Our last port in Ireland was Belfast, Northern Ireland. Unlike the Republic of Ireland which is an independent country using the Euro, Belfast is part of the United Kingdom and uses the British Pound. Here we saw pictures of King Charles and his late mother, Queen Elizabeth. I really don’t want to get into a lengthy explanation of why there are two Irelands, but I know there was nearly thirty years of conflict and violence that the Belfast people refer to as “The Troubles”.  Northern Ireland takes up about 17% of the entire island of Ireland.

Belfast, pop 348,000, is the capital city and largest city in Northern Ireland. The city provided a shuttle from the port into the city for $20 a person round trip. When we got to the city we purchased two Hop On, Hop Off Bus tickets. We did Cork and Dublin on our own and it was just too much walking with over six miles each day.

Queen’s University Belfast

Presbyterian Church House Bell Tower

Belfast is the birthplace of The Titanic and there is a large Titanic Experience Building/Museum in Belfast. Those in Belfast like to say that when the Titanic left the shipyard in Belfast it was perfectly fine.

Another popular landmark is the Albert Memorial Clock. One of the most well known landmarks in Belfast it was completed in 1869 and named for Queen Victoria’s husband.

The Grand Opera House was built in 1895.

City Hall was constructed between 1898 and 1906.  We stopped there to find a geocache and take pictures.

In the distance we heard chanting and shouting and we quickly found ourselves amid a large group of protestors. It was amazing how quickly this all happened. Early this morning the captain announceded that protests were scheduled in Belfast and to be careful. He followed it up with a letter in everyone’s cabin mailboxes before we left the ship explaining what might happen and advised us not to engage the protesters and to immediately leave the area. Unfortunately between looking for the geocache and the large crowd, Bill and I became separated. We knew we needed to leave the area and after a few frightening minutes we were able to use our cell phones to get to the same location.

The protesters held anti racism signs, open border signs and Palestinian flags and cease fire signs. The protesters were peaceful but we didn’t know if things would change quickly. Our Hop On bus pickup point had been quickly moved around the corner to a safer location and we were able to take the bus out of the area.

Bill had been wanting a lunch of fish and chips since we got to Ireland. He finally had his lunch today in Belfast at Hell Cat Maggie’s.

The bus took us into the area of Belfast where the “The Troubles” time is remembered in numerous murals.

Still in place are peace gates which were the dividing line between unionist and nationalist areas. Open during the day, they are often closed at night. Walls separating the two areas are visible as well.

There are also international murals that are changed frequently to signify issues worldwide.

Between the Protestant and the Catholic neighborhoods were tall walls. The bus narration said that rocks were still thrown over the tall walls.

We really enjoyed our time in Cork, Dublin and Belfast. We feel like we didn’t have enough time in any of the cities and look forward to returning one day.

The next day was a sea day. The seas were rough and we were busy with pictures, blogs and attending a geocaching get together. Eighteen geocachers on the ship met for the first time and shared geocaching stories.

That evening the ship had a costume party. One of the winners was a man with a Travis Kelce football jersey and the woman was dressed up like Taylor Swift. There was music, dancing and appetizers.

Our second port in Ireland was Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery). It was from here we would catch a train to Dublin. Normally there is about a 15 to 20 minute tender boat ride to make the 1.5 nautical mile ride to shore. However today it was very windy and the ride was very rough. They announced that due to the rough waters, the trip was taking thirty minutes and it was taking longer to load and unload passenges.

This delayed people getting to shore which shortened our time in Dublin. Remember I said the Irish seemed persnickety in the port of Cobb. Well that carried over into today. For the first time we know of, the port required every tender boat to be led back and forth by an Irish pilot boat to be sure none of the tender boats were speeding! Really?? Also our captain wanted our time in Dublin to be to 10:30 P.M. to give passengers more time to enjoy Dublin. The port authorities said no, they didn’t want any tender boats running after dark, so the  departure time was switched to 8:30. I don’t remember any other country having such persnickety rules, not even China!

