More from Belfast
Ok – so more stuff on what I saw on the Giant’s Causeway tour. Belfast castle (the newer one, up on a hil, far away), Bailey’s factory, the Glens of Antrim (there are 9 – if I had another day, I’d go to Glenarriff, which has walking tours and waterfalls and stuff. It was pretty from the road – it was dubbed mini-Switzerland by some writer). Most of the glens were quite pretty, lots of fields and sheep. LOTS of sheep. Just think what it’ll be like when I get to NZ. The Lorne port, which has artifacts of a 9000 y.o. settlement. The coastline was lovely – the Irish sea and then the Atlantic. Had it been clear, we would have been able to see Scotland, but it was overcast. A few islands, including Rathlin (the bird sanctuary one without any puffins this time of year. I want to see puffins…. hmmm – maybe in Scotland?) The beaches were mostly rocky – limestone, black ash, and basalt. Ballygally castle, which has a ghost (the lady was imprisoned in the tower for not producing an heir and in trying to escape fell to her death). I saw an eiderduck, a merlin (I think), cormorants, and some fulmars. Glenarm – the oldest town in Ireland. A moat around a castle, I think in Glenarm – my notes here are a bit rough. It was a very cool mote though – that’s where I saw the merlin. the Londonderry hotel, inherited and owned (briefly) by Winston Churchill. Hermit caves – real hermit caves! One that held a school, one was a home, and one was a distillery (keep the smoke from rising, barney…). A big white stone in the shape of a victorian lady. Part of the old Irish highway (an old stone bridge). A big red sandstone curfew tower, a sheep market. Lots of bushes called Gorsebush – which were blooming with yellow flowers all over them. Its the second time this year they’ve bloomed – that’s how mild the winter has been (it was 13C out, but still). Hello global warming. The disappearing lake of something orother. (I didn’t catch the name – anyways, it disappears within 24 hours and then reappears over the next few weeks). Ballypatrick forest park, which had lots of pine trees. (Bally means “place of”). Dunluce castle – which is a pretty ruins site out on the coast. Apparently 1 night there was a really bad storm and the dinner was delayed, so the earl (lord?) went to see what was going on, and found that the kitchen had fallen into the sea. The place where the Jerona (a ship in the Spanish Armada) was sunk and a bunch of treasure later recovered.
And then the causeway itself. It is all of these hexagonal stones, which are very cool looking (it was formed by lava flows cooling evenly and shrinking – or by the Irish giant Finbar, depending upon your beliefs). The main part of the causeway heads out to the sea and you can scramble around the rocks. There is also a formation called the organ, one big stone in the shape of a giant’s boot. Mostly it was a really lovely area around the Irish coast. I hiked around the area for a couple of hours. It was overcast and the sea was really intensely green when we first got there. It was windy and cool and just an absolutely gorgeous day. It was just so nice to be out of doors and hiking around on the coast. I have tons of really great photos (I am oh so humble) but it obviously more the scenery than my skills as a photographer. I can’t wait to upload them all.
