La magia dell'Irlanda on the road

I hadn't ever been a fan of Ireland, Celtic culture and gnomes legends, before coming here. But since this happened, I realized that a trip to Ireland is the classic experience that leaves an indelible mark, something inside yourself that remains for all lifetime. I asked many times what comes from this kind of magical atmosphere, this strong feeling that I feel every time I think back to the places I saw and the emotions I felt. I think that certainly there's a sort of factors strange combination that makes the magic of this island, that you feel right justafter a few days of stay.
The landscapes are superb and incredibly impressive: from immense green meadows and gentle hills of the inland, to the cliffs and peaks facing the ocean, creating an imposing and majestic landscape. This is the typical image of most of the island territories, but the variety of landscape is much extended. The Connemara, for example, is a region by itself, with all those woods and reddish autumn colors that are reflected in its many lakes. Or The Burren, famous for its vast wilderness of rocks.. Entire Kilometers made without seeing a tree (it seems to be on the moon!). Not to mention the Giant's Causeway, unique natural monument in the world, with thousands of incredible perfect hexagonal basalt columns, immersed in a wonderful green coast. But the beautiful landscapes exist everywhere, not just here.
You can then add the weather, which certainly helps to strengthen some aspects. The strong wind, always present on the coast, combined with the power of the ocean and the solitude of the cliffs, greatly intensifies the greatness of nature that here overlooks the man, not yet arrived with his overbearing civilization, to colonize the environment. The emotion of facing the landscape from the Moher Cliffs (200-meters high) and to see the human figures so small in front of this much higher coast, (stopping for hours to watch this wonder of creation) is indescribable... And to be in the middle of a storm, with so much wind, barely able to stand up, with the rain flying horizontally, and to observe (astonished) from a promontory the furious ocean creating waves and foam of gigantic proportions, when you realize that they could istantly swallow the small village built just beyond the coast... this is an indescribable sensation.
But all thesesensations are not enough to complete the description of the Ireland's magic. However the most complete view is linked to another crucial component: the human factor. Yeah, because this people is magnificent for its incredible hospitality, scraping any communication barrier while sipping some Guinness, and for the pride on its history and traditions. I never felt a stranger here, I never had feelings of desolation and detachment, even going out at night in the most remote countries. A pub is always present, because deeply rooted in Irish culture; it represents much more than just a room with four walls. It's a funny meeting point where you can drink a beer (4 or 5, really!) and talk with the neighbor, equally regardless if he is a local or if he comes from the other side of the world, even if you don't know English. It is people who wants to communicate, no matter about the topic or what you're saying. And then there's always live music, a myriad of talented groups that play great repertoires and make people dancing with fun. Outstanding then, needless to say, the Celtic music which really comes from the heart, combining with visions of landscapes in your mind.
These things involve all the Irish people, there's nothing to do! At the end you behave like them, you feel like them and also understand the potential hidden within yourself for a life that can go out and set free with the help of this culture. And you dance and meet people, discovering that all the strangers from around the world, came there to study or just for travel, realized the same thing. We are all in an Irish pub and we are all just people who want to do the same thing: having fun! So simple, nothing more. No distractions like technologic parks, videogames, attractions and nightclubs with exaggerated stroboscopic lights that force you to enjoy. Here only humanity and nothing else, except music and some alcoholics. There are no add due to shyness or to the fear of being clumsy in dance and other absurdities of this kind. Here people is much more itself, you do what you want and there are no false masks created by the formality. And even if you can criticize this way of life for the bad influence of alcohol (which creates many problems when not joined responsibly), remains the fact that the magic of it is felt very strong, especially in pubs, because there will always be people that desire to have fun and animate even the smallest country in the most remote places. I realize that living this way for a lifetime may be subject to much criticism, maybe unacceptable to many of us, but I'm not talking about that. I am not considering the way of life of the Irish as if I had to live like them (because it would be incorrect, I am Italian and I have a completely different culture). I'm simply speaking of the view from the point of view of a tourist like me. And then being your stop more or less longer, this doesn't matter anymore. Because whoever comes to visit these places, these landscapes and these people, will feel on his skin the strong appeal that this island issues, with the atmosphere I'm describing and the magic that will imprint indelible memories. So, finally, you'll understand what I'm talking about...

