More Republic of Ireland and my first look at The North!

This trip was just another little getaway to get me out of Dublin and see some more of the beautiful part of Ireland. We left at the start of March for a three day trip to Belfast through the East Coast towns of the ROI. We passed through Drogheda and went to the northern side of the city to the location of The Battle of the Boyne. This was a battle in 1690 between King William III (his army were the Williamnites) and his father King James II (army were the Jacobites). William had 35000 soldiers and James had 25000 which is still the largest number of troups ever deployed on an Irish battlefield. 1500 men died and James was defeated but retreated ti carry on with the war in another area.

Nearby is the Ancient Temple of Newgrange. We went on a short tour of the temple and were able to go inside and look around. The temple was built over 5000 years ago and so is older than Stonehenge and the pyramids. Inside squeezes in about 30 people and on the winter solstice, at sunrise, a shaft of light enters the temple through a lightbox in the front doorway and floods the room with light. There is a lottery for who gets to see this phenomenon each year and last year there were 32000 people in the ballot.

We then headed to Belfast to spend the night and have a little look around. I really like the city and what it had to offer. It felt so much more open than Dublin but that could be it's location closer to the sea. We went to The Crown Bar which still has working gas lamps for lighting (and you could smell it too!) and had a few Belfast Ales. We then tried to go for a walk to find somewhere else to drink but it was so cold we ended up in our hotel lobby bar. The Banoffe Pie was excellent!

The next day we drove up to The Giant's Causeway, a natural phenomenon made by the sudden cooling of lava from a volcanic explosion. All the rocks close to the sea are hexagonal and jut out like huge giant's steps (hence the name). The legend of the giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill (said Finn Maccool) goes that he built the causeway to get over to Scotland. There is also a legend that he picked up a large lump of Irish land and flung it out to sea and created the Isle of Man. Manx Buggane (bugganes are giants native to the Isle of Man) came over the causeway to fight Fionn but he had his wife hide him in the cradle. When Manx arrived and saw how big the 'baby' was he was too frighted to fight the giant who was the father and fled. Weird tale but there's a lot of Finn Maccool merchandise to be had at the tourist shops!

Later that day we caught the ferry over to Rathlin Island, population 110. It was a beautiful quaint little Island with only one pub and no shops. I expect you would have to catch the ferry to the mainland to do your grocery shopping! We stayed in a beautiful B&B and had a lovely hostess. Our room looked out onto the Mull of Kintyre (sing out if you know the words)! We saw seals and cows but unfortunately no puffins. I don't think puffins actually exist since we keep going to places where they are meant to habitate but are never around! Is it just a tourist myth meant to lure you into the highlands and the north of Ireland?

The next day we took the scenic route home and saw some beautiful scenery. We will be going back here when AzA's parents are here for their visit in May!