This last weekend was fully packed from Thursday to Sunday of places of travel. The main cities we traveled to were Derry(also known as Londonderry) depending who you talk to. We also spent a few days in Belfast. Thursday was a early morning. The first destination was W.B Yeats grave because we have been studying his plays in literature class. Considering how famous W.B Yeats was, I was surprised as to how simple his grave and the graveyard around him was, but this also made it kinda neat. I stared at the grave for about 5 minutes and then hoped back on the bus. Our next stop was picking up our tour guide, Jackie and then Derry. Once we reached Derry we split up for lunch. For the first time in three months I got to eat a burrito which was so scrumptious, because it is almost impossible to find Mexican food in Ireland. After lunch we toured The Bloody Sunday museum. The museum was small and simple, but very interesting to learn about the history and victims of this tragic day in Derry, Ireland. Jackie, our tour guide gave us a tour of the city of Derry. Jackie was raised in Derry and was there for all the riots, so it was really neat to hear about her personal experiences instead of listening to another boring tour guide. That night we stayed in the small town of Buncrana. Our hostel was cute and comfortable. The next day we hoped on the bus again for a two hour bus ride to Belfast. On the way we stopped at the Giant's Causeway. Pictures can't do this beautiful place justice. I explored this attraction for two hours and could have spent all day there. For me, it was like like a grownups playground climbing on the rocks and hiking the mountain behind the Causeway. The next stop was Belfast. My first impression of Belfast was exactly what I thought it would be. Just walking the streets, you felt like you were no longer in Ireland. I found Belfast to be a dirty and a bitter city. There is a wall in the middle of the city that separates the Catholics and Protestants and painted murals of the past and politics on both sides. Jackie gave us a tour of both sides of the city and the Peace wall. Personally, Belfast frustrated me because I think it's ridiculous to have walls up to separate the city and if they really want peace, they should take the wall and murals down, but that's just me. That night a few of us went out to see what the night life was about here. We went to a bar called Filthy Mcnasty's. It was a neat looking bar with several bars attached, but everyone seemed to keep to themselves. This was different because we are use the super overly friendly Irish folk in Galway and Dublin. On Saturday we toured the Titanic. This was a self guided tour of how the Titanic was built in Belfast and the history of the ship and passengers. I have always found the Titanic to be very interesting, so I personally really enjoyed this experience. We also had a tour the Crumlin jail in Belfast as well. I loved learning about the history of the famous prisoners and rebels that were poisoned at this jail. Our tour guide showed us where the prisoners were hung, and told us that they were buried in the walls of the prison, which was kind of creepy. On Sunday we toured the Battle of Boyne. Although I tried to stay interested, I found this museum to be boring, Sorry. That afternoon we
After a long weekend of go, go go! It was nice to finally be home in Spiddal again. This weekend made me realize how different of an atmosphere Ireland is just a few hours away, and made me more appreciative of Galway and where we are staying.
After a long weekend of go, go go! It was nice to finally be home in Spiddal again. This weekend made me realize how different of an atmosphere Ireland is just a few hours away, and made me more appreciative of Galway and where we are staying.