The drive from Mulranny was over four hours, but once again through beautiful countryside and tidy towns and villages. Once we crossed over the invisible and unposted border into Northern Ireland we left the peat bogs behind and the landscape became greener and softer.
Arriving in Belfast our first sight was this sculpture, officially named, but informally known as The Balls on the Falls. “The globe-shaped, white and silver steel sculpture is a representation of a new sun rising to celebrate a new chapter in the history of Belfast. The angled, steel columns are to represent the reeds of the bog meadows that extended more widely across the area before it was developed. The inner sphere represents the sun rising over the bogs and the outer sphere represents the sun’s halo.”
We started our self-guided tour of Belfast in the Falls Road which was one of the primary hot spots during “the troubles” of the ’70’s. I particularly wanted to see these murals.
The Garden of Remembrance was being lovingly tended by a volunteer.
The area today…
The city center.
The river, harbor area and former shipbuilding center – no more! And the Titanic museum.
We stayed at The Gregory and had dinner at The Barking Dog.
