We rushed to Troon to catch our ferry to Ireland and, as is the story of our vacation, we got there just as the ferry was leaving. One plus side to not having every detail of our trip planned out was that if we were ever to get lost or miss a ferry (or two), we hadn't already payed for a place to stay. After watching yet another ferry sail away without us, the search was on for a place to rest our weary heads. We ended up finding this convenient little hotel right across the street from the ferry terminal.
It was very quaint and even had an awesome old school lock and key.
(Michael) Troon was a sleepy town and our big adventure that evening was trying to get some dinner. We just wanted to pick up something to eat at the hotel so we went to a grocery store to see what we could find. It was pretty tough to find something that didn't need to be heated, so we got a bunch of ingredients to make a salad. I don't know if it was something with the lettuce or our dressing but it was quite a strange meal.
The next morning we were able to hop aboard the ferry to Ireland. We started in Larne just North of Belfast in Northern Ireland, worked our way along the Antrim Coast towards Londonderry, and then headed southeast towards Dublin. Sadly we only had a day and a half in Ireland so we were really pressed for time. My one regret with this trip was that we didn't get to spend more time in Ireland. It had the friendliest people I've ever met.
It also had some fabulous scenery.
Like tunnels in the side of a mountain...
Green pastures a plenty....
And ruins just randomly scattered in people's backyards. I guess there are so many ruins in Ireland that the small ones aren't a big deal.
This one was guarded by a very determined pony.
And his not so diligent friend.
It was a very beautiful country
We also found some interesting signs long the way...
Some were a little scarier than others...
Especially when the "road" was just barely big enough for your own car, had a bunch of sharp turns, and had no visual of what was up ahead.
Another sign said, "Warning, no road markings ahead."
Driving through Ireland was my favorite, minus the deadly narrow roads. It was so majestic and peaceful and had far fewer roundabouts. Driving along green pastures with scattered ruins while listening to Celtic tunes and sitting next to my best friend in the whole world was one of the best moment ever.
We couldn't come all the way to Ireland and not enjoy some good Irish Stew.
I'm glad I got stuck choosing the traditional meals in Ireland, no surprises of raw meat and egg.
After lunch we had some award winning honeycomb ice cream which was very delicious.
The coast was so beautiful; these pictures do not do it justice.
We went on the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge which was pretty neat, although not as long as I'd thought it was going to be. I was surprised at how many people were freaking out about crossing it - Michael and I were jumping along the whole way.
Walking the Bridge
A cool cave near the rope bridge
After the rope bridge, our second stop was the Giant's Causeway, our favorite place in Ireland. On our way to the Causeway this red tide pool caught our attention. It looks more pink here but from a distance it looked like a murder scene.
And now for the coolest place ever...
Entirely formed by nature were millions of these little hexagons, pentagons, and you-name-it-agons all nicely fit together. And it wasn't just a few, they were everywhere. An entire beach full.
Michael called all those big chunks in the background the "leftover bits" from the giant who sculpted this place.
It was pretty amazing. They also had a portion called the "organ" which had these long pillars up the side of a cliff.
Michael trying to be an organ pipe...
Where is she?
...there she is.
"The Gateway"
Our next stop along the coast was Dunluce Castle
It was a pretty neat castle, although I was sad to learn that it was yet another thing taken over by those fiendish MacDonalds :)
It had a cool secret passage underneath that led to the ocean; a perfect smuggling entrance. Michael wouldn't let me go in and explore, which is probably a good thing considering that part of the castle had already fallen into the ocean.
And here is a little song I found about Dunluce Castle. The song doesn't start until 1:15 so make sure you skip ahead.
By the time we had finished with the coast it was around 6pm and we decided it was time to drive towards Dublin. Our original plan was to find a place to stay in Derry, but when we got there we decided to keep driving for another hour or two. We figured there would be some place to stay along the main road since it was a major artery.
Bad plan.
We drove, and drove, and drove some more, and yet we didn't find a single Bestwestern, Comfort Suites, or any of the usual chain motels. By 11pm we were just about to accept our fate and hunker down to sleep in the car when we saw a sign for an inn. We were very relieved and pulled in to see if they had any rooms. We walked into the bar and asked for a room. The bartender looked at us like we were crazy and then explained that the place was only a bar and that they didn't have rooms. Really, an inn with no rooms...weird.
Doesn't it look like it should have rooms?
