Today is nothing too exciting really as it was a travel day and that took most of the day. I got up early had breakfast quick, said my goodbyes to Sabine and then went to the bus station. I caught the 9am bus to Dublin and then Belfast, we got to Limerick first at approx 11:15 am and changed buses for Dublin, then got to Dublin at 3ish grabbed food and waited til 4pm to get the next bus to Belfast. Finally arrived in Belfast at 6:30ish, got off, walked through the small shopping center and out to the street, I looked over my directions and wasn't 100% sure so I went back in and asked one of the staff in the store who was closing up shop to clarify them for me, and this nice gentleman offered to help, and he actually walked me all the way to my hostel as it was on his way, very nice (don't worry it was light outside and busy with people, otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to it) he gave me some tips on places to go and things to do also. Checked in, went up to my room...it was tiny, 2 bunk beds, lockers and a sink, I saw that I had at least one roommate.
The second blue balcony is my room.
Then I went to the grocery store as usual to grab things and on the way back decided on a slice of pizza, so I walked into this small "house of pizza" shop right across the street and ordered the meal deal, "slice of pizza, chips and a drink". Funny, I forgot that here they call fries- chips so there I was with a large slice of pizza and a bag of fries, too much food, anyways, went back to the hostel and sat in the dining area and ate. Then I grabbed my puter and logged on, have to pay for internet here too...crappy. I finally went back up to my room and there was my roommate, she was just at the computers too, we didn't speak, just went to sleep.
(see, pretty boring day....sorry)
Day 17 Thur. May 7
I got up at a decent time to a beautiful sunny day, got ready and went down to get a ticket for the tour to see the Giant's Causeway, but unfortunately they were sold out. The gentlemen told me to wait just to see if anyone didn't show up and of course that didn't happen, so I reserved one for the next day which I was a little worried about since the weather forecast was not good for fri and sat, but we will see. So I decided to check some things online and then made myself some snacks for lunch to take with me and started off on a walking adventure to city center. I ended up doing some shopping, found a few good shops with great prices and bought a few things, and then went to the bigger grocery store and got a bit more food items and took it all back to the hostel and then walked back around to take some pics.
I got back and took a short nap, then up and tried to get online and internet was down in the hostel, crap. so went back up to my room and found that I had 2 new roommates both from Paris, they decided to come to Belfast for their long weekend. Everyone was in bed already so I did the same. Looking forward to my day tomorrow at Giant's Causeway.
Day 18 Fri. May 8
Woke up to a decent day outside, so I went down and confirmed my seat on the bus for the tour to Giant's Causeway. I packed a lunch and some snacks and jumped on the bus, ready to go. So this particular tour is a day tour, along the North Antrim Coast with some great scenery of the coast and the glens (valleys), and there are a few stops along the way for picture taking and then the main attraction is of course the Giant's Causeway and it is commonly called "the eighth wonder of the world" and it was very good! The bus driver is of course your tour guide and after leaving the hostel, he tells you a little about a few places we pass throughout the city center of Belfast on the way out. The following pics are just some of the great scenery along the coast, and there are quite a few small villages that we pass through as well. this one we were passing over a small bridge
This was one of the stops.....Bushmills Distillery, it is the oldest distillery in the UK.
The next few pics are from Carrick-a-Rede. There is a rope bridge, that is 30m above the sea, this was strung over 350yrs ago by the fishermen as this area is the sea route for the Atlantic salmon. I crossed over the bridge, was a very windy day too but I made it, was a good little rush, and gorgeous views on both sides.
this is Sheep Island, and the small one is Stackaboy.
This is ruins of the ancient Dunluce Castle
I took this pic of the walls with the spikes on it which was in the Cathelic area
this is the smallest home in Ireland, it is attached to a church and the Reverand lives there with his family
You can faintly see something in the water, it is the top of a church, over 200 yrs ago there was a village and it got lost in sea. Apparently, when the tide is out you can actually see it. Pretty crazy.
Ok, onto the main attraction The Giant's Causeway, the tour guide said that last year it was listed in the top 3 tourist attractions in the world along with the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls, and you will see why.
I will place the following pics in the same order that I saw each of these amazing rock formations.
