Dublin and the Antrim Coast

May 22, 2014.

I liked Dublin more than I expected, from its great stone hewn cathedrals to the oldest pub in Ireland, the Brazen Head - excellent   We’ve discovered Staycity – a marvelous concept.  An apartment with full kitchen a washer dryer, separate bedroom room dining living room for $130 cdn and Tony could use TD points too. We’ve booked for the return from the tour of the north and when we get back from Scotland too.  

Bus for Belfast left amidst sun and cloudless sky, and rush hour in Dublin.  Passed the Jenny Johnson tall ship one of the coffin ships which took emigres, better described as refugees, to north America and the southern hemisphere.  It was one of the very few that never lost a passenger. There are statues of starved people walking down to the quay as there would have been throngs of them, in the 1845-50 period of the potato famine.

One of the things we’ve learned is that the British behaved criminally and brutally during that period of history in their treatment of the Irish and possibly other colonials too. It was the era of laissez-faire economics and the survival of the fittest. They took away the livelihoods of the Irish, left them to cultivate and survive on rotting potatoes and confiscating any other crops, animals, fish, claiming ownership and exclusive rights for the British or the Irish land owners who sold to the British.  The Irish will never forgive the English for the deaths and forced emigration of millions.  The Irish population went from 10 million in 1844 to 2.5 million in 1860.  Over 6 million left Ireland over a century and many more died in the famine.  

In Belfast, murals abound commemorating the violence and “troubles”, the euphemism for decades of violence, murder and mayhem on all sides. 

The Titanic visitor centre was a revelation. Beautiful building shaped like an iceberg with reflecting pools all around. Fabulous design inside and out. A stunning presentation of building the Titanic is done on four floors.  There is a ride through the four floors, which we took, showing the shipbuilding process in video and props, including girders several stories high. It felt like we were in the bowels of the great vessel. It took 4 years to build, about 10,000 people and another year and a half to outfit and test it.  Only one voyage to sink it. A moving experience. 

Ballycastle on the River Marguey was a centre of smuggling at one point and then an industrial town for glass, hide tanning, glass and salt. Now a pretty tourist spot with beach and harbour. 

Ballinatoil is a small port town and the site of filming of Game of Thrones.  A lot of dredging going on, hope it doesn’t get ruined.  Beautiful rugged coastline, several caves and a beach.  Was a site for lime kilns in the past. 

Giant’s Causeway was inspiring with its tall hexagonal columns, an amazing geological structure and now a World Heritage Site.  Beautiful weather but impossible light for good pictures. Must look up the paintings and engravings of Susana Drury cica 1780 – beautiful pieces which helped popularize the causeway. 

Dunluce Castle a coastal ruin, part of it fell into the sea. Beautiful light as the fog bank rolled in from the sea. 

Saw Bushmills distillery, but didn’t go in. 

Magracross view point gave us pink flower banks, sunspots on the sea, dazzling cliffs. Nesting birds on the cliffs were plentiful and the smell of guano strong.

Overnight in Portrush, a northern coastal town and a favourite Irish vacation spot with its lovely beach.  Nice dinner overlooking the beach at North55, I assume that is the latitude. 

Next day to Londonderry or Derry as it is known in the north.  Beautiful old stone city walls, the only one in Ireland.  Continued onto Glenveigh National Park, a rainy day and those who were ambitious walked through the woods. On to Donegal for the night and supper at the Olde Castle Bar with John our driver, a lovely guy and single father who hails from Tralee.