Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey all this is a long post so get ready…
So Belfast was a total win! Spectacular views on the 6 hour bus ride…there’s just so much green and farmland in Ireland. Crazy that the stereotypes are really all true. Also there were so many ruins! Archaeology class must be getting to me cause I was naming the things as we passed—hillfort, portal tomb, etc. Oh school. Our bus driver seemed to be a tour guide as well because he kept pointing out famous sights and telling us random facts along the way. We passed the field where part of “Braveheart” was filmed; apparently it’s near an army base and some of the soldiers were cast as extras in the big fight scene. I believe it was the first battle against the English, where the Scots won. We also passed Hillsborough, where the first peace treaty of the Troubles was signed. I’m sure everyone has at least heard of the conflict in Northern Ireland between the Catholics (Nationalists) and the Protestants (Loyalists). The Protestants were incorporated into Ireland by the English by Cromwell in an attempt to eliminate/severely reduce the Catholic religion. Thus, the remaining Catholics were discriminated against for hundreds of years, leading to the beginnings of unrest. I’ll talk more about the Troubles in my later posts describing the Black Taxi Tour, but suffice it to say those 3 decades were violent times, and even now much tension remains between the two groups, especially in West Belfast. We did hear about the Cork plane crash on the radio as we drove, which was rather disconcerting because the plane was flying from Belfast to Cork. 6 people died and 6 more were seriously injured as the plane attempted to land for the third time in heavy fog. Really sad story, and one that was always in the back of our minds as we explored Belfast.
We got to our hotel at about 6, and were told that dinner was at 7:00, though they really meant 7:30. Lemme just say, we got down to the food area and just stood and stared for 30 min before we could go in. SO HUNGRY. But dinner was fantastic (or I was just really hungry) and we all stuffed ourselves. Alyssa, always the child, played with her food more than eating it, and also made a whipped cream heart with her dessert. I approve. We got Bailey’s cheesecake which was oh so delish. I roomed with Claire, which made for some awesome times since we both love British TV. We found this show called ‘Mock the Week’ which is essentially a ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ mixed with ‘The Daily Show.’ Zomg so funny. They randomly select a topic and then do some stand-up comedy about it; we were both near tears by the end from laughing so hard.
Next morning we were up early for our 8am departure to various sights that are apparently rather far. Those who know me know I’m not a breakfast person, but since it was free (and I love free things) I got up a little bit earlier to sample the fine cuisine Ireland had to offer. In one word: bread. I ate so much bread! They had a lot of meat products and some unidentifiable other things, but I love bread (and pastries!) so I went with the rolls and croissants. They were so good I even stole a bunch for the bus ride later…gotta have snacks, I always say. Now let me just address the issue of Northern Irish accents right now: they are effing hard to understand. They sound a bit Scottish, actually, but with something else mixed in. And I thought Cork accents were hard! The woman giving us the tour sometimes had to repeat herself as we stared at her blankly haha. Unfortunately the other peoples we met talked a lot faster and never repeated themselves, so I went with the time-tested ‘smile and nod’ response. Maybe a bit of a laugh if I felt so inclined.
We stopped in Larne for a bathroom break, and the guide, Deidre, told us that the Scottish coast is only about 15 miles away, and if it weren’t so foggy we could see it clearly. After a long, long drive we arrived at the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, which is this tiny little bridge over a 30m drop into the ocean below. Fishermen used to use it to go over to the island to fish, though then it only had one railing so they could trail their catch over the edge on the other side. Too freaky. It was only about 20ft long and thankfully not too windy, but I foolishly looked down and from then on every step was a bit unnerving. Especially since some FOOLS decided that shaking the bridge was a good idea. If I ever find out whose idea that was defenestration will occur. The waves were HUGE though since we were right on the Atlantic Ocean and it was cloudy so the whole view was slightly foreboding. The entire coastline is these huge cliffs that loom over the water…think ‘Harry Potter 6’ when Harry and Dumbledore are going into the cave. There was also an island that looked like Chateau d’If, for all those who’ve seen ‘The Count of Monte Cristo.’ We ate (correction: stuffed ourselves) at the Ramada Inn in some small town that seemed completely empty…a little creepy actually. Again we got apple pie! Seems to be a thing here. Though, Mom, it wasn’t as good as yours :-) We explored the
Next we headed to Dunluce Castle, where the MacDonnell clan lived. It’s on the edge of a cliff (that apparently erodes really easily) that is only accessible by a tiny strip of rock that leads from the mainland to the cliff. Apparently it was never taken, until the English brought their cannons. The North wall of the kitchen fell into the ocean in the 17th century, leading to the construction of a house on the mainland connected to the castle because the lady of the house hated the ocean. The best part was that there’s a cave underneath the castle where a boat could be stored in case they needed to escape to Scotland. They call it the ‘mermaid cave,’ which just sounds so awesome but sadly we couldn’t go check it out. Something about ‘waves taking us out to sea’…pssht so not cool. Next was Giant’s Causeway, which is a bunch of basalt pillars that I swear to god look like stacked biscuits. The legend goes that Finn MacCool, a giant from Ireland, went to fight his rival from Scotland (Belladonna or something like that, but manlier…) by creating and walking across the Giant’s Causeway, but turned around before he got there. The Scottish giant ran after him but Finn MacCool got to his house first and told his wife what was going on. She put him in a baby cradle and wrapped him up, so when the Scot came he saw the baby, said ‘Well if that’s the kid I don’t wanna meet the father,’ and ran back to Scotland, leaving the Giant’s Causeway behind. The waves here were HUGE…like fo serious a kid from my group almost got taken out haha. I kept trying to be a waterbender but it didn’t really work out sadly. I DID buy a bodhrán, though it’s a mini one, and even though I have no idea how to play it so I’ve basically just been hitting it and having fun.
We went back home and changed since we were all wet and cold, and rested a bit before heading back out. Just a note: Bowdoin still sends me all the damn class emails so I have like 30 new emails every day that totally don’t apply to me. And some of them look fun! I really just wanna go back for PostSecret at least. We eventually got up the energy to go out and I realized I had to finally exchange my Euros for Pounds boooooo. I refused to do it at the hotel desk cause the rate was terrible, so Alyssa and I decided to go to the big shopping mall then meet our peoples at the restaurant. We wandered in the rain and kinda got lost even though Alyssa totally knew where she was going haha but ended up finding a Bank of Ireland atm!! This was like the best present ever since I got a good rate and didn’t have to pay an atm fee. I know, this is super geeky, but every pound counts here so pssht. Claire really wanted to go to The Washington Bar, which is an American-style bar that serves ‘real hamburgers’ and had a live guitarist playing ‘American music’ like Johnny Cash and such. I got steak and a ballin’ strawberry daiquiri…it was nice to have not-beer for a change cause I’ve grown to like it but nothing beats strawberries. Then Claire took us to one of her many true loves, The Garrick, which is a pub that has beers from all around the world. It’s really cute, actually, and the Belfast ale was good. All of the pubs we went to had the news about Egypt on…go Egypt! After we went back and watched Braveheart until we fell asleep. Good times, all. More days to come in the next post!
Slán go fóill!
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