Belfast, Northern Ireland

Meghan, Ross, and I left bright and early Friday morning.  We took a bus to Dublin where our friend Davin picked us all up.  We had another beautiful two hour drive up to Belfast.  We weren't stopped at the borner, nor was there even a sign!  Quite surprising.  We knew we were back in the UK when the road signs turned from kilometers to miles.

We stayed at a hostel called the Linen House.  Although it looks just the opposite, it was a great location.  It was in a shady looking alleyway just off a major street of the city center.  It wasn't as comfortable as the other hostels that we've been to but hey, that's what you get for 8 Euros a night...

One of the first things that we did was a black taxi tour. The taxi driver picked us up at our hostel and drove us around the segregated neighborhoods.  The driver had a lot to say given that The Troubles is a recent event and he grew up during that time.  We got out at a few different places and he explained different murals and memorials.  It was very interesting!  The people of Belfast have really strong Irish accents, much stronger than we have adjusted to.  At some points we all (minus Davin) just nodded our heads pretending to understand him.

This is the Peace Wall that ironically segregated the Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods.  This house below has a grate over their back patio in case things were thrown over the wall.

A memorial of some lives lost:

Belfast Castle:

The Belfast Castle was on the edge of a huge park.  After we went inside we hiked up to the top of a huge hill and got a look of the city!  In the distance you can see the ship yards where the Titanic was built!  There is a huge visitor center and museum that is opening up for the Titanic in a couple weeks that we just missed.  This year is the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking.

Here are some pictures that I took while walking around the city.  It was a beautiful city, however it was a little run down when you left the main roads.

This is city hall.  It was just as impressive inside! 

Here's a picture of a huge open air mall.  We never went but they had TGI Friday's there!  Instead we took advantage of a delicious Mexican restaurant, a rare find in Cork.

On Saturday we drove up to Giant's Causeway, I'll save those pictures for tomorrow.  Tonight was our last Intro to Traditional Irish Music Class.  Here's a video of a popular traditional Irish band doing a cover of "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.  It's pretty entertaining! Click here to listen.