 

Flight Alghero - London/Stansted - Dublin

I start from Cagliari with my two greater friends: Carlo and Nicola. We arrive in Alghero during the morning, after two hours of car travel. Then Ryanair flight from Alghero to London and then a second flight from London to Dublin. Arrived in Dublin at night, we have a car that awaits us, already provided by Hertz car rental. As we have to take it, with great surprise, they give us the keys of a beautiful, huge, spacious big car. We initially think it was a mistake, since we booked a lower car category but, as they told us, in reservations is never possible to know precisely which car will be given to you. So, instead of a Ford Focus, we have a car with a huge hood where we store all our heavy bags!

Armed with courage and enthusiasm, then, we start our journey: Carlo tests for the first time the sensation of driving on the other hand, sitting on the right and with the shift lever on the left! We leave the airport, entering into the highway that leads to Dublin, being careful to walk on the right lane of the road. So we decide to enter the capital, we can not give it a try on Saturday night!

From this point onwards we understand now that nothing would be as usual, and that we are in a place where culture is completely different from ours. Hundreds of boys really drunk walking in the streets, sometimes linked together by arms in order not to fall (when I talk about boys, I intend boys and girls, because in Ireland girls drink at least the same of boys). Some girls even remove the high heel opened shoes, as we were in summer, and while they walk barefoot, we are frozen from the cold with the jacket on... Is this wonderland?

Soon we realize that we are the only people who walk sober, but the best thing is that despite all those drunk people we aren't scared by them, there is no danger (this day like during all the remaining trip), indeed! The Irish, when drunk, give their best becoming happy, sociable, fun and not aggressive or dangerous.

Our vain hope of finding an accommodation in the evening, however, soon vanishes and once accepted the initial shock we return to the car, leaving Dublin and moving towards Cashel. Now it's late night and we stop somewhere to sleep in the car....

Cashel; Cork

In pitiful conditions, for the night passed in the car, we start early in the morning to reach our first destination: the town of Cashel, with the imposing ruins of the abbey. We stop in the street to go into some small shops where we ask some hot tea, but they give us something mixed with milk that tastes of everithing but not of tea! Once arrived at the foot of the hill we park our car where the monument stands, overlooking the entire country. The houses are typically Irish: they appear marvelous in our eyes, maybe thanks to the thrill of our first day and also by the fact that we haven't ever seen one before. A short walk uphill leads to the abbey, very beautiful and evocative, surely one of the largest and most intact monuments of the island. Nicola enters inside, reading from the guide the story of these walls, making a trip around the hill from which you can admire the entire country of Cashel. Very particular was the atmosphere created by large Celtic crosses, the ruins and by crows that continuously fly over our heads.

After two hours of visit we go to the city of Cork in the south-west of the island. It is the second city of Ireland and it is really nice and liveable. We immediately notice that people are not at all busy and traffic is not as stressful as in Dublin. Even after letting the car stall a couple of times at the traffic light, being yet not practical about driving on the opposite side of the car, nobody behind played the horn!

We park the car and make a brief trip on foot, having something to eat and drink in a typical pub. Then we try to find an accommodation, consulting the map of Irish hostels (that is everywhere and is very useful). We finally find a great one, the Isaac's hostel (http://www.isaacs.ie/hostelc/index.html) that from the external facade seems a castle in the middle of the city. The rooms are clean, spacious, with carpets on the floor and comfortable bunk beds, while the bathroom is commonly shared by the entire floor.

After having set our suitcases, we rest a little bit and make a tour of the city already at night, seeing the typical river that divides the city and its magnificent cathedral. Then we go in search of a pub, ending up in a random one even having great fun! A rock band playing live in a truly immersive way, with all the people dancing in the middle and involving everyone, and drinking everything possible. It's our first evening in an Irish pub, which does not have anything in common with, sorry to say, those who are in Cagliari and claim to be like for this! And of course here there are true Irish people, who drink liters of Guinness, the famous black beer become national symbol, from which we can not escape to enter right into the spirit of the place!

Cork; Bantry; Ring of Kerry; Killarney

In the morning we dedicate a few hours to visit the city, and especially the Gothic cathedral yet saw yesterday, that on daylight seems even more beautiful and majestic. We enter inside to admire the imposing nave and the splendid mosaics and took some photos. After this visit we resume the march.

Once left Cork , we continue inside country north-west, breaking at some point to the coast to Bantry, a smiling town near the sea very hospitable and touristic. We walk for half an hour between the streets and colorful houses, reaching the marina, and eating in a sort of local inn. Then we resume our journey towards one of the five famous South-East peninsulas: the Ring of Kerry.

