Welcome to Belfast

Tuesday morning we packed up our things and took a two hour bus ride to Northern Ireland leaving Dublin behind. After two weeks in the viking city, we were headed to Belfast. While Dublin was a great city, I was ready for a change of pace.

As soon as we arrived, the change was apparent. The ambience of Belfast is much different than Dublin. There is less chaos in the streets, and it is not as overwhelming. We are staying a little ways out from the city center at Queen's University as opposed to our accommodations at Trinity in the heart of Dublin. Being a bit outside of the city, there is more greenery surrounding us. I certainly am enjoying the tranquility of our new accommodations. It's safe to say Belfast will be a nice wrap up of my trip here in Ireland.

The day after arriving in Belfast, we took a trip out to Giant's Causeway. Our bus tour guide, Lee, told us the Irish folktale about the origin of Giant's Causeway, which of course has to do with giants. One giant was from Ireland, Finn McCool, and one was from Scotland, Benandonner. It is said Benandonner yelled to Finn that if he were to come over to Ireland, Finn's wife would leave him for Benandonner. Angry with those words, Finn built a causeway, or bridge, by throwing rock pillars into the sea from Ireland to Scotland in order to put Benandonner in his place. Once he approached Scotland, Finn realized Benandonner was a much bigger giant than he, so he ran back home to Ireland. Seeing the causeway, Benandonner decided to come to Ireland to find Finn. Finn heard Benandonner coming across the way and told his wife. Cleverly, she told Finn to hide in their youngest sons room and to get dressed in baby clothes. Finn did as his wife told him, and she closed the door. As soon as she closed the door, Benandonner knocked on their door. Finn's wife answered and invited Benandonner in for a drink and food. Benandonner complied and joined Finn's wife. After a bit, he slammed his fist on the table and asked where Finn was. Finn's wife replied that he was out hunting, but she offered Benandonner to take a look at their youngest son. Benandonner agreed. Peeking in at the child, Benandonner freaked out. Their son was a big baby, which meant Finn must have been a huge giant. Frightened, Benandonner ran out of the house and back to Scotland. On his way back, he broke some of the causeway so that Finn could never get him in Scotland. What a fun story, right? Of course there are slightly different versions of the story, but they all have to do with Finn and Benandonner.

Giant's Causeway itself is a geological wonder. The hexagonal basalt pillars are unique. The pillars start from the land and go out to the ocean. I thoroughly enjoyed climbing all over the pillars of rock to get pictures and just to explore the area. I have loved seeing the countryside from many different parts of this beautiful country.

Today we had a political tour through Belfast--a city which not that long ago was so divided. This is such a strange concept for me to wrap my head around. The Troubles, or the Northern Ireland conflict as it is referred to, started in the late 1960s and continued on through the late 1990s. The conflict was between Irish nationalists/republicans who were Catholic and the unionists/loyalists who were Protestant. The nationalists wanted a united Ireland, while the unionists wanted to remain in the United Kingdom. Our tour guide, Sean, had extensive knowledge on the conflict as he was heavily involved. He was a republican and eventually was arrested and sent to jail. The stories he told us were horrendous. I couldn't even imagine. Everything was essentially segregated between the Catholics (nationalists) and Protestants (unionists). There were separate roads for each side: Falls Road was Catholic and Shankill Road was Protestant. For God's sake, there were even walls put up around communities to divide them. It was absolutely brutal. It made me more thankful that I was able to live the way I was in the United States.

On the tour we saw lots of different political places. We saw memorials for places where innocent people on both sides were killed. We saw memorial gardens. We saw the peace wall between the Catholics and Protestants. We saw the Milltown Cemetery. We saw the outside of Crumlin Road Gaol and the old courthouse that lies just across the road. (Sean spent some time in Crumlin Road Gaol, which is now a tourist attraction. He told us that the jail being a tourist attraction was very surreal to him.) We also saw a radio that was smuggled into jail and used by the prisoners during the hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981. The radio was named after a BBC journalist, Maggie Taggart.

I've seen a lot in the three days we have been in Northern Ireland. I'm excited to see what other treasures Belfast wishes to show me for the remainder of the trip.