EIS – To Belfast (Day 11)

EIS – To Belfast (Day 11)

(8/28/2010) Today we head to Belfast, Ireland. We leave Glasgow and head out on route M8 on our way out we again get a glimpse of the city and take a few last minute pictures.

We drive south on A77 and we stop in Alloway (just south of Ayr) which has the cottage that is the birthplace of Robert Burns. The Burns National Heritage Park, nearby, also maintains the cottage.

The tale of Tam o’Shanter and how his horse, Meg saved him. In the tale, Tam spies upon a devilish host of witches and warlocks in the “auld Kirk Alloway (the old church built in 1516 that he used in the tale, pictured) and the chase is on.

Meg, in a great effort, leaps to the safety of the key-stone of the bridge, where the witches cannot follow (because of the running water). The bridge, Brig O’Doon is an old bridge which dates back to the 1400’s and is the climax of his tale. Both of these structures exist near the cottage where Robert Burns grew up.

After our stop, we continue on to Stranraer. We pass a ruined castle or structure.

We also pass several stone bridges. These look nice, but they generally an on the other side of the coach, we do not have much time to see the structure, or there is too much glare in the windows. But we did eventually get one good picture.

We get to Stranraer and we can see that the seas are pounding the shore line. We also see our ferry coming in and it doesn’t look to be bounding around too much. This ferry is rather large and although we will stay on the coach to drive on, we have to get out during the trip. We will go up on one of the inside decks and find a good comfortable seat. There is a stiff breeze and a little chilly so we will not be going out on deck.

The trip takes about 2 hours, when we finally arrive in Belfast. Five minutes before we dock, we get back on the coach and drive off. We drive to the hotel and after a half hour wait get back on the coach for a sightseeing trip of Belfast.

At the end of our tour, we stop for a pint of Guinness at the Crown Bar. Well a pint and a half actually, since Carmen does not drink, I got hers. You can see Gordon on the corner waiting for us to show up. He had the barkeep start pouring so everyone had his or her drinks when we got there.

Inside there are small booths with doors to keep those inside private. In one of them we sat, well there were about 12 of us squeezed in around the table. The windows all have painted glass with a crown in them. There are lions, dragons, and chimera on top of the booth walls, tin ceilings, and an old large bar.



Until later, Bob and Carmen – EIS.