Usually, when
I came home after my travels I evaluate it in “ups” and “downs”, then
a I focus only on “ups” (the highlights), because downs are for
learning from the mistakes or in better case for further recommendation to my
friends/family. And let´s face it, we travel because of highlights, so who
would like to analyze the bad stuff??
Needless to say, Dublin
and Belfast trip had a great deal of highlights, but I have decided to focus on
my personal one - the mini trip to the
cliffs of Howth, and with the connection of that (to
mention Belfast as well ;)) I have decided to compare it to the
Belfast´s Wall of peace.
Weirdly enough, I can confidently say that the
Peace wall and cliffs have a lot in common (well, of course they are both barriers dividing
something, but I´m not going to write about geography or history). The most
important "connecting factor" for me was silence.
SILENCE
OF THE NATURE
As a nature freak I wanted to use the
opportunity of long break in our program and get away from the rush city
center of Dublin (it was busy even though the pubs and streets seemed empty
during the evening!) and experience what Ireland is famous for - the cliffs in a smaller scale. With the weather playing in
our favor we hopped on the train and we were in Howth in 15 mins.
Not expecting anything we went straight to the
point where (we thought) the cliffs were - getting immediately lost was not surprising, but we kept going. Hiking in ankle deep mud
and knee deep bush did not stop us.
When we finally saw the sea I felt pure joy. No human in sight, only wind
blowing fresh sea air, perfect weather and astonishing view were the ideal combination. I just stood there eyes wide open, breathing the atmosphere in.
SILENCE OF THE CITY
We appeared in Belfast
suddenly, without any pass control or welcome. But I knew we are in UK again -
no bikes on the road as in Dublin, people were walking fast and with
purpose. Only old dusty and torn Irish flags were evoking some difference.
First stopover - Peace wall
As we get out of the bus into the cold
morning, we remained quiet. For others it could be the 3 hour ride, or prolonged night,
but for me it was something completely different. I stood on a pavement with an
awe thinking "this is too high!". And then
it hit me, all the emotions about the riots and fights, realizing it did not
happened that long time ago and basically, that it´s still happening.
As
each coin has two sides, silence can be experienced in two ways.
Even though the cliffs and the wall were entirely different experiences, both stirred strong emotions inside of me.
Even though the cliffs and the wall were entirely different experiences, both stirred strong emotions inside of me.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Not having any
expectations helped me to not be too disappointed or hyped. I was able to
create my own perceptions about the cities without influence of media. Even
though Dublin and Belfast are only 3 hours away from each other, they are
completely different. Dublin - European, touristic and multicultural city is
trying to hide its history with green and happy leprechauns. Belfast – UK city
advertising mostly for business industry not trying enough to promote interesting
and profitable (Titanic) or hide dark (riots) history.
Of course I would rather come back to Dublin.
