Our seventh day in Ireland was the busiest day I had the entire time I was there. I'll try to let my pictures do most of the talking so as not to make this too long (I think it's already too late to worry about length though!).
We rode the city bus to Cave Hill Country Park, on the outskirts of Belfast, much like Colin Glen (although fortunately this time we had a friendly bus driver who let us off at the street leading up to it and gave us good walking directions from there!). Belfast is situated in the Lagan Valley and surrounded by gigantic hills -- being from Florida, I thought they looked more like mountains, but everyone insisted they were hills. We were over 1,000 feet in altitude though, so whatever you want to call it, that's what we were hiking.
Belfast Castle stands about a third of the way up. It's a 19th century mansion that was owned by the third Marquis of Donegall (a family who owned/owns much of the land in Belfast).
It was open to the public, but there wasn't much inside. Apparently it's mostly used for weddings and rented out for private events. On the top floor, there were some really old informational displays, including the large taxidermy exhibit above.
This was the view of the city from the castle.
At the top of the hill is McArt's Fort, also known as Napoleon's Nose. It was really far up, but three of us decided to see how close we could get, which the fourth member of our group elected to stay behind at the castle. It turned out to be a long and strenuous hike, but I had an absolute blast.
It had been a couple hours and we were only about two thirds of the way to the top, so we decided just to hike back down so we wouldn't leave our other party member waiting too long. Just as we were about to turn around though, we spotted a clearing at the top of a sharp incline. With an exchange of glances, it was clear we were all in ageement: "Let's do it!"
It was SO worth it! Gasping for breath at the top, the trees gave way to a spectacular panorama of the entire city and countryside. Behind us, Cave Hill towered above (you could actually see all the caves from here) and in front was a glorious, grey, foggy vista.
Just as we were about to head back down, a couple of old Irishmen came up the path with their 5 dogs. After a few moments of small talk ("Lovely afternoon, innit? Are you Canadian?"), they suggested we go up a little farther to see the "big cave".
We took their advice and found the big cave just beyond a grassy ravine. It was a little farther than we had time to walk, but it was clear, even from that distance, how large it must have been inside.
Before we left, I wanted one last look at the great view. I scrambled up a steep outcropping that jutted up from the side of the hill. It was a great little adrenaline rush when I got to the peak and found myself balanced on what felt like the top of the world.
This was a map of the trails -- I highlighted our route in red. Needless to say, we were dead exhausted by the end!
But the day was far from over. We rode the bus back into Belfast and then got off at St. Anne's Cathedral. It was an interesting church, and quite beautiful inside, especially with the organ player practicing haunting hymns that echoed throughout the sanctuary.
When we got back to the hostel mid-afternoon, I fell sound asleep for a good hour or so before dinner. Afterwards, I had agreed to go with one of the girls to a photography club meeting for her research project.
We got a little lost getting there when we hopped off the bus, and realized it was not a great part of town. However, thanks to a friendly hairdresser who googled the place for us, we found it without much hassle.
I was quite exhausted by that point and felt very out of place among the dozen or so photographers with their big fancy DSLRs and studio equipment. It was interesting to watch though, and I actually learned a few new things about photography.
Getting back to the hostel was a little scary -- when we were walking back to the bus stop (in the rain and the dark), at one point we were followed by two men in a car who started get out and come towards us. However, we kept walking quickly and as soon as we got to the main road seconds later, they disappeared. It was extremely unnerving, but fortunately the only somewhat-dangerous situation I encountered on the entire trip.
It certainly didn't ruin the remarkable day it had been overall. I had climbed a thousand feet over the city, I had wandered down the aisle of a cathedral, and had spent the evening in the company of some brilliant photographers. What a day!
No comments:
Post a Comment