The day unfortunately doesn't assist us, because the continuous rain traps us in the car, preventing us to take pictures. We use the entire evening to make a loop around the peninsula, and the glimpses of landscape that we see during our short stops and on the road are really beautiful.

In the late evening we arrive tired in Killarney. We park the car and walk among the extraordinary colorful and lively streets of the village, sometime stopping to ask some hostel availability for the night. The central ones are all sold out, so we move to the first suburbs where we find a nice one directed by a truly strange woman. Our room is named "Flintstones" with the same cartoon characters designed on the door, this says it all!

Killarney National Park; Ross Castle; Muckross House

We get up early just to rent a bicycle to visit the main attraction of Killarney, the vast National Park, well equipped with a map taken at the hostel.

The entrance to the park is extraordinarily evocative and we arrive to Ross Castle in a succession of beautiful landscapes with all kinds of green, swamps and lakes.

The Ross Castle is located right on the park's main lake, where you can also rent a boat for touring. We enter into the castle, but inside, frankly, it is nothing remarkable. The rooms are almost empty and the guide gives explanations in very fast English that we, unfortunately, are not so able to grasp. At the exit a nice surprise expects us: a severe rainstorm forces to return racing at the hostel where we arrive soaked in order to return the bicycles in time. But certainly we don't give up to few water ...

After having dried clothes with the hair dryer (kinda pooe conditions that we are.. aren't we) we come back to the assault of the National Park, arriving on foot to the Muckross House. The trail is beautiful and shows a small part of the beautiful park along the lake. I think it needs at least 3 days to visit it decently (here are also organized guided tours and rides by horses with gigs).

Later, back in the car, we try in vain to find a waterfall, always within the National Park, but on the other side. We haven't found the fateful waterfall, but we end instead in a narrow, isolated and desert internal road, where we can really appreciate the wild Ireland, where nature dominates sovereign and civilization struggles to get there. The Bed & Breakfast is also dramatically here, leaving us with opened mouths, perhaps in the only existing building in a km of radius: a farm!

For the night we try the best of ourselves, doing a nice chat (much a gesture), with the strange girl dressed like a scout in mission that manages the hostel, characterized by a great sympathy. She tried generously to explain the best places to visit in the night, drawing a map. Then we immediately put into practice his advices, going around in search for some pub! In on of them we found a wonderful group (which will always remain in my heart) that plays a very particular kind of music called Celtic-rock, which comprises not only the classical accordion and the legendary flute but a keyboard, bass and drums... After half an hour passed sitting on a table, alone and totally concentrated in listening to the divine music, almost making me crying from the excitement and engagement! In a flash I understand that this journey will be truly legendary and unique, leaving a deep mark in my mind and in my memories! But the evening is not over again, even the fun has just begun. After the ecstasy of the first songs, the music increases of pace, becoming engaging. The group urges people to dance: I approached the stage where they were playing and where Carlo and Nicola were, and together we begin to dance simulating the typical Irish dancing (which in reality are similar to the Sardinian ones!), taken hand by hand with the other boys of the pub! An extraordinary experience where it does not matter who you are and where you come from, if you've never danced in your life or if you've never known an Irishman, if you are sad or happy, if and how you judge the others: the only imperative is dancing and having fun!

Once ended the heavy music-Celtic rock group concert (of which we bought the CD album with their beautiful songs, a great souvenir to take home to remember this evening), starts the disco music. And then let's go in the middle of the mess, with guys that still take you by hand and throw you in the middle of the big dance, forming a circle of ten and more people!

Needless to say, Killarney entered right into my heart and I think without doubt it is one of the most beautiful and magical towns of all Ireland, absolutely unmissable.

Dingle; Limerick

The day after we visit another of the five Southeast peninsulas called Dingle, just above the Ring of Kerry. I am much more excited by its sweet green slopes, with few small coves set between the higher cliffs where the ocean waves create tens of meters of shoreline. We reach a small beach down a steep road and touch for the first time, excited as children, the ocean (the poor Sardinians like us are used "only" to the Mediterranean Sea...)!

After lunch the weather becomes dramatically worse and a storm sweeps us while we walk on a coastal promontory. I never seen anything of this kind in my life, a strong wind that makes even difficult to stand up and wins the force of gravity, preventing a cascade of water and a stream from falling and getting them back up to fall backward... I had never seen a reversed waterfall, with the water that falls... at the top!? I can barely keep my camera in hand and I make a blurred movie with the objective wet. These moments are genuinely exciting and won't happen again! It seems to be alone against the fury of the nature! The ocean rules, with his high waves as vast as the country nearby, with miles of white foam. All this natural phenomena are documented by a picture taken in very extreme conditions!

