this weekend was very amazing. We had do two tours. On Saturday we visited the Cliff of Moher and on Sunday we did the Celtic Tour.
On Saturday the night was very short. At 5 a.m. we woke up and went to the meeting point, where the tour started. The weather wasn’t good at the beginning, because it was rainy. Our first stop was a very little castle. It was nice. After 3 hours and many stops we arrived at the cliffs.
Stefan and I explored the left side of the cliffs first. So we lost the other guys :D. The view was very stunning. I would want to jump into the water to surf.
When we were at the cliffs the weather was very nice. It was sunny and windy. After a short walk, we searched for the other guys at the right side of the cliffs. On the way to them, Stefan and I did an involuntarily stop, because the wind was so strong that Stefan had to hold on a fence and I perched on a stair. So luckily we were not blown away, or down the cliffs.
very windy
After the cliffs we had lunch in a very little restaurant. The prices were high and the portion of food was very small. After we finished lunch went home, with a few stops at the coast. I like the coast and so I made many photos.
At home we relaxed and went to bed earlier as usual.
At Sunday the weather was very bad, because it rained a lot. We visited many typical Irish and Celtic places. At first we visited the Hill of Tara. Although it rained a lot for the most time, we stayed quite long.
Our tour guide was quite impressed. His name was Mark and he was very funny. I understood him very well, because he spoke slow and in a well English.
At the tour we got a lot of information about the Irish and Celtic history and the Irish culture. It was really a beautiful and nice day.
At home I eat a pizza and went to bed early, because I was very exhausted.
You see it was a stuffed but very nice weekend. Also see you later guys
well the weekend is over and it’s time to write about it, if you read it or not is entirely up to you.
As I wrote in my previous entry I went on a bus tour to the Giant’s Causeway with the guys from apartment nbr. 2. We met at 8:45 outside of our apartments and headed to the office of Allen’s Tours where our bus was supposed to leave at 9:30. We where advised to arrive 20 min. prior to the time of departure and we did but as it turned out we could have easily turned up at 9:45 as bus left at 10 because we had to wait for stragglers.
After we picked up a few other passengers at their hotels our driver introduced himself as Ian and told us he will be talking most of time while we are our way to the destination.
I was thinking „Yeah you will probably just point out points of interest along the way“ but I was wrong, he literally talked the whole time, told us about the history of the towns and places we passed and gave anecdotes to noteworthy sites, like the haunted hotel or the dead mans hole. The craziest thing was that it never got boring he did it in way that kept it interesting the whole time. I was surprised to hear how many Germans where involved in the history of Northern Ireland with building a castle here and a village there.
Only on the way back from Giant’s Causeway Ian kept quiet because we took the motorway back to Belfast, not the coastal road we took before, and there wasn’t much to tell but still he was a great tour guide and I think everyone on the bus agreed with me.
OK enough of our bus driver and more about the tour itself!
As I already mentioned the tour took the scenic coastal road to Giant’s Causeway with a few stops in between and a visit to the Bushmills distillery on the way back.
The first stop was shortly after leaving Belfast we stopped at Carrickfergus Castle, which was build by a German-ish guy in twelfth century. After 20 minutes of looking around and taking photos we journeyed on.
Carrickfergus Castle
After an hour we stopped at Carnlough harbor for a quick breather.
Carnlough harbor
Another hour later we arrived at Carrick-a-Rede and its famous rope bridge that I, obviously, crossed but I admit was a little frightened because we had very strong wind, something around 40 miles per hour,but still it’s a beautiful area and truly worth seeing, especially with good weather.
a view at the coast at Carrick-a-Rede with Rathlin Island in the backgroundthe famous rope bridge
While we are at the topic, our weather this day was kinda mixed, on one hand we had sunshine and , kinda, blue skies on the other hand it rained alot. We were lucky in the beginning as it only started raining when we boarded the bus again but once we arrived at the Giant’s Causeway the weather took a turn for the worse and it got much better shortly after we left Bushmills for Belfast.
A mere 15 minutes after we left Carrick-a-Rede we arrived at the Giant’s Causeway, we had to walk a little because we didn’t pay the „entrance fee“ (it was optional) and weren’t allowed to take the bus but it’s only a short walk, like 15 minutes or something.
the even more famous Giant's Causeway
I confess I was a little disappointed by the Giant’s Causeway, but this could be because the weather wasn’t exactly the best or the fact that the place was swarming with so many tourist that you had to look out where you put your feet. Don’t get me wrong it’s a beautiful place and worth seeing but I think it’s a bit oversold.
Oh and shortly after we left the Causeway my camera battery died and me, being stupid, forgot to pack my spare battery, so I wasn’t able to take pictures of out last stop at the Bushmills distillery. At the distillery we had the opportunity to take a look around at the visitors premises but couldn’t take a tour through the distillery. I bought myself a good whiskey which I will bring home as little souvenir for myself 😀
We arrived in Belfast at around 7:00 pm and after we said our goodbyes and thanks to Ian we went for something to eat and back to the apartment.
On Sunday I basically didn’t do anything except for relax, going through the photos I took on the tour and watch anime on my laptop 😀
I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did.
the weekend was really short again. Too short. The days are just become blurred on the weekend if you go to bed at 6 a.m. and stand up around 6 p.m.. And on Monday I am so tired that I only work from this position:
Chin – > Table (+ coke)
On Saturday and Sunday morning, Stefan try to wake me up at 6 a.m. but I was still awake so he can suck my… ear 🙂 To be honest I don’t want to do anything at the moment. I know Dublin and I know the cliffs and that’s it… that’s Ireland. Okay maybe you can visit some castles and see some more sheep’s but in general Ireland have not much to see. Maybe two of my apartment members and me, do the viking splash tour on one of the last 2 weekends and that’s it for me.
On my working place I still need to back up some old mail-profiles. But Hugo returns today and hopefully he have some tasks for me again.
