Donegal to Belfast via Derry

Derry
Most of Thursday was spent hiking the Slieve League Cliffs, and our hotel was a few hundred kilometers northeast in Belfast. Derry , often called "Londonderry" is the second largest city in Northern Ireland. The city is walled and borders the River Foyle.

A little taste of the roads in Co Donegal. Couldn't get past 2nd gear

Derry from the Peace Walls

City Centre at night

One of the many murals depicting the "troubles"

Belfast
After two more hours of driving, we FINALLY made it to Belfast.  It was after 9:30 when we finally arrived at the our hotel.  As per the castlegroom's recommendation, we enjoyed a late dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Zen. The menu was at least a dozen pages long and included American/Japanese fusion sushi, Curry, and something called "Mad Cow Beef." ( Don't worry, it was clean). We sat up stairs in a semi-circle leather  booth. The booths were situated down a long glass hall lit from below and separated from one another with long chains streaming down from the lights that lined the hall.

We also had a buzzer for our waitress... Livin' the life.

That night was Colin's last few hours in Ireland.  It was really hard to see him go, but we had a perfect week. I'll see him again in May when we reunite in Paris, so I can't be too upset.

Giant's Causeway: 
On Saturday Mom, Dave and myself ventured to Giant's Causeway.  It's less than two hours north of Belfast and is a result of a violent volcanic eruption creating about 40,000 basalt columns. These hexagonal columns are incredibly uniform, it's hard to believe they aren't man-made.

Now here is the fun history:

Legend  has it that the Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill (or Finn McCool) built the causeway  so that he could reach scotland by foot to fight the giant,  Benandonner. One version of the legend tells that Fionn fell asleep before he got to Scotland. When he did not arrive, the much larger Benandonner crossed the bridge looking for him. To protect Fionn, his wife Oonagh laid a blanket over him so he could pretend that he was actually their baby son. When Benandonner saw the size of the 'infant', he assumed the alleged father, Fionn, must be gigantic indeed. Therefore, Benandonner fled home in terror, ripping up the Causeway in case he was followed by Fionn. Thoes Irish are clever, aren't they?


 Unfortunately, my camera died so I'm waiting on their pictures... I took some on my phone but they don't really do it justice :

basalt columns

 here's a video until I can get the remainder of the pics! 

Belfast Nightlife:
After Giant's Causeway, we returned to Belfast in the early evening.  That night, we went to a few different pubs but ended up at a Chinese Restaurant at 11:45pm drunk eating. There is nothing quite like drunk eating with your Mom and step-dad.  I got unlimited ginger sauce with rice and spring rolls...

View of Belfast from our hotel room

Belfast

 The next morning we took a Belfast Black Taxi Tour of the city. It was pretty heavy stuff, but it felt appropriate to learn a bit history about the place at which you are visiting. I didn't take pictures of the murals, but if you're curious you can check out Belfast Murals.
We didn't visit all of the murals on the map, but we saw quite a few during the two hour tour.

One of the most memorable murals for me was this one:

Famous Loyalist Sniper Mural in West Belfast

 Our guide kept joking that no matter where you stood, the gun would follow you. He wasn't lying....

This next one was also pretty interesting because illustrates the origin of the Red Hand of Ulster: 

Red Hand of Ulster Mural in West Belfast

The legend states that the kingdom of Ulster had at one time no rightful heir and so a boat race should take place to determine the heir.  The rule was that "whosoever's hand is the first to touch the shore of Ulster, so shall he be made the king".

One potential king so desired the kingship that, upon seeing that he was losing the race, he cut off his hand and threw it to the shore — thus winning the kingship. The hand is most likely red to represent the fact that it would have been covered in blood.

Pretty cool, huh?

After the tour, we headed south to Blackrock. It was a lot harder saying good bye than I though it would be, but it was a great trip and I enjoyed every minute of it.