Monday, May 26th
It is a rainy morning as we leave Donegal and head to the Giants Causeway, a UNESCO world heritage site. The weather is questionable for hiking around the Giants Causeway….a break in the sky and we head to the electric bus that transports tourists to the causeway. Once off the bus at the base of the Giants Causeway road, we took no more than 10 steps before it poured!! Of course we had rain pants and umbrellas on our tour bus!?! On a different weather day we would have done a bit of hiking and ventured out on the basalt rocks. As quickly as the rain drenched us, a clear sky and a hike up the pathway to the top of the hill to the Giants Causeway dried out our clothes. We made a stop in the bar with the New York group before heading back to the bus, again in the rain.
Time to head to Derry (aka Loundonderry) and learn about the “Troubles”. Along the River Foyle we saw the peace bridge, which is a pedestrian bridge. Our first stop in Derry was to see the Bogside neighborhood and the Derry walls. Amazing artwork depicting historical events of the “Troubles”-Catholic versus Protestant. And we saw the gates (there are 20) that lockdown the city nightly.
After a brief overview we made our typical bathroom stop. This stop however was very near to the mural of the Derry Girls of Netflicks fame, which we were able to capture with our ever present phone cameras.
After our stop we began our walking tour of Derry with Sarah on the bus. We learned about the Bogside battle and Bloody Sunday and visited more murals. In order to continue our tour and to walk on the wall we all exited the bus armed with umbrellas and our rain gear. Derry is completely surrounded by a very well preserved wall that has 4 original openings and 3 added for a current total of 7. The wall is as wide as 26 feet, a mile plus in circumference and as high as 36 feet.
Time to head to Ballycastle in the rain for our final overnight and delicious fish dinner at the Mariner Hotel. We topped off dinner with a most excellent toffee cake and sauce! Lee posted the recipe on our What’s App:)
Tuesday, May 27th
We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning. Connie and I quickly dressed and went for a walk before breakfast. We could see the shores of Scotland from Ballycastle! After breakfast and packing and loading the bus, per our daily routine, Lee greeted us with his usual smile and “how are ye”? ….and off we went to Belfast via the Causeway Coastal Route.
First on our agenda was a “white bus tour” of the neighborhoods of Belfast – Catholic and Protestant (lots of Union Jack flags!). We then headed to the peace walls where we were able to record our thoughts on a huge wall covered with the thoughts of many. It was truly a call for peace and brought to my mind the song “what the world needs now is love”!! Lee then drove us one last time down the main thoroughfare of the Protestant neighborhood where we saw huge murals of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles and LOTS of Union Jack flags.
Time to head to the Titanic Centre for our 12:20 pm timed ticket entry. The Titanic Centre is a very popular tourist destination! What an incredible undertaking was the designing and constructing of such a huge luxury cruise liner. Every detail attended to by tradesmen of all sorts. And then the tragic end of the Titanic…. Lots of lessons learned in it’s aftermath.
Back to our bus/van for our return to Dublin. What a magical journey! Connie and I were the first to be dropped off at the Clayton Hotel next to the Dublin Airport. It is “au revoir” to our wonderful group as we now head to Paris.
Many thanks to Lee, our wonderful tour guide!
2025-Ireland.France.Portugal 