28.06.: The journey to Dublin was quite adventurous, since we tried to spent as little money as possible on the flight (I can only recommand Ryan Air, but unfortunately they don't have direct flights to Dublin), so we met a scottish friend in London (just for a drink in a pub) and then spent a night on Luton Airport (I didn't even know Luton Airport existed before this journey :-).Finally we arrived in Dublin Friday morning. Although tired from the journey, we couldn't resist exploring the city after the check-in at the youth hostel. If I would list up everything worth seeing in Dublin, the list would be extremely long (I would recommand a good travel guide), so here's just some highlights: the GPO (General Post Office), where 1916 the Republic was announced (and where you can see the bullet holes from the Easter Revolution), Christ Church Cathedral (a wonderful gothic church), St. Patrick's Cathedral and of course Trinity College (good and cheep food at the University lunchroom !). In the evening, Temple Bar with its innumerable Pubs is worth a visit - although there are more tourists to find there than Irish people. For our first evening, we already had special plans: the Dubliners had their special anniversary concert in Dublin. That was really an evening (especially the patriotic "outbreaks" of the audience :-) !

29.06.: In the morning, we picked up our car, Pia and her luggage and left for Howth, a wonderful coastal area in the North of Dublin. The view there is beautiful, H. G. Wells said once that it is one of the most beautiful views of the world. After a short walk we had to go on since we wanted to reach Belfast the same day. But of course we had to stop at Newgrange to visit the prehistoric tombs. Later, we found the first High Crosses at the cemetery of Muirdach's Cross. I'm sure we took photos of every single High Cross :-). In the evening we arrived at Belfast and almost immediately we found our Youth Hostel. We had to put our car inside because it was a car from the Republic, but for the rest there were no problems at all.

30.06.: First, we did a tour with the "Black Taxi" to visit the places of the riots. We felt uneasy, especially when we passed a street where we could see that there had been stones trown the night before. The protestant areas (Crumlin/ Shankill Road)seemed strange to us with all the british flags and other patriotic signs. Murals are found at the protestant areas as well as at the catholic areas. They are artistic but martial. The Peace Line, the fenced wall which separates the two groups also brought us to melancholy (where the weather even added it's part), we signed the wall as almost every visitor does. At the end of the tour we visited the catholic areas, there we found lots of memorials for all the victims of the conflict. Before leaving Belfast, we visited some of the "official" buildings. Belfast is worth a visit, but one should be interested in the political conflicts of Northern Ireland - you'll meet this conflict at every corner of the city.
From Belfast, we headed North to the Northern coast of Ireland - one of the most beautiful coastlines of the island. Castles were built directly at the coast to protect Ireland from the Scots - at good weathers it's possible to see the scottish coastline from here. Unfortunately it was raining, so we did'nt see anything :-). In spite of the rain we stopped at Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, a small rope bridge which leads to a small island (actually more a big rock in the sea) where one sometimes can see the salmons passing around the island. Next, we arrived at Giant's Causeway - something you should't miss ! The bizzare rock formations are really impressive. The last topic for this day was a visit at the "Old Bushmill's" Whiskey Distillery. At the end of the tour we were invited to try some whiskey. Florian and Pia had a special task - they had to coose the finest whiskey from a vast selection of different whiskeys. Of course, the finest was a Bushmill's :-). A little drunk, but happy and warm again we arrived at the Youth Hostel.

01.07.: Along the Northern Coast, we visited a couple of Castles - Dunluce Castle, Downhill Castle and Mussenden Temple. We headed towards Derry to stay there for the night. In Derry, we did a short city trip - it's a nice, partly medieval town. You don't feel the Northern Ireland conflict as close as at Belfast (maybe because at Derry, a river is separating the two parties) but the watchtowers made me feel observed.

02.07.: Passing by the small fisheries town of Mullaghmore (famous because Lord Mountbatten was killed there by the IRA), we went back to the prehistoric times of Ireland by visiting Creevykeel Court Cairn, a tomb dating back around 4500 years. Sights aren't that easy to find over here: they are scattered around at some meadows. But the next sights were easy to find: Round Tower, surrounded by a cemetery with lots of High Crosses and Croagh Patrick, the Holy Mountain of Ireland (and also one of the highest mountains - I personally would say it is a hill :-). Now, heading South, we went through the beautiful landscape of County Mayo. That's what one expects of Ireland: smooth green hills and lots of sheep ! At County Mayo there is also an ancient part of the schottish highlands, a dry and wild mountain area. The highlight of that area is Kylemore Abbey - once castle, then monastry - a monument you just have to see yourself. Our Youth Hostel, "The Old Monastry" was special as well - we spent the evening sitting at the firepalce in the candle -lit living room cuddling the house cats - unbelievable !

03.07.: Along the coast we headed South passing (or NOT passing) lots of sheep (they just walk on the street..). A brief visit to Galway showed us a nice old and pittoresque town. Then we went back to prehistoric sights: Poulnabrone, one of the most famous sights of Ireland. Back at the seashore, we arrived at the ":most beautiful view" of Ireland: the Cliffs of Moher. Although there are lots of tourists (I liked County Mayo better - there you wouldn't see any people for hours), you shouldn't miss the view over this rocky coast. Rocks with a height of some hundreds of meters, falling straight into the sea - breathtakingly beautiful ! At Limerick we crossed Shannon River and spent a brief visit to King's Castle and finally we headed to our last stop for this day: Rock of Cashel. We were told that the sunset was beautiful at this Castle and it really was.

04.07.: The day started with prehistoric sites: Grange Stone Circle and some other sites at Lough Gur (New Church,..) are worth a visit. It's handy, because around Lough Gur, there are lots of prehistoric sites to be found. At Kilkenny, we only spent a short visit to the castle, then we went on to Brown's Hill Megalithic tomb and the last stop of our tour: Moone High Cross, one of the oldest High Crosses of Ireland. In the evening, we arrived at Dublin again.

05.07.: Our last day in Dublin, so we went into more recent history again and visited Kilmainham Goal, the prison where almost all of the patriots of the republic were imprisoned once in their life. Especially one biography really impressed me: Grace Gifford was engaged to Joseph Plunkett, who was imprisoned in the course of the Easter Riots in 1916 and sentenced to death. The two of the married at Kilmainham Goal the night before Joseph got killed (snief, snief,...). Then, finally our time in Ireland was over and we had to leave for Vienna again. Our last evening we spent - of course - in a pub with live irish music ! :-)