We use all the day to complete the tour of Dingle and pause for the night in Limerick. It's a sad city, so gray and gloomy. It's even true that this is a major industrial center, it doesn't seem to be in Ireland, even the roads are deserted at night, something really unusual in an island like this! This time, to eat well, we choose a Bed & Breakfast accommodation in place, and after asking some hints around, we find a very nice one in a road where there are several. I noticed that is quite common in Irish towns to find roads where B & B or hostels are grouped, so it is convenient to search for these without wasting time.

A very kind gentleman shows us the room: large, spacious and well equipped, with four comfortable beds and a nice bathroom equipped with everything. That is exactly what we wanted after a difficult day!

Cliffs of Moher; The Burren; Galway

One of the most interesting advantages of B & B is that it always offers a generous and succulent breakfast, of which we take full advantage. They carry us about anything from toasted bread with butter and jam, fried bacon with egg, tea, coffee and milk, and so our breakfast turns into a real lunch! The friendly owner also gives us some information about places to see, providing brochures on a variety of attractions.

After having loaded the car with our suitcases, we immediately abandon the gray Limerick heading northwards to the famous Cliffs of Moher, became a symbol for tourists. Everything appears calm and normal when we arrive by car parking, there are only sea and green valleys, but once made two steps and passed the kiosk with the usual tourist postcards and gifts of all kind, there's a surprise that suddenly changes our expressions: a breathtaking view that lights our eyes!

The green lawns end in a peak to the ocean, with a vertical wall of over 200 meters. No barriers, no limits, only a path along the Cliffs that goes from our right to our left. Needless to say that it is worth walking on it all, but first you need to try the real excitement, the adrenaline overdose: the landscape sight from the balcony! Yeah, because in some kind of platform we can walk and lean over the see. We must absolutely do it, so imitating the other tourists, we all put down to the ground (given the strong wind) and walk on our elbows and knees until arrived at the real edge, with a glance (and great excitement mixed with fear), we overlook the perfectly vertical cliff! A few more centimeters separate us from a 200 meters free fall! At the bottom there's the raging ocean, showing its full power against basaltic rocks and creating games of foam: a unique emotion, impossible to describe by mere words!

After this blow of adrenaline, we walk along the left side, taking a flood of photos to resume the entire spectacular landscape. Today the weather is varable, and the sky sometimes is completely covered with clouds and sometimes, instead, is completely clean, letting the sun shine and even making the lively and beautiful colors of the ocean and lush green lawns more vivid. The strong wind is a constant and does not stop for a second to blow. Fortunately, at least, today doesn't rain.

Moving on the other side, we head to a tower once used as a lookout, where you can go upstairs and enjoy a 360° view of the Cliffs, observing the details in the distance with coin-working binoculars.

Reluctantly, we left this unique natural spectacle, going to another region in order to see another unique landscape at Burren. Stopping in a cave that we saw on a brochure, which I don't remember the name. It proved to be not really a great choice, because the best thing we saw wass the waiting room... The cave is incredibly empty, there is virtually nothing to see. We walk so far to see only empty walls, but the final "attraction" is at the bottom of the cave, when, spotlighted by stratospheric illumination we finally notice the "pearl" of the place: a stalactite not more than few tens of centimeters high, which seemed us tens of meters high on the advertising brochures (so much inflated it was on them)... Maybe if they come in Sardinia they'll build a playground inside our caves! Kinda stalactite like this is the most trivial thing that we can find in our island. Maybe I also have some like it down in the basement of my house...

Joking aside, a bit disappointed by this attraction, we finally reach Burren, a region characterized by several hills and valleys where there is absolutely nothing beyond the rocks, in a typical moon-like scenario! No plants, no life, nothing... just rocks! We are tempted to ask for hiring a guide, since real trekkings are organized in this region. But it is already late, and so we drive on some internal roads, ending up in the middle of a herd of cows that fortunately move "gently" to let us pass. We stop then in a Burren valley and take photos of this rocky land, quite harsh, desolate and strange, something like watching sunset on the moon!

In order to find some accomodation for the night we move further north to Galway, one of the most famous touristic cities in Ireland, chosen by worldwide students to learn English. Unfortunately we are in a hurry, but this place certainly deserved a longer stop... However, we pass the night in an hostel.

