine!

Stormont is a magnificent but imposing building, constructed between 1928 and 1932 and designed to house the Northern Ireland Parliament. The devolved Northern Ireland Assembly has sat here since the 1998 agreement to bring together the competing factions of Irish politics. We learned about the very difficult processes that have been valiantly developed to resolve the intense divisions and conflicts within Irish society. There is much optimism thanks to the successes of the last 17 years.

At Thanksgiving Square in Belfast, adjacent to one of the bridges over the Lagan river, we found a sculpture dedicated to the hope for peace among the factions of Irish people. It depicts a character from classical and celtic mythology who symbolizes hope for the unity of life, and the importance of bringing people together. We really like the sculpture and the cause.

We found the Albert Memorial Clock Tower on High Street. The photo of the reflection of the tower turned out to be one of my favourites.

The Belfast City Hall is located at the hub of Donegall Square in the centre of Belfast. It is a magnificent building, constructed in 1906. It has an elaborate tower at each corner and a central copper dome. Statues around the building include a dour Queen Victoria. I liked the arches within the main rotunda and the way the light was falling on the war memorial on the west side.

Queens University is the most prestigious in Northern Ireland. The main building was designed in 1849. We were told that it has linkages to other prestigious Queens universities including the one in Canada.

We were given a fascinating lecture on the murals of Belfast, and then we travelled to see some of the murals that conveyed the intensity of political feelings that have existed in Belfast for the past several generations. Most of us were taken aback by the conflicting ideologies, the raw emotions, and the difficulty of life in the districts where the conflict was most intense.

The Grand Opera House of Belfast is located a just a few yards from our hotel. We had an opportunity to see the interior for a few minutes.

On our last day in Belfast, we visited "Titanic Belfast". It is a museum designed to give tourists a lifelike experience set in the dockyards of Belfast where the Titanic was built and launched in 1912. It has nine galleries with interactive exhibits. I have included a photo of the exterior as interior photos were not allowed.

We travelled 65 kilometres from Belfast to Armagh, one of the oldest cities in Ireland. There St. Patrick is reputed to have founded a church in 455 AD, converting many Irish to Christianity. There are two cathedrals called St. Patrick's in Armagh, one Roman Catholic and one Episcopalian. The photos show a statue of St. Patrick, the beautiful nave and chancel of the Neo-Gothic Catholic cathedral, and the church yard of the older Episcopalian cathedral.

We also visited the Armagh Public Library, one of the oldest libraries in Ireland established in 1771. It has 500 years of books and art in a Georgian setting. The inscription over the entrance in Greek means "the healing place of the soul". We saw a first edition of "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift  dated 28 October 1726.