Northern Ireland for a Day

This morning we grabbed a "take away" cup of coffee and headed to the Molly Malone statue to meet our Paddywagon tour to Northern Ireland, a whole new country since N. Ireland is part of the United Kingdom!  We waited a little too late to reserve our tour,  and almost missed out.  So my advice--book as early as you can, especially if you are there on a busy weekend!  And decide for yourself if the advantages of an organized tour outweigh the disadvantages.  For this one day, we decided that they did.

The advantages of an organized tour:
 - No worries about directions--the driver knows how to get there
 - No stress in driving on the left side of the road in a rental car
 - No parking problems
 - The itinerary is prearranged!

The disadvantages of an organized tour:
 - No impromptu photo opportunities or "spur of the moment" sight-seeing adventures
 - No emergency restroom breaks
 - Time constraints--when the driver says "time to go", it is time to go
 - Because it was crowded and we were the last ones on the bus, Tim and I could not sit together
 - The itinerary is prearranged!



The Dark Hedges

Our first stop (other than a restroom/snack/coffee stop) was at The Dark Hedges featured as the King's Road in HBO's series, Game of Thrones.  The avenue of beech trees was planted by the Stuart family in the eighteenth century as the entrance to their Georgian mansion, Gracehill House. Now they are one of the most photographed sights in Northern Ireland!

While the hedges were impressive, they were a little less so with a bus full of people trying to take photographs.  I found the surrounding country-side MUCH more interesting and beautiful!

The beautiful Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland

The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Our next stop was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge!  The bridge was first built by fishermen in 1755 as a way to cross from the mainland to the tiny island of Carraig a' Ráid to gather salmon from their nets.  It is not used for that purpose anymore, as there aren't many salmon remaining, but is now a tourist attraction.  It is 66 feet across, and 98 feet high.  And it's scary!  We walked down a long path, then down a lot of steps to get to the bridge.  Although the path ends shortly after crossing the bridge, the views are amazing, and it's worth crossing just to say you did!  (There is no charge to walk down the path to see the views, but there is a fee to cross the bridge.)

We visited on a particularly windy (and cold) day.  Soon after I walked across the bridge to the island, the attendant started yelling for people to return to the mainland as a storm was coming and "we must get everyone off of the island."  I'm not sure if this was intended to heighten the experience, or if we were really in danger, but I was properly SCARED.  Denise kept reminding me "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger", but I left feeling very weak!!

The Giant's Causeway

After nearly dying on the rope bridge (slight exaggeration), we traveled to The Giant's Causeway, an unbelievable geological wonder.  It is a World Heritage site, "and therefore ranked alongside Mount Everest and the Giant Redwoods of California for it's importance to humankind." (Dr. David Ballamy)  You really just have to see it to believe it.  I'm not sure that I have a picture that can do it justice.

Sixty million years ago along the Antrim Coast, vocanoes were very active.  The rock formations were supposedly formed when fluid, molten rock was forced up through fissures in the chalk bed.

Or...according to Irish legend, the formations were caused by the shenanigans of a very famous giant--Finn MacCool.

"In Ireland lived a gentle giant named Finn MacCool.  He was a small giant--only 52 feet tall.  Across the sea in Scotland, there lived a rival giant.  A big one.  The two giants challenged each other to a contest of strength, and Finn offered to build a rocky causeway between the two countries to make this possible.  So he did--but was so tired afterwards that he fell asleep.  Finn's wife heard thunderous footsteps and was dismayed to see the huge rival giant approaching.  She knew that Finn would be no match for such a giant.  When the giant roared that he must see Finn, the wife warned him, "Be quite or you'll wake the bairn!"  The rival peeked in and saw the sleeping Finn.  Thinking that Finn was the sleeping child, he panicked.  If the child was this big, how much bigger might Finn be?!  He made a fast retreat across the causeway, destroying it as he fled."  And that's the real story behind The Giant's Causeway!

                                      It was SO cold and windy that I didn't think I could bear it!         As is the custom, Art is pounding a coin into the rocks and making a wish!

 

According to reviews that we read online, some people don't think that the Giant's Causeway is worth the long drive, then the LONG walk, and then the admission cost.  We did!  I would love to return some day--but not on a tour bus so that we can stay as long as we like, and NOT on a freezing windy day.


Belfast

Our last stop before returning to Dublin was in the beautiful capital city of  Belfast.  But we were there for only one hour, which was definitely not enough time to explore.  (We had discovered early in the tour that if you returned late, you would get left behind!)  Since we had limited time and the weather was very cold, we opted for a little local flavor.   When in doubt, EAT.


  
Back to Dublin

We returned to Dublin in time for dinner, sad that it was our last night in the city, but excited about the adventures we would experience over the next week.   In our short time here, we have discovered that we like pub food --seafood chowder again for me and Irish stew again for Tim!

We will miss

you Dublin!  So

glad we were able

to spend a few

days with you.