Today we left Culentra House and drove around one of the Glens of Antrim before heading down the coast to Belfast. Along the way we saw a group of 6-8 dolphin just off the coast.

We stopped at Titanic Belfast, the new 100 million dollar exhibit dedicated to the Titanic, located at the site where the ship was built and launched. The facility was top notch, with state of the art interactive exhibits. In one exhibit you are watching an old film of the first launch when the electrically controlled opaque glass behind instantly switches transparent revealing the view of the docks that matches the view in the film. Another one takes you on a 3D tour of the ship with screens on three sides of you.

From the street in front of the Titanic exhibit we took a famous Black Cab tour of Belfast. This tour was an eye opener, as we learned about Belfast’s troubled past (and present) while visiting areas located in the heart of these troubles. Since Michelle and I grew up in the 70′s and 80′s, we knew from common news reports of conflicts and bombings that Belfast had a long history of trouble but assumed (incorrectly) that everything was OK here now. We learned from our taxi driver/tour guide Steve that Belfast is separated by peace walls up to 25 feet high (named so because they were built to keep the peace). On one side are Protestants (most of whom are unionists who self-identify as British) and on the other side are Catholics (most of whom are Irish nationalists and self-identify as Irish). The Troubles between these two sides erupted in violence in 1969 and continued until a peace agreement was signed in 1998. Tensions are still high however, and gates between the two sides are still locked at night to keep peace. Steve said that there are still “skirmishes” every Sunday, and that one event could potentially set off violence at any moment. He agreed that Belfast had come a long way since 1998 though, and was hopeful that in time the walls could come down and both sides could live together peacefully.

Steve’s tour was unbiased, telling us a factual account of both sides without favoring either. Some of the stories were pretty scary (he warned us to make sure we wanted to hear them) but gave us an authentic overview of what happened that we appreciated. We visited the famous murals on both sides. Some of the murals were political in nature, or memorials to someone lost, but a good number of them were representing the hope for peace.

We left Belfast and passed from Northern Ireland back into the Republic of Ireland and headed for our stop for the night, Ross Castle B&B near Oldcastle. The B&B was our main reason for heading here, as it was one of the few castles that had been converted into a B&B in a rustic way that wasn’t super expensive or require a weekly rental. And, to Michelle’s delight (and my horror) it was supposedly one of the most haunted in Ireland. With plenty of animal skulls and taxidermy models, it was certainly creepy enough to make me jumpy. Then as it got dark we started hearing noises throughout the house. We finally determined it was the radiators heating up, but it was too late. I was spooked and in no mood to see ghosts tonight. We’ll see.