Connemara National Park; Killemore Abbey; Sligo

Rising up early, we immediately put in motion towards the Connemara, with a stop to visith Augh Castle... (an impronunciabile name for a Sardinian like me). To our regret it is closed, but we thought (as there wasn't anyone nearby) there was nothing bad to enter inside walls through the back door to give a look around...

An hour later we enter in the Connemara region, famous for its typical autumn colors reflected by the many lakes, creating a truly romantic atmosphere! A large number of painters and poets have been inspired by this area. Very nice just to be crossed by car, this National Park deserves even a walk that we made once parked the car at the entrance and taken the local map where some walks are suggested. We initially begin with the trail rising to the top, fully appreciating the place's flora and fauna, giving feed to the horses there, and enjoying the splendid lakes landscape in a background painted by characteristic autumn wood colors. Then we complete the tour going down with the lower trail, looking at the robin birds and waterfalls. The park is definitely smaller than Killarney's one, and the scenic ride takes more or less a couple of hours.

Left the National Park we moved a few kilometers away, to the beautiful Killemore Abbey, today became a nunnery, but partly visitable. The property is located in a truly exceptional and fascinating scenario, behind a wooden wall, practically on the lake shore. The rain makes this place even more fabulous, creating a halo of fog that blurs the landscape. Here the peace and serenity are sovereign, like having done a step back in time. To welcome us into the Killemore Abbey there's a nun, with typical English education and kindness, that, once heard our Italian accent turns... in an Italian! Even modifying her way of spoken, and beginning to talk with us in our language, very well yet. We remain really fascinated from the remarkable culture of this sister, who knows how many languages she's really able to speak!

After the visit to Killemore Abbey, we continue our Ireland's tour moving to North-East, reaching after few hours of very strong and insistent rain, Sligo, a smiling town filled with young students. We find an hostel with a manager we thought to be really a worldwide unique character! He jokes with us for hours (with a serious expression!) telling us stories about America, the work he did for U.S. President, his contacts with the Italian politicians and so on... but when he said that Berlusconi stayed for a few days in his hostel, eventually right in our room (n°5), well.... guys! Really a mythical man!

Our room was incredibly small, we barely pass between the four bunk beds... But, on the other hand, the kitchen was very useful to us and good furnished. So we well thought to delight the manager, along with some other guest of the evening, with a nice portion of carbonara pasta and a good steak. We eat in the lounge armed with video cameras, in order to catch the mythical gems that the manager tells us one after the other.. Obviously we didn't understand everything, but enough to make two fine laughters!

After dinner we are back on the street, ask informations to a girl about some beautiful places opened until late night, where is possible to drink and dance. We are sent in a sort of disco-pub, with two huge bouncers at the door that (to our great astonishment) put no limits to the entrance and where we even not pay in advance. After some ritual Guinnesses, we have been involved by music, ending up dancing for hours in the middle of a great mess of people in a total engaging funny situation, even not recountable!

Donegal; Letterkenny

Under pitiful conditions for the unbridled night, we resume the journey heading towards Donegal, the wildest and least populated part of Ireland. After having passed some village along the ocean, we see some distant very suggestive and imposing cliffs: we read from the guide on Nicola's hands, that they are the highest in Europe with their 300 meters of height! Later we stop in one of the Ireland's largest and most famous beach, where people stroll in the shoreline tens of meters long, created by the ocean waves. Here it is common to have very wide beaches, a clear difference with those typical of the Mediterranean.

So we take the an inland path, continuing towards North-East between splendid views of landscapes and valleys, reaching Letterkenny for the night. This is a nice town, strategically placed at the border between EIRE and Northern Ireland. We choose a really nice B & B for the night, with great rooms and a bathroom that has nothing to envy to the hotel's one (effectively, in many countries of the North, B & B acts almost as a substitute for our two and three stars hotels category).

We have dinner in the room with some snacks bought in the local market, and later me and Nicola (pretty tired) go out for a final walk to take a look the town, while Carlo doesn't resist to the temptation of the B & B warm and comfortable bed, abandoning us to our fate! We enter into a pub to drink the usual Guinness, then walk in search of a nightclub since at 23:00 pubs close.

