Falls Road-Catholic side
Mural on the Belfast Wall
The Belfast Wall
Shankill Road-The Protestant side
North Antrim Coast, looking towards Scotland (you can just barely see it)
The beginning of the Giant's Causeway
Hexagon rocks at the Giants Causeway
Wild Ocean, Grey Skies
Improve photo, she didn't know I took it. I didn't know her.
Belfast City Hall
Belfast by day
This church was abandoned. It was so beautiful...I couldn't believe nobody wanted it.
Someone had lit a fire in this dumpster and it was still smoking as I walked by. A boy of about 14 was directly to my left adding to the graffiti. When my camera beeped to take this picture he turned around and stared me down. Sorry, didn't mean to disturb your artistic process man.
In the Botanical gardens
This room smelled so good. Almost like someone had put hundreds of great smelling flowers in one room. Cool
Moon over the garden
My walking buddy Jono in the tropical extension
Brick lined streets
The massively brick Queen's University just across the way from my hostel.
My first impression of Belfast was, "wow...that's a lot of brick." Everywhere I turned the whole city seemed to be made out of it. Houses, office buildings, churches, coffee shops, all brick. Belfast was the smallest of the big cities that I visited on this trip; but it made a huge impression. I enjoyed Belfast for it's simplicity. It doesn't have an Eiffel Tower or a Colosseum. It felt like a city that people actually live and work in. After seeing the touristy parts of Dublin, London, and Edinburgh, Belfast's wholesome vibe was very welcoming.
I only stayed for a short time in Northern Ireland but I got a lot done. I meandered all around Belfast with the company of a young Australian Jono. We met at the hostel and I joined him for lunch and a long walk all over the city, stopping at intesting buildings, going in churchs, taking it all in, including my favorite, the Botanical Gardens.
I also took a Black Taxi Tour, which is a tour through the recently volatile Shankill and Falls road neighborhoods. An Irishman took a few of us from the hostel and drove us around these neighborhoods, explaining to us the pro catholic and protestant murals we were seeing. We stopped between the two neighborhoods at a wall that has been erected between the two areas. This amazed me. It reminded me of what I have heard and seen of Berlin and Palestine. It was so sad to see. I realized I had never before been to the heart of a place where there was so much conflict. These two groups of Christians were awful enough to each other that it was necessary to build a 5 mile wall between them. I couldn't help but think, "God must be so proud of his flock."
I also took a daylong bus tour of the North Antrim Coastline. We stopped at lots of points of interest, mostly castles and coastal vistas. One castle was poised on huge slippery boulders on the beach. Guess who pretended he was a kid again and climbed on those boulders and slipped and bruised his butt and got the wind knocked out of him and tore his palm open? Yours truly! Our final destination however was the Giant's Causeway, a natural phenomenon near the northern most part of the island, formed ages ago by volcanoes and some crazy minerals, or big hairy giants, depends on who you ask. It is completely unique and quite beautiful but I was expecting something a bit more...giant. Besides, it was overun with tourists. My favorite part of this bus trip however was the french lady Ms. de Potter who I sat next to on the bus. She was in the middle of a divorce, researching a new place to settle with her two young sons. Everybody else on the tour already had company so we teamed up and enjoyed the cold grey coastline together. Because we were complete strangers and knew we would never see each other again, our conversation was unlimited. We talked about love, life, dreams, hopes, you name it we talked about it.
I was sad to leave Northen Ireland and Belfast so soon but I was also eager to get back to Paris. I'm not sure that I will ever go back...I like the idea of leaving this memory alone.
