Today we left Dublin and headed for Belfast. The GPS in our car has never heard of Belfast, so that was out and I had to navigate manually. Good thing we were heading for a major highway because I'm not sure I could have handled Dublin's narrow streets.
First we stopped at Bru Na Boine. Bru Na Boinne is an ancient site, they think it might be a tomb or a religious site, but since it is older than the pyramids, they aren't sure. It was discovered 300 years ago, but only brought under heritage protection about 100 years ago, so lots of artifacts have disappeared. Bru Na Boinne is a large stone mound (now mostly covered in grass) with a narrow passage way through to the center. It is lined up so that on midwinter's day, the sun shines straight up the passage. At the center is a round chamber with three ante chambers. There are lots of theories about what the chambers are for, but no consensus. The same is true for the carvings; nobody seems to know what they mean.
After lunch in a country pub, we continued on to Belfast. We signed up for a Black Cabs tour and chose the political tour. We drove all over West Belfast (both the Catholic and Protestant sides) with Pat. Pat was definitely a Catholic. but managed to give us a great tour. We saw lots of murals, and a huge wall. I know I didn't grow up with it and can't possibly under stand what's going on, but it all seems very futile to me.
The rest of Belfast is very beautiful and doesn't seem to have the same issues (but what do I know). We had a nice walk around after our tour. We stopped for a drink across from the most bombed hotel in Europe (it was where the British stayed) and had a nice hunk of lamb for dinner.
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