This trip's photos took me the longest yet to go through. The trip was not only beautiful, but moving in so many ways. If I posted all of the great photos, blogger would surely crash! I hope the photos I picked can tell a good story.
Places visited:
Belfast
Coastal Route
Portstewart
Giant's Causeway
Dunluce Castle
Carrick-a-rede rope bridge
This past week was "Reading Week" at Trinity, aka Study Week, aka no school...for nearly everyone except LL.M.-ers, that is. We do not get a Reading Week, but then again we end classes one week earlier than the undergrads. (Score!) I think there are a couple other programs that have the same type of scenario, but not many.
My friend Audrey planned this wonderful little trip to Belfast and the northern coast. As she and the other 3 girls had Reading Week, they were able to leave early Thursday morning. I had class until 5pm, so I took a 6.30pm bus up to Belfast and arrived there around 9.30.
Belfast, Capital City of Northern Ireland
The 4 girls met me at the bus station, then we went across the street to the Crown Bar on Great Victoria Street.
The Crown was gorgeous. No wonder it's been dubbed one of the most beautiful pubs in the world. My description wouldn't do it justice, so check out the description of the interior here. Everything was so ornate - and real oil lamps burning throughout.
Here are two of Jessica's pics of the interior detail:
A favorite memory was the snug we scored. Love it! Our own private little seating area, complete with a door and a bell to ring for bar service, just as they used in the Victorian era. We're told the pub survived over 40 bombings during "The Troubles". Our snug also provided proof of one of such bombings:
Can you see the cracks in the upper left corner?
A small placard told us this was from one of the bombings.
Our snug was this one on the far left, above.
Other snugs in the Crown - aren't they cool?!
(these two photos = courtesy of the Crown website)
The Crown Bar, aka the Crown Liquor Saloon, was built in the early 1800s and later became a Victorian gin palace. Italian architects, who traveled to Belfast to build various churches, assisted in the ornate woodwork and mosaics in the Crown.
Interestingly, we learned that the National Trust now owns this pub. This makes sense, as the place is clearly well cared for. Apparently there was a hefty restoration in 2007.
We had one beer at the Crown, then headed through city centre to our hostel. The girls had seen city centre during the day and told me of their tour of City Hall, which looked beautiful at night. Here is one of their pics of City Hall:
The girls also visited the Titanic tourist attraction (it was built here), but they said it wasn't all that exciting.
My First Hostel Stay!
We arrived at our hostel, The Linen House Hostel on Kent Street. It was fine - clean and affordable; I think we each paid £10. The 5 of us shared a 6 bed dorm, with the 6th bed remaining unoccupied (so no strangers in the room with us).
In the morning I woke up early and went for a run through Belfast. I later realized that I ran through one of the Protestant areas known for being a bit unruly. Oops.
Black Taxi Tour of Belfast
As the second largest city in Ireland and the largest in Northern Ireland, Belfast is certainly a city divided on religious lines - Protestant and Catholic. In very general terms, the west side of city centre is Catholic, the east is Protestant. Some areas are equally blended. However, in another sense the root of the issues is not religious, but in fact political, with tensions over the UK rule over Northern Ireland.
In a nutshell, the Loyalists support N.Ireland being ruled by Great Britain; the Republicans support the unification of Ireland. "The Troubles" lasted from the 1960s to the late 1990s - recall Bloody Sunday. Today it is better but not 100% peaceful. I do believe they are working toward a semblance of peace, which cannot happen overnight. Each July is a bit tense as Protestant Union Orangemen parade through the city celebrating their British Rule. Click here for an article regarding a riot this past July. (No, Mommy, nothing crazy like this happened while we were there!)
Thirsty for more knowledge about this diverse city, off we went on our Belfast Black Taxi Tour! The cool thing about these tours is that you can basically customise your tour - tell your driver where you want to see, what you want to learn more about, etc. We toured the politically divided areas. Our driver was so very nice and really helped us learn the details of the political/religous divisions.
We began with the Protestant areas of Belfast. (It was then that I realized where my morning jog took me.) You've probably heard about the murals in Belfast. Below are some that our driver took us to, beginning with the murals in the Shankill (mainly Protestant) area, then moving into the Catholic areas, then a row of political murals from Falls Road. Many depict a particular political side, but our driver explained that there has been an increase in the number of murals depicting peace times and tolerance between groups. Other murals depict Irish history as well as history of other nations. Most of these murals are along sides of apartments and other residential areas. We asked our driver if they are commissioned or what the process is. He said most of the time it's just done - if you come home and the side of your building is being painted over, that's just commonly accepted. Curious, isn't it?
