Northern Ireland - Pt 2

Leaving Belfast, we followed the Causeway Coastal Route north to Londonderry. Regarded as one of the world's great coastal roads, it covers some of the most spectacular scenery in Ireland. One of the castles along the route is Carrickfergus Castle, an 800 yr old Norman castle. Besieged in turn by the Scots, Irish, English and French, the castle saw action right up to World War II.

The coastal route passes through some picturesque villages. We stopped in the little National Trust village of Cushendun, which has Cornish style cottages. The pics shows some of the cottages and Don having a Guinness in Mary McBride's, the local pub.

The road continues through the Glens of Antrim, where nine beautiful valleys (glens) cut deeply through high rolling hills to descend into the sea.

Northern Island's most famous attraction is the Giant's Causeway, a World Heritage site. Formed over 60 million years ago when molten lava cooled suddenly on contact with water, it is an unusual landscape of mostly hexagonal basalt columns. Legend says that the columns were created by a giant Finn MacCoul, as his stepping stones to Scotland. There we experienced Ireland's famed wet cool weather.

A little further on, we came to the ruins of medieval Dunluce Castle, perched on rocky cliffs overlooking the North Atlantic.

Derry (or Londonderry) is the only remaining completely walled city in Ireland. Over 1.5 km of impressive 17th century stone fortifications encircle the old city and have withstood several sieges. Walking along the walls is a great way to see the old town and get panoramic views of the surrounding area. the pics show the town walls at sunset and some of the cannons which are mounted on the walls.

Just outside the old town walls is the neo-Gothic Guild Hall, which houses some of the best examples of stained glass windows in Ireland and is the civic and cultural centre for the people of the city.

We visited the Museum of Free Derry, which tells the people's story of government oppression, their struggle for civil rights, the famous Battle of the Bogside and Bloody Sunday. We did an interesting walking tour in the Bogside area with a local guide who lived through the Troubles and was himself imprisoned. He took us past many of the wall murals which depict key events in Northern Island since the Troubles began in 1968. See an example in the pic below.

Next update will start the Republic of Ireland.