A Hundred Thousand Welcomes!
Welcome
to Ireland!
Gongrats, you made the –right- decision to visit Ireland and
you won’t be sorry. It’s a beautiful country, filled with wonderful things to
do and see (and it’s not so expensive to do so). So, here’s a small travel
guide to the Emerald Isle, based on my experiences of visiting the land of
Guinness Beer :P
(And
let’s be clear, if you’re under the drinking age of 17 here in Europe, you’re
not getting any Guinness or alcohol in general)
Arriving:
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| The Crown Bar - Belfast, Ireland |
You
will most likely land in Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland and under
British rule. It’s a wonderful place with rich history, one that you should
totally explore and learn about if you feel like it. There are buses that can
take you from the airport to the train station, and from there you are already
in a pretty interesting part of Belfast. The train station is located under or
near (depends on how you look at it, either way you won’t get lost) a famous
hotel in Belfast – it’s the most bombed hotel in Europe actually. It’s worth
looking from the outside just because of its history; otherwise, it’s a
perfectly functioning hotel. You can always ask if there are any memorabilia
from the bombings in the hotel but there weren’t any when I was there, so just
cross the street and enter the Crown Bar for your first Guinness of your trip
(you should have a Guinness; even if
you don’t really like it, you’ll like it in Ireland and I’m speaking from
personal experience).
Keep in mind that you will need to exchange money into
British currency and they are really expensive so don’t spend all of your money
in the pubs and tourist attractions in Belfast.
Small trivia for those who watch Sons of Anarchy: You can see the hotel I mentioned before when the Sons arrive in Belfast in season 3 (^^)
Waiting for the next train:
You
can pretty much go anywhere from Belfast, it’s a central location, but since I
was in the north, I decided to head even further in that direction. So, while
my friend and I were waiting for the next train to County Antrim we decided to
explore the nearby Murals. They are at a walking distance from the Crown Bar,
so you won’t get lost. Basically they are drawings on walls and houses
depicting the historical turmoil of the past. There are dedications to famous
RIRA members and fighters, like Bobby Sands, and various other drawings devoted
to Human Rights movements and the like. Near the Murals in Belfast you will
find a beautiful Catholic church worth a look.
Here are some of my favorite pictures of the Murals. I had trouble picking which ones to upload because there were so many awesome to choose from!
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| An Amnesty International dedication |
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| We saw a lot of IRA graffiti and drawings along with the other Murals |
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| This wall extended for miles and visitors or residents had written messages of peace on it |
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| One of my favorite dedications to Bobby Sands |
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| The front of the church at the Murals |
Ballintoy, Carrick-a-Rede
Rope Bridge and the Giant’s Causeway:
Once
you arrive at County Antrim, you can take a bus to Ballintoy, which is a small
village off the coast of Northern Ireland. Talking about your magical scenery:
you have miles of green fields that touch the water and once you reach the sea
strand, you get more miles of sand and rocks; overall this village looks like
it came out of a dream.
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| I'd totally wanna live here... |
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| I'd totally wanna live here too... |
Depending
on how late your plain/train-bus ride was, you can visit the Carrick-a-Rede Rope
Bridge on the same day or not. My advice: wait until the next day. First of
all, Ballintoy is totally worth exploring at any time of the day (just make
sure you can see where you’re going especially if you’re trying to get that one
awesome shot near the rocks) and second of all, you should totally end your day
of travels with dinner at one of the local restaurants. I forgot what the name
of the one my friend and I went to was, but it shouldn’t be hard to find. Just
look for the pub down the road that has the statues of two old men on a balcony-looking
structure on top of the entrance.
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Inside, you can enjoy tea, a traditional
Irish stew and the most delicious bread in the world. Then, head back to the
Sheep Island View Hostel, enjoy some late night snack that the previous
visitors left (it’s the hostel’s policy to share everything they have and
visitors follow their example by leaving food that doesn’t go bad and things
like plates and utensils for the next people who come, plus the owners are some
of the nicest people in the world) and head to bed so you can wake up early.
This is what you wake up to (^^)
Our
first stop the next day was the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. In very simple
terms, yes, it’s a rope bridge that you get to cross for a small fee. There is
someone on each side to guide you through the procedure (i.e. no jumping up and
down on the bridge) and once you cross, you can also see the house of one of
the last fishermen on that part of the island. I could describe how absolutely
beautiful the area is, but I could get tiring. So I’ll let the pictures do my
work for me.
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| People crossing the bridge |
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| The house of the last fisherman on that island |
You also get a great view of Scotland and Rathlin
Island (at the most north part of Ireland) from there so again, enjoy the view.
There are a lot of people that want to see the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge so
arrive early!!!
Now,
I didn’t get to visit the Giant’s Causeway due to lack of time, but if you can,
you should go. I doubt there’s anything not worth seeing in this part of
Ireland anyway…
P.s
Ireland’s called the Sheep Island for a reason: 5 million people, and almost 8
million sheep. Take a picture near some sheep – the faces they make while they
sit still, deciding if you’re a threat or not, are priceless.
(end of part 1)
*S
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