I arrived in Belfast from Scotland with the situation that has been the most out of my comfort zone for this trip. I arrived on land with no place to stay at! I had decided two days before to come to Belfast and had not set up an Airbnb or hostel before I arrived. I ended up waiting to decide on a hostel once I arrived because the ones available all were around the same price so I just was going to pick one that was closest to wherever I arrived from port.
I ended up talking with a girl about my age on the bus to the center of town who said she had stayed at one hostel close to the center of town a year or so ago and highly recommended it. So I went there.
It was a nice place and my hostel roommates were awesome. I met two fellow travelers from Chicago and Germany who were on vacation. The girl from Chicago, Sophie, and I ended up talking for a while about our experiences traveling and the US and all the things you aren’t supposed to talk about, politics and religion. It was a great conversation though! And honestly I have found from prior conversations and conversations I’ve had since that the best conversations tend to be about those topics. Though it’s really best when people are on a same level of respect for one another.
My first few hours in Belfast consisted of booking a bed at this hostel and then wandering around to find a museum before it closed 2 hours later. It took me over 45 minutes to find the entrance because I kept getting turned around and stuck in the wind and cold rain. Once I found the Ulster Museum it was worth it all. I wish I had had more time to explore it! The place had everything from human history to art to natural history. Each level of the building has a different focus so you don’t have to go to another building to learn about Ireland’s geologic history or political history.
I was particularly interested in the whole set up of the geologic history of Ireland since the ice age. They did a really good job of creating an educational space with relevance to the actual region.
Here were some of the pictures I took during my short exploration of the museum:
The last three images are from the comprehensive exhibition focused on the history between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the 1960s onto just about present day. The last image here I found to be very important in setting the scene for the exhibit as it was right at the entrance and for acknowledging the role that this recent history still plays in some people’s lives. They also had a set up of notecards so people could give suggestions about the items or stories told through the exhibition. It focused mainly on Belfast and Northern Ireland’s experience during The Troubles and afterwards. I found this helpful for visitors like myself who have not learned enough about what happened during that time. It gave a broad overview while featuring places for readers to stop and think about what those experiences were actually like for people. It was a respectful and understanding environment to share the dark part of the islands shared history.
I learned more later on that what started in the 1960s was related to earlier disagreements and back to the creation of the separate countries. This was back in 1921 that Northern Ireland became a separate legal entity and joined the United Kingdom. Due to this split to become part of the UK or remain a independent republic, Ireland became split into two countries on one island. There are still representations of support for the link to the United Kingdom or for connection to the Irish roots shown in different parts of Northern Ireland. (Our guide explained it as people who consider themselves to be Unionist (UK) or Nationalist (Ireland), as a generalization).
But as you can see, there is a long history of disagreement between the people of Ireland and their relationship with England.
That night I ended up going to the Irish equivalent of basically Chipotle because I was craving some cilantro (which they call rocket in Ireland, not sure). I walked around town some to find my patch for Northern Ireland. I asked at one of the stores if there was somewhere I could watch the Manchester United game that night for the Europa league. The first person I asked just said he doesn’t follow football. The second person I asked was the security guard for the store. I said the same spiel about being a fan and wanting to the find the game. The guy asked me who Manchester United was (I had gotten this as an actual question before so was going along with it) and then after I was still going along tying to explain, he pulled out his wallet. He was a Liverpool fan. He was completely messing with me and then recommended two different pubs for me to go to to watch the game. So nice but so annoying. He walked me towards the direction of one before getting back to his post.
I walked down to that pub and sadly it was closed for renovations and the game was already at halftime at this point so I decided to cut my losses and get back to the hostel before it got even colder that night. I called a tour agency on my walk back to set up a tour for the next day to the Giants Causeway. Perks of traveling in the off-season – nothing is ever sold out.
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Game of Thrones Themed Giant’s Causeway Tour
Okay, if you really knew me you would know I tend to avoid the very touristy, themed tours. However, this tour was one of the only ways I would be able to get to see The Giant’s Causeway in the short time I was in Belfast so I went for it. It was a Game of Thrones themed tour because the show filmed a lot in Northern Ireland, unsurprisingly due to the general cloudy and windy setting of the show. There were only 7 people on the tour, plus the tour guide and another employee of the tour company. A family group of 4 from England, a couple from England, and the “12 year old solo traveler” from the United States. It became a joke from the start of the tour that I was too young and small to be traveling alone [@Gracyn and Davis, you aren’t the only ones]. Everyone on the tour was really sweet and helpful in asking me if I wanted any pictures of myself other than selfies.
For the Game of Thrones fans, here are all the little plaques that are set at each filming location to show which scenes took place there.
These trees are over 200 years old. The family that used to own the land planted them in rows like this to create a nice entryway into their property. My mom should have planned ahead to start this at our house a few years ago!
While this was a GOT tour, and we learned lots of interesting facts about the filming in the region, I was asking more nature nerdy questions of our guide.
“Are there any endemic species?” ~ Since islands can have more endemic species due to their isolation “No, not that I know of” ~ makes sense when considering the amount of contact the island has with the UK.
I looked it up and there are a few endemic plants and some freshwater fish along with a species of mussel, worm, and some wasps.
“Are these rocks sedimentary?” This was a conglomerate of rocks along the wall of a cave we visited.
