Day 7 - 3/14

 Today, we took a bus ride tour of the beautiful coast of Northern Ireland. In the morning, we left from Belfast, passing some important sites on our way to our first stop, Carrickfergus, where our bus driver Catherine was from. Many of us quickly ran through the Carrickfergus castle, which was built in 1177 and was used as a British garrison. 

On our way, we passed several villages and learned more about  them from our tour guide, Louie. Our next stop was the coastal village of Carnlough, where Game of Thrones filming took place on steps that went into the water. The village was so quaint and charming, located on a harbor with several boats and buildings with colorful facades. 

After driving for a little bit and passing more sites that Louie pointed out to us, we arrived at Cushendun, which means “mouth of the river Dun” in Irish. This was another beautiful coastal town with a viewpoint that we visited, while others headed toward the “Granny Caves.” Next, we visited the Portaneevy Viewpointy in Ballintoy, from which we were able to view Scotland and a narrow footbridge that went across the sea to another island.

 

The next stop during lunch time was the Dark Hedges as seen in Game of Thrones. It is now a very popular tourist destination thanks to the show, and the Hedges hotel was very busy. We walked through the dark hedges and enjoyed our lunch outside. 

We got back on the bus and went to Bushmills Whiskey Distillery. We learned from the tour guide that the difference between Irish and Scottish whiskey is in the spelling— whiskey is Irish, whisky is Scottish. 

The highlight of our day was the Giant’s Causeway. The tour guide explained this geological phenomenon that dates back 60 million years. He also told us the story of the dueling giants Finn McCool from Ireland and Bennandonner from Scotland. The hike down to the causeway was incredible - the 60,000 columns of basalt on the sea was a sight to behold! 

After our hike to the causeway, the final stop was Dunseverick Castle, an “enigmatic” castle that we learned was used as a default screensaver for Windows computers. We drove back to Belfast and on our way in, our tour guide told us some more interesting facts about the city. It was an amazing day to say the least! Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow! 

-Carina, Maura, and Adam