*Disclaimer: The attorney in me feels compelled to state that my blogging and posting of this history and these murals does not imply any political viewpoint. (Well, maybe probably except for the last one...) I'm simply sharing history. In the unlikely case that I ever dream of anything close to a political career, hopefully this won't factor in :)
So here we go!
The Northern Ireland Coat of Arms, one of the first murals we saw in the Shankill area.
Along the bottom you see "Quis Separabit" - Latin for "Who will separate us?"
The left side of this mural displays a quote from Oliver Cromwell, as follows:
"Catholicism is more than a religion, it is a political power.
Therefore I'm led to believe there will be no peace in Ireland until the Catholic Church is crushed."
This mural is a celebration of Cromwell's men moving into Ireland.
This mural reads as follows:
"Here we stand, here we remain.
We simply want to take our God-ordained place as indigenous Ulster people.
Understanding and living out our calling, we assume our identity without shame,
retaliation or indignation against those who have caused harm to our past
and tried to castrate our culture, our identity and our place on this island."
A mural of the (top, left to right) UDU (Ulster Defence Union), UFF (Ulster Freedom Fighters) and UDA (Ulster Defence Association)
In the photo above, check out the guy in the middle - he follows you! Hopefully you can see this from my photos:
There are many tales of the origins of the Red Hand of Ulster, stemming from one of Ireland's many legendary invasions. You can see the red hand in the middle of some versions of the Ulster flag shown on the murals.
As with most legends there are many versions of the story; this mural depicts one of them: The leader of a war party promised a prize to the first man to touch land with his right hand; so the winner, a left-handed man, cut off his right hand and threw it onto the shore.
The murals above read as follows:
"The young do not know enough to be prudent and
therefore they attempt the impossible and achieve it ...
generation after generation. - Pearl S. Buck"
and
"Adults do not perceive children as a minority group
but as helpless, inexperienced, defenseless young people
who need protection ... This attitude must be confronted,
challenged and refuted if young people
are to secure their political rights. - Bob Franklin"
The Peace Walls, Belfast
After viewing the Shankill areas, we drove along some of the Peace Walls as we made our way into the Catholic areas. The Peace Walls basically separate the two rival areas to minimize potential violence. The walls are mainly in Belfast, total close to 40 and span over 20km in total. Some are nearly 8meters high. Despite the ongoing peace process, the walls still divide the communities. Our driver had a nice way of explaining it: he said the walls are a symbol of the hope for peace yet also a reminder that peace is very fragile.
Many walls are full of various types of graffiti - some the work of local artists telling their stories, history, hopes; others are scribblings from tourists from all over the world, ranging from the "give peace a chance" sentiments to the "I was here" comments. While the expressions mainly relate to rivalry and peace in Northern Ireland, you also see many comments related to peace in the Middle East and other parts of the world.
As you'll see below, one of the walls has beautiful metalwork and clay art. If you click on the photos, it should take you to a full size shot if you want to see the various comments on the walls. The metalwork is varied - some give quotes from politcal figures, some relate to children's game, poems or local occupations.
"Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. - Dalai Lama"
"Society can be a better place to live - there are great opportunities for
Northern Ireland, we just have to grasp them. - David Ervine"
"When the titles are gone, we're all equal. - Psalm 139"
"Your neighbour is your other self dwelling behind a wall. - Kahlil Gibran" "Strength and wisdom are not opposing values. - Bill Clinton"
pattern maker. for my dad.
This is one gates along the peace wall. They close each night at 8pm and reopen at 5am, shutting off the Protestant and Catholic areas from each other. Some gates are closed on weekends. If necessary, the guards can remotely close the gates at any time.
On the Catholic side, we saw many gardens honoring the fallen soldiers and civilians. This garden is the "Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden" along Bombay Street. This garden is commissioned by Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners Association and was erected in 2000.
Note the peace wall is immediately behind this garden. 
The plaque above reads:
"This plaque is dedicatd to the people of the Greater Clonard who have resisted and still resist the occupation of our country by Britain. We acknowledge with pride the sacrifice they made throughout every decade. Their names would be too numerous to mention, and their deeds of bravery and resistance are un-equalled in the history of our struggle.
We, the Republican ex-prisoners of the Greater Clonard, salute you,
and your reward will only be a united Ireland."
A plaque listing the fallen soldiers and civilians "who were killed by Crown Forces and Loyalist murder gangs" - note two of the civilians are listed as being 4 and 5 yrs old at death.
Note the high metal wire on the peace wall behind the garden (above and below)
and the back yards enclosed with protective wire (below).
The scene shown in this mural happened directly across the street from this garden.
