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Derry

Our first day in Northern Ireland was right near (London)Derry, so we decided to explore the city. The city is very old with a city wall that dates back to the 1600's. During the disputes between the Catholic & Protestants the wall was used to separate the two sides. The wall is fully open to walking on now and it is about a 1 mile walk around the wall. As you can tell from the pictures below, there is still some tension between the groups. (Note the garrison the British added to the wall in the picture below to monitor the Catholic Bogside area outside.) It did not seem nearly as bad as the tension in Belfast, however. The first three small pictures are murals in the Bogside; the last is a building inside the wall - note the red, white and blue curbs.

Dunluce Castle

Dunluce Castle is a ruined castle today. During its use, during an evening thunderstorm a portion of the kitchen fell off and crumbled into the sea below, taking with it several servants. The lady of the house refused to live in it after that, and a new house was built further inland for her. It was a very large castle to explore, and it was worth the small admission price. The picture shows only the oldest part of the castle.

Giant's Causeway

The Giant's Causeway is a random volcanic geologic sctructure with 1000's of gigantic basalt crystals jutting up from the sea. It's quite the sight to behold. Access to the site is free, but it did cost 5 pounds to park in their parking lot. (Parking on the street was free.) There was quite a walk from the parking lot, so it may well be worth parking in a free area and saving your money to take the bus from the lot down to the site.

Carrickarede Rope Bridge

Near the Giant's Causeway is Carricarede rope bridge which leads to a very close island. The fisherman in the area long ago would build rope bridges to the islands to find the best fishing spots. This bridge is kind of a tribute to those men, but it is built out of steal cables and is very sturdy. Hardly moving with the gusts of wind! Jen ran across with no problem, but I held on pretty tight.

Old Bush Mills Distillery

Our second day in Northern Ireland started with a tour of the Old Bush Mills Distillery. It is the oldest licensed distillery in the world and received its license from King James (of Bible-translating fame). It was a pretty neat tour, but I learned that I do not like straight whiskey.

Belfast

We made our way to the airport to drop off the car nice and early and had enough time to do a Black Taxi tour of Belfast. On a Black Taxi Tour a taxi driver takes you on the Catholic and Protestant sides of the city and gives you a history lesson about the conflict and the state of affairs today. (A Black Taxi Tour is different from using a Black Taxi as a taxi.) As you can see by the pictures below, it is still a very tense area. Pay special attention to the pictures of the "peace wall" and gate separating the two halves of the city.

Black Taxi Tour - Belfast