Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Trip: Ireland & Northern Ireland

Tips: Take guided tour bus from Dublin if you do not want to drive the whole day. Take the option of boat ride from Doolin to see the horcrux cave, the site of a Harry Potter movie.

Cliffs of Moher was windy and thrilling. The thrill was to walk on a narrow path adjacent to the cliffs facing sea hundreds of feets down. The monument of fallen suggested the thrills was not without risk. Still we took the whole round and watched the amazingly carved faces of the cliff from different angles. Being told that the horcrux cave shooting of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was done here made things doubly interesting.

A view of the cliffs

Dublin, Ireland

Ireland was crowded and unkempt compared to Northern Ireland. Dublin was more so with Trinity College right in the middle and a milieu of people from all parts of the world. The native language is Irish but very few people speak it. English dominates which makes Ireland even more attractive for the diaspora.

River view, Dublin

Game of Throne Sites, Northern Ireland

Our bus tour took us to a total of seven GOT shooting sites. The most impressive was the Ballintoy Harbour. We went all the way down to the harbour and the view from down was majestic - mix of white and dark stones scattered around for ages. There is a white building used in the GOT scenes as an ancient building but actually is a coffee house.

The Dark Hedges

Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland

Flint McCool was the Irish giant who built the Giant’s Causeway to teach his Scottish counterpart a lesson or so says the legends of Northern Ireland. However it goes, the hexagonal stones carved by nature are a bizarre abnormality that tourists flock to visit in the northern most part of North Ireland. We were among them and were equally piqued by what we saw. No way these can happen naturally, we thought and yet science says they did.

Incredible natural structures @ Giant’s Causaway