Road trip in Northern Ireland - Part II

Last summer I went on a one-day road trip in Northern Ireland. It was so interesting and I took so many pictures that I decided to share my experience in two posts. This is Part II and you can read Part I here. 

No Verão fizemos uma road trip de um dia pela Irlanda do Norte. Foi tão bom e eu tirei tantas fotos que tive que escrever sobre a minha experiência em dois posts. Esta é a Parte II e podem ler a Parte I já publicada aqui. 

After having lunch in Cushendall we went on to Carrick-a-rede, where there is a famous rope bridge, linking the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede (which means "rock of the casting"). It is thought that salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years, as there is a lot of salmon on the waters surrounding the island. The bridge has taken many forms over the years and nowadays, used only for tourist purposes, it is 20 metres long and 30 metres above the rocks below. This is a very touristic spot and it was quite crowded when we were there, but it was fun to go across to the small island through the rope bridge.

Depois de termos almoçado em Cushendall fomos até Carrick-a-rede. onde existe a famosa ponte de cordas, que liga a costa à pequena ilha de Carrickarede. Pensa-se que pescadores de salmão tenho construído pontes para a ilha por mais de 350 anos, já que há muito salmão nas águas que rodeiam a ilha. As pontes têm tomados várias formas ao longo dos anos e a que existe hoje em dia, já só para fins turísticos, tem 20 metros de comprimento e fica a 30 metros de altura das rochas em baixo. É um local muito turístico e estava cheio de gente quando nós lá estivemos. Ainda assim foi divertido ir até à pequena ilha e atravessar a ponte de corda.

 Crossing to the island / A atravessar para a ilha

Crossing from the island / A atravessar para a costa

A short drive away from Carrick-a-rede is the most expected sight of the road trip, a UNESCO world heritage site: the Giant's Causeway.

A poucos quilómetros de Carrick-a-rede fica o monumento mais esperado da viagem, que é património mundial da UNESCO: o Giant's Causeway (a Calçada do Gigante).

 The coastline

The Giant's Causeway comprises an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, that resulted of an ancient volcanic eruption. The tops of the columns are flat, forming stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea (therefore resembling a causeway of a giant). Most of the columns are of hexagonal shape, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest columns are of about 12 metres high and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in some places. The height of the columns varies a lot as well and it depends of the cooling time of the lava. A faster cooling produces smaller columns. It is definitely an impressive sight!

O Giant's Causeway abrange uma área de cerca de 40.000 colunas basálticas que resultaram de uma antiga erupção vulcânica. Os topos das colunas são lisos, formando degraus que nos conduzem a partir do sopé do penhasco e desaparecem sob o mar (daí se chamar a calçada do gigante). A maioria das colunas são hexagonais, embora haja também alguns com quatro, cinco, sete ou oito lados. As colunas mais altas têm cerca de 12 metros de altura e a lava solidificada nos penhascos tem 28 metros de espessura em alguns lugares. A altura das colunas varia bastante dependendo do tempo de arrefecimento da lava. Um arrefecimento mais rápido produz colunas menores. Uma obra da Natureza deveras impressionante!

The highest columns. I'm there for scale.

As colunas mais altas. Eu estou lá como escala.

Now I will tell you about a funny coincidence that happened here. Access to the causeway is actually free, but usually it is necessary to pay a ticket to access the car parking as there isn't so much space. We were heading to the visitor's centre when we saw loads of cars parked on the side of the road. When we saw an empty place, near some iron gate that looked like it was going to a farm or so, we didn't hesitate and park there (which is legal as long as is not on a yellow line). We had to reach the visitor's center by foot, but it only took us about 10 minutes. From the visitor's centre we walked to the causeway, which was in the same direction as our car, but along a narrower road right next to the coast. The road on the coast does not allow cars (there's only a shuttle), and is separated from the normal road by enormous cliffs. After seeing the causeway, we wondered if we could somehow hike up the cliffs and get back to the road without having to go all the way to the visitors centre and back. On google maps we found some tiny path that seemed to work. We took it and as a plus we got spectacular views of the coast and the Giant's Causeway itself. We were still not sure where on the road we would end up but we started seeing a gate at the end of the path. That must be the road, we thought. Well my friends, that was not only the road, but it was the same exact gate where we had parked the car! Spot on!

