Driving the Northern Ireland Countryside

Friday, August 22

It was time to retrieve our rental car and drive the five miles eastward to Stormont. Originally it was built in 1932 to be the Northern Ireland Parliament Building. It was made redundant during direct rule from London but is now the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly Hall is entirely constructed of marble, large and symmetrical with a impressive staircase at the far end.  Above is a decorative ceiling painted in gold, red, and blue. The paint was a special formula incorporating wax to resist any dust buildup. It has proven successful as the colors are still brilliant and it has never been repainted or cleaned. Unfortunately the chemist died soon after without recording his formula. Hanging from the ceiling are five crystal chandeliers. The central and largest was a gift to England from Kaiser Wilhelm. It was put in storage during World War I and given to Northern Ireland when Stormont was built. Apparently German made not good enough for England but good enough for Ireland. The two chambers, one red and one blue were fashioned after the British Parliament. 

Main entrance to Stormont

The entry hall at Stormont

As we left we spotted the turreted roofing of Stormont Castle and drove off to investigate. However, a friendly man at the gatehouse informed us that the castle was "out of bounds", so we left Belfast and drove south towards the Mourne Mountains. 

Legananny Dolmen

Mike has a thing for dolmens and the Legananny Dolmen just happened to be in our path or so we thought. Finding it meant getting to Ballynahinch which involved more u-turns and head scratching before we located it alongside a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. 

The scenery of the Mourne Mountains warrants a calendar photo or two, but after driving much of the inland climbing route and the coastal route we found it less spectacular than expected. The grey and frequent showers might have had a bearing on our appreciation. 

Mourne Mountains

Mourne Mountains

Dashing through the wind and showers we lunched in a small cafe. The menu was prominently displayed on a large chalkboard. Among the few items was a "baked potato served with salad and baby, boiled potatoes". We chose a different entree.

The end of the afternoon took us through the attractive towns of Warrenpoint and Rostrevor beside Carlingford Lough. 

Before we knew it we were back across the border headed for our overnight stop in Dundalk. Arriving at rush hour in a town with narrow streets made one way but not parallel we circled more than once before cornering a taxi driver for directions. Mike suggested paying an extra ten euros for a seaview and was impressed with our eleventh floor panorama. Jan was unimpressed because the sea was a thin strip in the far distance beyond a vast wetlands rather than lapping or crashing against the building.