On the 98th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, Maggie, Liz, and I took a bus to Belfast in Northern Ireland (which is a separate country from the Republic of Ireland). We stayed at Paddy's Palace near Queens University and on our first night, ate at an Indian restaurant for supper. The next morning we went on a Paddywagon tour of the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, Giant's Causeway, and the city of Derry/Londonderry.
This is at the rope bridge - the coast of Scotland is only 12 miles from here.
The water looked amazingly clear; we should have brought our swimsuits!
This is the actual bridge, but it cost money to cross it so we...
...just did yoga in front of it. And by "we" I mean Liz, the yoga instructor.
The coast of Giant's Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and all the basalt columns (mostly hexagonal) are naturally formed.
It was a treacherous climb over the rocks.
A little kid was doing ninja poses on the columns and his dad was getting mad because he just wanted him to smile for pictures.
We had a quick stop at Dunluce Castle, near the Bushmills distillery, on the way to Derry.
There is still some tension in Derry/Londonderry from the "Troubles" - the conflict between Loyalists and Republicans over whether Northern Ireland should be part of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. Evidence of the conflict: they can't even agree on a name for the city. "Derry" is the Republican name and "Londonderry" is the Loyalist name, so depending on whose side the mapmaker is on, the city can be listed under either of these names.
These murals in Derry are like the political murals in Belfast and serve as memorials or calls to fight in the Troubles.
The next afternoon we took a black taxi tour of Belfast, something that is very popular there. It's a private tour led by the taxi driver. Our guide was Protestant and on the Loyalist side during the Troubles. He showed us these murals, which are all over the city.
An example of a black taxi, though not ours.
This is a memorial on the Republican side of the "Peace" Wall, although it represented no such thing. The wall separates the Republican and Loyalist sides of town, and often rocks and grenades were thrown over the wall; that's why the fence on top was added.
The Loyalist side of the wall was covered in graffiti and messages of both hatred and peace.
Many of the murals are painted on the sides of houses, in addition to commercial buildings.
After the tour, we went to the Botanical Gardens near Queens University and our hostel.
The lilacs were in bloom here, and it made me really miss my backyard at home.
After we got back, we found out the airspace in Ireland and the UK was closed because of the Icelandic volcano and concerns over the ash, so Mag and Liz's flight to London was canceled. I was just going to take the bus back to Cork, so my plans weren't messed up, but we treated ourselves to takeaway sushi anyway. When we got back to the hostel, we found out that virtually everyone there had flights canceled, and it felt like a snow day had just been announced. There was a sense that everyone was both excited and entrapped; people were in a unifying and generous mood, if only because some girls we met earlier had made scones with jam and frosting for anyone who wanted one. It was a feeling of "We're all in this together," minus the High School Musical sing-along.
Mag and I were walking around and we saw this: church-turned-shopping center called the Spires Shopping Mall. Creative.
My advice for anyone going to Belfast: find a bus tour that's going to Giant's Causeway for free; ours was comp through the hostel because we booked at least 2 nights there. I'm also planning to go back to Belfast in early April 2012 because it will be the centennial of the sailing of the Titanic and the city is building a new cultural center and there will be lots of festivities including tours of the Pump House and the captain's office, which has been locked since the ship's sinking. I'm planning on bringing my dad. You might have to help me convince him, even though he loves the Titanic.
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