Like I mentioned yesterday, we traveled to Belfast today. It was so hard to believe that even though we were on the same small island, we were in the U.K. as opposed to Ireland. But Belfast is definitely so much different than Dublin. Although the conflict ended there about twenty years ago, its presence can still be felt because of the hundreds of murals throughout the city. Our tour guide was nice enough to let us stop and take pictures of some of the more famous ones, but it was hard to get pictures of the others while on the tour bus.
Instead of the black taxi tour, we just rode a bus around the city with one of the black taxi tour guides. His accent was so different than anything Irish accent I've heard in Dublin; it seemed like a combination of Irish and English. He was very nice and knew the best places for us to stop and take pictures. I really enjoyed our stop at Stormont Castle, where the Northern Irish Parliament meets. It was gorgeous! Then afterward we stopped at Belfast Castle, but we weren't able to stay there long since we were on a very tight schedule.
For lunch, we stopped at a restaurant near where the Titantic was built. It was so cool that we were able to see where it was built! I'm really excited for our Titantic walking tour later next week.
After seeing some of the other popular streets in Belfast, we stopped at the Belfast Telegraph, a Northern Irish newspaper. We met with Gerry Patterson, the Director of Digital Development. He discussed the impact of the Internet in Northern Ireland, which is much larger compared to the impact in the rest of the island. I was pleasantly surprised by how open and honest he was; he described some of the tension between the print and online journalists among other topics that were normally kept private.
We ate a delicious dinner at the Morning Star. My meal consisted of chicken tempura, bacon and mushroom pasta, and a chocolate fudge cake for dessert. I was so full after that huge meal! Then we walked to the train station and returned to Dublin.
I really enjoyed the trip to Belfast, but I just wish we could have spent a little more time there. The city has so many signs of its recent conflict, from murals to barbed wires to reconstruction due to bombings. I felt very rushed during the day, so maybe I'll just have to take another trip back to the city at some other time.
I'm excited because tomorrow I will be meeting some family around the area and then go see The Last Waltz, which was originally a movie directed by Martin Scorsese depicting the history of Bob Dylan and 'The Band' that was turned into a live show for the movie's 30th anniversary. I can't believe tomorrow will be my last day in Dublin!
Irish country side that we passed while on the train to Belfast.
One of the many murals about the Northern Ireland conflict.
Stormont Castle and the statue of Edward Carson.
The front of the Belfast Castle.
Where the Titantic was built.
A view from the train back to Dublin.
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