Today I got up, had bfast in the Causeway cafe, that is in the hostel (which is lovely – Hayden said they just renovated it). I wandered down to the Botanical gardens, past the university. It was a nice open green area, lots of pretty trees (I have a fondness for bare trees on overcast days – there is something so picturesque about the contrast). The rose garden was not around at the moment (winter) but there was an old fashioned palm house/ conservatory that was really lovely. Lots of big Australian trees and a flower wing that smelled so good. Perfumed, but not cloyingly sweet. Then I went on a bus tour. I had originally wanted to black cab tour, but there weren’t enough people around. The guide was very good, stressing the economic development occuring around belfast (the 2nd safest city to visit in the world, btw), pointing out all the new features that had just popped up and where things would be in 5-6 years (the titanic museum – which does sound very cool – a scale model, and a ghost version made out of lights in the harbour). 1 billion already in the Lagan (?) area and 1 billion in the titanic/port area to come. Anyways, saw the leaning Albert clock, the Europa hotel (holds the guiness record for most bombed hotel – 43 times – it used to house the world press that came to Dublin – hence…), the grand opera house (very pretty), the building where the Titanic was designed, the place where it was launched, Samson and Goliath the 2nd and 3rd largest cranes in the world (at the Belfast docks), St. Georges’ market (a covered market – closed, but houses a couple of hundred stalls on the weekend), St. Anne’s cathedral, the Crumlin Road jail and courthouse (the statue of justice was missing her scales – apparently they were stolen 3 days after the courthouse closed and sold on ebay for 115£.). Then we went into Shankhill (Loyalist) and the Falls (Nationalist). The guide alternated between joking (those of you brave, or daft, enough to get off here – its a 15 minute walk, or a 5 minute run. Don’t worry there hasn’t been any violence here in the last 7 or 8 hours – I mean years!) and discussing the problems (the gates that seperate the neighborhoods still close every night and weekend, and fences topped with barbed wire run through people’s backyards). The murals were very cool, and I wish the bus had slowed down more for them. Not only was it sometimes hard to see them all, but I didn’t quite catch all of the factions of the movements the guide was rattling through (btw – a lot of my photos from this trip are less than brilliant, as they were taken from a moving bus – but they won’t be up for a bit, anyway). I particularly enjoyed the international murals condemning Bush. The guide was reluctant to talk about parts of the troubles. And it was weird to suddenly come upon a former British soldier’s base, or the most heavily guarded police station I have ever seen (although the guide was quick to point out that the gates were open, which would not have been the case 16 years ago). In town he pointed out a new building (the youth court), made entirely of glass on the front next to the old (adult) court which was not only stone, but had a large stone wall around it for bombings (to protect pedestrians).
All in all an interesting day. Belfast has many more brick and red stone buildings, so the architecture is a bit prettier than Dublin, which can be a bit grey. I took lots of photos of buildings that I didn’t even know what they were, and missed a whole bunch more that were really lovely. Then I went back to the hostel for a bit, read some of my book, and went to Benedict’s for dinner (they have a beat the clock speacial, so by ordering at 5:30, my dinner cast 5.50£. Which was a splurge, but I got the veggie curry, as I’ve been a bit vegetable deficient lately. I’m going to wash some clothes tonight and head out to Donegal early tomorrow.
Ooh – I also found a very cool store called “No Alibis” – the Murder Ink of Belfast. I doubt it’ll be open before I leave, but I think I might check, now that I’m almost done with my book. I wonder if I can visit libraries around Ireland with my Dublin card – I doubt it.
Oh – you do not need a passport for going to the North – who knew? (If someone said three years from now… da da da)
Added a few photos (I burned a CD at Boots – its a kodak CD, and I don’t know if some of the pictures are grainy because of the burning or that’s the way they took… I guess I won’t erase them from the memory card for a bit). I have about 50 causeway photos, so the rest will have to be added in Dublin from Kristl’s. But I put a couple up – AND maybe my favorite photo ever! 2 fulmars up on a cliff. Check it out.
Sorry if there are typos here – I seem to be having lots of trouble typing today. I’m pretty knackered.
YEAH! LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE AND THE OFFICE TOOK HOME THE BEST ENSEMBLE SAG AWARDS! ROCK! Although there is no way they are going to get a good showing for the oscars – it’s going to be fairly predictable. Maybe the SAGs will help LMS’ best picture chances. Ooh! Timothy Hutton is starring with Rainn Wilson in a film that premiered at sundance. Huh.
Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs (Pop music station on in the internet cafe – which is a proper cafe! I have a giant mocha next to me and everything). I’m torn – I’m thinking about heading to see blood diamond at the movie house (students are 3.25£, which is pretty good). But I don’t NEED to see it… and I should probably save the money for later. I’m doing okay on budget, but I am a tiny bit over (mostly from staying so long at the pub on Saturday). I can wait for it on DVD…
Tags: Travel
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