Cruising Again - Ireland and England - 2019

 

Temple Bar - Dublin, Ireland - 2022

AFTER ANOTHER year of no cruising in 2018, we got back into the swing of things with a "British Isles" Cruise in June of 2019. I retired from my career as a transactional attorney in March of that year (and though I really enjoyed what I did, I have never looked back). I moved permanently to Florida and have been a Florida resident ever since. In 2018, we had done some traveling in the U.S. (partly with our group from the Caribbean Cruises of prior years). But after a year off, we were ready to go again. And we did. Twice. 😁

Guiness Storehouse - Dublin, Ireland

WE FLEW into Dublin, the starting point of our cruise, 3 days early. We spent 2 nights in a hotel right in the middle of the Temple Bar District. What a great spot. Just out the door of the hotel and things were "happening" in almost any direction you walked. A block to the north took us to The River Liffey (which bisects Dublin from west to east, to the Dublin Seaport (and cruise terminal), and the famous Ha'Penny Bridge. As one might expect from Dublin, there are pubs lining the river on both sides. Just a few short city blocks to the east, is world-renowned Trinity College (which houses, among other things, the famous Book of Kells). A slightly longer walk to the south brings you to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which may be one of the prettiest churches in Europe, with its Gothic architecture and colorful flowered landscaping. And just a bit further: The Guiness Storehouse brewery facility. And interspersed around and between, you find ancient churches, distilleries, and of course: more pubs. 😋

Ha'Penny Bridge - Dublin, Ireland

THERE WAS plenty to do in the city, and we did a few tours, and a couple of our own pub crawls. But we also ventured out of the city. We had been to Dublin for a few days during our trip in 2014 and had already gotten to know the city some. So, for some variety, we visited a couple castles outside town, and went to the seaside vacation/fishing village of Howth, on the northeastern arm of Dublin Bay, where we had lunch at one of Dublin's 2 or 3 touted "best" fish and chips pubs: Wright's Fish & Chips. Of course, we had fish and chips - and beer. They were good. Not having had fish and chips anywhere else in Europe, I couldn't opine on whether they were "the best."

Howth, Ireland - 2021

SOMETIMES CRUISE itineraries are set up a bit oddly. Usually the longer (10 plus day) cruises will have at least one overnight stop, usually at a place patrons may want to spend some time. Most of the time, they count the origination city and sometimes the termination city as cruise stops. I have always thought that seemed a bit disingenuous as I would be willing to bet that the majority of cruise passengers come in the night before or day of, and leave the day of, or the morning after. But it is the way things are. This time, it was doubly interesting. We boarded the ship during the day on June 14. But the ship didn't leave until late afternoon on the 15th, leaving a full day on shore still left. Later in the cruise we would stop at LeHav're, France, arriving very early in the morning, overnighting in port, and not departing until midnight the following day. We had never had such a long stay in port, but it allowed us to spend a day and 1/2 in Paris. I will surely cover Paris in detail in a later post.

Pearse Lyon Distillery - Dublin, Ireland

WE MADE the best of the Dublin "overnight," returning to the city and touring a very nice, small distillery housed in an old Anglican Church. Interestingly, the Pearse Lyons distillery was founded by an American who came back to Ireland to distill his small batch Irish Whiskey ("Whisky," in Scotland). While we were there, we discovered that this distillery was also making gin - and in particular, a gin I had taken a liking to. Unfortunately, it is difficult to find here in Florida.

Pearse - Lyon Distillery - Dublin, Ireland

WE LEFT Dublin late in the afternoon, for the short sail north to Belfast. Our cruise intelligence informed us that there was a very good Northern Ireland tour by a company called Black Cab Tours. Our 2014 trip to Northern Ireland was short and specifically only to visit a church (where King Brian Boru was buried). We didn't really see Belfast, other than a drive-by. Nor did we see any of the rest of Northern Ireland. We wanted to do that this trip. This meant we would spend very minimal time in Belfast. But the sites were worth it.

Dublin Port

BEFORE LEAVING Belfast City, we stopped at the site where the cruise ship, Titanic was built, and launched. We were able to get out and walk around the facility. The building housed huge pumps and an indoor reservoir. The actual dry dock pictured here was difficult to capture well with the camera I was carrying at the time. If I get back, I will have a much wider-angle lens for a better shot of its vastness. But still. History. We would follow the progress of the Titanic's tragic voyage a couple stops later, as the Titanic's first stop after being put to sea was our second Irish port of call, Cobh.

Titanic Dry Dock - Belfast, Ireland

WHILE WE were there, our driver mentioned that he did double duty as a private driver for some of the actors in "Game of Thrones." It just happened that many of the scenes for the series was shot in the old shipyard area immediately adjacent to the Titanic facility. It also just happened that he had a pass to drive into the lot. Much of it was fenced off as it was mockups for scenes currently in production. But it was kind of cool to see it anyway.

