Northern Ireland & Wales Days 8 & 9: Cymru Cwtsh

Months ago, when we were planning our trip, we knew we wanted to do a political mural tour in Belfast. It seemed a bit weird that the date we had available was already booked on every black cab tour website we could find, though all the dates around it were free. Life is busy and we didn't bother to look into it, figuring we'd sort it out later and likely just drive in ourselves and create our own route based on what we could find out online. It wasn't until the day before that we realized the reason that particular day was blocked off...it was July 12. 

Known coloquially as "The Twelfth", this is the largest Protestant celebration of the year in Northern Ireland.  Which means, it's likely one of the most disliked days for Northern Ireland Nationalists. The country is still quite divided and tensions flare around this "holiday" so we decided to stear clear of Belfast and have a quiet day at home instead. We didn't feel the need to get caught in a six mile long parade or worse! We blogged, did laundry, played in the backyard of our Air BnB, and got packed up for our onwards journey. 

On July 13, we rose early and hit the road before 7 am. We drove about an hour and a half into Belfast and did our own drive around downtown. We realize that seeing it in the early morning light after a politically charged event is perhaps not a fair judgement of the city the rest of the year. There were points where we needed to turn the car around and re-route because the road ahead was covered with debris from huge bonfires and broken bottles that had been thrown into them. It was a bit surreal to drive from one side of the wall (Protestant) that was decked out in celebration glory - British flags strung from every house, banners from all the lampposts, then turn a corner and have no evidence of any celebration whatsoever on the Catholic side of town. 

We had a quick and easy experience at the Belfast airport. Craig managed to get a pull of Guinness and a full Irish breakfast before we departed Ireland.

We flew into Cardiff, Wales and easily found our way to the train station by shuttle bus. A quick transfer in Bridgend and we had arrived in Swansea!

Here we pause to acknowledge the reason for this entire trip. It is Erin's parents' 50th wedding anniversary this July. They generously invited the entire family to Swansea to celebrate together. This is the town Erin's grandmother is from and where her grandparents met during World War Two. When Erin was twelve, her family came here with her grandparents and stayed in the family home where her great aunt and great uncle were still living. This trip is meant to retrace both her grandmother's footsteps and also the past family trip.

We arrrived in Swansea to the rest of the family already there. We'd wisely thought to each spend a week ahead of meeting up so that we would all be recovered from our jet lag. We were each staying in our own rental unit in the same area of town: Maritime Quarter. It boasted fabulous views of both the marina and Swansea Bay. It felt right to look out on the place that Erin's grandmother loved so dearly.