One Giant leap to Belfast

We spent yesterday traveling to the Giant’s Causeway, and then on to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. The Giant’s Causeway is a spectacular piece of natural history, the result of lava flows millions of years ago. The cooling of the lava produced regular cracking which has, over millennia, resulted in tessellations and lava columns. The whole area is one of the great wonders of planet earth, and almost unmissable for visitors to this part of Europe. We were fortunate enough to have had brilliant sunny weather, although only twenty or so miles away on the road to Belfast we encountered our first rain of the trip. 

A selection of photos of the Giant's Causeway

Tessellated basalt

Some volcanic pipes

We are staying in a pretty alternative area of Belfast, right near the university, which is really hip (sorry, Imie). The Botanic Gardens are close by (can’t keep me away from gardens), as is the Belfast Museum, which was well worth a look. We spent last night at a local venue which features stand-up comedy every Tuesday night. The acts were pretty funny, although understanding what they were saying wasn’t always easy (why  don’t they speak fecking English!)  

Queens University Belfast

Botanic Avenue, the Queens Quarter (where we're staying)

Tonight the same venue features undiscovered acts, so we might check this out also. Watching the comedy, we purchased a pitcher (think a 44-gallon drum and you might be getting close) of Tennents lager, a Scottish beer, for 12 pounds, which gave us about six pints. Alison only managed two pints, which left me drinking four very large pints, something I would never ordinarily do at home. Still, when in Rome…

The Empire Bar - our venue for the comedy show

Belfast is a really great city. Even though it started out very wet this morning, the weather has fined up a lot. We are planning to walk to the university this afternoon, and may then do a few more bus trips around the city. Belfast is, of course, where the Harland and Wolff shipyards are, the very shipyards which built the Titanic. There is a fair amount of Titanic hype around the city, but shipbuilding has all but ceased to operate, South Korea, amongst others, now responsible for much of the world’s ship building.

Belfast has a really nice feel about it.

We took a bus trip through the infamous Shankill Road this morning. Shankill Road is the protestant/loyalist stronghold in the city, and was the site of extreme sectarian violence during The Troubles. It was also the turf of the notorious gang of catholic haters and serial killers, known as the Shankill Butchers. This gang was responsible for the torture and brutal murder of nineteen innocent people over an 18-month period, and left this district in terror. They were eventually found and convicted, but many were released prematurely (not sure why), and are living in Belfast today.

We leave Belfast tomorrow, and alas Ireland as well. I think we are both a little sad, but I’ll have more time to reflect on Ireland on the ferry tomorrow.