Ireland Day 3: Belfast and Downpatrick, via Portaferry and Strangford

I woke up today feeling much more rested, and ready to explore!  We got up early and headed down to the breakfast buffet, unsure of what to expect.  Pure deliciousness!  Eggs, baked beans, rashers, sausages, mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, black and white pudding (which I admit I did not eat), soda bread, fresh-squeezed apple and orange juices, fruit, cold ham, cheese, porridge, and, to my surprise, a gravy boat full of Bushmills!  Yes, you read that right - Bushmills on the breakfast bar.  Have I already said how much I love Ireland?  Technically, it is there so you can put it in your porridge, but you could (theoretically) slip some into your coffee or juice glass, and no one would be the wiser.  Just theoretically of course.

After breakfast, we took a quick walk around Belfast before the day's excursion.  We walked past City Hall (pictured below), and I stopped at a drug store to get some chapstick.  Their drug stores are pretty cool - you can buy every level of cosmetic or hair care product in the same place - just across the aisle from my chapstick was an Estee Lauder counter.  We continued our walk and eventually began seeing nothing but tattoo parlors and adult shops.  I'm beginning to think we are heading in the wrong direction.  Next we see people sitting in doorways pouring whiskey into their pop bottles at 8:00 am.  Whiskey at 8:00 am??  That's just uncouth (unless you get it at the breakfast buffet . . . ).

Next, the group piles into the van and heads to Downpatrick, in the County Down, to see Down Cathedral, the burial place of St. Patrick and various other interesting places.  The drive was quite scenic - we drove down the Ards Peninsula, along the shore of Strangford Lough (at least I think that is what it is called), an inlet from the Irish Sea.

We continued on to the small town of Portaferry, where we had the chance to explore the town for about half an hour.  We walked around and found the Portaferry Castle and an old church called BallyPhilip Parish Church, complete with an old cemetery.  Walking around the church, I managed to knock myself down and land on my (already hurt) knees and got rocks in my hands.  It hurt my pride more than my body, so to make myself feel better we stopped at a little bakery on the way back to the van, where I purchased some kind of delicious little tart-like treat for myself.

Portaferry Castle

BallyPhilip Parish Church

We made it back to the van and took a car ferry across the lough to Strangford.  What a beautiful view from the ferry!  The first two photos are views from the ferry looking back towards Portaferry, and the third is coming into Strangford.

On to Downpatrick . . . we arrive a little bit early for our tour of the Saint Patrick Centre, so we had some time to explore the town.  As we were driving through the town on the way in, I happened to spot a purple scarf in the window of a little shop.  As soon as I heard we had some free time, the hunt was on - I was determined to find the store with that scarf.  We found the store, I purchased the scarf (which appears in later photos if you are interested), and we struck up a conversation with the lady working at the shop so we could find out where there was a good, local, non-tourist-y place to eat lunch.  During this conversation, she was telling us about some kind of big commotion that happened in the town "really early in the morning . . . it must've been about 9:00."  This was one of my first indications that I was meant to live here.  Nine o'clock is really early here?  My kind of place!  But back to the story - she told us we should eat lunch at a little pub called Denvir's, so that is where we headed.  Turned out to be an awesome recommendation!  The bartender, Colum, was a really, really nice guy.  There was no one in the place except for me, my husband, and two locals.  The bartender and the locals chatted with us for awhile, we ate some delicious chicken goujons (aka fancy chicken fingers), and had a pint.  The bartender told us some of the history of Denvir's.  It is supposed to be Ireland's oldest coach inn, built in 1642.  The original fireplace in one room of the bar dates back to the 17th Century.  Colum asked my husband if he ever poured his own pint of Guinness, and let him come behind the bar so he could teach him how to do it.  Don't get too excited - I'm not going to give away that secret!  The bartender did tell us that the best pints of Guinness are in Dublin, because Guinness doesn't travel well.  I had plenty of pints in Dublin, but I think the pint at Denvir's might have been my favorite.  It was at least in the top three. 

Next it was off to the Saint Patrick Centre and the Down Cathedral, the burial place of St. Patrick.  If you don't know the story of St. Patrick, click here.  I'm too tired to type it all up here, but it is very interesting.  We took the tour of the center, then walked up to the Cathedral, and saw St. Patrick's burial site. 

We also visited the Down County Museum and the old County Gaol of Down, built in the late 1700's.  We then returned to Belfast and headed straight to Fibber Magees to see some more live music (a band called The Real Shindig, who happened to play at Kell's in Portland not too long ago) and have some pints.  We had Belfast's Best Pizza on the way to the pub (and again on the way back to the hotel).  At the pub, we chatted with a Scottish guy, had some more pints, danced to the live music, and proceeded to get a little wastey-faced and just have a great time (I believe this is what is known as the craic in Ireland).  All in all it was a great day!  One of my favorite days of the trip.