Other murals of various sentiments along Falls Road:
and now...the best mural of them all...
(actually, to be fair, this mural was replaced a few months before our trip. I found it online and got a good laugh from it, so thought I'd post it for comical value :) Currently in its place is the black and white mural above (anti-racism mural), to the right of the red Manchester Martyrs mural.)
Queen's University, Belfast
We bid adieu to our taxi driver at Queen's University. Here, we met up with one of Jessica's friends, took a short stroll through the pretty campus, then went for lunch.
Main Library at Q.U. (this one's for you, Rachel)
Who Knew?
I apparently own an amazing (and super cute) restaurant in Belfast and never knew: Molly's Yard. This place was just down the street from Queen's, so we decided to sample my fare.
Aside from having a great name and being really cozy, this place had absolutely divine food.
I had the soup of the day - broccoli, almond and blue cheese soup.
Delicious. (just ignore the huge pool of butter floating...)
The brown bread was by far the best brown bread I've had. (I think I may have said this before from another restaurant, but who's counting.)
Sadly, they were out of this beer when we arrived, so I opted for a Belfast Blonde, which was pretty refreshing.
After the delicous soup, I indulged in the following:
This was a special combo, per the server's suggestion. I couldn't decide between the special - Orzo with butternut squash, rosemary and parmesan - and the regular menu item of Orzo with fresh crabmeat...so she offered that the chef could add crabmeat to the butternut squash special.
Result: Oh yum.
See the side dish to the top left? Yep, the one with the pound of butter floating on top. That's Irish Champ, a side dish that Jessica ordered and kindly shared with us.
Champ is a traditional Northern Irish dish - it's basically a "I'll have a little potatoes and green onions with my butter and milk" type of recipe. Delicious, yet thankfully rich enough that you don't want too much. Click here for a recipe if you dare. (the instructions for the butter crack me up.)
I dunno, do you think we liked our food?
I think I gained 2 kilo from this meal alone.
The Coastal Route
After finishing our indulging lunch, we walked through Belfast to find the car rental (here, "car hire") company, then were soon driving along the Coastal Route, thankfully with the aid of GPS. Jessica was our fearless leader, sitting on the right and driving on the left! I think she was nervous at first, but she seemed to adjust quickly and did a fine job!
The coastal route was beautiful. Before we hit the coastal area, we drove through some really tiny country roads (scarily narrow at points) with beautiful green pastures complete with sheep, cows and a few goats.
We were desperately in need of a "loo" and stopped at Mattie's Meeting House. We felt obliged to buy something from them rather than just stop in to use their toilet, so we bought two orders of chips (Americans, this is your potate wedges or fries). Not sure why we actually ate them, as this was a mere 2 hrs after our fatty feast.
Mattie's Meeting House, near Antrim Coast Road.
Such a beautiful sunset over the hills along the Coastal Route.
A few hours later, we were in Portstewart at Rick's Causeway Hostel. By then, it was too dark to visit the Giant's Causeway, so we settled in at our hostel and eventually walked to a local pub called the Anchor Pub. I wish I could tell you this was not the food I ordered, but it is.
Breaded brie, garlic stuffed (and breaded) mushrooms, and cheesy potatoes.
This is embarrassing. What was I thinking?!
It was only £5; I had no idea it would be this much cardiac health on one plate.
It was Audrey's birthday this weekend, so after our incredibly healthy pub fare, we ordered 2 desserts to share among us:
chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream
pavlova cake with fresh peaches, fresh cream and vanilla ice cream
We then rolled ourselves home to our hostel. It had a nice sitting room with fireplace, so a few of us hung out down there for a bit. I read a book and met a new friend:
He was really sweet. (Charlie, he couldn't hold a candle to you.)
At this hostel, we ended up sharing an 8-bed dorm with a guy from Quebec. His English was ok, but luckily we had 3 French girls in our group, so they were able to better communicate with him. He seemed nice enough and I wasn't worried about the situation. I did feel bad for him though, as we all woke up early (6am) as we had a busy day ahead of us and wanted to be on the road by 7am.
Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim
The Giant's Causeway is an amazing site on the northern coast. A recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site approx 6km long, its 40,000 basalt columns began their formation from volcanic activity approx. 60+ million years ago. As with the Crown Bar, the Causeway is owned and managed by the National Trust. When you experience this sight, it's no wonder there are approx. 500,000 annual visitors!
Causeway: Thanks to Finn McCool or Thanks to Nature?
