Europe // 06 // Ireland

When you wake up in a car, you wake up fairly early. So it was easily still 8 am by the time Steven and I were ready to get adventuring on our third full day in Ireland. We were still exhausted from our hike the evening before, but Steven hadn't gotten his fill of waterfalls (he never does), and I still could do with some greenery in my veins. Therefore we set out on our second hike in Glenariff Forest. We followed a trail named "Waterfalls Walk" and it hit the nail on the head of what we were hoping for. Greenery and waterfalls everywhere! Supposedly the second largest waterfall in North Ireland can be seen from that hike? We never checked that. (Shout out to whoever googles that for me!)

Notice I'm wearing Steven's jacket since mine is still soaked at this point!

After our fill of nature (or what we were able to scrape up the stamina to enjoy) we drove down the incredible "Causeway Coastal Route" with the intentions of stopping in Belfast and making it to Newgrange Lodge by that night, but we had no set route in mind. It was an easy choice when we pointed out that there was an ancient castle on the way to Belfast, named Carrickfergus. Purposefully taking the back roads once the Causeway Coastal Route ended, we got there in no time at all. 

Carrickfergus Castle dates back to 1177 and has some of the most interesting characters in its history, including Randall MacDonald who was the owner of Dunluce Castle. The Irish are very proud of the stories that are embedded into the walls and rooms of the castle. We thought it was well worth the 3 pound student rate seeing as we explored that castle for hours. It was huge! There were so many 'classic castle' details, like the gates, drawbridge, keep, and dungeon.

The sign says "Beware Trip Step" and warns that this step is a different size than all the rest. This was done on purpose to trick any intruders that may be sneaking up the stairs.

Stopping in Belfast happened in a blink, but it did happen! We stopped in at St. Anne's Cathedral based on a recommendation by Tori Little, and she definitely knew what she was talking about! The cathedral, again, was dripping in history, but has excellent tributes to modern day events, such as 9/11. Then we stuck our heads into the MAC Museum for some amount of time that did it zero percent justice (like 10 minutes). Afterwards we picked a steeple out of the many on the skyline and just walked towards it. We ended up at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where we happened across the Father. We just smiled at him as we walked by, you know to be friendly, but we didn't take any pictures to avoid being disrespectful.

The exterior of St. Patrick's Cathedral

We made it to Newgrange Lodge that evening, where we were warned as we checked in for our camping spot that there was going to be "some rain" that night. We shrugged it off; our tent is waterproof after all. There were also a million other campers out there due to a coincidental Boy Scout Jamboree (that made us feel like we were home), so it couldn't be that bad of a weather forecast, right?

I wish we had picture of how frustrated we were when we woke up the next morning. Our tent was sideways, we hadn't slept well at all, and everything was soaked. Including our passports. Talk about stressful. (side note: Passports dry beautifully, don't you even worry about it.) We happened to have stayed dry though, because our sleeping bags are also waterproof (thank goodness!). If it weren't for the showers provided in the lodge and the buffet breakfast I probably would have been in a sour mood all day. 

After polishing up and feeling much better with a belly full of Nutella we went to Newgrange, a burial mound which dates back 6000 years. To see how intelligent and incredible these people were 6000 years ago blew our minds! They were astronomers, engineers, farmers, artists, and religious advocates. Everything about the mound was thought out with such precision that we were only able to take it all in by listening very carefully to our tour guide (who had the best Irish accent). We also visited Knowth, which is the second of the three burial mounds (Newgrange being the first). These mounds date back to 400 years before the pyramids and 1000 years before Stonehenge. So if you're looking for Neolithic artifacts and historical sights, this would be it. Every year during the winter solstice the sun lines up just right that it lights up the entire inner chamber of Newgrange, and if that doesn't impress you this blog probably doesn't either...

After Newgrange we were hungry for more history, so we headed to the Hill of Tara, the ancient ceremonial coronation location for the Irish kings. Unfortunately, the visitor's center was closed by the time we arrived, but we were able to walk around the hills and read all of the signs. By the end we felt like we had a pretty good understanding of the area's history. The thing we really noticed about Ireland's treatment of ancient historical sites (both at Newgrange and Hill of Tara), is that they don't excavate everything, they just let things be and speculate about what they might find if they did dig everything up.

With a few more hours to spare before we had to drive to the Dublin airport we chose one more historical site listed on our map, and just decided to drive. This is what happened next (we can't believe we genuinely caught this on film):

We loved that abby to pieces (not literally, it was already in pieces when we got there, I swear!). We adored that we were the only two there, and we could explore to our hearts' content. We climbed the towers that have been standing there since the 1100's, and roamed around as if it was our own home.

We continued on to Trim, where we easily located the Trim Castle (the castle used in the movie Braveheart? anyone care about that? I don't, but it's worth a mention?) Again the visiting hours had passed, but we walked around the surrounding areas and enjoyed the bell towers, moat, nearby gate, etc. We didn't take any photos of this area as we walked around it though because we decided to leave the camera in the car and enjoy each other's company instead.

After Trim we returned the car to the airport rental in Dublin, and set up for our night in the most glamorous of hotels....the airport food court. It's actually not bad at all, and I really do think that people that sleep in airports have the right idea. (Travel cheap = travel often!) I just always make sure I check this website before I plan on sleeping in any airport; it's been incredibly accurate in my experience!