Take Off to the Great White North

The last of our travels around Ireland lead us to Northern Ireland in search of the famed Giants Causeway. We departed on Thursday afternoon when Christina got off early from work, in hopes of beating the end of the day traffic. It worked perfectly. The car was afforded to us from our lovely British, (now living in Galway,) friends the Dobell’s. They are wonderful people and yes very generous.

We stopped in Sligo for dinner and a chance to stretch our legs but soon drove on. Our goal for the evening was to get to our B and B just across the border in Enniskillen. The winding roads and early darkness made things a bit treacherous but we made it safe and sound. We learned later that Enniskillen was the site of an infamous 1987 bombing that killed 11 people during “the troubles” in Northern Ireland.

Friday morning we were off to Armagh, southwest of Belfast. We stopped downtown at a small park for a Frisbee tossing session and a walk to the grounds of a local planetarium. The facility was closed but the outdoor amenities were quite educational and fun. Did you know that it takes 8 minutes for the light from the sun to reach us here on earth! Also, the light we’re seeing from some stars was emitted way back in the 1500’s! Holy Cow! But we digress…We then lucked out and found a great lunch spot. After our delish bagel sammys we were off again.

We arrived in Belfast at about 3, meaning we found the city at that time. It took us another hour to actually find our B and B. The directions were horrible and we were lost countless times. Ireland never was really great at the whole, having-street-signs-so-people-know-where-they-are thing. Thankfully Christina has excellent map and navigation skills so eventually we arrived.

It was a true test of patience and remarkable that we were able to land at our b and b in one piece and not too frustrated. As if that wasn’t enough our room wasn’t ready yet. But not to worry because our very friendly and talkative German hostess (who refused to make Irish breakfast, fair enough I suppose) offered us tea and directed us to the Belfast Castle which was only a 20 minute walk away.

We departed for the Belfast Castle hoping to see the grounds and get a bit of history. The Castle is situated on top of a well known area called Cave Hill and has been restored into a restaurant and tourist attraction. It was too bad that it was dark at 4:30 otherwise we would have explored more. Cave Hill is supposed to be a great place to hike and it offers great views of the city and surrounding landscape. We didn’t realize that being so far north we would be in the dark before dinner time, so we only had a short visit, and then ventured on to town for some dinner.

We decided that Saturday would be the better day to go into the city as most stores would be closed on Sunday. Plus we had the Giants Causeway to see then. Again thanks to our wonderful tour guide at the B &B we were directed to a lovely farmers market called St. George’s Market. It was BRILLIANT. Imagine Fresh fish and seafood, organic smoothies, fresh ground coffees, hand made crafts and jewelry. You name it they had it. And did I mention the band played everything from Bob Marley to the Beatles! We enjoyed fresh fish tacos (meaning the chef picked out one of the fresh fish a vendor was selling and cooked it) and paella for lunch.
After leaving the market, we rode the Belfast eye, A.K.A. the large ferris wheel situated next to city hall and a smaller version of the famous London Eye. It was a sight to be seen, it would have been gaudy if it wasn’t so perfectly white and almost sculpted in the way it looked. The view would have been great but the rain made it a little less awe inspiring. Still, we got to see the bay, Cave Hill and a nice view of the sky line.

Saturday night we ventured to the south side of town to try out the Fat Buddha, a fusion of Thai, Japanese, and Korean food. Great meal but half the fun was finding the place as we saw huge masses of people file into local pubs in hopes of watching a Northern Ireland soccer match critical to the upcoming Euro cup 2008. They won 2-1 in dramatic fashion, and the crowds were thrilled with the result. We could tell because songs like “we’re not Brazil we’re Northern Ireland” sung to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic, sounded in the streets as well as the pubs. Not that that made any sense to us, but they seemed very happy with themselves.
Now about these Belfast residents, they definitely have their own distinct accent. It’s a thicker brogue and closely related to Scottish. They even say words like “wee” when referring to something small.

Sunday we ventured to the Giants Causeway and up the scenic Antrim coast road. We started early and took our time. The views of the ocean were fabulous wherever we stopped. The cool fall air only added to the experience as we walked to explore the coastline and stretch our legs. We could even see Scotland across the water! At the closest point it was only about 14 miles away! Eventually we made it to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, the temporary bridge that originally was used to allow the fishermen to get further out on the rocks in order to catch the migrating salmon. It’s a popular post card image that many of you have probably seen. It was fun to be there but we were sad that bridge wasn’t there for us to cross. (Its only up for the spring and summer months).

The Giants Causeway was like a scene from another world. This is a place where the rocks form in hexagonal pillars, 40,000 interlocking basalt columns to be exact. They formed in this way due to the slow nature in which the magma cooled and then how the rest of the earth around was worn away. Most of the columns are hexagonal but some have been found with four, five, seven and eight sides. The ocean did seem to have its effect on the rocks but erosion was only slight. The legend goes that a Giant in Northern Ireland wanted to be with his Scottish love. The only problem was that pesky ocean in the way. So he built “steps” so he could travel to see her. There are similar rocks on the Scotland side, hmm, could the legend be true?

Monday we decided to hit the road early and head for the Hill of Tara, just north of Dublin. Typical of Irish roads, we were detoured due to a road closing. Again Christina’s navigation skills got us to our destination no worse for the wear. The Hill of Tara wasn’t like I expected it to be. It was a huge gently graded hill that still managed to have incredible views in all directions. We learned that on a clear day you can see 15 counties! It is also where the high kings of Ireland were crowned. We also learned that even though it’s a tourist attraction that it’s still a field where sheep graze so you need to be careful where you step as plenty of land mines abound.

We made it back to Galway at dusk. We stopped off at the Dobell’s for dinner. Like I said earlier they are British, and the meal was likewise. Two pizzas (one with corn) baked beans, and chips aka French fries, and then “pudding” for dessert, which isn’t necessarily pudding, but whatever sweet comes to the table. We didn’t say anything and gladly ate the meal with them but later Christina and I had a good laugh about how stereotypically British it all was.

So that was our trip to NI. It was wee and sweet but we learned an interesting bit of knowledge upon our return that most Irish people from the “south” don’t ever make it up there. It seems that we foreigners have seen more of this country than the natives themselves. Go figure…