kimberly.: Road Trip to Northern Ireland

October 11th-12th, 2008….

This weekend a few friends and I took a road trip up to Northern Ireland. Going on a road trip wasn’t something I thought I’d be doing in Ireland but it was a great time. Our ending destination was all the way up north, Giant’s Causeway. We made a few stops along the way to see the sights. It was a weird experience hopping in the car in the front on the left side and not be driving, the whole wrong side of the road driving was a little weird, but really cool. It took some getting used to though seeing a car coming down a narrow road towards you and you’re on the left side of the road. Our first stop was in county Armagh. We drove on very narrow windy roads, enclosed by trees, it was too perfect, exactly what you’d think of an Irish country road. When we stopped to get directions we asked a cute old man on his bike with his dog running next to him through the farms in the country. It was too cute. The dog ran in circles around the car the whole time we talked to the man. He told us a few places to see. First we stopped at a place called Ballymacdermot. It’s a court tomb that is older than Newgrange, the pyramids, and Stonehenge. It was interesting, and the view was to die for. So beautiful! We stopped a few more places to take in the gorgeous scenery before making our way to Belfast. It was really fun because we seemed to be the only tourists out so it wasn’t crowded and congested, just quite, nice, and pretty!! Belfast reminded me a lot of Dublin. It was a huge city! But they have one thing that Dublin doesn’t have- a Ferris wheel. I was just like a little kid, so excited to hop on. It was called the Eye of Belfast, similar to the one in London. And the view from the top was great. It was really neat. After lunch in Belfast we took the coastal route up to Giant’s Causeway and drove next to the beach. It wasn’t like anything in the states. You are driving through mountains (hills) that are as green as can be on one side then rocky cliffs going to a rocky beach leading into sand and ocean. It was so many different pretty landscapes all together to make this unbelievably beautiful scene. Our next stop was in a little village called Ballygalley outside Belfast. We went and walked around the beach and enjoyed some icecream. It was weird to be bundled up at the beach, but boy was it cold! After a few more stops to take in the view and get directions we made it to our hostel in the very north of Ireland in a town called Portstewart. We enjoyed dinner at the pub and watched the beautiful ocean outside of our room. The view I woke up to the next morning was one of a kind. Lying in bed from my window I could see, and hear, the waves crashing up against the rocks and the sky was a beautiful orangish pink color. It was a great start to an amazing day! Our first stop on Sunday was Dunluce Castle. It was really cool. A huge huge castle, the biggest I’ve seen sitting on the very very edge of a cliff and still intact minus one wall. It was awesome! Next we made our way to the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most- Giant’s Causeway. Giant’s Causeway is often referred to as the eighth natural wonder of the world and I would definitely have to agree! The stones in the causeway were formed by slow and irregular cooling of lava from a volcano when it immediately contacts water. It produced approximately 40,000 hexagonal stones. Those were just one of the many stunning sights at the Giant’s Causeway. The site got its name because the legend says that the giant Finn MacCool built it to get to Scotland. But it was definitely my favorite thing in Ireland and it’ll be near impossible to top that. I could have stayed there all day just taking it all in and been content. But we had other things we wanted to see. Next we went to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The bridge was originally built by fishermen to get to the little island to catch the salmon as they migrated. Walking across the swinging, suspended bridge was quite a thrill! And the view from the island was grand! The clear water, the steep cliffs, and gorgeous beaches; even rocks in the salty ocean were green on top- that’s Ireland for you. After the bridge we headed home stopping a few other times to take a look around. The road trip was great fun!!