Past POIs - Queen's University Belfast [Belfast, Northern Ireland]

Built in 1845, Queen's University Belfast has a very nice looking main building which unfortunately we weren't able to visit since we just happened to wander into it while we were in Belfast. It is actually one of United Kingdom's 10 oldest universities and ranked in the top 50 of the world's most international universities.

If you are interested, you can actually book a tour or just wander around on your own. Have a look at their website at http://www.qub.ac.uk/ for more information.

Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!

Ireland - Day 3 (Galway)

Today, we will visit the Crumlin Gaol of Belfast and then head to Galway where we will be staying for the next three nights.

Breakfast at The Gregory House.

We got up at 8:00am, had breakfast and went to visit the gaol and we made it to the gaol for the 10:30am tour. It is quite a popular tour, we arrived there and bought tickets in person which was £9.00 for adults when we went. Parking is free for cars and there is plenty of parking spaces on site.

Crumlin Gaol. 

Crumlin Gaol. 

Crumlin Gaol.

The tour ended at 12:00pm for us, so 1.5 hours and the tour brings you through the gaol, down one of the wings, through certain rooms and a walk of most of the grounds. There is a lot of history here and you do learn a lot about the gaol, if you buy the tickets online and ahead of time, it is a bit cheaper at £7.50.

Crumlin Gaol. 

Crumlin Gaol. 

Crumlin Gaol.

After the gaol, we drove to Galway and stopped at a random Centra for a snack and gas and made it to Galway by 4:30pm. We checked into our B&B which will be The Huntsman Inn for the next two days and we will be moving to another B&B for another day in Galway since I wasn't able to extend our stay at The Huntsman Inn after we finalized our travel plans.

Fish Sculpture of Belfast. 

Titanic Museum of Belfast. 

Quick bite at Centra.

The Huntsman Inn is well reviewed online and it was actually a bit odd since it is part of a normal plaza and without knowing it, you would probably drive by it think that it was a series of restaurants. The actual inn itself is built on top of the restaurants. With check-in complete, we went to the local visitor center for some information. Allison got a lot of books and pamphlets and on a recommendation by someone at the tourist office, we visited An Pucan, a local pub, for dinner.

Deer in headlights. 

Oysters! 

Rib eye on the left, Irish Stew on the right.

We ordered the Irish Stew and the 8 oz. rib eye. They were both good. The lamb in the stew was very tender, the steak was okay with a lot of sides, the salad was very nice. We finished by 6:30pm. There was live music here and it has a nice atmosphere, I would recommend coming here if you are looking for grab a bit. €46 total.

I got your eyes! (Please don't be someone famous and important). 

Street performer.

We chatted with our waitress for a little bit and we were told to wander down Williams Street to the river for a nice walk and explore the downtown area a bit. There is a small section of pedestrian only streets which was nice. We walked down to the water and walked back to the hotel and got back there at around 8:30pm and called it a night.

By the river.

Tomorrow, after doing a bit of research, we will do a local day tour that will guide us to Kylemore Abbey and a few other sights.

Ireland - Day 1 (Belfast)

Our honeymoon trip! We got married on June 5, 2016 and we left for Ireland on June 6, 2016 and will be coming back to Toronto on June 18, 2016. We will be visiting Belfast, Galway, Limerick, Dingle, Cork, and Dublin on this trip and we will be renting a car.

Our rental for the next 11 days, a Renault Clio.

We arrived at the airport around 9:45pm and check in was quick again. I really don't quite understand why it is busy and you should be there early and when it is not so that you can take your time. Terminal 3 of Pearson Airport looks like it has lots of renovations happening and it will be nice when completed.

Random art we saw on the way to Belfast.

Our flight to Ireland was full and we are with Air Transat again much like our first trip to Italy. I couldn't really fall asleep on the flight even though it was a midnight flight. Dinner was provided which was a choice of sandwich and some cookies, we got a slice of pound cake just before arrival. The seating is really tight from what I recall and I think that we won't be taking Air Transat again. Unfortunately, Allison was seated next to someone that was a bit bigger and they were oozing into her and it didn't help that I was doing the same on the other side =( Hopefully I look back at this post and remember to just pay extra for a better airline.

Queen's University Belfast building.

Behind us was a father and son who were going to Ireland to see Neil Young. It was a bit odd since if I didn't look back, I swear he sounded like Conan O'Brien in how he talks and made ridiculous comments and claims. The row in front had a really drunk person who was trying to order drinks before they were even served. Once they were, he passed out and smelled of alcohol. Quite the trip!

Random church in Belfast.

We arrived at the border at 11:30am and it took us 30 minutes. We were lucky because we were row 12 of 30 on the plane, so we beat a lot of people there.

Our rental was with Sixt which we used while in Europe and we knew that it would be expensive for car insurance, but we felt that it was safer to just pay for it so that it would be dealt with instead of using the insurance that is included with my credit card. Maybe at the end of the trip I'll appreciate our choice but better safe than sorry. It cost us 350 € for 11 days.

Belfast City Hall.

Driving in Ireland means that we drive on the left instead of the right. Again, lucky for us, the car rental exits to the highway and it is highway for a majority of the drive to Belfast and that gave me some time to get used to sitting and driving on the opposite side. Once it got to city, it was a bit weird, but it didn't feel as bad as I thought it would, maybe that insurance will be used after all?

Our hub will be at The Gregory House in Belfast which is roughly 20-25 minutes by foot to the city center. After we checked in and got some information, we walked to the city center to have a look around and maybe do the Titanic Museum.

We got to the tourist information site and got a lot of information and decided to eat, wander the area a bit and try to do the Black Cab Tour after. Dinner was at Flame on Howard St and between 5:00pm and 6:30pm there is a pre-theater special which is 14£ for two course or 19£ for three. I ordered the Chilli 'N' Garlic Dough Balls to start and the Chicken 65 for my main, Allison got the Duck Pate to start and the Salmon as the main. Allison liked her dishes, however, I thought mine was pretty boring. I wouldn't suggest this restaurant based on what I got.

Dough Balls on top, duck pate on the bottom. 

Salmon on the left, chicken on the right.

After dinner, we realized that we were both pretty tired and decided to walk back to the hotel and call it a night even though there was still plenty of daylight left, little did we know that the sun doesn't set until 11:00pm right now in Ireland.

Tomorrow, we visit Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede bridge!