This weekend was the last weekend I was in Scotland. Consequently, I did not spend it in Scotland. Instead, I was in Belfast, which is the capitol of Northern Ireland. Just to be clear, Northern Ireland is separate from the Republic of Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is its own thing, while Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom. I went because we had an excursion there on Friday with my International Relations class, and a few of us decided to stay the weekend.
What's important about Northern Ireland? Well in recent years, it has seen a lot of conflict. The city is basically divided into Republicans and Loyalists. The republicans want to become part of the Republic of Ireland, while the loyalists want to stay part of the UK. Over the past few decades, this has basically caused a civil war in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles. To help calm the violence, the community asked for these "peace" walls to be put in place, which divides the city into sections of republicans and loyalists. I put peace in quotations, because the walls are very unsettling. It's a strongly divided community, and it is scary to realize how real conflict still is in this part of the world. Most people would think of the UK as being very conflict-free - not Northern Ireland. In addition to the walls, each side paints murals in their individual communities that reflect events that have happened - both in Belfast and around the world - and what they believe in. It is so strange, heading through the gates - yes, military checkpoint style gates that are locked from 6pm to 6am - is like heading into a different world. Belfast is really still a divided city.
But the city center is wonderful, around where City Hall is located. Which is a beautiful building. So Friday was my class excursion, and we had a three and a half hour walking tour where a guide took us around and described the Troubles. And it is amazing how real the conflict still is. I've said this before, but the place was really unsettling. We also toured the jailhouse that day, which was pretty cool. I also got to have a drink at the oldest pub in the UK. At least, I believe it is...which sits right across the street from the most bombed hotel in the UK, the Europa Hotel. I think it has been bombed 23 times? And yes, mostly during the Troubles.
Saturday, myself and a few others were on our own. We booked a bus tour to the Giant's Causeway, which is something most people should see. It's really amazing. On the way we stopped at a few castles and castle ruins, which didn't really stand out a lot. We stopped at Carrick-a-Rede, where this rope bridge spans 30 feet, 100 feet above the sea to go to a tiny island. It's just a fun thing to do and see the view of the Northern Ireland coastline, which is just beautiful. We ate at a local distillery, called Bushmills distillery, where of course we samples some Irish whiskey. Which was pretty good, but to me tasted like every other whiskey I've had here so far. After lunch, the big moment happened...we saw Giant's Causeway. For those who don't know, Giant's Causeway is right on the coast, almost the farthest north you can get in Ireland. They are hexagonal columns of hardened lava, known as basalt rock. And it is amazing. But I could only stay for a few minutes - and I'm talking like 2 minutes max - because it was raining really, really hard. How hard? At the beginning of the tour, our bus driver told us that there is no bad weather in Ireland, even when it rains. When we got to Giant's Causeway, even he admitted the weather was absolutely awful. So not great, but I'm still glad I got to go for a bit.
And now today. I got to wander off by myself for a bit, which was a really nice break. I went to see the Titanic museum, because the Titanic was built in Belfast. So how could I not go see it? And it was completely worth the 30 minute walk I had to complete to get there. First of all, the building itself was spectacular. All metallic and silver and ship-like. And the museum itself was wonderful. There were lots of movies, interactive exhibits, and even a short ride. It might be one of the best museums I've ever been to. I even got to go out on the slipway where they constructed the Titanic. And man, was this slipway huge. It kind of put into context how massive this ship really was.
So all in all I think I enjoyed Belfast. It was a long journey though, especially since our flight back to Scotland was delayed an hour and a half. But we eventually made it. To sum it up, these are the three most important thing I learned on this short trip. One: conflict is still a major part of this world, even if we can't see it or it isn't obvious, and we should be thankful to live in a place where there isn't major conflict. Two: the story about the musicians on the Titanic is probably the saddest story ever. Not ever, but still. They even recovered the head musicians violin and violin case, and it is considered one of the most important artifacts from the Titanic wreck. And three: I must look very Irish, because as I was walking around today people stopped me on three separate occasions to ask for directions.
And that was my trip to Northern Ireland. Pretty short, but I feel like there was a lot jam packed in there. I got to experience the "backpackers mentality," as I stayed in a hostel for a while with nothing but the stuff in my backpack. It was awesome, and now I feel like my journey here, away from the states, is coming to an end. And that's alright. I've done a lot of cool stuff. It's about time I got back to the boring stuff, right? Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment