The final day of this great trip in Northern Ireland starts at the dawn.
Literally.

The sunrise from Kinbane Head

The clouds were gently covering the sky and the temperature was almost good.
After all it was August, not December.

We just woke up early, to admire the colourful sunrise.

The Kinbane Castle at dawn

After a powerful Irish breakfast, we were ready to travel back to home: Belfast.

The Causeway Coastal Route at Glenarm
Rocky beach in Glenarm	Daisies on the route

9 days later and 700 miles behind us, we were glad to rest in one place.

After a week, our vacations were almost gone.
With sadness inside our hearts, but full of beautiful memories, we left the Donegal County, and passed over Derry.
But the holiday was not over yet!

Surfing at Benone Strand

And neither were the beaches!

The beach at Benone Strand is one of my favourite: a huge, infinite strip of pinky sand.
Even the cars can go almost in the water (and many families uses them as shelters for their children).

Family at Benone

A little breeze was waving the sea, and the surfers were appreciate it.
The butterflies, instead, were just resting and warming at the sun.

Butterfly warming at the sun

On the way back, we decided to stop one more night at Kinbane farmhouse.
We felt in love for their hospitality, and there isn’t a greater place for cheering the dawn.

Downhill house at Bishop's Gate

But before that, we had enough time to take a look at the Dunluce Castle.

Playing at Dunluce Castle

Built in the 13th century, this now-ruined castle is literally falling apart.
In 1639, part of the castle, including the kitchens collapsed into the sea, followed by seven cooks.
According to a legend, when the kitchen fell into the sea only a kitchen boy survived, as he was sitting in the corner of the kitchen which did not collapse.

The Dunluce Castle	The interior of Dunluce ruins
The roaring ocean below the Dunluce Castle

Truly or not, it is quite scary think that the rocks were it is built on are so unstable that it could collapse at any time!

We celebrated our last dinner meal at the great Ramore Wine Bar, in Portrush.
The food is very good, for Italian standards of course, and it has a wonderful view of the bay.

Sunset in Portrush

A view that was just amazing at the sunset!!!

Last day in Donegal, before coming back to Belfast.
Blessed by a sunny sky, we went for a decent visit of Derry/Londonderry.

Entering Free Derry

Except from being the “Walled City”, Derry does not have too much to sightsee.
However, you can always take a pleasant walk inside the old city, looking here and there, just for fun.

The Bogside from the Derry's Walls

The Bogside quarter definitively it is worth a visit.
The impressive huge murals here tell us the sad story, when people were fighting against the discrimination and for civil rights.

The park close to the riots' place

The Troubles started here, on 12th August, 1969, the so-called “Battle of Bogside“.
Started as a communal riot, it spread all along the Northern Ireland.
Wikipedia has a very interesting reading about that, and I strongly suggest reading it.
Really interesting is also the entry related to the Bloody Sunday, a day commemorated by the U2 in the famous song “Sunday Bloody Sunday”.

The Guildhall is another interesting landmark.
Its red bricks facade has a strong contrast with the water fountain that runs in front of the entrance (you can take a sit and relax watching the changing shapes of water columns).

The Guildhall of Derry	A stained window in the Guildhall
	The concert hall
St Eugene's Cathedral	A street in Derry

Coming back to Donegal, we took a sneaky peek at Ramelton, with its historic houses…

Houses of Ramelton

Clouds above the houses

… and Rathmullan, an holiday resort, with a pleasant harbour.

Sunset in Rathmullan

For sure the sunset was outstanding!

When you are in Northern Ireland, it is better to use at the maximum the not-so-cloudy-to-rain days.
On Day 6, our destination was the Glenveagh National Park.

The road towards the Glenveagh National Park

This park is located in the heart of Donegal County, an hillside land, full of astonishing natural places.
At the center, the small Glenveagh Castle welcomes the visitors.

Built around 1862 by Captain John George Adair, the story of the castle started in cruelty.
Returning home after making a fortune by chancy land speculation, he bought a lot of land in Donegal.
He is greatest ambition was to build an estate around that magnificent places.
Unfortunately, some families of tenants were on his way.
Using a dispute about sheep trespassing, he evicted 44 families, destroying their houses. And all of this not for financial gain, but for the only purpose to improve the aesthetic aspect of the castle.

Nowadays, this park is one of the natural reserve less contaminated by human beings.
We can disagree with the behavior of John Adair, but thanks to that, we can have quietly walking, surrounded by the Nature.

The Orange Garden

The nature is gorgeous: the Orange Garden is a jewel in the heart of this place.

The Glenveagh Castle from the hilltop

The oriental garden

After a quick lunch, based on tea (with milk!), we reached towards Dunfanaghy.
This village is just a bunch of house with a great view on the Ocean.

The low tide at Dunfanaghy lough

With the low tide, the three-mile-long beach of Killahoey Strand is directly connected to the promontory of Horn Head.
The lough is a haven for seabirds and is also a Special Protection Area.

The Horn Head promontory

Surfing at Killahoey Strand

The sandy beach is a very nice place to stay, even in cold weather!!!

