Road trip through Ireland ^.^

Hello again :-)

Last week I went on a road trip with three other Erasmus students. One of them already started his road trip with some friends visiting from home, so me and the two other students took the bus to Dublin on tuesday evening to meet with him.

The route we did during the trip.

We went out for a drink in the oldest pub in Ireland, The Brazen Head. It's a very cosy pub, like most pubs in (Northern) Ireland, dating back to 1198... So quite old if I may say so ;-)

On wednesday we drove down to Counties Wicklow & Kildare, to Glendalough. There is a National Park where we did a 8km hike. BEAUTIFUL! And the weather gods were very good to us: a day full of sun and blue skies! Even though it was not very warm yet, sunshine makes everyone instantly happy :-) And of course, the pictures also look better!

After the hike we drove to the West of Ireland, to Ennis, where we had booked or second night. The drive was pretty long, but in between sleeping session at the back seat I saw some pretty amazing landscapes!
Ennis is known for live music and street performances. Unfortunately, we are in Ireland during the winter, so no street performances. But we found a nice pub to drink a cocktail (at least me and Valérie, the boys of course drank beer) and listen to the live music.
Before we went to the pub, we took a nice walk trough the town (after sitting in a car for some hours it felt really good to stretch our legs). It was already dark when we did our stroll through the town, and the darkness gave the town a very 'gosthy' look. It seemed like a cute little town, I can imagine that during the summer it's really nice to go from street to street to see the live music outside. (Maybe for another road trip through Ireland during the summer, who knows ;-) )


The next morning we headed up north a bit, to the coastline of County Clare, to see the Cliffs of Moher. Another amazingly beautiful sight! And again: sunshine and blue sky! We were hoping to do a little hike there, but apparently we were misinformed, the only hikes were over 20km and our schedule didn't allow it.
So we strolled a bit along the coastline on the cliffs, enjoying the view! Blue seas as far as the eye can reach! At one point it started raining a wee bit but the sun was still shining, and we all know to what that combination results: RAINBOW! To make the view even more magical :-)

By the end of the day we had to be back in Northern Ireland, we booked our third and last night in Derry. So, another long drive ahead of us. Along the way we stopped in a few little towns, had some lunch, a coffee, did a little sightseeing....
In the evening we made a dinner break in Sligo. We decided to stop there because, for some reason, we thought that there was a little beach, and a stroll along the beach was just what we needed!
Unfortunately there was no beach, just some pavement along the water, but that didn't stop us from taking a nice walk along the water and through town.

After our dinner we were ready for the last 150km to Derry.
The roads in Ireland are not the same as in Belgium or other European countries, so it took us a bit over 2 hours to do the 150km. There are highways in Ireland, but not as much. And a lot of the 'big' roads are not that big at all. Although it is nice for the view, not so much for a fluent drive.

Anyway, around 11pm we finally arrived in Derry. We decided not to hit the town that night, but to have a nice drink in the hostel, and Andreas played some songs on his guitar. A perfect last night!

On our last day we explored Derry.
The British and the Irish unionists call the city Londonderry, the Irish nationalists call it Derry. The name of the city often is a topic of discussion, you'll never hear a Catholic politician say 'Londonderry'.
The largest part of the population is Catholic and uses the name Derry. Officially the city is called 'Londonderry', the county around it 'Derry'.
What a way to make things complicated ;-)
Derry is the biggest city in Northern Ireland, after Belfast.
A really nice thing about the city is that the old city walls are still there, and you can take a walk on them (about one mile).
Also, in 2011 the peace bridge opened. The bridge is intended to improve relations between the largely unionist 'Waterside' with the largely nationalist 'City side', by improving access between these areas.

As all good things, after Derry our road trip came to an end. The rental car had to be back at 6pm, so around 3pm, after a last nice lunch, we had no choice but to return to Belfast.

Now I know what you all might be thinking: Wauw, Erasmus is fun! Two road trips in two weeks.... Does she also has school and other school related stuff?
Well yes, I certainly do. Starting tomorrow, Juf Lieselot is back. I start a five week teaching practice in a primary school here in Belfast.
I've got no idea what to expect, I only know that I will be teaching children between the age of 5 and 8 in the school 'Holy Family'.
Soooooo, that should be interesting ;-)

I hope you enjoyed this blog.
Now I will enjoy the rest of my 'last free day'.

Cheerio!!