“Likely” (I think I was a bit annoying with my very specific questions but oh well)
Ireland also has interesting basalt rock (igneous rock) formations and legends to go along with them. Search the legend of Finn McCool to learn the story behind how the rocks were placed and formed in the way that they are now. It’s quite interesting but I don’t want to tell it wrong. The Giant’s Causeway is an expansive formation of hexagonal basalt columns.
It was incredibly windy when we visited the Giant’s Causeway. I had to sit down when climbing around the rocks because I felt like I was about to get blown over. The site is a UNESCO heritage site and there were still many visitors even on a windy, cloudy day. I wish I had been able to sit and enjoy the space more as it was a gorgeous natural space but I could not face the wind any longer.
It is the perfect place to sit and watch the power of the ocean and imagine the formation of such detailed columns.
Another place that we witnessed the power of the ocean and wind along our tour was at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.
The bridge was first put in place in 1755 by salmon fishermen. Our guide had warned us about how much the bridge would swing due to the wind but to me it felt quite stable compared to other rope bridges. Probably a necessity due to the number of tourists that visit each year.
Lastly, a fun story about a goat! This goat has become the mascot for the small town of Cushendun. (“Cushen” means foot of the river, this town is at the foot of the river Dun) The original goat, memorialized here, was named Johann. Johann had been adopted by a couple in Belfast who soon realized they did not have space for a full grown goat in the center of the city. They found someone in this town who took the goat in and Johann would just wander around so became a sort of mascot for the town. Since then, whenever a goat passes away, the farmer still buys a new goat so there is always a sort of goat mascot for the village.
That night we got back into Belfast from the tour and I talked with my new friends in the hostel before packing up and going to bed. I left the next day on the bus for Dublin!
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Dublin, Ireland
I took the bus from Belfast to Dublin. I was curious how this would work considering we would be crossing the border from the UK into the EU. Turns out all they do is pull the bus over to the side of the highway so a border guard can board and check everyone’s passports.
I stayed with a sweet couple in Dublin through a organization called Servas. They had lived in the US until 14 years ago when they retired in Dublin. This meant we could have really interesting conversations comparing life in the US versus in Europe and they were able to explain different political concepts that exist in the Republic of Ireland through terms I sort of understood from the US.
I arrived around lunch and we had salad. Salad is always something that I miss when I am traveling. Not always consciously miss, but when I do have it I realize how much I miss it. 
I told them how my two big reasons for being in Ireland were to be in the presence of U2s starting place and to visit around some of the country that my great grandmother loved so much. They told me that U2 is currently one of the pictures for international stamps!
After lunch, I walked around with my new host to many of the highlights of Dublin.
I wandered around a bit more after my introduction to the city and stumbled across this mural. 
They were in the middle of painting it and so I went up to ask about the story. I knew the subject, Berta Cáceres, from a course I took at UNC on rural Latin America. She was murdered for protesting the development of a hydroelectric dam along the river where she lived. She was from Honduras and a prominent environmental and indigenous rights activist. The man there in charge of the campaign said that they were trying to raise awareness for her story and that her daughter was coming to talk in Dublin on Tuesday. I was heartbroken that I would not be able to see her speak since I had already booked a flight to Amsterdam that day.
My hosts sent me pictures later on of the completed mural.
The next day I wandered around and gave myself leniency to just explore. I found the studio where U2 first recorded and a poetry book by a famous Irish poet. 
I attempted to watch the Manchester United game but instead they were playing rugby. It was an important game since it was Ireland vs England. I watched the first 30 minutes, trying to understand what the heck was going on before giving up to continue exploring.
Before heading home, I found a place to book a similar tour to the one my mom and Namaw took a few years ago. They had spread my great grandmother’s ashes along one of the stops of the tour, at her request, so I went to visit Great and see some more of the gorgeous green nature that Ireland is known for.
That night, my hosts took me to an awesome little pub that features traditional live Irish music. The people that play are mainly just people who enjoy playing and get together to continue the traditional music. One of the coolest instruments that the group we saw was using was the uilleann pipes. They are a bit like what everyone thinks of for bag pipes except you have to play them sitting down because there are two bags. The uilleann pipes can also reach two octaves, whereas bagpipes can only play in one octave.
The next day I took my Great tour. I had a great group and met some really awesome girls on the tour! We hung out during the tour some and ended up talking the whole bus ride back. Carlijn is from the Netherlands so I asked her for recommendations about my next destination and Mary and Rachel were sisters traveling together from Ohio. The four of us had great conversations about religion since we all identify as some denomination of Christianity but all live in places where it is practiced or present differently. For example, Carlijn noted that the Netherlands are fairly secular so she has a hard time finding other people to go to church with, whereas I can’t imagine it being difficult to do so in the South. Rachel and Carlijn are also both youth pastors so both had good insights into how that experience is. I was really glad to have more people to talk with on a tour and enjoyed the deep conversation we were able to have in such a short time.
Now for gorgeous scenery:
During our tour we got to see a sheepdog trial, with this precious dog Jess. She is 11 years old and still going strong.
My new friend, Carlijn, from the tour and I walked around this nice park while visiting the town of Kilkenny. It was quite flooded, again likely due to the ongoing winter storms.
This view reminded me of the paramo from Ecuador. And it featured lots of rain and wind as well.
I really think these pictures can speak for themselves about the beauty we witnessed during this trip. I can understand why Great loved this place so much and am I so grateful for her spark of travel that has now spanned generations.
Solaventuras 