This first one is "The Camel"
This is "The Granny" and I apologize, didn't get a clearer, closer shot.
These are "The Wishing Chair"
"The Basalt Stepping Stones"
"The Giant's Boot"
"The Organ Pipes" (they stand12 metres high)
"The Giant's Eye"
"The Chimney Tops"
this is me, up on the cliff just past the organ pipes, and further down a bit, I had to climb up the Shepherd's steps (149 in total) to get to the cliff path and to return to the bus.
and just a few of the great views
the views at the top of the cliffs
So after that great touring of the causeway, and lots of trekking, and getting caught in the rain at one point :(, we got back on the bus and headed back. It was a longer drive on the way there (approx 6hrs) as we go along the coast to see the scenery and make a few stops but on the way back they take the quick route on the motorway, so we got back in just over an hour.
So back at the hostel, made myself some food, and I grabbed my puter and went up into the library and chilled out looking some things up and sorting out my pics, etc. Went back to my room and got my things ready and organized for flying out tomorrow.
Day 19 Sat. May 9
Today is my last day here in Belfast, well in Ireland, and I wake up to a rainy day. My flight is not until 6:20pm and I needed to check out by 11am, so I took my bags down into the luggage storage room. I logged online for a bit to waste some time to see if the weather would turn for me and it did, so I took a walk to the city center again and took some pics of the thing the bus driver mentioned the day before.
this "the salmon of knowledge" it is 10m long and the blue and white ceramic scales depict moments in Belfast's history.
this is City Hall
Albert Clock....it leans a bit to the left
After taking some pictures, I decided to take the hop-on, hop-off bus tour. I was interested to see the Murals throughout the streets of Shankill and Falls Road, these are the Catholic and Protestant areas. Some of the history of "the troubles" in the 70's in Belfast of the bombings, shootings, etc were is these areas.
The city's history has been marked by violent conflict between Catholic and Protestant communities which has caused many parts of the city to be split into 'Catholic' and 'Protestant' areas.
Here is a link of some history about Belfast and the war.
this is the markings they have on the streets of the protestant areas, (they chose red, white and blue, the colours of the Union Jack, for British) and the cathelic colour was green for Ireland, my hostel was situated in a protestant area
I took this pic of the walls with the spikes on it which was in the Cathelic area 
random shot of the streets of shankill and falls road, during the war years, if you walked down these roads, and you were unfamiliar it was quite dangerous as you would be considered a possbile terroist
the first pic here if you look there is a green gate, and that is the gate that they close up and lock at night to keep the neighbourhood safe from intuders or terrorists, etc
the next one the tall apartment building, the top 2 floors were used by the army as a look out point during the war
here are some of the murals throughout these roads
these next 2 were right around the corner from my hostel
It was very interesting to tour around this area and to see all these murals.
The next couple of buildings the first one is the opera house, which was bombed a few times I believe and the second one is the Europa Hotel, it is known as "the most bombed hotel" this was due to the fact that all the journalists would stay here while reporting "the Trouble". Alot of the buildings here have obviously been restored at some point, and you can tell the difference of the brick work on some.
All very wild history, some crazy stuff happened in Belfast and all very unfortunate.
Despite the reputation that Belfast has had for so many years, they are actually considered one of the safest places in the UK. I felt safe while I was there, and the people are very friendly, if you ask for directions they will practically walk you there. And overall it is very beautiful in Nothern Ireland.
A few more pics on this tour as it was not just all about "the Troubles".
Queen's University
Stormont - Parliament Buildings
this is the holding bay for the Titanic....almost forgot that the Titanic was built in Belfast
pretty cool
So after the tour was completed, I jumped off the bus and walked around some more, and then headed back to the hostel to get my pack and head to the bus station to catch my shuttle to the airport. That all went smoothly and I checked in at the airport and finally got on the plane and off to Glasgow I went.
Here are my last 2 pics in Ireland, lol....my plane obviously and a shot of Ireland from the air.
Well, that concludes this posting of my Ireland touring and soon I will be telling you all about my Scotland adventures.
Until then ........ take care all!
JJ
1 comment:
Cool Janine. Now how do I become a follower of your blog?
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