Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Not far from the Giants Causeway there is a rope bridge called Carrick-a-Rede.

It originally was built by fishermen to check their salmon nets but today it's just a tourist spot. But it's a beautiful tourist spot worth a visit!

We heard it was scary to walk across but those people must be wimps. It was a piece of cake, a walk in the park, easy as pie...

The views alone are worth seeing. 

This was my second favourite place after the causeway.

Next, we went to Dunluce Castle. It's set on the very edge of a headland and is only accessible by a bridge. The queen of this castle was forced to live here and hated it because of the cold and windy winters. In 1639 a storm came in and a section of the cliff, along with it the kitchen, kitchen staff and queen fell to their deaths into the sea.

Our third night we stayed in Londonderry (aka Derry) at this quaint B&B called The Merchant House. It's run by a retired professior and his wife (of whom makes the best blackberry jam I have ever tasted).

There isn't much to see or do in Derry except gain a little culture and history. We walked to the neighbourhood with the famous Bogside murals depicting the 'troubles'. These are all painted on the sides of the neighbourhood apartments where the main civil outbreaks took place. 

Recall the U2 song 'Bloody Sunday'? Ya, this is what it's about. 

This mural, the one with the girl in the green skirt, is the most famous. It's titled 'Death of Innocence'.  This 14 year old girl was walking home from school and was shot and killed by a British soldier. The mural is close to the site where she died.  

The photo to the right shows a little how the community is still divided between Protestant and Christian. There are still violent outbreaks. The city is trying to be united but it's still a problem. We didn't feel that we were in danger when walking around. In fact it's a very friendly city from what we noticed. 

But sometimes I walk around with my head in a cloud. 

Okay, most of the time.

 I like my little world. 

I'd like to stay there thank you. 

Since there wasn't much to do in Derry we left later that afternoon and drove back to Belfast. 

The next day it was raining but managed to do a walking tour of the city. 

This is City Hall.

I can't remember what hotel this is but I do remember they serve the most expensive drink ever. It's £750. For one drink! It has real gold in it. 

I guess when I get to the point in my life when money does grow on trees I'll consider making this purchase. But it's a little ridiculous really. 

The photo on the left is suppost to be Belfast's own leaning tower. It didn't look like it was leaning too much to us but whatever. The photo on the right are more 'trouble' murals but in Belfast. 

Belfast still goes into 'lockdown' in some parts of the city. This shows one of the barriers. Every night at 9pm there are gates that are shut and locked so people can't get in (or out I guess). 

That was our trip. 

Or was it? 

We were headed to the airport after this but our flight was canceled. So, we got to spend an extra day in Ireland! But because we already turned our rental car in and the hotel Easyjet put us in was in a little town, we hung out there - which will be in the next post.