Agora vou contar uma coisa engraçada que nos aconteceu aqui. O acesso à calçada é gratuito, o que se paga é o acesso ao parque de estacionamento porque não há muito sítios para estacionar ali perto. Quando estávamos a ir para o centro de visitas começamos a ver imensos carros estacionados na berma da estrada. Logo depois vimos um espaço, perto de uma cancela de ferro que parecia que ia dar a uma quinta, onde estacionamos sem hesitar (é legal desde que não haja nenhuma linha amarela). Tivemos que ir até ao centro de visitas a pé, mas demorou apenas uns 10 minutos. De lá fomos até à calçada, que fica na mesma direcção de onde tínhamos o carro, mas tomando uma estrada mais estreita à beira mar. A estrada à beira mar não permite carros (apenas o shuttle de serviço) e é separada da estrada normal por penhascos enormes. Depois de vermos o Giant's causeway perguntamo-nos se haveria um caminho que subisse os penhascos e nos levasse de volta à estrada sem ter que ir ao centro de visitas e voltar outra vez. No mapa do google vimos um caminho minúsculo que poderia resultar. Seguimos esse caminho e como prémio ganhamos vistas espectaculares da costa e do causeway em si. No entanto continuávamos sem ter a certeza onde ia parar aquele trilho. Começamos a ver um portão lá ao fundo e pensamos, aquilo deve ser a estrada. Pois meus amigos, não só era a estrada como era exactamente a cancela onde tínhamos deixado o carro! Planeado não teríamos conseguido tal feito!

Giant's Causeway seen from the cliffs / Giant's causeway visto do topo dos penhascos

 Along the trails... / Pelos trilhos...

That's the gate at the end of the trail and right next to it is our car! That was a happy moment as we were quite tired!

Esta é a cancela ao fim do trilho e mesmo ao pé está o nosso carro! Foi um momento bem feliz porque já estávamos cansados!

  Dunluce Castle 

One of the last stops was Dunluce Castle, a medieval castle, surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side. I had read that it is beautiful around sunset. We were there too early for sunset and too late for visiting the castle, as it had closed an hour before. Still, we could walk around a bit, go down some stairs and observe the castle from the bottom. The ruins were still quite impressive and its location is superb. 

Uma das ultimas paragens era o Castelo de Dunluce, um castelo medieval rodeado por encostas extremamente íngremes de ambos os lados. Eu tinha lido que o pôr do sol visto daqui é lindo. Era demasiado cedo para ver o pôr do sol e demasiado tarde para visitar as ruínas do castelo por dentro porque tinha fechado uma hora antes. Ainda assim pudemos caminhar em volta, descer por umas escadas e ver o castelo de baixo. As ruínas são impressionantes e a sua localização é soberba.

Bushmills town where is located the Old Bushmills distillery, famous for its whiskey.

A cidade de Bushmills onde fica situada a destilaria de Old Bushmills, famosa pelo seu whiskey. 

Finally, we arrived at our last stop: the Dark Hedges! This is a really cool road surrounded by beautiful and a little bit spooky trees. The place is magical, although not as much when you have tourists getting on the way and taking loads of pictures... me?... cof cof... no, not me... It was also one of the locations where scenes for Game of Thrones have been filmed. I have never watched the series but I enjoyed this mysterious place anyway.

Finalmente chegamos à nossa ultima paragem: Dark Hedges (sebes escuras em português). Esta é uma estrada muito interessante cercada por árvores assustadoramente bonitas. O lugar é mágico, embora não tanto quando há turistas no caminho a tirar um monte de fotos... eu?... cof cof... não, eu não... Além disso este é um dos locais onde foram filmadas cenas da série a Guerra dos Tronos. Eu nunca vi a série, mas gostei deste lugar misterioso de qualquer das formas.

Picture as it was shown in the series (from the internet).

Foto de como foi mostrado na série (tirada da internet). 

Seen from the side, a completely different perspective.

Visto de lado, uma perspectiva completamente diferente.

After this we head back to Belfast, which through the highway took only just over an hour. A whole day to go, a blink of an eye to return. That's a real road trip! It was a fantastic day and I hope I managed to show you through my posts, how good this experience was.

A seguir iniciámos a viagem de regresso a Belfast, que pela auto estrada demorou pouco mais que uma hora. Um dia inteiro a ir e um piscar de olhos a voltar. Assim se faz uma road trip! Foi um dia em cheio e espero que tenha conseguido mostrar através dos meus posts o quão boa foi esta experiência. 

Road trip in Northern Ireland - Part I

The Causeway Coastal route is one of the most famous roads in the world. Now that I did it I understand why. There's plenty of sights to visit but just the Irish countryside itself would have been enough. There was so much green and natural beauty that my eyes rushed from side to side trying to take it all in. We did a one-day road trip in which we saw a lot. It wouldn't have been bad to have done it in a couple of days instead, with more time to spend in each place. Still, it was fantastic! 

