Saturday 19 February 2000
Highlights: Thieves in the Night, the Tower Museum
During the night someone quietly entered our dorm room and stole my backpack. After searching we reported it to hostel staff and later the police, not a great feeling :(.
Nathan's Insights
World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas
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Friday 18 February 2000
Highlights: Queen’s College, Irish pubsWe got up early an started the second walking tour. Unfortunately luck was against us and it rained heavily most of the time. We walked past the Europa Hotel, the most bombed building in the world apparently and to a nearby Royal Ulster Constabulary (or police) station. All the police buildings are like fortresses and the cars like tanks.
The other highlight was Queen’s College which was built during Queen Victoria’s reign. It is apparently based on Magdalen College at Oxford. We then caught a bus a Derry.
The name of the city, Derry or Londdonderry, causes controversy. It was originally renamed to Loddonderry in the 16th century to reflect close relations with London but Catholics call it Derry, as it was originally. The Republican City Council changed it’s name to Derry but the city itself is still Loddonderry. Your background (Protestant or Catholic) is exposed by what you call the city.
We met a fellow Australian from Burnie in Tasmania called Kent. Kent currently plays in the State Australian Football League for Burnie. We all went out to find a pub that plays local Irish music. Three pubs later we had drank three Guinness beers having an enjoy night out.
Since the hostel did not take our credit card we had to use the little UK cash we had left.
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Thursday 17 February 2000
Highlights: Giant’s Causeway, personal tour of Belfast.We did a Youth Hostel Organised tour to the Giants Causeway. Leaving from a different Belfast Hostel down the other end of town at 9.30 am so we had to get up early.
Along the way up we visited a coastal castle, abandoned long ago, which sits on a cliff over looking the sea. Part of the kitchen fell into the sea which encouraged the owner to move. The magnificent views from the castle make it worth the visit.
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Wednesday 16 February 2000
Highlights: Walking tour of Belfast, City Hall, Guinness.Today we went on the Lonely Planet’s first walking tour of Belfast. While this tour had frequent rain luckily for the most part it was while we were undercover. The highlights of the tour included the leaning clock tower in honour of Queen Victoria’s husband and the tour of the Belfast City Hall.
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Tuesday 15 February 2000
Highlights: Ferry crossing to Northern Ireland.After very little sleep we started our second last long travel day. The American in our room was sick and coughing and an Asian kept talking in his sleep so I only got 2 hours sleep. We caught the 9.30 am train to Glasgow and than a train to Stranneat. From here we caught a ferry service to Belfast.
The ferry cost £20 and basically had all the features including a McDonalds and Duty Free shopping. The crossing did get a little rough and Jon did not find that very enjoyable 🙂
We ended up staying at the Linen House Hostel, an independent hostel which only opened recently and cost £6.50 per night for a 18 bed dorm! Luckily there were only five others in the room including 1 American girl and 2 other Australians and we stayed up to 2 am talking.
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Monday 14 February 2000
Highlights: Stirling CastleAfter a small breakfast we headed for Stirling Castle. Today we had fairly constant drizzle and at times amazingly thick fog.
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Sunday 13 February 2000
Highlights: Royal Mile, Palace of Holyroodhouse, St Giles CathedralWe sent today walking the Royal Mile. A road connecting Edinburgh Castle with the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Most of the attractions were shut until 2 pm as it was Sunday or we were not interested in the ones that were. However we could admire the fine architecture of buildings dating from 16th century to present.
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Saturday 12 February 2000
Highlights: St Andrews Cathedral, St Andrews Golf CourseWe decided on a day trip to St Andrews. This meant a train trip to Leuchars and than a bus to St Andrews, total travelling time around 1.5 hours.
A real highlight was St Andrews Cathedral built in 1160 it was basically destroyed by the reformation of the church in 1559. It is obvious it was quite magnificent, and several of the surviving parts are exceptional.
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Friday 11 February 2000
Highlights: Edinburgh Castle, Scottish Crown Jewels, Underground vaultsWe got into Edinburgh just before 12 noon and managed to find a reasonable hostel that wasn’t on our map.
Today we visited Edinburgh Castle, one time residence of the Scottish Kings and almost always a Royal Stronghold. The Castle is situated on top of a large hill overlooking the city. It is difficult to approach and in the past almost impossible but despite this the Scots and English have lost the Castle to each other.
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Thursday 10 February 2000
Highlights: City Chambers, Stirling’s Library, Glasgow Cathedral, St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Art, People’s PalaceHad a very interrupted night’s sleep as one of our room mates was sick and coughing all night. The dorm beds were also very hard.
Anyway we started the day with a visit to the City Chambers. Impressive is a massive understatement. The chambers were built in 1880 for a cost exceeding 500,000 ponds and is most likely the world’s grandest council chambers. Hard to believe any government would have enough money to build something like this. Material was bought in from around the world including Italy and Australia. The great hall is magnificent. I’m hoping the photos do it justice.
Nathan's Insights 