We arrived in Ireland safe and sound and were met by Michael with the Bentley at 9am and whisked off to The Merchant Hotel. The Building, which was the Head Quarters of The Ulster Bank, was completed in 1860. The Merchant Hotel Belfast is an intimate 5 star hotel, situated in the historical Cathedral Quarter of Belfast’s city centre which has been recently re-purposed. The Cathedral Centre was dead 10 years ago. Not so anymore. The Vault below the hotel is now a night club and the area is alive with businesses. We checked in, took a quick cat nap and then off to our private tour of Belfast.
Now that may seem decadent but we have found is that if we don’t get a quick private tour we will end up leaving a city and without seeing an important part and we would rather not be in a large group going slower than we want to. This way we get the cliff notes and then spend the rest of our time exploring the parts the really intrigue us on our first visit… just in case we don’t get back to visit anytime soon.
It was amazing to see the Murals of Belfast that were scattered around town depicting the religious and political struggle that was resident only 10 years ago. It was different to see picture of contemporary people who had died fighting for what they believed in. We are so used to those pictures being hundreds of years ago.
On our tour , we decided to travel 20 minutes to see Carrickfergus Castle. Which was very interesting even in the rain. It always amazes me the ingenuity of people hundreds of years ago. It reminds me that we were in horse and carriage 100 years ago … that is only 3 generations … my grandmother! WOW!
If Ireland isn’t on your Vision Board … it’s a must see.
Tags: Belfast, Crarrickfergus Castle, The Merchant Hotel
August 24th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Vic and Lisa, Have a wonderful trip. Happy Birthday, Vic. I look forward to seeing you in Atlanta.