To our great surprise we find, near the center, a huge disco, too disproportionate for a town of this size! And with even greater amazement we notice the beautiful people who attended, starting from the parking lot crammed full of sports and super luxury cars... richest people of the country? We do not understand how things work, however many of these people are surely British that cross the border and come here to have fun. Even the look of the people is something else, elegantly dressed in fashionable clothes, with girls that seem models in parade. This is definitely unusual here in Ireland, because fashion doesn't belong to the local culture as in Italy. The tendency is to wear as comfortable as possible without paying much attention to the look, with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt on (it has to be mentioned the huge American influence on Irish people.. And, as I know, they clearly understand little of fashion, don't they?). Although we are normally dressed, we have no problems to enter, the usual ID card is more than enough, but we are surprised to have, for the first time here, to wait in line.

The logical consequence of the environmental diversity was however expected: beautiful people, beautiful girls, everything beautiful but cold. Incredibly colder than usual here in Ireland... is this because there are many English? Will it be because everyone here is well dressed? Who knows the reason, it isn't really a typical Irish evening, where everyone enjoys the party, in our opinion much more fun to just get down on the dance floor!

Antrim Coast; Giant's Causeway; Belfast

After few minutes of walk we pass the border with the feared Northern Ireland. Considering what we read about attacks, what we heard on political and religious differences of these areas, and given that in all our journey we didn't yet know how the police cars are signed, having not ever met one, we expect to find them all here: controls, check points, police. But we are soon proved to be wrong and amazed by the fact that there's nothing worrying! Nothing at all, we continue to travel without even realizing to have peaceful passed this border, and only a slight change in houses architecture makes us realize that we are now in Northern Ireland.

Our goal is the eighth wonder of the natural world, as defined by our guide: the Giant's Causeway, also known as the giant step. It owes its name to an ancient legend, quite imaginative, but that makes the idea clear. The characteristic of this strip of land that faces the ocean, is to be made of basalt rock columns with perfectly hexagonal section, which create a truly unique landscape. There's something like this in Scotland and Iceland, but I don't know if with these proportions. It 's incredible to think that nature is committed to perfectly sculpt these rocks, as the phenomenon is the combination of many factors, among them: the composition of the basaltic rock, the acid composition of soil and the weathering erosion.

After several kilometers on the coast with a magnificent view of the oceanic landscape, we follow the signs to reach Giant's Causeway and we leave the car in the parking lot. The tourist attraction is guaranteed, and the structure that you access is well organized: there's a catering hall, the shop that sells all kind of souvenirs and so on. But it is only a sort of entry, because the Giant's Causeway is still distant. You can even take a sightseeing bus, but it is ridiculous, because the coast is truly spectacular and beautiful that deserves a walk, as we should do. A large map of the whole area of the coast shows the various trails where everyone can freely walk, enjoying the view. Unfortunately, some points are opened only from June to September with good weather, and this prevents us from seeing the suspension bridge of Carrick-a-Rede, which connects a small island to the mainland. What a pity!

So we take our journey along the coast to the famous pass in a very windy day but without rain, indeed a beautiful sun and blue sky. When I say very windy, I mean that in the opened places we were barely standing up... But, luckily the path is entirely under the coast, it's our decision to try the adventure on some hill to enjoy the splendid view! The landscape has really nice features: the reefs until the Ocean are green, sometimes taking canyon-like forms, with walls carved in high-style hexagonal columns, and when the ocean comes near, happens that a huge amount of foam accumulated between the rocks suddenly flies away, probably due to some abnormal waves and wind, giving the impression that it's snowing!

After about half an hour of walk to reach the famous pass, a hill overlooking the sea formed only by the uncommon hexagonal cliffs that is fun to walk and climb, or to sit down in, to watch the landscape on the ocean. An attraction definitely not to be missed! We take a flood of photos and later we continue till the place where the trail is divided into a stretch along the ocean and another where we decide to go, that climbs the mountain wall and made us able to enjoy a magnificent view of Giant's Causeway from the coast.

The entire coast of Antrim, in the far north-east of Ireland, truly deserves to be seen.

Once ended this unforgettable experience, we return to the entrance to enjoy a hot tea and a good slice of cake. Then we head the car back towards Belfast, that we absolutely want to visit in order to see how really is this city so known for his bloody fights, attacks and bombs.

The first impressions gave is to be a very sad as we expected. We are even unable to describe the heavy atmosphere in this place, it's all so strange and obscure. The city is a fortified armored stronghold, with huge cameras everywhere: on buildings, gates, pedestrian crossings bridges that seem trenches with barbed wire all around, walls dividing neighborhoods, police stations seems a military barracks on war alert, with lookouts and machine guns everywhere.... it's incredible to think that normal people lives here.

