This past weekend we took a class trip to northern Ireland which started with a stop at the Titanic Museum. From there we went to Belfast and were able to grab lunch and explore the city. Our last activity of the day was participating in the Black taxi tours. We were divided up into small groups to hear about the history of northern Ireland however, some groups had catholic taxi drivers and other groups had protestant taxi drivers. The stop on the taxi that I found most interesting was Bombay street. Many of the houses on that street to this day still have metal coverings to protect their backyards from bombs. They were created because of the nine inch pipe bombs that were being dropped. Only the first few houses have their backyards exposed as the tension has decreased. It was interesting to learn that although these houses had open backyards that was a recent development that only occurred before Covid. The hope is now that the other homes on the street will follow suit.
That night a group of us went into town to grab some chinese food for dinner. As everyone was eager to go out after Bella and I went to Tesco and grabbed snacks to bring back to our room, watch a movie and go to bed early. The following morning we ran downstairs to grab the hotel breakfast before getting on the bus and heading to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. As we got closer and closer to the bridge I got more and more nervous but I knew it was a once in a lifetime experience. As much as I was shaking the entire time it was an incredible experience.
Before we went home we stopped at the Giant’s causeway. One of the biggest things we have learned in Ireland is the prevalence of storytelling. Here we learned the myth that the stones had been placed into the ground as an attempt to create a walkway from Ireland to Scotland. However, we also learned the true story of a woman who was married at the Giant’s Causeway and her husband went out to see and was not seen again the following day. After this she began to sell water and give a shot of whiskey to the tourists to support herself. Our tour guide mentioned that they were big on superstitions so it was likely that she braided the water as “lucky” or “magic”. Walking along the stone I couldn’t help but wonder how something like this was truly part of nature. How a place like this could be real. It was unsurprising to me that the legend behind it because believing that something like this could just happen is almost unfathomable.