Anyway, just to help paint a picture of the extreme friendliness and hospitality we found in Ireland, here is the story of what happened next. As soon as the guy told us that he didn't have rooms, we were barely able to show our disappointment before he started telling us that he knew someone we could stay with and then he immediately gave them a call...at 11pm in the evening. Within the first minute of his phone conversation he gave us the thumbs up and then went on to have a lovely 5 minute conversation with the person on the other end of the line (what's new, how were they doing, etc.). When he got off the phone he walked us outside, showed us how to get to the house, and then gave us a friendly goodbye.
So we drove to this unknown savior's house which was just up the street and knocked on the door. No answer. We hesitantly knocked again and waited. The door opened and there stood a cute little old lady who invited us in without hesitation. She showed us to our room, asked us if we were hungry, and proceeded to give us fruit cake. "Don't worry," she said, "it's a very light fruitcake." She then asked us if we wanted any "bars." We had no idea what she meant until she started handing us some chocolate bars. Talk about hospitality.
Here is the room we stayed in
And the "light" fruitcake
And the adorable bathroom
She asked us what time we would like breakfast in the morning and then left us to rest. We awoke to the smell of breakfast and this cute little dining room.
Of course she had fixed us the "traditional" Irish breakfast
...which was quite similar to both the Scottish and English breakfasts and consisted of lots of meat. The black pudding was much better that the one we had in Scotland. The sausages were still just as deceiving; they look delicious but are very dry and paste-like. It was a good breakfast nonetheless.
Needless to say this was the best experience we had with lodging our entire trip - not only did it have great service, but it turned out to be the cheapest. It's one of those experiences you always hope to have while traveling.
Too bad I don't remember our host's name, but here is a picture.
And here is where we stayed,
After breakfast it was on to Newgrange.
Apparently Newgrange is older than both Stonehenge and the great pyramids of Giza.
It had a fascinating entrance. The only time the chamber lights up is during the winter solstice when the rising sun hits the top opening just right. The weirdest thing was that when you walk into the tomb and then go all the way into the center chamber you actually end up being above that small upper entrance, but it doesn't feel like you went uphill at all. Super trippy. We also found a masonic symbol carved on one of the inside walls.
Michael at the entrance
A little side tomb.
They and lots of spirals on all the stones.
"My people," as Michael would say. (because I am part native)
After that fascinating look into history we headed on to Dublin. Of all the places with public transportation this was our least favorite. Not only were the stops terribly labeled, but it seemed like we would pay a different amount for the same trip each time. Weird.
First things first, we went to Christ Church Cathedral.
After France most cathedrals lost there splendor, but there was something about this one that I really liked.
Here's all that's left of the original
The inside.
I particularly liked the stained glass here.
And the detail that went in to every part of the building
Even this cute little door.
Apparently they found this cat and rat mummified in one of the organ pipes. Some things never change.
(Michael) We were in desperate need to find a laundromat since we had definitely run out of clean clothes and were starting to smell not too pleasant. (Amanda) And when he says we ran out of clothes, he means 14 days of traveling with only 2 pairs of pants and 4 shirts...we reeked). (Michael) A person at the hotel told us that there was one not too far away down the street by a McDonalds so we packed up all our clothes and started hiking. It felt like forever and we were getting pretty exhausted so we would use little things to buoy us up such as "look, a discarded McDonalds fry container, we've got to be close". To make a long story short, after walking for hours we were not successful because I don't think we found the place the person was talking about and the couple places we did find were closed (we were shocked that places like that would close before 7pm).
(Amanda) After exploring Dublin we decided we couldn't pass up an opportunity to listen to some traditional Irish music in an Irish pub. At first it was super awkward because neither of us knew what to do. Michael was eventually able to get some drinks and we enjoyed some fabulous Irish tunes. The atmosphere was so fun with everyone singing along and getting into it. What a great way to end the night.
Apparently when a pub is known to be a good place for conversation they say it has "good craic."
(Michael) The next morning we had to get up early to catch our ferry back to England. Can you guess what happened (or almost happened)? You guessed it, we almost missed our ferry yet again. This time it was the traffic that took up all the buffer time we set aside. We were so incredibly close to missing that ferry, and I definitely believe that there were some tender mercies happening on the last flurry of turns. The very upset port gatekeeper told us that we were the last people to board and that we better hurry up. He wasn't joking, we were the very last car to fit on the ferry and they closed they were closing the gates just as we got there. The whole thing was emotionally draining so we were very happy to be safely on board. We met a really nice couple who were riding their motorcycles across Europe, and we chatted with them the entire trip about a wide range of topics. It was a great way to sum up our brief fun trip in Ireland.
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