Showing posts with label Northern Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Northern Ireland. Show all posts
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Day 24: Glenveagh
Going to be quick since my van takes off soon. Our group split up yesterday morning as those on shorter tours continued on and those of us doing the longer tour got a new guide and vehicle. Because there are only 6 of us left we're now going by van. The only thing of real note was visiting Glenveagh National Park and castle. The castle is surrounded by some beautiful gardens which are even more impressive considering the surroundings are pretty barren.
Keyboard just died so this is about it for now. In Derry again last night, not yet sure where we are going today.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Day 23: Northern Coast and Belfast
We began the day heading up to the north coast for one of the big stops of the tour - the Giant's Causeway. It's a stretch of basalt columns that stretches towards Scotland. The surrounding cliffs are also dramatic scenery, but
Next we headed to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge for some more scenery (and of course a short walk over the rope bridge to an island off the cliffs).
Around this point I started feeling pretty sick. I'm not sure if it was a delayed hangover or just too much time in the rain or in a bad position on the bus, but I've had a pretty upset stomach and been incredibly achey all day since. I skipped eating for lunch, and struggled through a black-taxi tour of Belfast when we got there. The tour focused again on a lot of the political troubles in Northern Ireland and we visited some of the former hotbeds of trouble and got a lot of history.
We then went out for a group dinner at a local pub that took until 10:30 or so. I definitely wasn't feeling up to going out again by this point so I'm just relaxing in the hostel and hopefully will get more sleep tonight and feel better tomorrow.
Next we headed to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge for some more scenery (and of course a short walk over the rope bridge to an island off the cliffs).
Around this point I started feeling pretty sick. I'm not sure if it was a delayed hangover or just too much time in the rain or in a bad position on the bus, but I've had a pretty upset stomach and been incredibly achey all day since. I skipped eating for lunch, and struggled through a black-taxi tour of Belfast when we got there. The tour focused again on a lot of the political troubles in Northern Ireland and we visited some of the former hotbeds of trouble and got a lot of history.
We then went out for a group dinner at a local pub that took until 10:30 or so. I definitely wasn't feeling up to going out again by this point so I'm just relaxing in the hostel and hopefully will get more sleep tonight and feel better tomorrow.
Day 22: Protestants and Catholics
Going to make this a bit fast since it's the morning and my bus is heading off before too much longer.
The bus headed off from Dublin early yesterday morning, heading north. Every few hours european driving regulations require buses and trucks to stop for breaks, so we have regular little 15 minute stops at points of interest. Among these were a stop at St. Peter's Church in Drogheda to see the mummified head of Saint Oliver Plunkett, a stop in a graveyard to see an old round tower and some high crosses, and a visit up the hills to see an ancient stone fort and yet another gorgeous view.
We spent the evening and night in Derry (/Londonderry) which is right on the Ireland / North Ireland border, and one of the historic hotbeds of the troubles in Northern Ireland. The city is technically part of North Ireland (and thus the UK), but the majority of the population is catholic and wants to be part of the Republic of Ireland. The minority protestant population lives on the other side of the river, and signs of division are everywhere. The city is infamously the site of "Bloody Sunday" where 26 unarmed protesters were killed by British military in 1972. We had a walking tour in the rain led by one of the very patriotic for the Republic of Ireland people which included a lot of history on all the troubles and the different factions in the city. Our hostel is right across from the police station, which is surrounded by tall fences, barbed wire and gate checkpoints. Apparently a big car bomb went off down the street from our hostel a couple months ago, exciting.
At night a group of us went to Peadar O'Donnell's Bar, which came highly recommended by our guide. Since Derry isn't much of a tourist city it was almost all locals, and about as immersed in Irish culture as you can get. At 11pm there was live traditional irish music and 8 pints of Guiness later I wasn't really in the mood for a before bed post.
Heading to Belfast tonight I think, but some much anticipated stops before then.
The bus headed off from Dublin early yesterday morning, heading north. Every few hours european driving regulations require buses and trucks to stop for breaks, so we have regular little 15 minute stops at points of interest. Among these were a stop at St. Peter's Church in Drogheda to see the mummified head of Saint Oliver Plunkett, a stop in a graveyard to see an old round tower and some high crosses, and a visit up the hills to see an ancient stone fort and yet another gorgeous view.
We spent the evening and night in Derry (/Londonderry) which is right on the Ireland / North Ireland border, and one of the historic hotbeds of the troubles in Northern Ireland. The city is technically part of North Ireland (and thus the UK), but the majority of the population is catholic and wants to be part of the Republic of Ireland. The minority protestant population lives on the other side of the river, and signs of division are everywhere. The city is infamously the site of "Bloody Sunday" where 26 unarmed protesters were killed by British military in 1972. We had a walking tour in the rain led by one of the very patriotic for the Republic of Ireland people which included a lot of history on all the troubles and the different factions in the city. Our hostel is right across from the police station, which is surrounded by tall fences, barbed wire and gate checkpoints. Apparently a big car bomb went off down the street from our hostel a couple months ago, exciting.
At night a group of us went to Peadar O'Donnell's Bar, which came highly recommended by our guide. Since Derry isn't much of a tourist city it was almost all locals, and about as immersed in Irish culture as you can get. At 11pm there was live traditional irish music and 8 pints of Guiness later I wasn't really in the mood for a before bed post.
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