I’m a city girl, even though I live in a tiny town, and Taos is about as tiny as it gets with 7,000 people in the town proper.
I have an affinity for small towns – I love to visit and photograph them when I travel – but I tend to get my inspiration in cities, from the sheer volume of cultural happenings and varied experiences. I grew up in San Diego, then lived in San Francisco, Oakland, and New York City, so cities are in my blood.
When I travel I’m always on the lookout for places I could live. Do you do that? Temporarily fall in love, check the real estate listings, fantasize about what your life would be like there? That happened to me in Belfast last year, which is the capital of Northern Ireland.
It’s smaller and more manageable than Dublin, and to me it had a warmer vibe. It’s got a vibrant (and walkable!) city center with great restaurants and a fun pub life, where the locals gather to catch up, sing songs, and, yep, down some Guinness. And everyone I met seemed to be some sort of creative – a writer, musician, or artist – as if it were in their DNA.
Plus gorgeous architecture, fascinating history, and it’s a college town, which means there’s always a new generation of women and men doing interesting stuff. (I almost said “young people,” which means I’m pretty far past young. Ha.)
And finally, why not move somewhere that has politics as crazy as we have in this country right now? Belfasters know crazy. Here’s just a taste of my new favorite city:
A pub, or, as I like to think of it, an Irish Community Center. (No sarcasm intended.)
A cab entirely fueled by leg power. And possibly beer.
Mom signing The Peace Wall, a tribute to all who lost their lives in The Troubles, and a monument to peace everywhere.
Ireland is loaded with random beauty.
Just behind the yellow monument is Bittles Bar, which might be the skinniest bar I’d ever been in.
The Titanic was built in Belfast, and this is the fantastic “experience” to memorialize it. It’s not to be missed, and the building is a stunner, built to look like the prow of a ship.
There are murals about Irish history and The Troubles all over Belfast.
And finally, where those young people go to school – Queen’s University.
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Yes, I have done that–considered what it would be like to live everywhere I visit. As I told you last time I grew up in La Mesa, but lived in Utah for three years because a ski trip turned into, “let’s live here.” I lived in Iowa for four years and Portland Oregon for ten months, Sun Valley for a summer and back on the coast of California several different times (like four…Carlsbad, Del Mar, Leicadia(twice). So yes, I relate. And now that we travel in our Casita I am doing it again…what would it be like to live in Julian, or … or …
Gorgeous photos of Belfast. My Goudey ancestor came from Ulster before he too got the wanderlust.
Martha Goudey recently posted…Casita living update
Martha – “Got the wanderlust.” That says it all. 🙂 Thanks for the comment! We truly are kindred spirits.
What a lovely post Deonne and I love seeing Belfast through your camera. I love to travel and visit new places but I also love to come home. Do I think about places I might like to live, yeah but not for a while yet!
Sherry in MT recently posted…Yellowstone Bison
Sherry – Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. There’s such a big wide world to explore, but I agree, it’s always great to come home. 🙂