The B&B was full last night so we had breakfast with Angela and Michael from Ascot, outside of London. She's a secondary science teacher and he talks less. They are here visiting her cousin something some number removed on her father's side who is a lighthouse keeper in Northern Ireland and she lived in New Jersey for a time in the 1970s. It's fun waking up and meeting people straight off and hearing about their lives and travel.
Anne and Eugene suggested that we avoid Derry today because it is a national holiday in Northern Ireland--Armed Forces Day, 12 July to commemorate the Orange Order defeating King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690--and they said the parades quickly turn to protests which quickly turn to violence, particularly after the drinking begins midday. Chris had arrived to breakfast in a green guyabera and I had on my last clean shirt which was green and blue and Eugene told us that we should change our shirts before heading out for the day because wearing green in Northern Ireland would be considered a political statement.
After changing, we left Letterkenny for the Coastal Route, a drive which brings you through Derry, Limavady, Castlerock, Coleraine and Bushmills on the way to the Giant's Causeway, which is a World Heritage Site. Coming up on Derry, it was clear it was a holiday. Everyone was decked out in red, white and blue or orange and purple and there were British and Orange Order flags everywhere. On the way out of Derry, we actually drove the parade route, so there were people lining the streets as we came past and traffic on the other side of the road was backed up terribly because the police were stopping and checking cars. We saw busloads of people coming in from towns outside of the city and there was part of me that wanted to stay in Derry for the day and just see, but Anne and Eugene had seemed awfully worried about us, I remembered that pyre we saw the men building yesterday and didn't relish watching people burn Ireland's flag, and we did have other plans so on we drove.
The drive is lovely and the politics are confusing to an outsider. There were sections of road where we saw nothing but Irish flags but those were very few. It was far more common to see British flags and Ulster flags, as well.And Northern Ireland uses the pound and miles and all things UK.
The coastal route is, as advertised, along the coast and we passed through several small holiday towns with caravan parks with units to rent by the week and cars that look as if they've been abandoned not quite along the side of the road, where people have left them to trudge their families down to the shore. There are no parking rules in this part of the world that we can determine. It isn't necessary to find a spot and it isn't necessary to park on the same side of the street that you are driving. This was laughable in Letterkenny, but seems death defying on the coastal road.
I admit we're travel dorks; last night we counted the number of World Heritage sites we've visited between the two of us. Between the Sydney Opera House in Australia and Chichen Itza in Mexico, we've been fortunate to see a great number of them. Today, we added Giant's Causeway to our list, a coastal area in which geological activity over millions of years worked to create 40,000 interlocking basalt columns and hexagonal rocks in bizarre formations. There are audio guided walks high and low to see the rocks from the shore and up the cliffs to see them from above. Irish mythology attributes the creation of these rocks to Finn McCool, a magical and benevolent giant.
We stopped for a late lunch in Bushmills, where the whisky is made, and in honor went to a local shop and ordered the whiskey and honey ice cream. Everyone should do just that. It was a good day.
Anne and Eugene suggested that we avoid Derry today because it is a national holiday in Northern Ireland--Armed Forces Day, 12 July to commemorate the Orange Order defeating King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690--and they said the parades quickly turn to protests which quickly turn to violence, particularly after the drinking begins midday. Chris had arrived to breakfast in a green guyabera and I had on my last clean shirt which was green and blue and Eugene told us that we should change our shirts before heading out for the day because wearing green in Northern Ireland would be considered a political statement. After changing, we left Letterkenny for the Coastal Route, a drive which brings you through Derry, Limavady, Castlerock, Coleraine and Bushmills on the way to the Giant's Causeway, which is a World Heritage Site. Coming up on Derry, it was clear it was a holiday. Everyone was decked out in red, white and blue or orange and purple and there were British and Orange Order flags everywhere. On the way out of Derry, we actually drove the parade route, so there were people lining the streets as we came past and traffic on the other side of the road was backed up terribly because the police were stopping and checking cars. We saw busloads of people coming in from towns outside of the city and there was part of me that wanted to stay in Derry for the day and just see, but Anne and Eugene had seemed awfully worried about us, I remembered that pyre we saw the men building yesterday and didn't relish watching people burn Ireland's flag, and we did have other plans so on we drove.
The drive is lovely and the politics are confusing to an outsider. There were sections of road where we saw nothing but Irish flags but those were very few. It was far more common to see British flags and Ulster flags, as well.And Northern Ireland uses the pound and miles and all things UK.
The coastal route is, as advertised, along the coast and we passed through several small holiday towns with caravan parks with units to rent by the week and cars that look as if they've been abandoned not quite along the side of the road, where people have left them to trudge their families down to the shore. There are no parking rules in this part of the world that we can determine. It isn't necessary to find a spot and it isn't necessary to park on the same side of the street that you are driving. This was laughable in Letterkenny, but seems death defying on the coastal road.
I admit we're travel dorks; last night we counted the number of World Heritage sites we've visited between the two of us. Between the Sydney Opera House in Australia and Chichen Itza in Mexico, we've been fortunate to see a great number of them. Today, we added Giant's Causeway to our list, a coastal area in which geological activity over millions of years worked to create 40,000 interlocking basalt columns and hexagonal rocks in bizarre formations. There are audio guided walks high and low to see the rocks from the shore and up the cliffs to see them from above. Irish mythology attributes the creation of these rocks to Finn McCool, a magical and benevolent giant.
We stopped for a late lunch in Bushmills, where the whisky is made, and in honor went to a local shop and ordered the whiskey and honey ice cream. Everyone should do just that. It was a good day.
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