Our first excursion took place this last weekend, where we ventured into Northern Ireland. We took off Friday evening after work to Belfast, which is only an hour and 45 minute drive from Dublin. On arrival at the City Backpackers Hostel (http://www.ibackpacker.co.uk/belfast-hostel/contactus.php), we were given a whole personal pizza for dinner and a look at a very clear, beautiful sunset in the Northern Ireland capital
Later that evening, we went out on the town to a place called the Dirty Onion (don’t let the name scare you) and Ollie’s. The Dirty Onion seemed to be a great social environment for those after work. There was a mix of authentic Irish music and today’s hits with a twist. They were played on the violin, which was brilliant. Ollie’s attracts more of a younger crowd and Fridays theme was Fridays Vogue, where everyone was dressed to the nines and we were dressed to the maybe threes. We had a great time nonetheless!
Saturday morning, we were fed breakfast in the hostel and on the bus by 10 a.m. to the Titanic Museum. The museum is the largest Titanic museum in the world, which suits fit because the ship was built there in Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard over a hundred years ago. The museum itself was set up in an efficient, one-way system to flow visitors in without making others wait. With many interactive galleries, it kept my attention throughout the whole tour. I didn’t have to read my way through the exhibit. It was actually quite fascinating to learn about the construction and the history of the ship. (Fun Fact: only eight died in the three years of building in incredibly dangerous conditions!) After the museum, we stopped at Castlefergus Castle for only a quick photo and then onto Bushmills for lunch (I got my first steak since arriving in Ireland, thank goodness), Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and our hostel for the night. I have to say the drive through the countryside to these places was incredible. We had the coast on one side and the view of the green mountains on the other. Sheep populated most areas and small towns were few and far between. I love scenic drives and the drive into this area just brought me contentment by the beauty of it. The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge connects the mainland to the island of Carrickarede and is absolutely worth the travel. After crossing the rope bridge and getting a slight adrenaline rush from the wind swaying the bridge, we relaxed on the island and enjoyed the view of the North Atlantic waters.
I didn’t think I could be awed twice in one day with a spectacular view, but I was proven wrong as we left the Carrickarede island to Finn McCool’s Hostel in Bushmills, Northern Ireland. Finn McCool’s hostel sits perfectly in the countryside and near the coast of the Atlantic with a convenient one-mile walk to Giant’s Causeway. This was, by far, one of my favorite places I have ever been to. Giant’s Causeway has very unique “stepping stones” that disappear into the sea and are seen again on a Scotland island miles away. Irish legend believes that these rocks are what helped the giant, Finn McCool, to cross over to Scotland! It is truly incredible. We took a walk there in the evening and surprisingly there were not many other tourists there, so we had the whole attraction to ourselves. We had gone out there in hopes of catching the sunset, but as Ireland would have it, the clouds took over. We enjoyed the scenery and took an endless amount of pictures, trying to capture the beauty but never actually fulfilling it. We spent a couple of hours there and then some of us decided to hike a nearby hill to get a better view. The hill was covered in the most luscious, green grass and black slugs that surprisingly didn’t gross me out, but added to the Ireland scenery entirely. As we hiked, we were fortunate enough to catch a break in the clouds and see the sun set just before 10 p.m. (The typical sunrise in Ireland in summer months is about 4:45 a.m. and sunset is around 10 or 11 p.m.) It was one of those moments that I wanted to share with my friends and family just because it was so breathtaking. I highly recommend people take an evening stroll through Giant’s Causeway and even to stay in Finn McCool’s hostel!
Our last day rolled around too quickly, as we packed our bags and headed back to our Dublin homes. On the drive home, we stopped at two locations where "Game of Thrones" has been filmed, The Dark Hedges and Ballintoy Harbour. They were equally as neat! We stopped in Belfast again for lunch and a quick history lesson about the city. We saw the Peace Wall that divides the country of Catholics and Protestants. As you can see below, it is covered in graffiti and people have written on it. While I don’t know all the details, I did some research and the Northern Ireland Foundation explains it well. “They were built as temporary structures, naively meant to last six months. However, these were replaced with more permanent structures: wider, longer and more permanent. Meanwhile, there has been a transformation in the aesthetics of peace-lines construction: a shift from gray steel fences to multi-toned brick walls, landscaped with trees and shrubs and colored fences. Such barriers increasingly have a sense of permanence in the urban landscape.” I find it fascinating, yet perplexing how religion manages to tear people apart when it's sole purpose is to bring them together. Even in a country as beautiful and easy-going as Ireland, it has faced these discrepancies, but I’ll save that discussion for a different day.
Overall, the Northern Ireland excursion blew away all expectations I had in mind. It exceeded them all. I hope one day I can go back and do it all over again and be able to share the experience with my family.
