What is that noise??? It is the phone in the room is ringing! It was Anne asking if we are coming down to the lobby soon. I asked her what time it is and she said 7:45am – we were to meet them at 7:30am to take a taxi to the airport. Someone’s alarm did not work and that person’s name does not start with an L! So Anne and Richard took their own taxi and Andrew and I quickly packed and got on our way too, about 20 minutes later! On the way to the airport, Andrew realized that he had set the alarm for 6:30 PM not AM. Oh well, these things happen!
We had a great driver to the airport – very friendly and chatted the whole way there. His last name was Lennon which was cool too! He even dropped us off where our bus should have been, however as it was not there, Andrew and I went inside to the Arrivals area and met up with the people who had already arrived for the tour. There are a total of 23 people on this Gluten Free Tour, which has been arranged by a travel agent, Royal Irish Tours and two volunteers – Anne (who is here) and Liz (who unfortunately could not make it). Once everyone got through customs we were off to find the bus for the trip! Adrian, the bus driver had brought the bus around and we then all got on – with the “back of the bus” people already occupying the same seats that they had in Italy – they had stayed at the airport and the 6 of them were picked up first prior to swinging by the airport and acquiring the rest of the group of us.
We are on a very nice bus, other than it drives on the other side of the road! It seats about 50 people – very similar to the bus we had in Italy however it does not have a lift on it, which I knew prior to the trip. In fact I was told that there are no tour busses in Ireland with lifts on them.
Vinnie is our tour leader and he is from Wexford, which is on the south east coast of Ireland. He has the same hairline as Andrew and my father and he is quite outgoing and funny! He is also gluten intolerant so that is why he was picked to lead our group.
Our first stop was the Man O’ War pub for a light lunch. It was only about 10:30am however as half the group had been travelling overnight, it was best to start them on a proper eating schedule! The pub had opened up especially for us and had a lovely GF spread of tomato soup, variety of GF sandwiches and a plate of GF cookies/sweets. There were also gluten options for those who were accompanying us. It was the first time for me having bread on this trip and I almost could not tell that the white bread for the egg sandwich was gluten free – it was that GOOD! While egg sandwiches are not my favourite thing to eat, the “mystery meat” sandwiches I was not going to take part in. Even those who eat meat were wondering what the meat was!
The pub both smelled and oozed history – there were items on the ceiling that had been found when grounds around the pub had been dug up. It was all wood panelled and had that awesome “pub” feel to it! Here are some pictures that I took:
Now back on the bus, we are heading towards Belfast, in Northern Ireland. When we got to Belfast, prior to checking into the Grand Hotel, we did a City Tour – all those photos are below!
Still on the City Tour, we are now going to visit some historical areas between the Protestant and Catholics challenges that have happened in Belfast.
We then arrived at the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast where we would be staying for 2 nights. It is a beautiful hotel! Other than needing a pole vault to get onto the bed, we had a very nice accessible room! Here are our pictures!
Tomorrow, we are off to check out the Giant’s Causeway! Here is the drive we took today:
