OAT Trip to Ireland, October 20-November 4, 2025

 
 Overseas Adventure Travel: Irish Adventure, Dublin, Belfast, and the Northwest Counties,October 20-November 4, 2025

Our itinerary in red with stops between marked cities. My previous trip 30 years ago was mostly west coast so N. Ireland was new to me. I do remember the Molly Malone statue and Oscar Wilde play in Dublin!

Great group of 14 from all over the US, led by enthusiastic, fun, experienced Irish leader Colon Phelan.

St. Patrick was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba. He is also the patron saint of Nigeria. 

Marilyn Johnson and I braved what would be the typical weather to listen to Evensong service in Christ Church. 

Saint Stephen's Green is Dublin's largest park, famous for the 1916 uprising there. There are statues of James Joyce & other notable Irish.

Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. Catholics were finally allowed to attend in 1970! Fabulous library and museum

The Boru harp is the oldest surviving harp in Ireland. In the 1920's the Irish government adopted the harp as the national emblem of Ireland. You'll see it on Irish passport covers, euro coins (Ireland is still part of the EU), flags, and in remodeled form as the symbol for Guinness (Guinness originated with Arthur Guinness in Dublin, Ireland, who signed a 9,000-year lease on the Saint James Gate Brewery in 1759. Starting with ale, Guinness shifted its focus to porter, a dark beer, by 1799. The brewery became a global brand through international exports, and today is owned by the multinational company Diageo. Also in the museum is some great Irish art.

The illustrations and ornamentation of the four gospels of the Book of Kells combine traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Absolutely beautiful!

An amazing hall in the old Trinity College library houses 3D, 6 meter Gaia, an artwork by artist Luke Jerram, featuring 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth's surface. Gaia was a mythological goddess and personification of the Earth.

We were in Ireland during the recent election of new President of Ireland, Catherine Connelly. The independent lawmaker won the election with 63% of the vote against her rival Heather Humphreys, the country's third female president.She replaces beloved President Michael Higgins who was a friend of 

men such as Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandela. The Irish had no colonies.

 On our way from Dublin (UK) to Belfast (capital of Northern Ireland) 

we stopped at the Armagh cider and stud farm & had a delicious lunch.

t Armagh cider maker, with delicious lunch. Always great soup & bread

Buried just 60cm beneath the city’s modern surface, the long-lost River Farset that gave Belfast its name still flows silently through the heart of Northern Ireland’s capital. In fact, Belfast, or Béal Feirste (‘the sandy ford at the mouth of the Farset’, in Irish) not only owes its existence to this river, but also its growth and early prosperity. Yet, for the last 170 years, this ancient waterway has been sealed off from the outside world by a series of tunnels, and is largely forgotten by those walking just above it. It flows into the River Lagan which I could see from my hotel window.
 

Belfast, an industrial hub of Northern Ireland, especially of the linen

industry, during the 19th century, has a rich cultural and artistic history, 

overshadowed by the Troubles. I fell in love with this beautiful city.

The eco-friendly buses are pink, the City Hall, magnificent!

We heard a talk from Lee, who showed us the plaque of the victims 

of the Titanic, which was designed, built and launched from Belfast.

He also took us to the famous Guinness pub to listen to (I can't insert)traditional Irish music, which I can never get enough of!

We had a local taxi ride, during which our Irish driver shared stories & showed us murals of the prejudices and hard feelings of the Troubles which lasted from about 1968-98, (at a peak during the 1970's) until 

President Clinton was finally able to broker a fragile peace).It may take a generation to quell some lasting animosity between 

the mostly Irish Catholic Republicans (for a United Ireland) and theUnionists (mostly UK Protestants). There's a wall with gates closed at night between divided parts of the city. Belfast of the 1970's was a 

war zone .  Fighters belonging to the militant faction of the IRA com-

mited bombings, shootings, etc. to pressure the British government

into recognizing Irish sovereignty. Extremists sympathetic to the crown

formed paramilitary groups like the Ulster Volunteer Force clashed with

IRA rebels unleashing terror on the Catholic population. By the end,

3,500 were dead, 47,000 wounded.

Republicans generally stand up for others they see as oppressed

Bobby Sands led a 66-day hunger strike in prison and died with others

At the Felons Club (meeting place for imprisoned Irish Republicans).

we listened to an excellent, peaceful panel of three men, representing  British army, Nationalist, and Union.While the violence may be over, Belfast is still a divided city. 49% Protestant, 36% raised Catholic. Much progress needs to be made to tear down the wall!

It was great to spend the afternoon at the fabulous, interactive Titanic museum, which included Belfast's maritime (linen, whiskey, tobacco) and social history. It is shaped like the ship which met disaster in April 1912, when it ran into an iceberg shortly before landing in New York. This tragedy could have been prevented (not enough life boats, poor sightings, messaging,etc. from this state of the art, top of the line ship) 

I joined the optional tour to the Ards Peninsula where we stopped at the gorgeous Greyabbey (Henry VIII had most Catholic churches and abbeys destroyed, but beautiful ruins are strewed about the UK and Ireland. We stopped briefly at a park with sculpted creatures from CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Below, Aslan...

And the Northern Ireland Assembly, often referred to by the metonym Stormont, is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive.