12.10 → 15.10: I’ll tell me ma: Belfast

I had intentionally left about a week at the end of my travels uncommitted to see where the mood would take me. As it turned out, my mood took me to Belfast! It’s hard to pinpoint why I wanted to go to Belfast – I just did. I know most people associate it with crazy Irishmen blowing each other up at any available opportunity but I’m really glad I went!!

As it turned out, it was possible to catch a bus from Edinburgh to Belfast (with a ferry bit in the middle, obviously). I set off for the bus station in the dark to be there for the 7.00am, in the morning, quite early, departure. All went smoothly and, travelling via Glasgow, we were soon boarding the ferry at Glenryan. 

The Royal Mile at some ungodly hour

Glasgow en route

Ferry at Glenryan

The ferry was more like a cruise ship and was full to the brim with passengers, a mix of foot passengers like me, and those who drove on. The ship had various floors with restaurants, bars and, at the top, a massage parlour and sauna. The crossing took a tad over two hours and we soon alighted at the Port of Belfast, complete with those famous yellow H&W cranes on the skyline. 

Coming into Port of Belfast

A short 15-minute bus ride had me in the city centre and from there it was another 20-minute walk to my hostel. This hostel, Global Village, was a bit more like those where I had stayed in Estonia: smaller, more personal and everything you need included at no extra charge. This was located in the university area of town which was useful as it meant there were a good selection of reasonably priced shops at hand, making it easy to self cater.

After having dinner I wandered into town to a pub, Fibber Magee, which hosts live Irish music nightly. That night a duo called The Buckmad Bhoys was playing. Despite being very obviously tourist orientated (I detected very few Irish accents), it was excellent. One guy played the guitar while the other switched between the fiddle, tin whistle and mandolin. I sat next to a mother and daughter from the USA; the mother a social worker and daughter a primary school teacher. They timed their 10-day annual leave to overlap so they could go away together. It’s easy to forget that eastern USA is only a short plane flight from these parts. It was a great evening and by the end everyone was up dancing. When the Belle of Belfast City came on I couldn’t resist!!'

Buckmad Bhoys with Guinness

As with other places I visited, I decided to use geocaching as a city guide, and this again worked well. It turned out to be quite an intense day. The streets of Belfast are filled with so much history, much of which is still ongoing, it was almost a bit overwhelming at points. The net result is, however, that I feel as though I now have a much better appreciation of the situation in that part of the world.

I started walking towards West Belfast. Here, concrete, steel and chain-link fencing, all topped with copious amounts of razor wire, literally divide the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. While all the gates in these fences were open when I visited, it is apparently not uncommon for them to be closed at times when community tensions escalate, for example during the marching season around Easter. Most of these fences have been covered in murals, some of the typical love peace not war variety, others political and others explaining historical events. For me, these murals were reminiscent of those on the Berlin wall.

West Belfast

First gate I came across

A memorial between the gates recognising 45 years of conflict, erected 2014

Big fence

Protestant neighbourhood (I should note, this was an atypical sight)

Another gate

Clonard Monastery, Roman Catholic

Inside

I popped into a café on the Protestant side for some lunch. The people at the café were so nice, as was the case with every single other person I met in Belfast – literally. This, I think, is what makes it so hard for me to comprehend what has gone on in this city for such a long time. If everyone were to be mad savages, it would all make sense. But, that is most certainly not the case, so what gives??

I wandered on, past an old gaol and decrepit town hall to Crumlin Road. One geocache took me to a site where a pub once stood, now at the foot of an overpass. British terrorists blew up the pub in 1971, apparently. Some 15 people died quite painful deaths. This sort of thing went on over an extended period all over Northern Ireland and into Britain. It wasn’t until 1996 that a treaty was signed and most of the violence ceased.

Crumlin Road Gaol

Old town hall

Site of terrorism

Next was the recently redeveloped old port area, on the western bank of the River Lagan. As with many cities (and perhaps one day Adelaide??) the old port area has been done up and is now a trendy, upmarket area. Several geocaches I did pointed out the old churches tucked away amongst the more modern constructions.

