Trip up North

We did a 3-day tour of Northern Ireland (Belfast, Derry, & Giant's Causeway) with PaddyWagon Tours - http://www.paddywagontours.com. 

Day 1 - Belfast:

When we first got there we were able to walk around and see some of the city for ourselves.
Here are some of the pics:

Then we did a Black Taxi Tour - a taxi driver from Belfast (Protestant or Catholic) took us to the Protestant side and told us about it, the Peace Wall (that is a literal wall in the middle of the city), and then the Catholic side and told us about there. There is still a lot of conflict in Belfast - the city center is a neutral zone, but when you go just outside the city there is the conflict.

The Protestant side (pro-Britain):

These murals were on the side of the buildings.

The British flags were flying everywhere.

This is a bonfire they were getting ready. On July 11 every year, the Protestants build a bonfire and burn all their old furniture and garbage AND the Irish flag!

Red, white, and blue was everywhere! It felt like home, except for the flag :)

It was great to learn the history of the city and what is still going on up there. The conflict is actually not about religion even though it is Protestants (pro-Britain) vs. Catholics (pro-Ireland). It is about that the Protestants feel that Northern Ireland is part of Great Britain and the Catholics feel that Northern Ireland is part of Ireland. The Catholics want a unified Ireland and the Protestants still feel that area is part of Great Britain.

The Peace Wall:

After the Peace Wall, we headed to the Catholic side (pro-Irish). All of the taxi drivers, who were our tour guides, were a mix of Protestant and Catholic but they wouldn't tell us which side they were "on" (but you could tell). Here are some pics from that side.           

                                       


                                       

Then we all got checked into our hostel and got ready to out to dinner with the entire tour group. We had good time at dinner (met people from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Austria, New Jersey!, Germany) and then we all went to a pub for a couple of drinks :)                                                        

Day 2 - Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, Giant's Causeway, Derry

So, of course on the day that we are walking around a lot it is raining.....

We started at the Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge, which is a rope bridge (with wooden panels on the bottom) that connects to a tiny island.

                                   

                            

Line to cross the bridge

Breathtaking views!!

That is the rope bridge.

                                 

I was shaking! :)

After the rope bridge, we went to the Giant's Causeway! It was amazing. I didn't really know what to expect; I thought it was just big stones, but it was so cool!

                             

 

There are thousands and thousands of stones like this stacked on top of each other everywhere!!

                  

 

 

                          

                                  
It was an amazing sight! After the Giant's Causeway, we quickly stopped at this castle that was just on the side of the road - so crazy how they are just in the middle of nowhere. This castle is Dunluce Castle, the ancestral fortress of the McDonnell Clan. The location of this castle is said to be the most haunting, romantic and mind blowing of any in all of Ireland.

                         

After this photo stop, we headed to Derry, where more of the Britsh/Irish conflict took and takes place. We did a short walking tour with a guide from the city.

These political murals are all over the sides of buildings in Derry.

The scene of "Bloody Sunday" in 1972 - the tragic event that U2 sang of in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday".

                       

 

This is a wall in the middle of the square. It was an end of a building but when the building was condemned and had to be torn down, the people wanted this part to stay there.

The "Bloody Sunday" memorial statue.

All the names and ages of the people who died on "Bloody Sunday".

After our walking tour, we all went out to dinner in Derry as well. Great craic :)

Day 3 - Drumcliffe Cathedral, Strandhill, Galway, Dublin

The next morning, we headed for Galway and then I was back to Dublin. On our way to Galway, we stopped at Drumcliffe Cathedral and Graveyard. It is where W. B. Yeats is buried!

                               

 

               

 
The graveyard of Irish poet W. B. Yeats

The view from the graveyard.

The Drumcliffe Cathedral

 We also stopped in Strandhill to get some lunch. Nina (the au pair I traveled with), a couple of the other girls on the tour, and I decided to sit on the beach to eat since it was a nice day. These are the pics from the beach :)
                 
                             

After Strandhill, we made it to Galway and then made it back to Dublin.

It was such a great trip! I loved every minute of it - even the rain :) It was such a nice way to see the north because it would have been really hard to figure out how to get to all these places by ourselves and it would have been way more expensive. 

Hope you like the pictures!!!