A rota costeira de Causeway é uma das estradas mais famosas no mundo. Agora que passei por lá consigo perceber porquê. Há imensas coisas para ver, mas mesmo que fosse só pela paisagem rural da Irlanda já valia a pena. Há tanto verde e tanta beleza natural, que os meus olhos percorriam tudo avidamente a tentar captar o máximo possível. Nós percorremos mais de metade da rota em apenas um dia e vimos muito. Não teria sido má ideia tê-la feito em dois dias e poder passar mais tempo em cada local. Ainda assim foi fantástico!

Map from ireland.com

There's several options, as you can see in the map above. The main coastal road (solid line) is small but broad enough to not be scary. After Cushendall the road is not coastal anymore, but a bit inland. We decided to take the Torr road (dashed line in the map) which keeps going along the coast. It was really narrow and challenging when we had to meet a car going the opposite direction. The view, however, made it totally and completely worth it! It was actually the best part of the road! The boyfriend was really nervous at first for not only having to drive on the left of the road, but also for having to drive a car with the wheel on the right hand side. After a few punches on the door looking for the gears, he got used to it and we all had a great time. You don't have to worry though. You can come with me on this road trip in whichever side of the sofa you prefer!

A rota oferece várias alternativas como podem ver no mapa em cima. A rota principal (linha sólida) é estreita mas larga o suficiente para não ser assustadora. Depois de Cushendall a estrada deixa de ser costeira e passa um pedaço mais por dentro. Assim, decidimos ir por Torr road (linha pontilhada) para continuarmos o passeio à beira mar. A estrada era mesmo muito estreita e era um desafio cada vez que tínhamos que cruzar um carro em sentido contrário. No entanto a vista fez com que valesse absolutamente a pena ter ido por este caminho! O namorado estava nervoso quando fomos buscar o carro, não só por ter de conduzir à esquerda, mas também por ter de conduzir um carro com o volante à direita. Depois de umas quantas pancadas na porta à procura das mudanças, lá se habituou e correu tudo bem. Vocês não têm que se preocupar. Podem vir comigo nesta viagem, sentados no lado do sofá que preferirem!

 Carrickfergus Castle - A Norman castle built by John de Courcy in 1177, situated on the northern shore of Belfast Lough. It's very well preserved and we had fun exploring its patios and rooms. 

Castelo de Carrickfergus - um castelo normando construído por John de Courcy em 1177, localizado na costa norte de Belfast Lough. Está muito bem conservado e foi divertido poder explorar os seus pátios e salas. 

 Carrickfergus town

 Drains Bay beach - Praia da Baía de Drains

The weather started out grey and wet, but quickly changed into an unbelievably shiny day with blue skies. The photo above and below were both taken from the same spot just one after the other. What a difference... Fortunately it was the blue sky that propagated!

O tempo começou por estar cinzento e húmido, mas depressa se transformou num dia brilhante de céu azul. A foto em cima e a foto em baixo foram ambas tiradas do mesmo sítio, uma depois da outra. Que diferença... felizmente foi o céu azul que se propagou!

 Torr road

This road was quite narrow and there were not that many spots where we could stop the car. The view was amazing though and I absolutely had to take pictures! So I did it the dog way, sticking my head out of the window (that in the backside didn't even open completely) and photographing as we went along. That resulted in slightly blurred pictures but you can still see how it looked. 

Esta estrada era bastante estreita e não havia muitos sítios onde encostar. No entanto a vista era fantástica e eu tinha que tirar fotos! Então decidi fazer como os cães, pus a cabeça fora da janela (que atrás nem sequer abria completamente) e tirei fotos em andamento. O resultado foram fotos ligeiramente desfocadas mas acho que dá para perceber como era. 

 Ballycastle town

By the time we reached Ballycastle we were quite hungry, maybe because of the adrenaline of driving through Torr road. We bought sandwiches, that we happily ate near the beach, and the recommended Maud's ice cream. Then, it was already a warm sunny day.

Quando chegamos a Ballycastle já estavamos com fome, talvez por causa da adrenalina de conduzir na estrada de Torr. Compramos sandes, que comemos à beira da praia, e o tão recomendado gelado da Maud's. Nesta altura estava já um dia quente e solarengo.

 The green on the other side is Rathlin island / O verde do outro lado pertence à ilha de Rathlin

Marconi memorial where it reads "to recall the historic occasion in 1898 when Marchese Marconi and his assistant, George Kemp, established wireless communication with Rathlin (an island), to report to Lloyds station at Torr head on ships passing along the north coast of the island".

