In all the travels I've been fortunate enough to experience these past five years, I've never truly disliked a city. Sure, towards the end of my time in Spain I longed for the sound of someone speaking English, let alone American, and there were a few nauseating bus rides in India I wasn't so sure I'd get through without vomiting, but overall I've been quite successful at finding the silver lining or a beautiful piece of culture in each new place I've seen. When I finally arrived in Belfast after a full day journey from Edinburgh involving two buses, a train, and the fanciest ferry (more tiny cruise ship) I've ever seen, it was for some reason in a bad mood and generally untrusting about the existence of Northern Ireland in general. I felt on edge and defensive of my adopted country each time I saw a fluttering Union Jack flag, and critical of each Carroll's tourist trap souvenir shop hawking all manner of bright green paraphernalia.
Maybe it was the explosive history of Belfast that had me on edge, perhaps the extraordinarily bad weather, or even the sketchy and likely unsafe hostel we unfortunately occupied for a night. We found our way to the well-done Ulster Museum a half hour before it closed, sped through a history of The Troubles, and then wandered around in the rain attempting to find either the rumored free Andy Warhol exhibition or the famed peace murals. Unsuccessful on both counts, we retired early with boxed Spar sandwich meals and How I Met Your Mother on the kitchen TV. So my experiences with Belfast were brief and quite probably unfairly judged. We only planned time for one day in the city itself, shortchanging it's offerings and quite frankly using it as a stopping point before the real landmark we most wanted to see: The Giants Causeway.
Taking a scheduled and structured bus tour has it's perks. We paid a bit more than it would have been to get there via public transportation, but taking that route would have resulted in highways, complicated scheduling, and potentially walking a bit to get to our intended destination. Although it began a bit rough, waiting nearly an hour after our scheduled leaving time in the hopes of picking up a few more paying stragglers, the day turned around quickly. The good parts of a bus tour, then, are the convenience of not needing to navigate complicated schedules, know where to stop to take pretty pictures, and with the added bonus of having a friendly and knowledgeable tour guide. Cheerful and sounding suspiciously-Scottish, he granted us several helpful and interesting tidbits of information, rushed us to a pointless old Brewery at the end for the sole purpose of shopping so I think they had some sort of deal worked out, but overall, I quite enjoyed the day.
There were a few stops before we reached the Causeway itself: a castle at Carrickfergus that I enjoyed mainly because of the song about that town, and the famed Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. Just what it sounded like, the bridge suspended across two large sea rocks. You crossed it slowly, single file with no more than 7 on at a time, gripping for dear life on the handle-rope and feeling very much like Donkey and Shrek as they fled from Fiona's castle. Once crossed, though, the view was perfect and we were able to frolic about in the soft grass on the little island we just reached. Honestly, it was the most comfortable grass I've ever experienced and I laid back and nearly took a little nap right then and there. After a lot of travelling, it would have been quite ideal, but soon enough we were back on our way towards the Causeway, and I was about to check off one final item off my top to see in Ireland mental list.So the Giant's Causeway, pictured below, is a fascinating natural rock formation that I really can't comprehend but would probably be like Christmas for a geologist or student of similar discipline. For me, I contented myself with gaping across the wide spread of hexagonal rocks, imagining how it got there and trying to remember the legends of Finn McCool (to whom I am potentially related!). I was a bit forewarned before I went not to expect anything spectacularly impressive in the sense of being the best thing I've seen all semester, but that was without merit, and because my expectations had been lowered I think I appreciated it that much more. Walking all over the natural landmark was a treat, far better than standing on the edge of a protective barrier and snapping photos, I played like stepping stones across the way and generally just felt truly privileged to experience the site. It's truly one of the top spots in Ireland (Republic and North combined, I know) and I would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.
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And now, I am all caught up, and can get back to the present day posting. I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am- only 12 days left, but I'll try to squeeze as much adventure in there as I can!
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