Ireland: Day 1 – Belfast

August 20, 2023

Bonnie, Zach, and I spent the morning at Lough Eske, where Tom and Elva hosted a post-wedding brunch. Almost everyone beside us had stayed awake until at least three in the morning, a fact that one could readily ascertain from the haggard faces and hoarse voices. Because of Bonnie’s dislocated elbow and my antisocial habits, we left far earlier, and were thus probably the best rested of the group.

We left Donegal around twelve, crossing back from Ireland into Northern Ireland not long after. The weather became sunny, so we decided to make a stop by Belfast and explored some of the main sights in the city. From Saint Anne’s Cathedral, we walked southwest to the Albert Memorial Clock and the Big Fish, the latter being a ceramic blue and white sculpture with tiles depicting episodes from Belfast’s history. Walking through the centre, we also caught a glimpse of Belfast’s majestic City Hall. Interestingly, a vote was passed in 2012 limiting the Union Jack to flying only 18 days a year from this building.

After dropping off Zach and Bonnie at their hotel, I visited one last attraction on the outskirts of the city: Belfast Castle. The grey Victorian building stands above Belfast – but in a far different location from where its medieval predecessors were built. Nowadays, it seems a popular spot for tourists and locals alike, with pleasant gardens, a café, and outdoor seating.

It took only another hour to drive to the place where I was staying in the very north of Northern Ireland. On the way, I visited the Dark Hedges, a scenic avenue of contorting old beech trees that leads to a country mansion. However, the place was completely overrun by the worst kind of tourists – movie fans. The location had appeared on Game of Thrones, and several buffoons showed up wearing capes and plastic swords. Even without them, however, the place was bustling, which did not seem very conducive to creating the mysterious atmosphere for which the path is known.