Having landed in Dublin at 8:30am and only sleeping half an hour on the plane, I needed coffee and fast. We stopped for lunch at the Pilgrim's Table in Armagh for lunch. The scones were amazing -- coffee and sandwiches were decent. From there were pressed on northward entering Northern Ireland. We stopped at Lough Fey for my dad to take a nap in the car; I wandered around the lake taking random pictures. After checking into our hotel in Portrush, we headed east along the coast. Along the way we stopped at various scenic overlooks to admire the chalk cliffs.
Dunluce Castle was our first official tourist stop. The castle was first built in the 1200s by the Earl of Ulster. Part of the kitchen fell into the sea taking a number of servants with it. After that the lady of the castle refused to live there any longer. This castle appeared on the inner cover of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy.
Next we went to visit the Giant's Causeway, an area of roughly 40,000 basalt columns. The Giant's Causeway was built by the Irish warrior Finn McCool to cross the sea to Staffa to see his lady love. Or if you don't like that story, there's some nonsense about volcanoes 50-60 million years ago. Either way, the Giant's Causeway is stunning. We got there late in the day and watched the sunset from the causeway.
Since we didn't get back to Portrush until late in the evening, most restaurants were closed. We grabbed some food from a take-out place, Mr Chips. I ate curry chicken over a bed of fries -- not very healthy but damn tasty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Chalk Cliffs | Dunluce Castle | Dunluce Castle | Matt under Dunluce Bridge | Cliffs near Dunluce |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Giant's Causeway | Matt at Giant's Causeway | Giant's Causeway | Dad on Giant's Causeway | Toward Staffa |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Giant's Causeway | Giant's Causeway | Photo of Photographer | Giant's Causeway | We Made It! |