After the rough tender boat ride and a pleasant train ride, we arrived in Dublin, pop 545,000. Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland and the largest city. Once again we used public buses to get around the city.

Our first stop was Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland and the largest church in Ireland. It was founded in 1191 as a Roman Catholic cathedral. In 1537 it became an Anglican church.

The church was beautiful and we were thrilled to see a choir performing. They sang the entire time we were there. We don’t know if they were a visiting group or the church choir practicing.

We walked to Dublin Castle which was a bit of a disappointment. Not as grand as we expected.  Located at the highest point in Dublin, it was built on the site of a Viking settlement and has served for more than 700 years as the headquarters of British administration in Ireland.

Courtyard of Dublin Castle

Chapel Royal and Round Record Tower

The city was bustling with the streets very crowded.

We took the train back to the ship and boarded the tender boat back to the ship.

The water was much rougher and the crew had a hard time getting the boat close enough to the ship for us to get off. Everytime they tried to get close, the waves would slam our small boat against the platform. It took quite awhile to get us all safely off the boat as the huge swells made for dangerous footing and allignment. There were two crew members on the boat and two crew members on the ship platform to assist the passengers. When it is your turn you have to totally trust them, and when they say “jump” you jump and trust the crew on the platform will catch you. There were some seasoned cruisers on the boat and they said they had never gotten off a tender boat with such rough waters and deep swells. Trust the crew, take a deep breath and jump.

We had a sea day between Rotterdam and Ireland. The seas became very rough as we exited the The North Sea and entered the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. 

Bill and I really looked forward to visiting Ireland for the first time. Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland which takes up 83% of the island, and the Republic of Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is an independent country and uses the euro for its currency. The Republic of Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and uses the English pound currency. Our first two stops are in the Republic of Ireland and our last stop will be in Northern Ireland.

Our first stop was at the port of Cobh (pronounced Cove) , Ireland. Cobh is famous for being the final port of call for the Titanic before it later hit an iceberg and sank. Cobh was also the departure point for over 2.5 million immigrants between 1848 and 1950. Bill and I feel certain we had ancestors among those immigrants.

Before leaving the ship, all 2,000 + passengers and crew had to have a face to face meeting with immigration officials to have our passports inspected and stamped. As expected that took quite a bit of time. Once that was done we were free to leave the ship.  The town officials were a bit persnickety here.  Evidently they were not happy that the town could hear the ship’s public address system and they complained. The ship was having to use the public address system more than usual because they were calling groups of passengers to meet with the immigration officials. They couldn’t have over 2,000 people at one time since they only sent four officials. The sound went on for several hours and since the pier was so close to the town, townspeople complained. The captain had to promise not to make any more announcements the rest of the day. So instead of his usual departure announcement, he had to wait until we were far enough away from the pier so as not to be heard.

The train station was conveniently located steps from the pier. Bill and I took the train from Cobh into Cork, pop 224,000.  It is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland.

Our first destination was Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral. It is a Gothic Revival architecture built in the 19th century. An Anglican church, it was built on the site where Fin Barre established a 7th century monastery.  It has over 1,100 carvings, unique stained glass windows, marbled walls, frescoes, wood carvings, brass, fittings, floor mosaics and cathedral organ.

Next we walked to the Elizabeth  Fort, one of the oldest parts of Cork. It was built around 1626 in the shape of a star. Through the years, as well as once being a fort, it also served as a female convict prison, a fever hospital, constabulary barracks and home of the Irish police. There were some nice views of Cork from the top.

We took a quick walk through the English Market, a covered food market in operation since 1788 and one of the oldest municipal markets in the world. Let’s just say, everything you can imagine in a food market is available here.

Unfortunately we ran out of time and we had to catch the train back to the ship.

At sail away we saw some of the multi colored houses that make up Cobh.

Next up: Dublin, Ireland