ToewsTravels – Page 3 – every country or bust!

madeira!

i spent a few days in madeira, an archipelago in the atlantic ocean which is an autonomous outlying region of portugal. the islands are home to about 260,000 people, and pre-covid pandemic the capital funchal was the busiest cruise port in europe. this is a major destination for package tourists from europe, and seemed like the type of place a lot of retirees go for a week or a few months. the weather is always nice – i’m surprised it hasn’t caught on more with tourists from north america. funchal is also known as the home of perhaps the world’s most famous football player, cristiano ronaldo.

downtown funchal has many restaurants selling poncha (a local citrus-based alcohol) and grilled scrabbard (a local long, eel-like fish) with bananas and passionfruit. there is a nice downtown central market which is the public center of the island. there is a series of cable cars that you can take up the mountain for great views over funchal. at the top is an area called monte, which has a nice church, and you can opt to take an expensive toboggan ride down the mountain. the toboggans are steered down the very steep streets by guys dressed in white suits and wicker hats.

monte urban toboggan drivers, funchal, madeira

funchal botanical garden

this expansive botanical garden is quite impressive. it is located high on the hill overlooking the city of funchal, so has great views. it is accessible by taking two different cable cars from the funchal waterfront. it contains a large variety of unique plants from around the former portuguese colonial empire, which included congo and brazil, among others.

cable car to botanical garden, funchal, madeira

layover in geneva

joel and i, with edward snowden and julian assange in geneva, switzerland

i had a another layover in geneva, switzerland. i got to spend some time with my friend joel, and it was great to catch up as it had been a few years since i saw him last! we walked around the city, saw the united nations headquarters, and he took me on a tour of the university where he is getting his phd – the graduate institute.

antwerp

i had a few hours layover at the brussels airport, so decided to take a 35 minute train ride to the nearby city of antwerp. i only ended up having about 2 hours there, but it was enough to explore much of the compact old city on an electric scooter. antwerp is famous for its diamond trade, primarily run by jews and jains. it also has the tallest gothic church tower in europe.

belfast

i took the 2 hour train ride from dublin, ireland up to belfast, northern ireland for a daytrip, and it was great! interestingly, despite the united kingdom having very strict covid quarantine requirements for incoming international travelers at the time, i was able to legally circumvent these by arriving directly from ireland overland, thanks to the rules of free movement and no border checks within the “common travel area” (cta). so, even during covid times, but also any other time, this was an easy daytrip, and one i’d definitely recommend!

i really enjoyed wandering around belfast (on one of the hottest days of the year), and seeing the titanic museum, the political murals relating to the troubles, and the international solidarity wall.

downtown skyline, belfast, northern ireland

great to see a canadian staple in northern ireland!

clonard monastery, belfast, northern ireland

victoria square shopping centre, belfast, northern ireland

titanic museum

the titanic was built in belfast, northern ireland, which was the center of the world’s shipbuilding industry at that time. there is a relatively new, world-class museum devoted to the titanic story on the belfast waterfront, which is quite impressive.

political murals, belfast

political signage, belfast, northern ireland

bobby sands mural, belfast, northern ireland

belfast, northern ireland has a tumultuous recent history. “the troubles” were persistent ethnonationalist violence from the 1960s to the 1990s between the protestants/unionists/loyalists and the catholics/nationalists/republicans over the political status of northern ireland. thankfully the violence has subsided since the good friday agreement in 1998, but a literal wall still divides sections belfast city, and remarkably, automated gates still close at 10pm every evening to divide/protect the communities from each other overnight.

in west belfast along and near shankill road there are many politically inspired murals. most are on the protestant/unionist/loyalist side, though the catholic/nationalist/republican side has some too. there are memorials to various killings and bombings as well. probably the best way to see these is to a take a black cab tour, in which a local drives you around in a classic northern irish black cab and explains the context of the troubles and the murals. due to inadequate planning on my part and a desire to minimize costs, i opted to skip the tour and walk my own black cab tour route, after reading the wikipedia article on the troubles and identifying the route of a typical tour, and i think i got a pretty good sense of things, though it did take essentially all day. for me, this was the highlight of my time on the island of ireland.

political/memorial mural, belfast, northern ireland

political mural, belfast, northern ireland

partisan signaling, belfast, northern ireland

gate which automatically closes each evening at 10pm to divide sectarian neighborhoods, memorial, belfast, northern ireland

another gate which automatically closes each evening at 10pm to divide sectarian neighborhoods, memorial, belfast, northern ireland

peace/dividing wall, belfast, northern ireland

solidarity wall, belfast

on one section of the wall that divides protestant and catholic belfast, northern ireland, there are a number of murals supporting causes of justice internationally, known as the solidarity wall. while less locally relevant than the surrounding protestant and catholic political murals, they are still quite eye-catching and interesting!

dublin

i was able to spend two days in dublin, ireland! i walked around the entire time and saw the stuff that all tourists see, like the book of kells and impressive library at trinity college, the temple bar neighborhood, christ church cathedral, st. patrick’s cathedral, the guinness storehouse, the teeling whiskey distillery, and some live music, among other things. i also took a very interesting daytrip by train to belfast, northern ireland, which was quite easy. my hostel experience at the lyndon house in dublin was unequivocally the worst of my life, as a hoarder in the room next to me was being actively forced to move out of his room which he appeared to have been living in for years, possibly without leaving to use the toilet, but i won’t let that define my perspective on ireland! this visit was notable as ireland was the final country for me to visit in europe – i have now been to them all!

henry street and the spire, dublin, ireland

christ church cathedral, dublin, ireland

st. patrick’s cathedral, dublin, ireland

guinness storehouse

the guinness storehouse in dublin is very much a tourist trap, but a very impressive one! it is a brand immersion experience, walking you through the history of beer, and guinness specifically, ending with a pint on their rooftop, which has the best views in dublin.