Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

Today was a long, but rewarding day of bus touring. We had photo ops at a couple of castles, and lunch at the Bushmills Distillery (no time for a tour, and nothing particularly remarkable in the 3 whiskey tasting I tried), but the two extended stops were fantastic.

The first was a visit to the tiny island of Carrick-a-Rede, across a famous rope bridge. The bridge was once used to hang salmon nets from, before the fishery collapsed. We had amazingly clear weather, considering it has been raining on and off most of the time we've been in Ireland. Blue skies, sun, and enough visibility to see Scotland (both Islay and the Mull of Kintyre). The scenery was stunning and it was a nice little hike along wildflower-covered cliffs.

The second was a stop at Giant's Causeway. Like the formations at Devil's Tower, the area has lots of nearly-regular columns. I did the clifftop hike around to the Amphitheater and saw the hexagonal structures from above, then went down to the Giant's Organ to see tall columns in the cliff face up close, and finally went down to where the causeway enters the water. It's an amazing, beautiful formation.

I've liked Belfast quite a bit. It's easy to navigate (there are signs all over the tourist area with maps and descriptions of the art or history around), and seems to have a lot that we didn't have time to see.