Game of Thrones Set - Belfast, Ireland

AFTER THAT, we headed to the very north, to County Antrim, to The Giant's Causeway, with a planned stop at the world's oldest working distillery, Bushmills. But on the way, we detoured through another recently famous spot, The Dark Hedges. Planted in 1715 by James Stuart, to serve as a dramatic entrance to his home, Gracehill, the large, old Beech Trees create a very moody tunnel over the road, which has become a popular tourist destination. It probably gained its widespread notoriety after it was used as "The Kings Road," in the Game of Thrones series. It has also been used in at least one of the Transformer movies. It is a cool scene.

The Dark Hedges Scene - Game of Thrones series - Bushmills, Ireland

A UNESCO world Heritage, site, the story of the causeway is - in my opinion - much interesting than the actual causeway. It is not a particularly photogenic site (but cool to see, climb around on, and generally explore). The Giant's Causeway is a geological wonder. Formed some 50-60 million years ago from volcanic activity, it is a series of some 40,000 octagon-shaped columns. Their formation is unique and fascinating. As it normal for volcanic activity an eruption poured molten basalt over the area at the shore that is now the site. Then, the cooling and drying process somehow created horizontal forces, resulting in the octagon shaping (imaging mud drying). Of course, there is a legend; a story of Gaelic myth that is told of this site. There were two giants, one Irish and the other a Scot who challenged each other to a fight. The legend has it that the Irish giant (Fion MacCumhail) built the cause way across the ocean so that the two of them could meet. There are varying versions of how the story ends. But in researching this, what I found really fascinating is that there is a similar formation in Scotland (Fingal's Cave) nearly 100 miles across the Irish Sea.

The Giant's Causeway - Bushmills, Ireland

THE GIANT's Causeway is only a couple miles from the Old Bushmills Distillery, our next stop. Unsurprisingly, the distillery is in the tiny little (about 1200 inhabitants) village of Bushmills, situated on the Bush River, which eventually empties into the Atlantic. In the early 1800's a mill was built on the Bush River at the site of the village. The village is only 60 miles from Belfast, just over a mile (as the crow flies) to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean on the northern border. Quiet, quaint, and beautiful, the tiny little village has at least 5 churches! On Main Street we found just a few shops, small restaurants, and - important to us that day - an ATM. Northern Ireland, of course, considers itself part of the UK, and at that time, they were using the British Pound for currency (we had Euros, but wanted to pay our guide in pounds). We did stop for a scenic view of the river and the old mill.

Bushmills, Ireland

ONE OF the highlights of this trip (or at least of this stop) was our visit to the Old Bushmills Distillery for a whiskey tasting. Certainly not our first taste of Irish Whiskey, this was our first visit to a Northern Ireland distillery. And one which is very distinguished in the lore of whiskey. Old Bushmills Distillery holds the distinction of being the oldest working distillery in the world. The history is interesting (well, to me anyway 😐). On the bottles, the label notes that Old Bushmills dates back to 1608, the date when the first royal license was granted to distill the liquor in the village. The actual "Old Bushmills" distillery was not founded until later - in 1784 (because of a rebuilding due to a fire, the current distillery has been in active and uninterrupted operation since 1885). Today, Old Bushmills is owned by the U.S. distributor: Proximo.

Old Bushmills Distillery; Bushmills, Ireland

THE DISTILLERY gets about 120,000 visitors each year. While I am throwing numbers around, I found it interesting to note that Bushmills' U.S. "sister city," Louisville, Kentucky, has a population of nearly 630,000 (more than 500 times the size of Bushmills). Think about the impact of 120,000 visitors a year (10 times the population) to the tiny village. We first tasted Irish Whiskey in the Republic of Ireland in 2014 on our land-based trip there. We visited the Kilbeggan Distillery in Westmeath. But prior to that, I had tasted several different whiskeys - at the recommendation of a couple bartenders - over the week. While I found them interesting, I have to say I did not really "warm up" to Irish Whiskey at the time. Old Bushmills has changed my views. In addition to their standard "Bushmills," they have (much like many other distilleries worldwide) branched in recent years into aging in wine, bourbon, and other casks. These are casks that have already been used for their primary products and are re-sold to the distilleries. I liked the "Red" Bush and "Black" Bush varieties - respectively aged in sherry and bourbon casks. Being partial to bourbon as my "brown" liquor of choice, I particularly like the Black Bush, and generally keep a bottle in my cabinet. The tasting was very fun, though and during the conversation, our host noted that they had recently discovered a more than 100-year-old bottle. When I stepped up to the bar to photograph it, the bartender invited me behind the bar, and our host took my camera and made this image. I was crushed that they wouldn't let me hold the 100-year-old bottle (much less even touch it). 😅

For those who may not know this, distilled liquors do not age any further once they are bottled (unlike most wines). Theoretically, if properly stored and airtight, the 100-year-old whiskey should taste the same as the day it was bottled. Of course, environmental factors like temperature, light, and perhaps most critical, air, can change this. But the value of the bottle here is not the aged quality of the whiskey. The value is the fact that it is an intact 100-year bottle. There cannot be many - if any - others like it anywhere.

