Sunday, October 9 Belfast, Titanic, Giant's Causeway

 Sunday, October 9  Belfast

We start today with a bus tour of Belfast, joined by a local guide named Alice. Northern Belfast is the oldest part of the city and we pass a pub that was established in 1711.

Belfast, whose name means "Mouth of River" is an ancient city, but also a young city in that nearly half of the population is under 30.   The Lagan river was essential to its development.  Belfast's  heyday was in the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's when industries such as shipbuilding, linen production, rope production, and sugar and tobacco brokering were thriving. Nearly 60% of the population in the 1800 and 1900's came from Scotland, England and Wales to support industry. Today those industries are much smaller and 1 in 10 jobs is tech related as they try to establish new fields. 

We pass  City Hall,  known for "Hatches, Matches and Dispatches" (Births, Marriages and Deaths).  Many monuments including one dedicated to those who died on the Titanic, which was built here.  Many Victorian buildings.

There are two universities including Queen's University founded in 1845 and we do a short walking tour of the campus.  This statue of Galileo is in the main entryway. His toe and knee are quite shiny, as he is touched for good luck by many students. 

Nice botanical gardens and many symbols included in structures - St. Patrick's cross, a crown representing the queen, books, the seahorse (symbol of Belfast), and the red hand of Ulster. The red hand is rooted in Gaelic culture as a sign of a great warrior and has been used since the thirteenth century on various coats of arms, flags, etc.

 During 1969-1998 the city was at war with itself, with "the troubles", sparked by economic problems. Over 3500 people died and many more were wounded. We pass the Europa Hotel which was  bombed a record 33 times as we head to West Belfast where the troubles started, to see one of the Peace Walls, a series of separation barriers erected to separate the Nationalists (mostly Catholic) and Unionists (mostly Protestant)neighborhoods. 

The first street we travel has mostly protest messages demanding freedom or justice.

On the next street there are many murals, words and pictures on the wall, along with messages from people all over the world urging peace.  We stop and add our own.  

Many urge the removal of the Walls, but our guide says both sides must agree to this and thus far they haven't.  Even today, she says, only 10% of the children in Belfast go to schools which integrate the two sides, as most children are educated separately with religion included.

Alice points out that 15 of the American Presidents have Irish heritage in their past. 

Next stop, the Titanic Museum which was built to look like an iceberg. (use your imagination!) We go to the 4th floor where there is a ride which takes you through a visual journey of the shipyards, with lots of details of the building of the Titanic. Workers worked 74 hours a week in not so great conditions!  The other floors have various displays, films, etc.  but there are so many people that we opt to skip over much of it.  Greg walks to this nearby White Star Line ship called the SS Nomadic.

Most of the group meets the bus at 1:30 for an optional trip to The Giant's Causeway which is about 45 miles away.  We pass quite a few sheep - David tells us there are about 7 million of them in Ireland, 2 million in Northern Ireland, which is down because they are not as profitable as they once were.  Passing farmland and a few wind turbine farms.

This bus is very roomy! Nearly everyone can have their own set of seats.

The weather is miserable as we reach The Giant's Causeway.  Rain and wind as we hike to the amazing hexagonal basalt columns created some 6 million years ago. Mythology says these are the remnants of a Causeway that connected Ireland and Scotland until a battle between an Irish Giant, Finn MacCool and a Scottish giant Benandonner.  With waves crashing, this coastline is beautiful, even in this weather. 

The Visitor's Center was interesting, pointing out several named rock formations in the area - Wind Gap - the windiest place in Northern Ireland, the Camel (named Humphrey), the Haystack, the Giant's Boot, etc.  We are both wet, but Beth walked a quick other trail and got caught in a real downpour, so is quite soaked on the ride back to Belfast!

A quick stop at DunLuce Castle remains, but the weather is still uncooperative.

Lots of hedges and rock walls in the countryside here. We pass the town of Balleybullie and notice quite a few camping areas.  Greg notices that the smart sheep are up against the hedgerows which serve as a windbreak.

We take good hot showers on return.  We've called to ask for more heat in the room and although they send someone up who lifts a ceiling tile and makes a show of doing something, we don't get any more heat.  Used the hairdryer on our shoes for a bit.  We stayed in and had pizza at the hotel tonight as did many others (plus a tasty dessert treat). There is almost always a soccer match on the tv's in the lounges and public areas.