However we find a place to sleep without any problem, and we decide to wait until tomorrow to visit the city in daylight.

Belfast

We spend the morning walking around into the city. The center is surrounded by walls and at curfew time (night) is closed. But at this hour of the day everything seems calm: people usually walks in the streets, does the shopping, it is possible to meet College students leaving the school. It seems almost a normal city life really. Unfortunately, occasionally it is possible to see churches destroyed by bombs (really blackened ruins perforated from the explosions), police cars armored like tanks that blast on the streets along with common traffic, gray blocks where absolutely isn't a good idea to walk around with video cameras and cell phones (here it was really the only occasion that we were quite frightened).

The festive and joyous Ireland has suddenly disappeared, and we are in a place outside of time and space, absolutely unreal. No more colored houses here, no joy of the people, no fun drunks during the night; Belfast houses are gray, inhabitated by gloomy people and there are signs that dramatically prohibit drinking after a certain time.. The penalty: colossal fines or, in the worst of cases, directly prison!

After having passed gates that surround the center, we continue to walk towards the more remote districts, following the main road, enough busy of cars. We pass then alongside the police command: a huge military camp with walls several meters high, barbed wire, lookout towers and cameras, which give us the feeling of being in a sad film of war.

Still later we cross a pedestrian bridge connecting the road to a neighborhood, entirely covered with barbed wire on the sides and above our heads. From here we have been able to see an overview of the urban structure of these houses, that seems really disconcerting. Small isolated groups of few homes, repeatedly fenced like a game of Chinese boxes: the small circle is part of a larger, which in turn is part of a larger still and so forth. The message perceived seems to be: whatever happens, we can isolate individual neighborhoods and cut them off from the rest of the city...

Yet we continue in another poorly kept block (sometimes decadent) with gray buildings, in total desolation: there is no living soul around, and this is not the nicest situation to be tested in these places, so we decide to return to the more crowded center and leave this pale Belfast.

We can't just say it was a beautiful experience, as we previously knew. But it was worth, because of so many things and different sensations felt, that really let us think about. It's not only a part of Ireland, but of the world, that has to be known to realize some kind of realities that you can barely imagine by reading newspapers or watching a documentary, really different to be experienced at first hand.

From 16th October to 21st in Dublin

Before lunch we leave Belfast and continue straight south for the last leg of our trip: Dublin. The first thing we are seeking for is housing, in order to download the baggage, then we return the car at the airport and come back to the center lightweight by bus. We turn few time around, until having ultimately chosen Abram hostel, located in Gardiner Street. A street with a wide choice of accommodation, plenty of Bed & Breakfast and other hostels (there's also a bus that arrives directly here from the airport of which I don'tremember the number, sorry...). The Abram hostel is a very nice, clean, economical (more expensive than hostels generally in Ireland, but also cheap compared to the prices of others in Dublin), it has a room for cooking, any room has indipendent bath and it offers a number of interesting services.

Our final five days spent in Dublin are decidedly different than the first, as we dedicated them to visit the city. We walk through the streets full of youth and all kinds of shops, adding relaxing visits to the various monuments and museums. Needless to say that the capital already looks a lot different than any other Irish city including Cork, which is the second large. The substantial economic and demographic boom of the recent years let us feel the metropolis atmosphere, with everyone running from a place to another, students and workers, in a rather pleasant mess of people, pouring on the roads at any time. And the most pleasing thing is that now we are in one of the younger cities of Europe, we must not forget that.

Dublin can be visited, tourist speaking, in few days and its center is not so big. We saw the main attractions that every tourist who comes here will probably visit:

- The district of Temple Bar, with its colorful, distinctive shops, and countless pubs that are the most popular for nightlife (absolutely not to miss).

- The Guinness' Brewery, which is the factory of the more sold and exported beer, and has become a symbol of Ireland.

- The Trinity College, most famous Irish University, very beautiful and huge, with students coming from all over the world to study here.

- O'Connel Street, core of downtown (including the traffic!)

- The Dublin Castle, although it is somewhat unproper to call it like, given the mess of architectural styles and colors with which it was renovated or rebuilt over the centuries.

- The Sant Stephen's Green, a great park located in the namesake district, where there is also a beautiful shopping center that we visit during a whole evening with the due calm.

