Despite living in the UK for over 20 years, I'd never visited either Ireland or Northern Ireland. I decided that it was finally time to change this, and in June 2018 I organised a road trip across the island with my family.
After arriving in Dublin, we headed straight for Cork. Here we had a quick stop at Blarney Castle, where folklore has it that on kissing the stone, you gain the gift of eloquence. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to test the authenticity of this virtue, instead heading west towards county Clare. We drove along the coast where possible, and we were stunned by how beautiful the landscape was as we drove across County Clare and County Kerry. The greenery of the land alongside the clear sky and rich, blue sea was serene.
We then headed up towards Galway, passing by Limerick and stopping at the Cliffs of Moher. These are Ireland's equivalent of England's Cliffs of Dover and are definitely worth visiting. After taking in the view, we drove past the border to Northern Ireland to visit Giant's Causeway, which given that I'm not interested in geology in the least, I found rather underwhelming. Nonetheless, we continued to Ballycastle, which was one of the most beautiful locations on the island and was where we crossed the rope bridge (Carrick-a-Rede). This was one of my favourite parts of the whole trip as the view was astonishing and the bridge provided a bit of novelty.
We explored parts of Londonderry and Belfast, and despite passing through some fairly rough areas in both cities, we learnt a lot about Northern Ireland's history, which was extremely fascinating. I was particularly interested in the murals and what they represented.
After a quick stop at Monasterboice, we ended the trip right back where we started: in Dublin. This city is gorgeous, however we only managed to spend a couple of hours there so we didn't manage to see everything. Nonetheless, we managed to explore a small portion of the city, including the Guinness storehouse, Trinity College, and St Stephen's green. I'm hoping to revisit Dublin soon so that I can explore it properly, although I definitely wouldn't recommend renting a car as the city is a nightmare to drive through.
For all of Ireland's hardships and downfalls, there is a lot to be said about the country. I was extremely impressed by Ireland's landscape in the south and its history across the island is fascinating. This country has been through a lot, and yet the locals manage to maintain a sense of humour and are incredibly kind. If you haven't visited Ireland or Northern Ireland, it's definitely worth adding them both to your bucket list.
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