View from port over the Lagan

Belfast Town Hall

I finished up in the city centre by the early evening and, after wandering around the traps there for a bit, I popped home to get changed and headed to Kelly's Cellars. I had hoped to eat there, as I’d heard they do a mean Irish stew, but they’d finished serving so I found a restaurant nearby. I was also attracted to Kelly’s Cellar because they have a traditional music session on Thursday nights. After eating I returned there, ordered a stout (as one does in these parts) and before too long the musicians started to arrive. Anyone can join in and indeed more and more musicians turned up throughout the evening, until there were about 15 playing various traditional instruments. Generally it was the case that one would start off and then others would join in until they were all playing along.

As I was watching, a local couple celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary quickly joined me. They’d been in the same restaurant and commended me for picking one of the best in Belfast. The woman was originally from Sweden, but had spent most of her adult life in Belfast having met her husband there while travelling. They have four adult children. She works as a nurse and he is a youth worker. We had a pleasant evening, chatting on and off and listening to the music.

While in Northern Ireland, it is obligatory to visit the Giant’s Causeway. I was weighing the different options to get there and settled on a bus tour which incorporated a 5 mile hike along the cliff tops of the Ulster coast, ultimately ending at the causeway proper.

The tour set off from a nearby hostel at 9.00. After driving around the city picking up people from various places, we headed north to Norman Castle at Carrickfergus, where King William III first set foot in Ireland in 1690. 

King Willy III

Carrickfergus

From here we had a very stunning drive along the Antrim coast, with the coach driver giving an interesting and entertaining commentary along the way. The first major stop was at the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. This is one of the major tourist attractions of the region. As the name suggests, a rope bridge connects the mainland to a small island. Fishermen originally used this bridge as the island provided a relatively safe harbour for them along the otherwise hostile coast. The National Trust now manages the area. After a most pleasant walk along the coast and the obligatory bridge crossing, I ate my lunch before hopping back on the coach and heading to Dunseverick. 

Coast near rope bridge

Rope bridge

Here I was dropped off and met my guide Paul at the trailhead. As it turned out, I was the only participant on the walk – the others continued on to a whiskey distillery for lunch. Paul was a most excellent guide, giving me an in-depth understanding of not only the coasts history, geology and folklore, but also a broader understanding of the history and politics of Northern Ireland itself. With all of that, coupled with the jaw-dropping scenery, this was certainly a highlight of my sojourn in Northern Ireland. 

Typical Ulster coast

Port Moon, once used by fishermen, that little hut is now used by sea kayakers

Paul next to a chair he helped make

Good view of local strata, including several layers of hexagonal pillars

The Giant’s Causeway itself is also an impressive geological feature: The perfect cooling conditions allowed magma to form near perfect hexagonal pillars which appear to rise from the ground. The folk tale of Finn MacCool, the giant who both built and demolished the causeway to Scotland is described well here. The causeway is Northern Ireland’s major tourist attraction and has been since the 1600’s. Now that the troubles have died down, tourists are again flocking to see the causeway, with a shiny new visitors centre opening a few years ago. Apparently the causeway completely fills with tourists during summer, so I was there at a pretty ideal time.

Giant's boot

Giant's Causeway

For my final day in Belfast I had another walk in mind. I headed back into the city centre, sorted out some technical issues with my phone, and from there walked for some distance along the River Lagan. I ultimately ended up back at the botanical gardens and the Ulster Museum, where I wanted to check out one particular exhibition about the history of the Ulster region from 1500 to 1968. It was very good and, I thought, provided enough information to gain a good understanding of the historical events without going into too much detail. At the start of the exhibition were some of the relics recovered from Spanish war ship which sank at a site Paul had pointed out to me the previous day.

Fish celebrating the return of spawning salmon to the River Lagan after extensive efforts to clean up the river

That evening I went to a performance by Irish folk artist Sharon Shannon, just up the road from me at the Empire Music Hall. A most excellent way to spend my last evening in Belfast.

Sharon Shannon at Empire Music Hall