SOLO EUROPE IV: DAYS 20-22 [BELFAST]
the taxi dropped me off at central station. i then walked the mile or so to my hostel. before visiting, i had done quite a bit of research on the troubles, a civil conflict mostly in northern ireland from the 1960s to 1990s revolving around if northern ireland should stay in the uk or be a part of ireland & fueled by both ethnonationalism & religion. though the troubles are considered mostly over, there is still tension & disagreement about northern ireland's future. many neighborhoods are segregated (for the most part catholic & protestant) & when walking through them, you can identify which between the 2 they are. along my walk, i was walking past many union jack flags. in the area was also the europa hotel, the most bombed hotel in europe (bombed 40 times).
along the way was also the crown bar, an old victorian gin palace
queen's university
after stopping at the hostel, located in an old row home near queen's university, i searched for dinner. maggie mae's was on my list from my research, but the owner also highly recommended it. maggie mae's is a belfast establishment that serves northern irish diner food. with several locations i had a breakfast sandwich with sausage & egg on soda bread (with a side of brown sauce - superior to ketchup). it came with free tea. i also ended up ordering chips with garlic as i was still hungry.
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belfast city hall & a statue of queen victoria (c. 1906 - baroque revival style)
though the tour takes a good chunk of the day, i am glad i went. i liked seeing all the different recreated sets with costumes displayed to depict iconic scenes from the show. everyone was shorter than i thought, especially kit. it was not as busy as i thought & the museum was quite large so i was able to be in rooms by myself. a nice touch was a poster of tyron with a crossbow welcoming you when you entered the restroom (if you know, you know).
the wildlings
hodor!
jon snow's death
the bad bitch tyrell - "it was me"
they also reconstructed some of the artists' work spaces
jamie's prop body
my mug in the house of the black & white
the throne
it was a nice touch that the costumes that welcome you in the lobby or those used by the stark's in the first episode (everyone was so young & small)
botanic gardens, near the hostel
a local who does traditional basket weaving made these 3 dragons for a game of thrones event.
the troubles exhibit at the ulster museum
the victorian tropical ravine - unfortunately i got here too late to visit
i decided to go back to maggie mae's (though a different location) for dinner & try something else. this time i had british american fusion food, breaded southern chicken with gravy & champs (creamy mashed potatoes with scallions).
maggie mays
southern crispy chicken with gravy & champs at maggie maes.
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the next day was pretty crazy. i was visiting outside belfast to cultra via public transportations and did not know a pretty bad storm was coming in. i do not know how i missed it as i normally look at the weather daily. anyways this is when storm amy, the first cyclone of the season in europe, travelled its way to ireland. this made for a very wet & windy day & a lot of places closing early. it especially impacted the next day, but more on that in the next post.
before taking the rail, i stopped for coffee near the station at a nero. from the station, the ulster folk museum was a little of a walk from the station & included walking through an old estate. i actually arrived before openening, so i had to hang around with the ticket worker for a bit. this was when i learned about the storm. anyhoo, the reason for my visit was to see the ulster folk museum, a collection of buildings all over northern ireland that preserve the past way of life & particularly the rural early 20th century. there are 3 sections: the town, the field, & the wood.
cluan place, red brick row homes from east belfast
ballycultra post office (c. late 1700s)
this is the same basket weaver who made the dragons in the ulster museum, it is a small town.
the old rectory with a traditional thatched roof (c. 1700s)
inside there was a nice guy making soda bread. i had a really lovely conversation with him about folk museums & asked if i could take his picture (he told me people rarely ask).
old fashioned soda bread made in the old wall oven on site. it was a little doughy since it was a very wet day.
ballyvollen basket maker's & fisherman's houses
i then made the mistake of visiting the outer parts of the museum that demonstrated more rural & country living. by the time i started walking, the rain was really bad & shelter was far & few between. wet feet can really be a bummer. i also would get so confused because there were no signs showing how to go back to town. i walked the woods & got lost. due to the weather, there were not many people visiting, but i did end up running into a farm hand who told me how to get back. along the way i would stop at the some of the thatched roof dwellings that had fires going to warm off & dry a little. it felt very old timey when everyone had to walk around & find shelter where they could.
one of the dwelling i stopped to dry off at.
i was warned there was a mean goose named gus who wore boots.
as there was still some time before the next train, i decided to stop at the tea room for some coffee, bread, and broth to warm me up. by the time i walked back to the station, it was really raining hard. unfortunately my day was cut short. i wanted to visit the cathedral quarter with the northern ireland war memorial (belfast was heavily bombed during wwi - the belfast blitz) & maybe even the cultural area where the titanic was built, but the storm advisory was in & the wind was really bad. so bad it was hard to walk. online, i was noticing some places were closing early because of the storm. because of this, i decided to just cut my day early & dry off. i picked up dinner at the central train station & walked back to the hostel. i ended up having some pretty long conversations with some of the girls there. most were very young girls from australia straight out of college or high school & traveling for an entire year. i was told australians travel for such long period because the flights are really long (they generally have a lay over in asia or duabai).
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the hostel
i stayed at an all female hostel. this hostel was one of the most accommodating i have ever visited. it had everything you would possibly need. the hostel is owned by a woman only a few years older than me. she was someone who was very open about her life. her parents had owned a hostel & she had travelled throughout the world working at others. she opened one in belfast & was also very open about how she barely makes any money. she does it for the experience & connection to people. she was also very open about the corruption in belfast & the horror stories of some of the other hostels in the city. i believe it. i was roomed with someone who first stayed at another hostel in the city & she had a very bad experience as it was also being used as a homeless shelter. she also said 2 people were murdered in this hostel (before it was a hostel). all of that is to say, this was one of the best hostels i have stayed at. it was clean, very cute & girly, & offered a free breakfast.
the lobby
the living room
the owner also likes to bakes on site. for a couple days i had way too much focaccia & ciabatta.