Ireland, part 2: Northern Ireland, County Antrim

Guess which car was our rental?

After three full days in Kildare County, we drove into Northern Ireland and settled into the lovely Morning Calm B&B in Ballymoney. Dinner was just a short walk to a pub in town, then it was another relatively early night as we were still adjusting to the time change. We had thought to go to Glendalough or hike in Tollymere Forest Park on the way to the B&B, but wound up spending too much time exploring Kildare.  We bypassed Dublin and Belfast as well, but no regrets!

Tuesday was such a clear day:  perfect for a trip to the famous Giant's Causeway, which is simply amazing.  The Causeway contains about 40,000 hexagonal interconnected basalt columns that have to be seen to be believed.  Science tells us that they are the result of a volcanic eruption, but legend says they are the remains of a bridge to Scotland that was torn up by two giants.  We'll have to get to Scotland someday to see the other side.
 

 

From the Giant's Causeway, we drove west to Downhill Demesne and Mussenden Temple.  Some scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed here, which pleased my boys.  There was a bit of hiking throughout the site, which we hadn't expected but very much enjoyed.  The day was so clear, making the seaside location seem like paradise.  The ruins of the Downhill Demesne castle were climbed and explored thoroughly.
  

Mussenden Temple

  
It was getting late in the day, but what the heck, there was time to get to Carrick-A-Rede and its famous rope bridge to a small island.  This site was crowded, and the bridge was a bit intimidating, but such a lovely location!
   
Dinner was at The Hedges, near the famous Dark Hedges, though it was dark by the time we got there.  Seeing the Dark Hedges (King's Road to Game of Thrones fans) was impressive and oh-so-spooky at night under a full moon, though our pictures were not good.

On Wednesday we drove south to Castle Ward and Audley's Tower.  This was the supposed Winterfell of Game of Thrones fame, but was a bit disappointing to the boys because there were many changes in production.  The site itself was still fantastic.  We took the guided tour of Castle Ward, with its half-Gothic (for her) and half-Neoclassic (for him) design.  We walked the peaceful trails to Audley's Tower; bikes were available, but we enjoyed the walk.  There was an amazing playground area that even my big kids (ages 15 and not quite 13) enjoyed.

The Gothic side of Castle Ward  

 

The Neoclassic side of Castle Ward

  

Following Castle Ward, we went to the ruins of nearby Inch Abbey.  This was another Game of Thrones filming site, but this time it was more recognizable to the boys. There was a GoT tour there, complete with costumes, swords, etc, but they left shortly after our arrival so we could enjoy the 12th century monastic ruins in peace.  What an impressive site, with a lovely church in the distance, that we later learned was Down Cathedral, final resting place of St. Patrick.

View of Down Cathedral

   Thursday morning we went back to the Dark Hedges to check them out in the daytime.  Luckily it was early enough not to have too many people.  Earlier in the year a storm had knocked down a few of the trees, and someone had the great idea to carve them into GoT-themed doors.  We saw one of them at Gracehill House and it was quite intricate and detailed.




   
Unfortunately this was the end of our time in Northern Ireland. Wish we had more time so we could have seen Dunlace Castle, Cushendun Caves, and the many other sites, but we had a long drive to Sligo for part 3 of our trip.  http://readyforthenextvacation.blogspot.com/2016/10/ireland-part-3-county-sligo-mayo-and.html