I've read several fun legends of how these columns came to be. Was it the result of Finn McCool, the Irish giant from the north, and Benandonner, Scottish giant, throwing huge rocks at each other across the Sea? Perhaps it was a path specifically built for Finn so that Benandonner could walk across the sea for a giant's challenge (which, of course, Finn would win) and thus save Ireland from the Scots? Or maybe it was built for him to walk across to visit the woman he loved in Scotland?
If you don't believe in giants, I suppose you could settle for "real" scientific explanation, volcanic activity, etc. *yawn* All joking aside, anyone interested in the geological history of this wonderous place? Click here for a cool blog I found. Pretty interesting stuff there!
There are several different named areas of the Causeway: Grand Causeway, the Giant's Organ, The Honeycomb, The Wishing Chair, The Giant's Granny, Lord Antrim's Parlour, The King and his Nobles, The Keystone, The Chimney Pots, The Fan, The Punchbowl. The Giant's Organ is the area with the tallest columns - 12M high.
Here is a map showing some of these areas. We walked from the Causeway Centre down to the Organ, so about halfway. It would be fun to go back and walk along "Shepherd's Path" down to the further areas where you cannot walk along the beach.
"The Camel" is to the far left, near the water.
It was still early in the morning, so the lighting wasn't yet great for photos yet.
the sun was coming out and showing us some beautiful colors along the walk!
Onion Skin Rocks
Giant's Gate
nicely placed yellow emergency phone to the right - would you believe this place is actually open 24hrs? scary.
me, Audrey, Jessica, Marlene on the Little Causeway.
Somewhere near where we are standing is the Wishing Chair.
The Grand Causeway.
Can you see the Giant's Chimney in the distance?
me on part of the Grand Causeway.
to the right of me is the Giant's Gate, pictured above.
the view behind where I was standing (above).
Walking through Giant's Gate on our way to the Organ
looking behind us after crossing through Giant's Gate to next area
Can you see the Organ?
The Giant's Boot
the walkway to the Organ. Then my battery died.
Someone in our group took cute photos inside the Organ, but I don't have those yet.
Back at the Causeway Centre, I met 2 more furry friends, but sadly no photos. They were quite playful but also a bit skittish. From there, we backtracked a bit to quickly see Dunluce Castle before we drove to Ballintoy for the rope bridge.
Dunluce Castle
The drive through the country roads to Ballintoy was beautiful. We came across an irresistable photo stop:
I wish I remembered what town this was in. There was a sign, but I forget.
However, I will never forget the cute farmer who drove past us on a tractor as we took photos. He was wearing a red jacket with a navy rainhat covering his white hair. I can still see his friendly smile as he waved at us.
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
Our last main stop, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge is in Ballintoy, Co. Antrim. From the car park, it is about 1.5km to the bridge, with beautiful coastal views along the walk.
Today was becoming exceptionally chilly and windy, so before walking to the bridge we warmed up with hot tea and scones in the cafe:
Tea, raspberry scone and fresh clotted cream.
Not my fave. Scone was heavy and just not a fan of the clotted cream.
Tea was great, can't go wrong there.
and at last...
The bridge stands 30m above the sea, across a 20m wide chasm.
Walking the bridge was a piece of cake and we were across in a matter of seconds. It was getting a bit windy, but the bridge is completely stable and it was no problem as long as you hung on!
We were rewarded with pretty views from the other side, including this one:
We then drove back to Belfast airport, dropped off the car, took a bus back to Belfast city centre and had a couple hours to explore before catching our bus back to Dublin. We checked out St. George's Market, which unfortunately was nearly closing when we arrived, but a few stalls were still open. I found a jewelry vendor still open - she sold amber pendants, rings and earrings. (Merry Christmas to a certain family member!)
After the market, we split up and Jessican and I walked through town, including going to Victoria Square Shopping Centre. (Rachel, they have a great Reiss shop here - and it's much less expensive than in the States). Oh, if only I had an income again. Someday.
Soon we were on the bus back to Dublin. This night was a big football (American soccer) match - Ireland v. France. Juliette was going to take the Dart up to city centre and we were to go to a pub to watch the match, but plans changed and I ended up taking a Dart to her. From there, we took the Dart to Dalkey and went to Finnegan's Pub. (Lexi and Susie, a certain irish band member has been known to frequent this pub...).
Sadly, Ireland lost to France, but it was still fun to be part of the excitement. From there, we took a Dart back up to Blackrock and stopped in to O'Donohoe's Pub.
They had excellent live music there (cover songs), it was a lot of fun. We also unknowingly met the owner, who was shall we say, "having a good night"...it's a story we'll not soon forget and I won't blog about. From there, we called it a night, walked back to Juliette's and crashed.
So there you have it. My first weekend away. What part of Ireland will I explore next?
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