Next Stop Northern Ireland

On my second day on the Emerald Isle, I headed from Dublin to the north, to the Giant's Causeway near Bushmills, Northern Ireland. The bus ride through Belfast and Coleraine went smoothly and without any problems, and during the journey, the mentality of the people here was already evident: someone always approaches you and asks where you want to go, where you come from, and gives good advice for your trip. Pretty nice ☺

Causeway Coast Way: From Giant's Causeway to Carrick-a-Rede Bridge

So, the next day, we finally went to the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Giant's Causeway. Together with a few people from the hostel, we spontaneously decided to hike a part of the Causeway Coast Way instead of just visiting this point. So, in the morning, we set off first to the famous rock formations and then continued along the coast and cliffs to the famous Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

The path offered breathtaking views, with new landscapes revealing themselves behind every bend, and by now I knew why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle. Steep cliffs dropping straight down into the sea, green meadows, sheep, climbing along smooth rock walls, and no path since we had gotten briefly lost - it was adventurous! The route was about 20 km long, and when we reached our destination, we knew what we had accomplished today :-)

We then took the bus back to the hostel for a relaxing evening.

Giant's Causeway, Bushmills Whiskey, and Dunluce Castle

Since we had to pay attention to the time during our hike the previous day, I decided to go back to the Giant's Causeway the next morning. Over 38,000 hexagonal basalt pillars rise from the sea. This time, I took my time to let the impressive landscape sink in.

A bit later, I drove to Bushmills together with my new friends from the hostel, and we let ourselves be told a lot about the production of Bushmills Whiskey in the oldest whiskey distillery in the world. We even got some whiskey for free 😉

Afterwards, since I was already in the area, I visited Dunluce Castle, one of the largest medieval castle ruins in Ireland and the inspiration for the setting of 'House Greyjoy' in Game of Thrones. It takes some imagination to recognize that, but nevertheless, the ruin was worth seeing.

Dunluce Castle