Well I made it to the United Kingdom today and I didn’t even have to cross water. I went to Northern Ireland (i.e. Belfast area) and while still a contiguous part of the island of Ireland, it’s a part of the UK (as are Scotland, Wales, and Britain). Today was a really long day but well worth it. I had to leave my place at 6 AM and didn’t get back until 8:30 PM. There’s no mass transit that early on the weekends so I had to use their version of Uber called Free Now. It worked great.
So I took a tour bus with about 50 people to 5 places in Northern Ireland, Dunluce Castle, Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge, Dark Hedges, and Belfast. All you Game of Thrones fans would have been in heaven since they filmed some of it at these locations. And to my whiskey connoisseur friends (Tammy, Don, Ed and Barbara), we rode by the Old Bushmills Distillery but we didn’t stop. A side note, Irish Whiskey is distilled 3 times vs Scotch whisky is only distilled twice. Also, Irish Whiskey puts an “e” in the word whiskey vs the Scots don’t and they say it’s to represent Ireland which in the native Irish language is Eire.
The first stop was Dunluce Castle. They say on a stormy night in 1639, Dinner was interrupted as half of the kitchen fell into the sea, taking the servants with it. Because of that, the Countess of Antrim packed up and moved inland and the castle began it’s slow submission to the forces of nature. I believe it was Castle Greyjoy in Game of Thrones.
Next was the Giant’s Causeway. This UNESCO World Heritage site was interesting. The shore is covered with 40,000 hexagonal pillars that stick up at various heights. So there’s two theories as to how this happened. Science vs Giant’s. The science says it was formed by volcanic eruptions more than 60 million years ago. As the surface of the lava cooled, it contracted and crystallized into columns. The Giant’s version is that a Giant named Finn MacCool built a stone bridge over to Scotland to spy on a rival Giant. When the Scottish Giant came across to spy on Finn, he had his wife dress him in baby clothes and that scared the Scottish Giant since he figured if the baby was this big, his rival Giant must be huge!
I believe the Giant’s version. Heck Science can’t even get climate change right! Oops… Just Kidding! I think I might have lost half of my readership with that comment! Lol
Next was the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. For 200 years, fisherman hung a narrow, 90 foot high bridge across a 65 foot wide chasm between the main land and a tiny island. Up until 2002, salmon nets were cast here to capture the fish turning and hugging the coast’s corner. But that’s no longer allowed since it got over fished. So now tourists line up to cross it. It was actually a little scary since it sways a lot when you walk over it. But I survived!
Next up was what’s called the Dark Hedges. It’s a line of beech trees with twisted branches forming an arch over the road. It originated in the 18th century when the Stuart family planted them to impress visitors to their mansion. I believe it was the King’s Road in Game of Thrones.
Lastly we stopped in Belfast and had some time to walk around the city a bit. I wish I would have had more time because I would have liked to take what’s called the “Sectarian Taxi Tour”. They take you thru both the Protestant and Catholic areas where all the violence used to be and describe it all in detail. Thankfully they now live in peace and the violence has subsided. I’ll just have to come back and stay longer!
Well that’s it. I hope everyone is having a great Saturday!
The pictures are as follows: 1 – Dunluce Castle, 2-4 is Giant’s Causeway, 5-10 is Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge, 11 is the Dark Hedges, and 12 is Belfast.
The Wandering Italian 