Video Montage

A video montage of my backpacking trip to Ireland.

Ireland, days 8-9

On my last day in Belfast, I went to Ormeau Park with the hopes of seeing what the local city parks were like, and having a relaxing morning. This would have been great -- had I not managed to get us hopelessly lost all the way across town.

It wasn't that bad really. We took a left where we should have taken a right. When we finally hiked it in the correct direction, we went straight where we should have turned. Eventually we found our way there though.

I was pleasantly surprised when we got there. Although the park had that typical manicured look we had seen all week, it was a unique design. Apparently, it had been designed by a member of the community back in the 19th century, and the design remains roughly the same.

It's a delightful combination of evergreens and deciduous trees, wildflowers, green lawns, landscaping, and winding pathways throughout.

After spending some time at the park, we poked our heads into St. George's Market, which was basically an enclosed street market. It sold an extremely wide variety of goods, ranging from food to hardware, to jewelry, to clothing.


The day was still young and we were planning on returning to the market the next day for one of my friends' research projects, so two of us departed to go off and explore the city a little bit. We went into City Hall, which was quite ornate, and walked around in its public courtyard a little.

For some reason there was a giant tourist ferris wheel on one side of the Hall. It seemed a little out of place, but made for an interesting feature in the middle of the city.

The only thing I didn't like was that the ferris wheel was unfortunately blocking some interesting memorial statues, such as this one commemorating the HMS Titanic. In fact, although we didn't get to go to any of the exhibits, the Titanic had been built in Belfast and I believe it was the last city she departed from before her fateful voyage across the Atlantic.


The next day, we returned to St. George's Market, which -- if possible -- had an even wider array of offerings. There was every kind of food you could imagine (with lots of free samples!), including entire roasted hogs skewered on gigantic spits; cheeses of every possible kind; raw fish and meats; delicious tarts, cakes, cookies and pies (lots of gluten-free pastries too); and all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables. There were also tons of craftsmen, artists, and people selling pretty much anything they could get a hold of.

So, after an entertaining morning at the market, we rode a city bus to Belfast City Airport, cruised through security (except they stopped me to do a random check of my electronics) and lounged at the airport for a couple hours.

Out the window, you could see Cave Hill, with McArt's For at the top, and Belfast Castle at the bottom a little to the left (see picture). It was really amazing to se how far we had gone.

About an hour before our flight was scheduled to depart we noticed a note on our boarding passes: Have passport checked before boarding. Somehow we had skipped this step and no one had stopped us (Great airport security!).

>We ran back down and asked an officer what we should do. They laughed at us a little, but one officer kindly led us back out to the passport desk where we were stamped, issued new boarding passes, and instructed to go back through security. And so we did. And, once again, I was randomly called into the security room, this time so they could do a fabric swab on my coat. I was cleared to go, and soon enough we were back on our way.

The flight home was extremely short -- about 45-50 minutes, but it was lovely watching the English countryside down below. From there, we took an 1 1/2 hour coach back into the city, and finally took the tube home just after dark.

We had made it! I couldn't help but be a little astonished we were all alive. Sure, we had our mishaps, miscommunications, misjudgments, and so on, but considering we're all slightly naive 20-year-olds who have only known each other about a month and a half, I'd say it wasn't too shabby.

It was a truly wonderful trip, and I learned a lot not only about Ireland, but also about myself, traveling, and just life in general. There really is so much in this world; so much to experience and to love and to see. It really makes me grateful for the time and opportunities I have here.

Ireland, day 7

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!

Ireland, day 6

We started out with high ambitions on our first day in Belfast. Armed with an informational brochure on Colin Glen Forest Park, we planned to spend a few hours exploring the area and then head back to the city in the afternoon. It seemed easy enough to get to Colin Glen: walk to City Centre, hop on bus 10F, and hop off again at the park. When we double checked with the bus driver to make sure it was the right one, he gave us a curt nod.

As it turned out however, apparently something got lost in translation between American English and Irish English. We rode the bus clear out of town, and never saw the park. I knew we were in the right area, but something didn't quite match up.  When we asked the driver where we should get off, he gave us a dull look and said it was "a few stops back."

We got off, and as he drove away in an apathetical cloud of dust, we found ourselves stranded in the rural/suburban hills on the far outskirts of town. Great! We trudged uphill, tracing the bus route back along the deserted road. There were a few buildings, but they were old grubby looking apartments surrounded by walls. Finally we reached the area that we were pretty sure the bus driver had been referring to: an apartment complex called "Glen Colin." 

I thought the irony of the mix-up was hilarious, but no one else seemed to think so. We waited for another eon by the bus stop until another 10F came by, and this time showed the bus driver our brochure, and asked very clearly if he could take us there. "Oh yes!" he said, "I'll give you a shout when we're there!"