Sand castle

It sounds like a race car, but the name “Inishowen 100” came from approximatively the distance (100 miles) of the road that run around the Inishowen Peninsula.

We did not afford to take all the way long, but still we had our 100 miles.
And they were the most beautiful 100 miles we had in Northern Ireland.

The Inishowen 100 at Mamore Gap

The green of the hills was enhanced by a touch of purple, given by the erica.
The clouds and the dull sky did the rest.
The result was a wonderful day in some lovely landscapes.

Sandy beach at Clonmany

In our way towards the northern point of Ireland, we had a little stop in Clonmany. A beach like I never seen before: rocks, grass and amazing waves.

Sandy and rocky beach at Clonmany

Of course there were children taking a bath, while other adventurous people were surfing (the real stuff), in a very cold wind.
Here and there some showers, but when you are inside the car, it is easy to forget about them.

Me at Clonmany beach!

Beach at Clonmany

We enjoyed a lot the road towards and across the Mamore Gap.
Up and down, the road from Clonmany to Buncrana is a treasure in the Northern of Ireland.
Full of placid goats starring at us wondering why we were bothering their lunches.
Flowers, that depict the landscape with their gently colours.
And nothing more: you can travel dozen of miles without any clue of human being.

Look behind you!	Towards the Mamore Gap
Dreaming of... grass!

If it wasn’t for the road (somebody should have built it right?) you can wonder that this was the shape of the nature when few people were around (and years before the humans ruined it of course).

All the towns here are beautiful.

Buncrana has a very nice beach too, despite the rain…

Buncrana beach

Before returning to the B&B in Donegal, there was time for another colorful sunset…

Entering Letterkenny

On the road to Ramelton

The disappointing bad weather in the causeway on day 3 was so high that we decided to come back again.
The sun on day 4 was shining all over the hexagonal stones of the Giant’s, and finally, the natural beauty of the Giant’s Causeway was revealed to us.

The Giant's Causeway

We left Kinbane Head in a very sunny day.

Kinbane Head

The Causeway was painted by brightly colours and thanks to some drops of rain, we had wonderful pictures to take!

Raind drops on the Causeway's stones

The fierce ocean against the stones

Unfortunately, we did not have too much time to spent, because Derry/Londonderry was waiting for us.

Derry or Londonderry?

The reason why this city has two names is buried deep in history.
The official name is Londonderry, assigned by a Royal Charter in 1662. The original name was Derry, and it is mostly used by Catholic and Republic of Ireland people.

The walk around the walls of the old city, reveals the history of the city in its young days.
The walls demonstrate their effectiveness during the Siege of Derry.
The motto of loyalist motto “No surrender” comes from these days, when 13 apprentice boys shut the gates of the city against the oncoming army.
The city eventually capitulated to the army, but still this story is impressive of the courage of inhabitants of Derry.

No Surrender!

However, hundreds of years later, other citizens fought for their freedom, and the old rebels became the antagonists.
The motto was taken by the Loyalist during the Troubles.

The fighting for freedom is understandable. But terroristic attacks and repression of the free thought cannot be justified at all.

At the end they are both just wrong… and this is my thought.

Welcome to Ramelton

The lucky to have a bright sky above our head, unfortunately, stood just one day.
After the gorgeous sunny in Cushendun, it wasn’t so beautiful the day after. But, hey, you are in Ireland, are you expecting nice weather? Forget it!

Steps over the stones

Not too bad, anyway, we head our steps on the Giant’s Causeway.
The Giant’s is one of the such place you imagine of when you are kid, as a far far away, magic place.
I remember when I was young, the story about the Irish warrior  Fionn mac Cumhaill. Maybe not every kid imagine such things, but I always thought how cool would have been go there. And now, I did!

The legend says that one day, Fionn wanted to fight his rival, the Scottish warrior Benandonner, in Scotland.
Then, he built a causeway, to let him cross the sea. Once arrived there, however, he found that his rival was sleeping.
And he was so big, he was afraid to fight him anymore.
Desperate for his own fate, he fled back at home.

The stones at the Causeway

In the mean time, Benandonner woken up and he was running to looking for Fionn.
Fortunately, his had a smart wife. She put Fionn in a very big crib, to disguise him as a baby.

Once arrived in Ireland, Benandonner asked for Fionn.
“Where is he?” he spoke with booming voice.

Port Ganny @ The Giant's

Exagonal stones

“Shhhh, you are going to wake up my baby” replied Fionn’s wife.
Benandonner looked at the crib and he was shocked:
“If this giant is his baby, how big could be him????”.
Then, terrified with the the prospective to fight a gigantic warrior, he fled, and he ripped away the causeway, so never again he would have faced the Giant Fionn.

The Shepherd's Path

Above the Shepherd's path

This is the story, and what you can see nowadays is the remains of the causeway. I am terrible at telling stories, but I hope you found it interesting enough.

