My Trip to Ireland- Day 3
I am exhausted. Mom and I spent the day on a bus tour. And by
spending a day, I mean from 9:30am to 7pm. It was pretty sweet though.
The bus arrived at our flat and we hopped on. Right away I notice these 3
obnixious college girls from the States. I was already tired so they
fueled the fire to my crankiness. We pick up a a few more groups: an
elderly couple from Scotland, a quiet couple from England, a duo from
Iowa and a family of 6 from Canada. (this is where I should add that the
family of 6 had 4 children all under the age of 5...yeahhhh) Our tour guide /bus driver is a loud middle aged
Scotsman.
Now I'm gonna jot down some places we went with minor details and while they may not seem exciting on the blog, they were great to see in person! Let's keep in mind that we made a lot of stops...and with the exhaustion, hungry and terrible memory I have I can't remember every one. So we'll just hit the biggest stops
Stop 1: Carrickfergus castle. It's a 12th century castle that is one of the best preserved medieval castles in Ireland. We just stopped for a few minutes for a photo op. this castle is where King William III first set foot in Ireland.
Stop 2: Glenarm. It's known for its abundant salmon fishing and harbors. There is also a haunted castle there. The castle has been added on to and made in to a hotel that is very popular to stay at. Our tour guide told us the women still haunts the castle, and while he's never experienced the ghost, his sister has.
Stop 3: Carrick A Rede. How do I explain this...I think it's best to say that's it's a huge hill and has a "death defying rope bridge". Few things about the bridge: 1. It's on the top 10 of things to do in Ireland list and 2. I did it. It wasn't terrifying, but it was cool. It's a bridge with steal cables that lead from the mainland to a "island". Once you're on the bridge, you can catch a glimpse of Scotland's coast.
Stop 4: Bushmills Distillery. This has the best description in our brochure. "Where you will be able to indulge in a wee tipple of the good stuff in their famous tasting room, the 1608 bar". Well our guide told us it's very unlikely they'll give us a free sample, but we could try and beg. I'm sure you can guess what we did next...next tithing you know mom and I are sampling their anniversary whiskey that's 42 pounds a bottle! Drink up!
Stop 5: Giants Causeway. I'm not going to take the time to type of the 2 stories we were told about GC. But I will tell you this much - one was about how the volcano formed these rocks and the other was the fable about giants (Finn MacCool and Benandonner) that caused these rocks. The second was clearly the better story, so I encourage to look it up online. Anyway, if you're wondering what GC is the best way to explain it is a mass amount of hexagonal shaped rocks coming out of the ground at different levels. It was a pretty spectacular sight to see. *totally forgot to add the lunch I had! It was the bomb. It was a steak and Guinness pie with mashed potatoes. I could eat it every single day of my trip.
Stop 6: Dunluce Castle. This was a quick photo op at the ruins of the castle. I guess this castle is believed to be inhabited since the 13th century.
Final stop: Dark Hedges. Funny story about this. Our guide drives us out to the country side and says "I brought you here to see these trees". When you look at these trees from the side, they look like any other tree. But then he turned down the path and the branches of these trees looked like they were all intertwined together. It is incredible hard to explain, but it was truly breathe taking.
We head back to Belfast and are dropped off at our flat, where Hailey is waiting for us with her homemade crepes. We then venture out into the town to find a pub with live music. After failing, we meet up with a boy Hailey knows and we go to The Crown Pub which is one of the oldest pubs and the lights run on gas. We all have a drink and great convo and then head home for the night. After such an eventful day, I am more than ready for bed because I know tomorrow will be another busy day!
Now I'm gonna jot down some places we went with minor details and while they may not seem exciting on the blog, they were great to see in person! Let's keep in mind that we made a lot of stops...and with the exhaustion, hungry and terrible memory I have I can't remember every one. So we'll just hit the biggest stops
Stop 1: Carrickfergus castle. It's a 12th century castle that is one of the best preserved medieval castles in Ireland. We just stopped for a few minutes for a photo op. this castle is where King William III first set foot in Ireland.
Stop 2: Glenarm. It's known for its abundant salmon fishing and harbors. There is also a haunted castle there. The castle has been added on to and made in to a hotel that is very popular to stay at. Our tour guide told us the women still haunts the castle, and while he's never experienced the ghost, his sister has.
Stop 3: Carrick A Rede. How do I explain this...I think it's best to say that's it's a huge hill and has a "death defying rope bridge". Few things about the bridge: 1. It's on the top 10 of things to do in Ireland list and 2. I did it. It wasn't terrifying, but it was cool. It's a bridge with steal cables that lead from the mainland to a "island". Once you're on the bridge, you can catch a glimpse of Scotland's coast.
Stop 4: Bushmills Distillery. This has the best description in our brochure. "Where you will be able to indulge in a wee tipple of the good stuff in their famous tasting room, the 1608 bar". Well our guide told us it's very unlikely they'll give us a free sample, but we could try and beg. I'm sure you can guess what we did next...next tithing you know mom and I are sampling their anniversary whiskey that's 42 pounds a bottle! Drink up!
 |
| Enjoying my free shot! |
Stop 5: Giants Causeway. I'm not going to take the time to type of the 2 stories we were told about GC. But I will tell you this much - one was about how the volcano formed these rocks and the other was the fable about giants (Finn MacCool and Benandonner) that caused these rocks. The second was clearly the better story, so I encourage to look it up online. Anyway, if you're wondering what GC is the best way to explain it is a mass amount of hexagonal shaped rocks coming out of the ground at different levels. It was a pretty spectacular sight to see. *totally forgot to add the lunch I had! It was the bomb. It was a steak and Guinness pie with mashed potatoes. I could eat it every single day of my trip.
Stop 6: Dunluce Castle. This was a quick photo op at the ruins of the castle. I guess this castle is believed to be inhabited since the 13th century.
Final stop: Dark Hedges. Funny story about this. Our guide drives us out to the country side and says "I brought you here to see these trees". When you look at these trees from the side, they look like any other tree. But then he turned down the path and the branches of these trees looked like they were all intertwined together. It is incredible hard to explain, but it was truly breathe taking.
 |
| Dark Hedges |
We head back to Belfast and are dropped off at our flat, where Hailey is waiting for us with her homemade crepes. We then venture out into the town to find a pub with live music. After failing, we meet up with a boy Hailey knows and we go to The Crown Pub which is one of the oldest pubs and the lights run on gas. We all have a drink and great convo and then head home for the night. After such an eventful day, I am more than ready for bed because I know tomorrow will be another busy day!
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