For the nightlife, we must consider the fact that Irish eat early, and from 18:00 onwards they are already around in pubs to drink and searching for some fun. We went several times in the Temple Bar area, where shops are filled with people and tourists and where an impressive quantity of different cultures and styles mix.

The Kitchen, the U2s local, is very famous and is a kind of underground disco: we have been there twice. The first time we spent a nice evening with acceptable music, although boys and girls around were really "done" and in unspeakable conditions (you can figure out an excellent outlook of that conditions mainly going to the toilet...); by the second time the music was somewhat strange and not suited to our tastes, and among other things, we risked to loose our jackets, that very naively we left without keeping them on the seats (though we done it all the other times in villages and nothing has ever happened). We have been desperate when we have not seen them, not because of the value of the jackets themselves, but for the fact that the frost was raging outside. And without them the pneumonia is assured! Fortunately we could trust the girl at the counter, a nice neapolitan living here for several years that recognized our Italian provenance from two words I told to the cashier: "Three Guinness" (this clearly indicates how bad is my English accent...). She made a check in the dressing room, magically providing us our warm jackets, which were taken from the boy employed by the sofas, in order not to be stolen... We are not so much convinced, however we gladly pay the due fee to retrieve our belongings.

Another evening we tried the Temple Bar, district's namesake, which with its characteristic red color by far is one of the most popular, always full of people. Strolling through the streets, however, you'll be spoiled for choice, locals one after another to be simply chosen following the instinct for which inspires more.

At 23:00, however, many of them close and we are forced move in the disco-pubs or nightclubs themselves, which in any case generally will close at three o'clock in the morning. Properly for this reason, at this hour in the streets there's a mess of people, and it's needless to say that virtually anyone is sober! It's extraordinarily fun to go around right in this hour, when you could be able to see the more strange things and breathe kinda euphoric and feverish atmosphere really unusual in Italy!
There are obviously a multitude of locals outside the Temple Bar, but as often happens, it would be better to know where to go sooner or rely on someone who attends well. For example, one evening we end in a mega disco inferred from a desecrated church, called the Temple Theater. A really strange place, attended by many children, playing techno music. We are scanned from top to bottom by two huge bouncer, even in pockets of the portfolio, and once inside we remain amazed by the music. It's not much fun for us, but probably for fans of the techno genre could be a legendary evening, as the DJ is revered like God! There are three of them in reality, following one to another during the evening; for every DJ change an explosion of applauses and a roar of screams announces the new entry, which comes out as a superstar between stratospheric games of light and loudspeaker strokes entering the stomach with a violence equal to that of a Boeing taking off ten meters away from your ear... At some point in the evening, while me and Nicola's mouths were wide open at the sight of all this, we noticed from afar the firm head of Carlo that was watching the show; it was incredibly distinguished from the mass of hundreds of kids in the dancefloor who were moving like a wave in a perfectly symmetrical move, giving the idea of a "sea of people": a scene absolutely hilarious!

However, despite during the evening at the Temple Theater we failed to make friendship with anyone (seen the strange people who attended it), knowing, approaching or talking to someone on a typical evening in Dublin (as in the rest of Ireland), even without speaking a little English is the easiest thing in the universe. The opposite is virtually impossible. This is not the place for shy people, here it makes no sense to be. In Ireland we talked with everyone drinking beer nearby, we danced with children and aged adults, knew people from around the world. For example, this is our single evening curriculum at Turkey's pub, where we spent our latest fantastic and unforgettable night on Friday before leaving: Colombians, Venezuelans, Japaneses, Australians, Greeks, Spaniards, Italians, Swedes, Irish of course, and others that honestly I don't remember.
We leave from the disco at three in the morning and come back to the hostel joking during the entire walk.

The return

We have the flight at five o'clock, and waiting two hours awake after an evening of this gender once back in the room is not easy. So I sit on the floor, in the dark, for a nap, in order not to fall asleep into bed. I think back to this extraordinary journey done with my best friends. We have been fine, we formed a truly legendary trio and I firmly believe that a number of very positive factors and feelings made this trip unforgettable: this magical land, its beautiful people, its beautiful landscapes and breathtaking cliffs, its pubs and the friends with whom I traveled... Everything was unbelievably perfect and I'd pay anything to be able to turn back time to the first day! And so, while I reflect our time arrives. I force Carlo and Nicola (in worse conditions than me) to wake up, and call a taxi at the hostel to lead us to the airport.

Our legendary journey ends here, after sixteen days of fun and unforgettable emotions, in a magical and wonderful land like this surprising Ireland.

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