Viaje a Belfast, Northern Ireland (y Málaga, tambén)

When I post about a place I've visited, I like to being with a bit of history. To attempt to broach the topic of Northern Ireland's vast history in this brief space, however, would be overly ambitious. So, in this case, faithful reader, I'm going to let you down & suggest that you do a bit of quick Googling if you'd like more information.

The city of Belfast is perhaps most famous for its ranking alongside Beirut, Baghdad & Bosnia as one of the four "B's for travelers to avoid. The troubles, which descended on the country in the late 1960s, dealt Belfast a blow from which it is still striving to recover; the so-called Peace line still stands imposingly dividing Catholic & Protestant neighborhoods, like a Berlin Wall that never fell. Numerous murals painted on commercial & resedential properties alike pay tribute to heroes, martyrs innocent victims on both sides of the struggle. The government is working to redevelop edifices whose walls still reverberate with the voilent energy of the past decades. At the same time, the city is perhaps the most beautiful I've ever seen, bordered on the east by the docks where the "Titanic" was built & on the west by green mountains.

Four friends & I left Sevilla for Málaga at 6:50 Friday morning via train. As the first day of our trip dawned, we watched little white villages pass our windows. The yellow lights shone from their places nestled into the mountainside. We passed farms with fields of little trees planted in diagonal lines like pincushiones in an upholstered chair.

What we saw of Málaga itself were half-constructed buildings & imposing cranes. We waited for our train to the airport, which was also under construction, & wondered where in this jumble we would find the cathedral & castle we'd read about in our guidebooks. After our second train ride of the day (& also of my lifetime, unless you're counting the Easter train at the mall), I started to understand why my host family thought everyone traveled via train. It's more spacious than a bus, & there's no traffic to contend with. It's a shame that trains never caught on in the States.

The next leg of our journey was our flight to belfast. Our airplane (Aer Lingus) was painted green with a 3-leaf clover on the tail. As we flwe over Málaga, I finally caught a glimpse of the beauty of the city: the green sloping mountains, the white houses of the city, the yellow beach & the choppy blue ocean. We flew over Great Britain & finally over the green patchwork quilt of Irish farmland. The view was so breathtaking that I forgot for a moment how much I hate flying & just enjoyed looking out the window.

We landed in the midst of a persistent drizzle; our first steps on Irish ground were spent sprinting from the plane to the shelter of the airport. From there, we caught a bus & checked into our respective hostels. The helpful receptionist called a Black Taxi for us, & we spent the next 2 hours immersed in Belfast's recent history. Our driver was knowledgeable & eager to share his opinions on the trouble between the Catholics & the Protestants. Being a Catholic himself & a formerly persecuted minority, he concentrated on his own side of the Peace Line. Seeing the towering wall itself was haunting, trying to imagine the people on either side living separated from the rest of their own city. The murals were equally chilling -- looking into the faces each side believed were doing just work.

After the taxi tour, we braved the rain to walk to the Belfast Wheel, a giant ferris wheel that currently resides next to City Hall. For 12 minutes, we went round & round in our gondola & tried to spot the buildings mentioned by the audio guide.

Day 1 photos here.

The next day, we got an early start & took a bus to Cave Hill County Park. I was struck at once by how green the park is; no wonder Ireland is considered the Emerald Isle! Our first stop was Belfast Castle, whose predecessor was built by the Normans in the late 12th century. A second version was constructed in 1611 but burned down less than a century later. The rpesent castle was built between 1862 & 1870 & was presented to the city of Belfast in 1934. My friends & I explored the castle garden, which is said to bring good luck to visitors so long as a white cat resides there. We searched for the 9 cats integrated into the garden's design, but I could only find 7. Then we took a peek inside the castle, which was being prepared for a wedding ceremony & reception. I have to admit that I was subconsciously scouting locations for wedding photos.

Next, we began our hike through the park. Being overly-ambitious, we selected the 4.5 mile Cave Hill trail. We passed the most visible of the man-made caves, whose origin is unknown, as well as the Devil's Punchbowl, which is suspected to be the remains of a limestone quarry. Exhausted, we ended our ascent at McArt's Fort, an early Christian ring fort on Cave Hill's highest rocky outcrop. Even though we didn't complete the entire 1207 ft climb, the views of Belfast, the docks & the sea were spectacular. Plus, everyone we encountered was friendly; there were hellos all around each time we passed another hiker. One nice man, whom we met at the caves ,volunteered himself & his 2 young sons as tour guides for part of the hike.