And if you want the “real” story, you can find it on Wikipedia

Far from Italy indeed, but nothing is better than a sunny day on the beach. Thanks to one of the brightest blue sky in a month, we reached Cushendun.

Beach in Cushendun	Rocky beach
Flowers on the rocks

This lovely town has an amazing beach, with rocks, flowers and green lawns, waiting for the families. The hot sun was ideal for tasting the temperature of the ocean, but we were not so brave as the local children. Just a walk, up and down the beach to discover the natural beauty of this city. Well a goat, that seems to be a local mascot, is not exactly a beauty, but maybe it is just the local way.

The goat of Cushendun

Stony beach in Cushendun

After lunch, we headed to the scenic route towards Torr Head. Just a bunch of hills, but the scenic route was built to test the nerve of brave drivers. I’m kidding, is not so difficult, and it’s worth every km. Do not be afraid!

The road around Torr Head	Little Erica flowers blooming in Torr Head
The Torr Head scenic route

On the way back to the B&B, we started our Geocaching experience.

Geocaching is a high-tech hide&seek, the kind we used to play as kids. You need a GPS, and some locations. The rest is just fun: follow the signal (and the clues, thanks to the Geocachers!), dig in the dirt and, then, get the reward! Remember to bring a pen, so you can sign the log usually found in the cache.

We tried all day long, without luck. I started thinking about the lack of equipment. Using a standard GPS may be not feasible (and TomTom sucks as device for geocaching…). At the end of the day, however, we found our first cache in an old cemetery. What a great location!

The Bonamargy Friary

Look, ma, a cache!

And finally, we had our walk at the sunset! Despite the first day, the second one just swept away the bad mood…

Here comes the sun...

Well, let’s start again.

Hi everybody! Here it is you beloved Luca that is writing from Belfast, the main city of Ulster.
Since I am between two jobs (I love this, because it seems that I had a salary before and I will one after. The fact is that I did not see the former one and the latter, who knows…), I accepted the kind proposal of a professor to spend a period at the University of Ulster. So, here we are!

Daisy on the sea

First of all, I want to assure you: Ireland is really green. I didn’t spend too much time around, the weather and the work kept me away from that. But, every single piece of land is covered by this greenish-so-irish grass. Even the flower are green! Ok, they are not, but the landscape is amazing anyway.

I will not bother you with my work, I just started to figure out what I can do in such short time and maybe I will later.
But, instead, I can describe you some places around here.

No, I am not living in the clock tower!

Currently, I am living in a small room, inside the Dalriada Student Village (check the map: the construction are so brand new that they are not in the map either!).

View A Week in Belfast in a larger map
The location is great, just 200m away from the sea, the Belfast Lough. It so close, that it is very nice to walk after lunch!

Unfortunately the weather is so-so. Cloudy, mostly, and a bit too cold for my taste. But, we are in the North, and I wear a very warm sweat (thank you mom!). And, if you are lucky enough you can have some cool surprise, like this:

Where does the rainbow end?

Yesterday, was my first attempt to smell the air downtown.
Took the train, just 15 min before arriving in the centre (or close-by). First thing todo: irish breakfast!

No, I am not hungry!

I am not so brave to take the Ulster Fry: “I’ll have a french toast and two pancakes, with maple syrup, please”. I did not realize my mistake until I saw the dish. My stomach is not used to this kind of breakfast, and I just decided to skip the lunch…
Definitively, I was not hungry anymore.

The only solution to digest was have walk.
The path to the City Hall was blessed by International Hope, lost people and market-church.

Hope is International

Beware the lost people!

Can you spot the market sign (this is not a church)?

Finally, I came to the City Hall! Usually it is free to visit, but not on Saturday…

The City Hall of Belfast

St. Anne Cathedral

The inside of St. Anne Cathedral

The french toast was still floating around, while I was walking in the Cathedral’s quarter. The St. Anne Cathedral is nice, even if it is quite new: it was finished in the 80′s. The column you can see in the image is the “Spire of Hope“, a questionable sculpture.
But the inside is very beautiful, and the silence is outstanding: I was hearing the noise of my camera…

Family time at "Belfast Taste and Music"

Today, Sunday, nothing is better than a sunny day at the Botanic Garden. I thought. Bad for me, today was the last day of “Belfast Taste and Music“. Looking at the website it sounds great: admission fee £5, lunch-token 50p (buy 10 for £5). What a great opportunity to catch two birds with one stone! The idea of the lunch-token is that you can taste dishes from many cooks in Belfast. What that is not said in the website is that most of the meal cost around 6-8 token.
This is the classical situation wherein it helps a lot have been studied CSP…
And the portions are awfully small! The music is ok, but this place is mostly for family, with kids.

Roses at the Belfast Botanic Garden

Ok, fair enough, the fair and festival are always a bit “unfair”. Fortunately, the rose garden is awesome, and the flowers are so beautiful…

Other roses at the Belfast Botanic Garden

So far so good. Belfast revealed very nice places. It is not really outstanding, but I barely scratched the surface and there is time to impress me

Thank you and see you next week, destination Giant’s Causeway!