1/9 City Express
No rule without exception. No big cities with the AWO. Today is exception day and I go, or drive straight into the full. The time to the ferry is generous and so I treat myself to Glasgow. I know nothing about the city and I also don’t really know what I’m supposed to do there. But it’s just without a big detour to take, and so I bumble straight through. I set a point right in the city centre on the map, but paid attention to nothing else. The result: I get onto city motorways pretty quickly into the heart of the city, but miss a lot of what might make the city. What I experience in the supposed centre leaves me rather with question marks. I would call it cold in character. Buildings, for which modern architects have probably earned a golden nose, but the city’s residents were not considered. With the Glasgow Science Centre, IMAX and the Glasgow Tower there are three of those structures right next to each other. Two things strike me. It looks a bit unkept, the parks department is surely looking for staff. And despite being in the middle of the city, it’s surprisingly empty of people. Sure, it’s Sunday, but in big cities the bear always roars, or the mice dance, or whatever. I am now sure that Glasgow’s heart beats somewhere else, just not here at this bleak spot. Maybe at the University of Glasgow, which I can spot through the trees at some distance?
The further way to the ferry again takes place on fast and main roads. With detours and construction lights a gray day, as it also shows in the sky. At least it isn’t raining and the temperatures are tolerable. I would have imagined the farewell from Scotland nicer, but that would be whining at the highest level. 11 days in Scotland, from the Shetlands over the Highlands to the Hebrides, and then also Skye and Islay. That needs time to sink in. Take a breath, then at home.
And now Northern Ireland, Belfast. But I’ll first look at it lying an hour before the harbour. An emergency on the sister ship delays the docking by about 40 minutes. And then, then everything goes wrong. My GPS, as if by ghost hand, shows another route on the display and steers me in the completely wrong direction. Since the display also refuses to go into landscape mode, I have to look at it rotated 90° all the time. So I only realize late that my destination is 234 km away. Nonsense, from the harbour it should be no more than 5 km to the accommodation. Moreover it starts to rain lightly and the fuel is low. Now back onto the city motorway into the city again and see where I can find a petrol station.
I had imagined Belfast differently. Some quarters that a tourist might avoid and be careful where to turn. Here I experience more one of those modern cities, lots of city motorways and glass palaces. When I finally get into the city centre, it becomes more presentable. My accommodation is only 1.5 km from the centre, so I can go on foot into the heart of Belfast on a discovery tour. And there is indeed something to discover. The Opera House, the City Hall illuminated in red light, and generally life in Belfast. It’s quite striking how close the glass palace and a tram stop lie side by side. There seems to be no upscale quarter and no, well, whatever, “don’t go there” quarter, colloquially called the train‑station district. Here everything is in one. In front of a supermarket lies a poor pig, which other types somehow look after, and less than 50 m away is a Nobel tram stop. I have never seen so much contrast in such a tight space. And I have never felt so uneasy walking through the city with a camera. I always look twice before I take it out of the backpack. When I head back to the hostel after 10 pm, there is already less life in the streets, and even now it feels uncomfortable to me. And what about the AWO? Hopefully it’s still standing in front of the door when I arrive. It’s one of those typical repurposed rental houses for tourists. That means ordinary Northern Irish live in the neighboring houses. I at least hope they’re normal. Because I didn’t notice the city’s most famous problem during my walk. So no bloody Sunday, just a normal Sunday evening in a big city. It was still exciting. And as I will read later after the trip, the tension field is also still present. Unfortunately!
