Waking up, we packed our things into the car (yet again) and off we went. Farther north, toward the coast, passing through the town of Bushmills (which we'll get back to), eventually reaching the water and our first destination, Giants Causeway. Even before we reached Ireland, both my mother and I decided this was one of the "must see" spots for the trip. We had both heard from our own sources that it was something that couldn't be missed. And boy - were they right. Giants Causeway has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life. It's this strip of coastline that has amazing vistas, cliffs, and unique geographic formations, which you'll see below. For any of you who aren't familiar with the story, this is where Finn MacCool resided (and old Irish loire about a giant - totally worth looking up). We had the option to take a bus tour, but we decided to walk it. Down through the hills, past these beautiful flowers that had thousands of black flies buzzing about them - massive swarms that just hung lazily n the air, never bothering us. Looping around the path, we eventually made it to the main spot, where over millions of years, rocks had formed into columns. About 40,000 in all - resulting from a volcanic eruption. It was absolutely amazing how unique each was, but still managed to fit together, like a massive puzzle that formed thousands of stairs. It was unlike something I've ever seen. The air was fresh and pure. The ocean was crashing at our feet. The sun was sneaking through the clouds. It was a perfect as one could ask for.
When we felt like we had soaked in as much as we could, we walked back up to the car and made our way back into town to tour the Bushmill's Whiskey Factory. I'll preface this with that they did not allow electronics to be on during the tour, so I couldn't take any pictures. Why you ask? Because they are still brewing and distilling on location unlike Jameson or Guinness so there is a fire hazard with all the alcohol in the air.
By far this was my favorite tour. Not only because Bushmill's is my favorite whiskey, but because we got to see everything as it happened. We got to smell and feel the barley, watch it churn in the mash tun, mix with yeast, breath in the alcohol vapors in the distilling room, see the thousands of oak barrels in the storeroom, and of course, sample the whiskey. I could fill you in on all the fund facts (founded officially in 1608, world's oldest distillery, etc) but I'll let you do the research on your own. Overall, it all just felt alive. Workers were doing their thing, the grounds were bustling. It didn't feel like it was a show. It honestly felt like we just happened to be walking through as a normal day happened. Which, compared to the other tours, was special.
Climbing back into the car, we headed out for our trip and final night back in Dublin. I made a executive decision because I was driving and chose to drive along the coast, stopping wherever I saw fit. One of which being the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (which is easily missable if you don't look out for the signs). It's a rope bridge that spans 66ft between the mainland and an island, hanging 98ft above the water. To be honest, there isn't mush else to do in the area besides walk along a small set of cliffs and eventually cross the bridge onto the island, but again, like anywhere else we went in Ireland, it was just stunningly beautiful. Mom was a little freaked out crossing it both times, but managed fine and loved the experience (hell, she even got to see some puffins along the way).
After we were done at the bridge, we kept driving along the coast for some time, through hills, farms, a pine forest (all of which you'll see in the video), until we finally met back up with the highway and continued down to Dublin.
Once there, we checked into our hotel for the last night.
So so sad.
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