I begin the one-kilometer trek out to cross the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, one of the most well known attractions in Northern Ireland. After leaving the sun on the Giant’s Causeway just down the road, I was hopeful for the same weather here. I have no such luck as a sea mist hangs over my walk. I keep looking and looking to see this rope bridge in the distance, dangling in the wind, but nothing by a few sheep enter my view. I finally reach a man in a bright red jacket, with the National Trust. He sets up here to make certain no one falls into the 23 meter deep, 20 meter wide chasm below, Continue Reading
Belfast, Northern Ireland Wishes You Were Here
Belfast and I got off on the wrong foot, perhaps long before someone decided to help themselves to my wallet. I remember my Dad driving my brothers and sisters and I through West Belfast. I was scared. Men holding machines guns through the streets, barbed wire and a great line dividing two neighborhoods and faiths had me spooked. I remember those screeches of “Dad! No!”. My knowledge of “The Troubles” was not that extensive at 13 but I knew the area wasn’t where the tourists went to hang out. Today that has changed. West Belfast is now somewhat of a tourist attraction. You can take taxi Continue Reading
The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland Wishes You Were Here
Like a game of Tetris gone horribly wrong, in the distance, I can see the rubble. A beast has torn through the landscape. A bomb has gone off and now children are using the remains as their playground of skipping stones. On top of the mismatched pieces of land, tourists stand, propping up their cameras to get the perfect shot of this stretch of land gone wrong. The Giant’s Causeway is Northern Ireland’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated on the Causeway Coast. When you first descend on this giant, you too will be mistaken as the ancients were. However this landscape is not man-made Continue Reading