The Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway. The top left shot shows Monique sitting in Finn McCool's mythical boot.
The Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway
Snow along the Causeway Coastal Route.
One of the most enduring memories from our Europe trip was the time
we spent in Ireland. We absolutely loved the place and the people. We thought
that a great way of experiencing something similar (while also ticking off
another country) was to head up to Northern Ireland for the Easter long
weekend.
We were not disappointed.
Along with our friend Al, we arrived in Belfast and were immediately
greeted with a friendly handshake and an enthusiastic welcome from the guy at
the car hire desk. Ahhh the Irish!
We spent one day in Belfast before heading out into the countryside.
Our three highlights were....
> Kicking things off with a tour where we learnt about 'The
Troubles'. It really was quite saddening to learn about Northern Ireland's
incredibly violent and tragic recent history. We were also quite shocked to see
that there is still a wall dividing the Catholic and Protestant sides of the
city that continues to get locked at 10pm every night. Houses that are along
the wall have cages enclosing their backyards. It’s quite full on. Apparently a
recent survey revealed that 70% of residents were in favour of keeping the
gates locked at night because they still don't trust each other enough to open
them up.
> Visiting the docks where the Titanic was built and set off
from. It really was quite amazing to see the original dry dock that it was
built in, the original room where the draftsman designed the ship, and the
actual supports that it sat on when it was being fitted out. While somewhat
unexpected, it really was quite a highlight.
> Catching a taxi. Surely Ireland is the only country in the
world where taxi drivers will give you a tour and run down on the major sights
of the city while driving you around, and then not only refuse to accept a tip,
but round the fare down. Amazing.
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