Giant's Causeway
Northern Ireland

From Giant's Causeway 13 April 08

A thousands of nearly-perfect hexagonal igneous rock make up this amazing landmark of the National Trust.

A long time ago, Fionn mac Cumhaill, an Irish giant, wanted to fight his Scottish rival, Benandonner. Deciding to build a bridge to Scotland, Fionn strode across the sea to challenge the scot. Upon seeing the massive size of Benandonner, Fionn doubled-back across the bridge to hide at home.

His wife, being the more reasonable and clever one, dressed him in a blanket and laid him in a cradle. Benandonner, having chased Fionn across the causeway, arrived shortly after. He busted into Fionn's house, but immediately saw the body of the largest baby he'd ever seen. Thinking, "if this is the size of the baby... this dude must be huge!" -- the Scottish giant bolted out of the house and ran across the causeway, destroying the bridge behind him.

From Giant's Causeway 13 April 08

Giants Causeway has a beautiful view to accompany the lovely mythology.

Giant's Causeway provided for some of the most pleasant and beautiful hiking I've had in a while. Click here for some of the pics.


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Bushmills Distillery
Northern Ireland

From Bushmills distillery 13 April 08

Glorious wheat and barley aging in sherry casks.

The distillery received its license from King James I in the 1600s and has been making whiskey every day since. We weren't able to do the tour, but I enjoyed a lovely 12-year old single malt reserve at the restaurant. One can smell the hint of vanilla.

From Bushmills distillery 13 April 08

Click here for more pics of this historic distillery.



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Carrick-a-rede Bridge

From Northern Irish coast 13 April 08

Reportedly once a very precarious bridge, the Man decided to ruin it by making it sturdier and safe.

Carrick-a-rede bridge. Originally created as a functional passage to a small island fishery for the local salmon farmers, it now doubles as a big tourist attraction. If it wasn't for the amazingly beautiful weather that day, I'd be disappointed by the lack of life-threatening precarious-ness that was promised at the beginning of the tour. Enough talk... more pics:

From Northern Irish coast 13 April 08

From Northern Irish coast 13 April 08

From Northern Irish coast 13 April 08

Click here for more pics of the Northern Irish coast, including a couple nice castles.


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Political Murals of Falls Road
Belfast

Some of the murals on the Republican side of town, Falls Road

Our black taxi tour started with a stop in front of a series of murals painted along the outside of a factory wall. The last still-functional linen factory on this stretch, it still operates with two locked gates -- one is locked by those on the Loyalist side of the city, the other by those on the Republican side.

The murals here, which seem to be painted over and updated regularly, reflect some political sentiment in the city at the time. Looking at the picture at the top, the left-most mural was apparently finished just that afternoon. The one in the middle is dedicated to Fredrick Douglass and his time in Ireland. The right-most mural is the first painted jointly by people from the Loyalist and Republican sides of the city. It's a recreation of Guernica.

Dubya drinks oil as bubbles of money come out his ears.

Immediately across the street stood the unassuming apartment buildings shown below. Until very recently, British troops occupied the top floor of this building. A residence on the Republican side of town, the building was home to Catholic families on the lower floors. Knowing the IRA would never blow up the Catholic homes, the British were able to garrison there for years.

Home to Catholic families and British troops.

Click here to see more political murals, as well as other pics of Belfast.


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Crown Saloon and Restaurant
Belfast

The oldest bar in Belfast, the Crown's Italian marble construction is still in excellent shape.

After our black taxi tour, we headed to Belfast's oldest pub. The Crown is situated in the heart of City Centre, and right across from the Europa Hotel.


The Europa is a large, four star hotel made famous as the most bombed hotel in Europe. In the 60s, the IRA was having trouble getting much media attention around their cause. Since all visiting British journalists would stay at the Europa, the IRA felt it would just be easier to bring the action to them.

The upstairs restaurant in the Crown was cozy, inexpensive, and focused on local favorites. Beef and Guinness pie was recommended by someone at another table. I had the fish and chips.

Fish and chips at the Crown. Nom. Nom.

Click here for more pics of Belfast.

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