Buns2025: Day 13 – Dublin > Belfast
Soundtrack: “Teenage Kicks”, The Undertones
One last morning in Dublin, time for breakfast and last minute shopping. I made the rookie breakfast mistake of trying somewhere different, and not the Potato Cake Company. The result was an okay, but definitely not as good full irish, that lacked personality and character. It’s a travel dilemma, do you keep going back to a place that you know is good, or try different places to get a feel for what the food is like in general. I like to try mixing it up most of the time, but admit there are risks. Saw a very tall spire, called “The Spire”, though not sure what it commemorated. Also stopped for a selfie with the James Joyce statue, as getting the right pose was less painful than reading some of his stuff.
Took the tram the other way, to Connolly Station. They are doing work on the station, and the lift was broken, so I lugged my case up a bunch of steps. I didn’t see or hear a piano either, so overall Connolly Station needs to lift its game. At least my train was more convenient to get to.
The train from Dublin to Belfast goes through lots more green countryside, past old forts and ruins, and along the coast for a bit. The countryside looked wonderfully lush in the sun. More happy sheep, cows, and horses doing their thing. Seagulls too. It’s a pleasant two hour ride.
Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland. All I know about this city wouldn’t last more than two sips from a pint. For many years it was responsible for building a lot of big ships. Big ship making, and the industries that supplied big ship makers, were the main sources of employment in the region. The sound of shipbuilding could be heard for miles around. Ships built here include the Titanic, Olympic, HMS Glorious, Canberra, HMS Belfast, and a whole lot more. Wikipedia pages and pages more. They don’t build as many as they did, but famed builders Harland and Wolff still have a presence here.
Aside from that, it’s a kinda pretty city, at least when the sun shines. If you arrive by train at the moment, it’s not the sound of shipbuilding, but major construction going on at the Grand Central Train Station. And just like the Titanic not having enough lifeboats, the station currently doesn’t have enough ramps, or any that I could find actually, so I had to carry my case (that has been gaining weight) down a bunch of steps.
No boutique hotel this time, it’s strictly budget. Small, bare, but has the essentials: aircon and bathroom. (Spoiler alert: the aircon is actually crap.) The location is okay, a short stroll from the centre of Belfast, and I’m getting what I paid for. View from the window is more construction, they seem to be knocking a few things down in these parts at the moment.
With nothing planned for the day I took a wander, past the Europa Hotel, in the Troubles it was possibly the most bombed building in Belfast, but these days just looks big and shiny. Wandered through a Waterstones bookshop, these always have a decent selection of books, wandered past a Wetherspoon because my life hasn’t got that grim. Central Belfast is a collection of malls and little alleys that generally lead to pubs (props to Belfast, these are probably the longest inner city alleys I’ve ever walked along that haven’t smelt of piss); shiny big name stores in the middle, and small independent stores around the edges. Stuck my head into Forbidden Planet and soon felt sad: I remember when these stores sold books, now it’s all pop culture “things”: at least there’s Waterstones.
I didn’t really notice it in Paris or Dublin, but in these parts and times it gets dark early. Like twilight starting around 4pm early, and sundown pretty much by 5pm. I’m guessing schools finish at a similar time here to Australian, sometime around 3-3.30pm, as the malls were full of youths in school uniforms between 4-5pm, while I was thinking surely they shouldn’t be out so late, just because of how dark it was.
I’d passed the Crown Saloon in my travels and saw they had oysters, so went there for dinner. Afterall, have you really been to Ireland if you haven’t had the seafood and shellfish? Molly Malone would frown at you and kick your ass. So started with oysters and Bushmills 10 year old, oysters go well with whisky and this worked for me. Wonderful fresh briny treats. Then Irish stew and Belfast Black stout, just to tick that off the list. The stew was good, chunks of meat and vegetables. I’m not sure what makes Irish stew different, other than country of origin, as it tasted rich and hearty like many stews. I’m sure there are likely historical differences, but these days what used to be peasant food with ingredients found within sight now can use good ingredients sourced from all over the world. Finished with the sticky toffee pudding and a Bushmills 16 year old, the pudding served with a local vanilla icecream that was very good (menu options were icecream or custard, so I asked the server who whole-heartedly recommended the icecream, and was right). Bushmills 16 is a very decent whisky, delicious from lots of time in sherry casks.
I rolled out into the Belfast evening, heading back to the hotel via a quick lap of the surrounds for digestion. Found a restaurant proclaiming boldly “Archana – the unique name in Indian cuisine”. I’ll admit I don’t recall ever seeing an Indian restaurant elsewhere called Archana, but by the same I don’t recall ever seeing one called Greg. Also wandered past the now heavily decorated former legendary punk record store Good Vibrations, which also had a record label and gave the world the Undertones and Protex, among others.
Blogged back at the hotel, while trying to get the aircon to work. It would work for a while, or at least the shutter would open and a trickle of air would come out, but then seemed to shut off nowhere near the target temperature. Then I’d turn it on again and same result. All I’m after is some air pushed around so the room doesn’t feel so stuffy.
Tomorrow will be Titanic.
