Ireland ~ Amaugh Cider Farm & Belfast (Day 4) 25Jul23

We departed Dublin pretty early for Belfast, the 2nd largest city in Ireland. We crossed the border from the Republic to into Northern Ireland (and the UK) of course but stopped along the way at an "apple farm" called Ambaugh. The proprietor was an amazing union-oriented entrepreneur who's pivoted a number of times and built a number of businesses. He gained a bramley (granny smith like apples) apple farm from his grandfather ~ in Ambaugh, the largest apple producing region in the UK and Ireland. Given some headwind and limited potential of bramleys alone (only used in baking really), Phillip pivoted to make cider. He added fermenting and bottling machines and grew the cider biz substantially, winning notoriety and awards for bright as well as mellow ciders along the way. They were very good. He had capacity on the bottling line so hired a sales person and expanded the line with flavors, tonics, and sodas to fill it. We had lunch and more tastes with him as he weaved his story and introduced his wife who, it turns out, began raising and letting her stud Irish champion horses. And their daughter became an Irish riding champ herself. Even his partner Helen can pivot and she began judging events like the Irish finals, and then pivoted further by making most of the ribbons awarded at various judged events in Ireland. All the cidery decisions, including mix/taste and marketing, are made around the kitchen table. Gosh knows why they hosted us with cider tasting and a fine lunch but it was a great stop discovered and booked by OAT.

 

Ambaugh was awesome and we made our way to the bus afterwards to wend the roads to Belfast. We arrived in the linen quarter of Belfast at our fine Ten Square hotel. But we quickly turned around to meet Paul of Dead Center tours to be introduced to Belfast via a walk and talk around downtown. Of course NI was a trouble-ladden area since the early 1900's from their relationship with Great Britain. Some in the North, especially Belfast, are Unionists (UVF & British) and some are Republicans (one Ireland & IRA) and this conflicting relationship has led to years of terror and repression in Belfast. OAT led us through a keen couple of days of profiling the conflict from all sides. Paul was a unionist but fairly balanced in his talk. He showed us city hall and the streets surrounding it... including famous ones littered with bombings and gunfire. We saw fallen union soldiers memorialized with poppies, a beautiful hall, a monument to Clinton's lauding the signing of the Friday Agreement in only 1998, which seemingly stemmed the violence between the IRA and UVF/Brits. He was well connected and well spoken from direct involvement. We also visited a memorial to those killed on the Titanic (as that ship and many other White Line ships were built in Belfast).

We then walked around the city center some more with our main guide Paul, a republican from Dublin, and enjoyed the gorgeous Crown Bar with the crown on the entryway because the owner's wife was also a republican and if "Crown" was to be the bar's name she wanted the crown on the entryway to allow all to trounce on it on arrival. Dunno if that true but it's a good story. We are in Ulster though and Union Jack flags were evident in many enclaves. We ascended to the 23rd floor of the Grand Central hotel for over-priced cocktails ~ but a killer 360° view over all of Belfast. I saw the shipbuilding docks but only 3 operating cranes. Belfast's economy is not that of Dublin's right now by any stretch.

We headed to dinner and passed the Europa Hotel, the most bombed building in western Europe ~ perfect for a selfie?! We dined apart from OAT for the evening and we four ate at the keen Garrick Tavern where I enjoyed a Belfast IPA from Whitewater called Hoppel Hammer with my tasty steak sandwich. Music started at Fibber Magees at 9:30pm and while even my team headed to the hotel for bed after a long day, I needed a music fix and heard a keen set of Gaelic tunes from a strong 3-piece band. They included a tribute to America and "apologized" for the War of 1812. The set was very good.

Awesome arrival day in Belfast... another great Irish city!