To break up the Warsaw winter we headed to Ireland in mid January. The purpose of our visit was to see Van Morrison in concert in his hometown of Belfast. We went with some great friends of ours here in Warsaw. We flew into Dublin which made for a super fun start and end to our trip. We walked through the beautiful city, hit up a few pubs (of course), and enjoyed the sites. Tom was especially happy during the trip as he was in his homeland! He said he literally felt like he was "with his people" It was super cute to watch him have so much fun!
After our arrival in Dublin we rented a car and drove up north to Belfast. We stayed at a beautiful old castle that is now a hotel and this is also where the concert took place. Apparently, Van Morrison still has a home right down the street and often stops into the castle for tea and coffee...pretty cool! Belfast had a great snowfall while we were there which is quite unusual for the area. It made for a wonderfully picturesque setting. The concert was only for 250 people which made it really cool and intimate. We had a fantastic time and it was an awesome experience to see Van Morrison live in concert.
The next day we went on a tour around Belfast and up the famous Giants Causeway road to the coast of Northern Ireland. We also manged to squeeze in a stop at the Bushmill's distillery. : ) It was so interesting to learn and see the results of the conflict between the Catholics and Protestants over so many years. The tension is definitely still there and the day we went on our tour there was a protest scheduled for later in the day in the town square. I'll be the first to admit that I knew little to nothing about the whole situation...basically just small tidbits in the US media portraying the IRA as violent. Of course, there are two sides to every story. And, neither side has always acted peacefully and respectfully. The problem basically boils down to the fact that the Catholics are pro-Ireland and are upset that Northern Ireland is still a part of United Kingdom. On the other side you have the Protestant loyalists who support and want Northern Ireland to remain with the United Kingdom.
Here is a bit more information on the situation if you are interested. After touring the various Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods and learning about the situation we headed north to the coast. It was a beautiful drive with a scenic countryside. We braved the cold and wind to check out the coast and its cool rock formations. It was nice and serene but apparently that wont be the case for long as Donald Trump is in the process of building a golf course and resort in the area. After a long day of touring we enjoyed some nightcaps by the fireplace at our hotel and watched the snow fall.
We spent our final day relaxing at the spa before our drive back to Dublin. When we hit Dublin we grabbed a few final pints of Guinness and headed to bed early since we had a crazy early flight the next day.
It was so much fun to be back in Ireland and we really loved getting to see the Northern part of the country! Great times!
