Sunday In Belfast

Mural on side of Protestant Home

Don and Judi and Bushmills Distillery

This morning 13 of us from Cruise Critic met for a tour of Belfast. There was light rain, but not too cold. We drove north along the Irish Sea coast toward the Giant Causeway. The scenery was nice, again lots of green fields, sheep and cattle. In places we could make out the coast line of Scotland. There were many seaside villages and they were all quaint and beautifully laid out. The style for the Presbyterian churches was established here. They started with the tall steeples, but the Vikings quickly figured out that there was gold in them there churches and raided and blundered them. So the Presbyterians started building their churches with fortress type roof line and the Vikings stayed away. Because of persecution in England some Scotsmen came to Ireland and not being treated well moved on the US. These people were known and Scotch Irish.
Our first stop after reaching the northland was Bushmills Distillery, which was high on most everybody’s list. The tour was very interesting. The Bushmills whiskey is distilled 3 times compared to 2 times for Scotch and once for Bourbon. The water is from the local Bushmills creek. Nothing is wasted as the waste products are made into feed for cattle and pigs. I must say that the hot Toddy that I had was very good and I have the recipe for it.
Leaving there we went over to the Giant Causeway. It is rumored that a giant used this to either look for a mate or to step over to Scotland and fight another giant. It is something to see once and then say you have been there.
Leaving causeway we headed back to Belfast and a short tour of the troubled area of the city. We saw the wall separating the Catholics and Protestants, also the flags and murals that are painted on the side of buildings. They say there hope is in the children, but there are still a lot of flags flying on both sides.
Getting back to the ship, it was time for dinner and a show. A full day, but interesting.