The Emerald Isle

Beautiful rolling hills, soft and rounded and each one a bright, vivid green- some a darker forest green and other a paler jade with every shade in between. Small bushes separate the fields and create a quaint borderline with leafy trees adding to the barrier. Far in the distance, the Mountains of Mourne. And arching across the sky? A vibrant rainbow spanning the entire horizon it seems, clearly ending just on the distant hills.


Welcome to Northern Ireland- it really is the Emerald Isle.

While I was just there for (a far too short) four days, Northern Ireland was gorgeous! One thing I immediately thought about this country was the landscape was softer, gentler than Scotland. Scotland, especially the highlands, is full of rough, jagged edges and corse trees, with breath taking scenery. Ireland has that breath-taking aspect as well, but everything seems tamer, more rounded on the edges. I took the bus and ferry over from Scotland which was actually a lovely way to travel and far cheaper than flying!
I arrived in Belfast, where I was going to stay with the lovely Thompson family- relatives of friends back home who were far too wonderful to me! They kindly did a tour around Belfast for me, and we got to see a lot of the famous sights there- a great tour of city hall, a driving C.S. Lewis Tour (he was born and lived in Belfast! Somehow I never imagined him with an Irish accent..), the dock and pump-house where the Titanic was built too! That was pretty incredible. The dry dock is HUGE!! This ship was enormous! Unfortunately, the Titanic visitor's center doesn't open until next spring, so we couldn't go in there and learn more about it.

City Hall!

Titanic Memorial by City Hall

Titanic Dry Dock!

Titanic Pump house

C.S. Lewis' house

Narnia Mural!

We also visited Down Patrick one of the days I was there- where Saint Patrick's grave is and Down Patrick Cathedral right next door! Since Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, they have a huge visitor's center... which we did not go in as you have to pay... But we still got to see the extremely old grave and the cathedral itself which is undergoing some renovations at the moment.

St. Patrick's grave

I also decided to go by myself to the Giant's Causeway, a World Heritage site in Northern Ireland made of these incredible rock formations along the coast! It was totally worth while to do the tour (I used Paddy Wagon, with a hilarious bus driver who a lovely accent and funny stories)! I've never seen a place like this before, even in the rest of Scotland. The rocks are incredible, creating these round or hexagonal columns which go straight up, formed by the way lava cooled. So I greatly enjoyed myself climbing all over the rocks and walk as far along the coast as I had time for, up to the Giant's Organ! Why is it called the Giant's Causeway? Well, it's really is best when you have an Irishman telling you the tale, so I'll just give you the short version: There were two Giants who who wanted the same girl (Giantess if you please), now she was currently living with the Irish giant who had built a bridge over to Scotland to woo her home (he succeeded). The Scottish giant got angry and wanted her back, but eventually got tricked out of fighting him by the girl. He was so scared, he ran back to Scotland, destroying the bridge along the way! Thus, all that remains of the bridge of Giants is.... the Giant's Causeway!

Rope bridge- we did go across in rather high winds

after the rope bridge!

AMAZING water- all turquoise! Why isn't the US like that??

Giant's Causeway!

Giant's Causeway in the background

This is what the amazing columns look like

Northern Ireland was all so beautiful- we did have a crazy windstorm at one point, and the other fun fact was that Obama followed me to Ireland...
Other than that, it was fun to notice the differences in what families do in different parts of the world, such as Italy versus Ireland. In Ireland we were always, always drinking tea. With breakfast, between lunch, after dinner, you name it. So it basically serves as the same social drink that coffee does in Italy. Same function, totally different drink! Intriguing... 
Bascially, Ireland was beautiful, I loved our long drives through the country, close to the Mountains of Mourne and trip to the Giant's Causeway! Maybe next time, I can stay a bit longer!

Castle Wellan Forest Park- gorgeous lake (or lough as the Irish pronounce like "loch")

"Peace Maze" at Castle Wellan!