Thank goodness, too; we rode the bus back down passed the place where we got off the first time, and finally arrived at a stop clearly named "Colin Glen Forest Park." (Really, how hard was that?)

The park itself was a welcome relief from buses and roads and cities. There was a little nature center with a cafe where we bought sandwiches for lunch, and a wide variety of hiking trails to choose from throughout the narrow strip of preserve land.

The park followed the route of a small river, and had narrow pedestrian bridges crossing over it at various points.

There were also tons of birds at the park, including Wood Pigeons, a Grey Wagtail (first bird picture), Chaffinches (2nd bird), Song thrushes (3rd bird), Hooded Crows, and Great Tits.

Everything about the park was just gorgeous. Although it was surrounded by some slightly sketchy-looking residential buildings, it was a wonderful little oasis of greenery in the brown landscape.

From my research, I found that Belfast used to be the world center for linen manufacturing, of all things. The river that runs through Colin Glen was once used for the linen mills, and evidence of the mills can still be seen at the dam that runs under the Weir Bridge, above. Apparently there had also been a lot of logging on the land, but efforts in the 1990s were made to restore the habitat. I would say they've done a fine job!

It took us a good 3 hours to get through the park, but I really enjoyed the peacefulness of it, the beautiful environment, and the great scenery.

Ireland, day 4

For our last day in Dublin, we took a day trip to the town of Howth, a small fishing village about 10 miles east of the city centre. We got their early in the morning, not long after the sun had risen; it was a gorgeous day, too, with clear blue skies.

The town was known for its quaint harbor and lighthouse, beautiful views of the Irish coastline, and best of all the cliffs of Howth.

Before attempting the cliffs, which were at least a couple miles uphill, we explored the rocks down on the shore and took a leisurely stroll along the seawall that led out to Howth Head lighthouse. Perhaps not too surprisingly, the area reminded me a lot of Maine, what with the rocky coast, cool climate, and adorable little town long the one main road.

Above, the large rock formation across the water on the lefthand side is called the Eye of Ireland, and was once a monk monastery of some sort. Interestingly enough, apparently the only way to get to the island nowadays is to bribe a local fisherman to ferry you over there.  Not much in the mood for bribery though, we instead decided to journey up to the cliffs of Howth on our own side of the water.

To get to the cliffs, we had to follow a tiny, narrow road up along the rocky coast. I felt extremely out of place, like some sort of vagabond with my backpack in tow, and trudgin my way up past peoples' private homes. As we progressed though, it was clear that other hikers (many of them also foreign) were headed in the same direction.

About halfway up, there was a "Road Closed" sign, so we turned and climbed a narrow staircase decorated with all sorts of graffiti. To our great surprise, this led us to none other than a suburban neighborhood much like the kind you might find along the outskirts of Orlando, back in the states. This slightly tainted my impression of Howth, but we turned around and instead proceeded passed the "Road Closed" sign, as it seemed pedestrians were allowed to go through.

This turned out to be the correct choice, because we found ourselves about 15 minutes later at a trailhead that wound steeply up into the cliffs.

Feeling rather proud of ourselves for making it that far, we took a group picture at the top. There was still further to go however, each peak and rocky outcropping providing yet another jaw-dropping, breathtaking, awe-inspiring view of the majestic coastline.

One of my favorite parts about the cliffs were the nesting seabirds. I was super ecstatic about the Guillemots, a bird I haven't seen since my last trip to Maine, in fact. Taking this picture was a little exciting too -- I had a great time lying on my belly over the cliffs and trying not to think about the 300 foot drop below. I must say, it was a great adrenaline rush though.

And here I am on the cliffs!

The views from every direction were simply beyond description. It was like being in a postcard, only even more beautiful, with the sound of crashing wave below, the roar of the seabreeze, and the call of the seabirds getting tossed around in the wind.

As we were walking along this path, we actually got a glimpse of a dolphin, way down below. Also, although we didn't see any, apparently whales are occassionally sighted from the cliffs.

Had I been on my own or with just one or two of the other girls, I would have spent the entire day wandering the cliffs, but some people were very uncomfortable with the whole idea of hiking, so we had to compromise and head back around lunchtime.

It was one of my favorite days we'd had in Ireland yet. We ate lunch in a local cafe before riding the bus back to Dublin. If you ever find yourself out that way, I would highly suggest visiting Howth -- and I definitely will if I return to Ireland someday.

It was simply indescribable, one of those things you really have to experience for yourself.. Even the one member of our group who didn't care for trekking stopped at one point, marveling at the realization that it was completely silent in the cliffs. Something about Howth really touched everyone in a different way. I know it touched me, and will remain one of the best memories I have of Ireland.