A Brief Visit to the North
Since this trip was our first to the Emerald Isle, we were determined to see as much as possible, including some significant sites in Northern Ireland. Since we hadn’t picked up our car yet, and it was a long drive, we opted to go on a bus tour to Belfast and up to Giant’s Causeway.
There were several tour companies to choose from, but Wild Rover Tours offered the things we were most interested in seeing, so we loaded up at 7 am and headed for Belfast.
Belfast
The trip took about 2 hours on the motorway (naptime!) then we were dropped off in time to grab a snack before catching up with our guide for a black cab tour of Belfast. This was an awesome way to learn all about “the troubles” and the political (and religious) reasons for the 30 years of violence in the city. Our guide was an infant when “the troubles” began and provided a lot of insight into the conflict as well as first-hand accounts of the fear and violence that the citizens of Belfast lived with each day.
We saw some incredible murals, learned a ton of history, and even got a chance to sign the peace wall, which is a long concrete wall the children of Belfast continually update with new art.
One of the most sobering parts of the tour is the constant shadow from the numerous walls separating neighborhoods from each other. These walls were erected as a means to keep the peace during the height of the conflict, keeping the Protestants and Catholics separated in their own neighborhoods. When given the option to have the walls removed in the early 2000s, the residents of Belfast overwhelmingly chose to keep the walls in place. The gates in the walls are still closed and locked each night to keep neighborhoods segregated. Our guide told us that even though they have had peace for many years now, most residents still feel as if they are constantly walking on eggshells, waiting for violence to begin again.
Listening to Belfast’s history, I was struck by some of the parallels with our own history in America. It was eye-opening, and completely worth skipping the Titanic Museum to get a glimpse into Belfast’s troubled past and hope for the future.
And yes, you read right. We skipped the Titanic Museum, which is a beautiful place dedicated to the building, and loss, of the Titanic. Don’t berate me. There just wasn’t enough time to see everything!
From Belfast we headed north to the Antrim Coast. No napping on this leg of the journey. There was quite a lot of pretty scenery, sheep and cattle, and quaint cottages tucked along the sides of the very narrow roads.
Dunluce Castle
Our first stop was Dunluce Castle, the ruins of a once prized fortification that has been slowly deteriorating since it was abandoned in 1639. The castle is perched on the edge of a cliff near the northernmost point of Ireland, and according to the history, half of the castle – including the kitchen, and unfortunately many of the servants, fell into the sea one stormy night. The owners decided they had had enough so packed up and moved inland. We were able to wander freely throughout the ruins and take advantage of the gasp-worthy views over the North Atlantic and a few elusive sightings of Scotland in the distance.
Giant’s Causeway
We arrived at Giant’s Causeway visitor’s center around lunch time, so Alexa and I opted to duck into the restaurant for a quick bite before we headed to explore the cliffs. We were so glad we beat the worst of the lunch crowd, and the carrot and coriander soup was wonderful.
Replete, we headed to explore the Giant’s Causeway. For those of you who haven’t seen the Causeway, it’s a five-mile section of the coast filled with hexagonal salt pillars that protrude from the land in varying heights. The opinions of how the causeway came to be vary. Scientists believe the formations are due to volcanic activity and quickly cooling lava 60 million years ago. The Irish people have a different – and much more fun – explanation. Their version is that the causeway was created by the giant Finn MacCool who wanted to build a bridge to Scotland to fight with another giant. There is way more to the story, and it is definitely more entertaining than the scientific version.
One of the coolest things about that area of coastline is the size of the waves coming in. It was a calm day, yet the waves were massive. I tried to take pictures that showed the size of the waves, but I didn’t get any that truly showed how big they were.
Even though there were quite a few people around, it was easy to get a sense of how wild and primal the area was 1000 years ago. And I would bet there are still times that the crowds thin out and the people who choose this place as their home revel in the primitive rhythm of the sea.