Me and "my" 100-year-old bottle Bushmills - I'm not sharing 😎 - Old Bushmills Distillery, Bushmills, Northern Ireland

FOR THE golfers among us, Northern Ireland is a pretty estimable golf venue (and destination), boasting several topnotch golf courses, and a few famous PGA tour golfers, including current star, Rory McILroy, David Feherty, Darren Clark, and Graeme McDowell, just to name a few of the more well-known players (more on Rory below). Perhaps the most noted Northern Ireland course is Royal Portrush, just 5 miles west of Bushmills. It happened that The Open (British) was due to be played there just 2 weeks hence. When we left Bushmills, we head briefly west once more, for a stop at Dunluce Castle, a ruin which is now a national monument. The views of the Northern Ireland coastline from the castle were spectacular. But one of the cool things was that we could see Royal Portrush in the distance, being readied for the tournament (note the towers and grandstands already in place).

Royal Portrush, Portrush, Northern Ireland - 2019

BACK IN 2014, one of our day visits was to the famed Cliffs of Moher, on The Republic of Ireland's western coast. They are pretty spectacular, and annual tourism exceeds 1 million a year. It is certainly a "must see" site if visiting Ireland - if at all possible (cruise ships don't get anywhere close to that part of the country, so it would need to be part of an extended visit (e.g., a beginning or termination in Dublin). I cannot more strongly recommend such an extended visit!

Dunluce Castle - Northern Ireland

BUT HAVING extolled the virtues of the west coast of The Republic of Ireland, I must say that the Northern Ireland coastline (mostly north and east) easily rivals anything I saw in The Republic (Cliffs of Moher notwithstanding). They are equally spectacular, as the views from Dunluce Castle and the Rope Bridge overlook illustrate.

Northern Ireland Coast Line

ANOTHER POPULAR tourist attraction in Northern Ireland is the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Once thought to be constructed by salmon fishermen to cross to the tiny island of Carrickarede, the bridge today has been rebuilt and strengthened by its current owner, The National Trust. It may be walked for a fee. Our guide noted that it was mainly a tourist attraction, and that lines (queue) for the short, but perhaps adrenaline generating, fee-based walk is long. He thought the better view was from the overlook. With my 70mm reach, the bridge is a tiny line between mainland and island in the distance.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge; Northern Ireland

WE SPENT the short remainder of our day back in Belfast. While we really didn't see the city, we did a whirlwind drive-around, with the primary objective being to see (and sign) the wall between the "Protestant and Catholic" parts of the city.

Signing The Wall - Belfast, Ireland - 2019

EVEN THOUGH we spent very little time in Belfast City, our driver was from there (born, raised, and remains). Though he was a relatively young man (probably mid-30's), he had seen and experienced - firsthand - the "Troubles" as they were euphemistically called in Ireland (a 30-year period of often violent conflict between the "Protestants" and "Catholics" - I used quotations purposely here - ending just before the turn of the 21st century). For a more in-depth discussion of this period in Northern Ireland's history, stay tuned for an upcoming Blog Post. Before we ended our day, our guide had promised (mostly me and my brother-in-law; at the beginning of our day he had asked us if we were golfers and to our positive reply, he noted that - time permitting - he had a special "treat" for us at the end of the day). Well, it appears that time indeed permitted. 😁 You may recall that I alluded that there would be more on Rory McIlroy. One of the other "famous" golf courses in Northern Ireland is the Holywood Golf Club in the Belfast suburb of Holywood, Northern Ireland. I am not aware of any big PGA tournaments being played there. But what perhaps makes it famous is it is Rory's home course. His father having been a member for years, Rory grew up playing there and his personal golf teach is the teaching pro at Holywood. We had the unbelievable fortune to not only see the course, the pro-shop and Rory's personal trophy room, but the pro actually let us hold Rory's 2014 PGA Championship trophy while he photographed us! A very memorable experience.

Holding Rory's PGA Championship Trophy - Holywood Golf Club - Holywood, Norther Ireland

I LOVED Northern Ireland. I like what very little I saw of Belfast. I vowed to go back one day and spend some time in the city, seeing its history firsthand and "The Troubles" in a more personal perspective. The good news is that we have a cruise booked for May-June of this year that takes us back to Belfast for a day. We are actively looking a excursions now!

Belfast Old City, Northern Ireland

OUR NEXT stop on this cruise would be Liverpool. Stay tuned.