Entirely pleased with our excursion but a bit sore & muddy, we caught a bus back to the centre for lunch. We chose a little restaurant called Magennis's bar & had our first proper Irish meal: steak pie & Guinness. After lungh, we spent the afternoon visiting some of the city's sights, including the Bigfish sculpture, the clock tower & City Hall. Then, we indulged in some shopping & headed to Crown's Bar for a pint.

Day 2 photos here & here.

Sunday, we woke up early again & had an Irish breakfast at the Causeway Cafe, which is attached to our hostel. By 9:45 A.M., we were on the road with Mini Coach Tours for a coastal drive. Our driver, Ray, was wonderful. He filled the entire 2-hour drive to our final destination with historical facts, cultural explanations & the occasional personal anecdote. Our first stop was Carrickfergus Castle, which was built in the 1100s. Here Ray reinforced his request for punctuality by pretending to drive away from 3 latecomers. As they ran desperately behind the bus, trying to flag it down without spilling the coffee they just had to buy, the rest of us just laughed. We knew by this point that Ray was the best driver-slash-tour guide we could have hoped for.

The third stop on the tour (after a brief break at a convenience store) was Carrick-a-Rede, which translates to "Rock in the Road." The rock in question is Carrick Island, which fishermen have been connecting to the mainland via rope bridge for over 350 years. Originally used to reach salmon nets, the 21 m bridge is now open to tourists. My friends & I braved the incredibly steep stairs down to the bridge to wobble our way across to the island. We also saw Sheep Island, where the animals were stored in hopes that invaders would merely take the sheep & leave the locals alone, Stackaboy island & some gorgeous green oceanside cliffs. On the way out, I also caught a glimpse of the nearby limestone quarry. After Carrick-a-Rede, we made another quick stop at Bushmills Distillery, the oldest in Ireland & currently celebrating their 400 year anniversary.

Our fifth stop was the main attraction of the day: the Giant's Causeway. The World Heritage Site consists of rougly 40,000 hexigonal stone columns that stretch into the ocean. Legend states that Irish giant Finn MacCool built the causeway to reach Scotland & fight the giant Benandonner, but geologists claim a different story. The causeway was formed somewhere around 65 million years ago as a result of volcanic activity. As the lava flow cooled, the rock contracted & formed a hexagonal pattern, much as drying mud in a lake bed. According to Ray, the formations could disappear in as little as 100 years due to climate change, "but we'll be gone, too, so we might as well see them today." The 1/2 km walk down the coast to the causeway was filled wit hanticipation of the unknown; when I finally saw the columns, I was awestruck. I could not beleive that such carefully arranged rocks were merely the result of a geologic happenstance. It looked as if each had been individually chiseled & installed as part of some massive art exhibit. I couldn't take enough photos. After climbing on the result of millions of years of cooling lava & erosion, I took the clifftop path for an aerial view of the stones.

Our final stop on the tour was the Dunlace castle, which is more of a ruins now; in years past, part of the castle slid into the ocean, taking with it 7 cooks & that evening's dinner. After the tour, we turned in to get a few hours of sleep before our 3 A.M. wakeup call.

Day 3 photos here & here.

This morning, we were on a bus for the airport by 4 A.M. our flight left Ireland at 7 A.M., & we slept most of the way back to Málaga. From there, our group split up; while the other 3 girls headed to Sevilla, a friend & I stayed to take a self-guided walking tour. Like many Spanish cities, Málaga has seen Phoenicians, Islamic influence, & Spanish civil war, although its real claim to fame is its status as birthplace of Pablo Picasso (whose house we didn't see). We did, however, check out the catedral, the Alcazaba & the Roman theatre before returning to Sevilla.

Day 4 photos here.

Belfast has, by far, been my favorite weekend trip. After getting a hint of what Northern Ireland is like, I would love to visit again when I have more time to explore. The locas and the land itself have a way of welcoming you to experience the culture in a more intimate way than any other city I have visited. And I still can't get over how beautiful the saturated green hills are. Nos vemos, Le <3.