Memorial Marconi onde se lê "para lembrar o momento histórico em 1898, quando Marchese Marconi e o seu assistente George Kemp estabeleceram comunicação sem fios com a ilha de Rathlin, para reportar à estação de Lloyds em Torr head, a passagem de navios pela costa norte da ilha. 

I end here the first part of this road trip to not overload you with pictures. I hope you have enjoyed it so far and don't miss out the second part. If Part I is all about the green, the views and the small towns, it is in Part II that I will show you some hot spots of the coastal trip, namely a fantastic UNESCO heritage site. 

Acabo aqui a primeira parte desta viagem para não vos carregar de fotos. Espero que tenham gostado e não percam a segunda parte. Se a Parte I está recheada de paisagens verdes e pequenas cidades perdidas na costa, é na Parte II que vou mostrar os locais mais populares da costa irlandesa, nomeadamente um local fantástico que é património mundial UNESCO.

A Day in my Expat Life

Have you ever wondered how your favourite bloggers spend their days? Not the big events of life but the little things. What do they eat? Where do they blog from? Are they relaxed or do they have a busy day? I unraveled (almost) everything in Clara's blog, The Expat Partner's Survival Guide, where now and then an expat daily routine is featured. I really enjoyed myself while making this contribution. You can find the post here (link), but don't stop there and keep reading because Clara's blogue is indeed very interesting.

Did you enjoy learning about my day? I'm curious about yours too, if you want to tell me (or Clara).

Algumas vez se questionaram sobre o dia a dia dos vossos bloguers preferidos? Não estou a falar dos grandes eventos mas sim das pequenas coisas. O que é que eles comem? De onde é que eles nos escrevem? Serão pessoas relaxadas ou têm dias cheios e ocupados? Eu revelei (quase) toda a minha vida no blogue da Clara, The Expat Partner's Survival Guide, onde de vez em quando ela mostra a rotina diária de um emigrante. Eu diverti-me imenso ao fazer a minha contribuição. Podem ver o post completo aqui (em inglês mas tem fotos). Se gostarem não parem por aí porque o blogue da Clara é deveras interessante. 

Gostaram de ler sobre o meu dia? Também estou curiosa sobre o vosso, se me quiserem contar (ou à Clara).

Stories of my world #8

He grew up in a small town, like me. He is about my age and also studied chemistry. He was my colleague for a few years but we couldn't be more different. I could hardly find a better example of cultural difference among my experiences. He had a girlfriend. She was beautiful and wore very sexy clothes. That's the one, he thought, but she was not easy. She gave him an ultimatum: he would either finish his PhD and get a good job, so he could support her, or she would leave him and find another man. He was planning to go to England or Germany for a few years, so he could return to his homeland and become a big scientist. He hoped that would be enough for her. I asked him if he thought she liked him for who he was. His answer surprised me, as he assured me obviously no, not yet. He would have to become a big professor first. But shouldn't she like him for who he was then, not who he would become? He tried to explain to me that that's not how it worked in his country. There, the rich men get the beautiful women. That's also why they are beautiful, he said, because they don't work and they have money to buy all the beauty related services. Men accept that because they want to hang around with a beautiful woman by their side. I became fascinated and horrified at the same time. We were in the 21st century! Our home countries were separated by 3000 Km, but our views were lightyears away! Another time I saw him holding a red rose and I commented how cute I thought he was trying to conquer her heart. He laughed at me. He said that the red rose was solely to guarantee that she would allow him to sleep with her that night. 

It was not only him surprising me, but the opposite as well. He couldn't believe when I told him I was moving to another country because I had found a new job there. It was hard to believe for him, that I would keep working when I had a boyfriend that could support me. Another time, after I commented that I would get a lower salary when I would move, he shrugged his shoulders and said But you are a woman, you will get more money and things from your boyfriend. 

I tried to explain him my views, over and over again, but he just couldn't believe it. He thought I was strange. I thought he was strange. He had probably never met any really independent woman before. I had never met anyone like him before either.

How about now? Has he changed? Has he been abroad and confronted with a different reality? Or is he paying for that or another girl's fancy lifestyle? I have no idea. I have never seen or contacted him again. I probably never will.

No matter what, I hope he is happy and enjoying whatever life choices he has made. 

Learning Swedish #9

One can learn a language in many different ways and at different rhythms. For me, having classes has proved to be the most effective. I do not have a great memory, and I have to repeat and exercise a lot at home as well, but I feel it is in the classroom that I solidify my knowledge (if that's the right word for what I know of Swedish so far...). I have now had classes with 7 different Swedish teachers and I can say from my experience, that the classes can vary a lot depending on the teachers and on the students. 

The system of Swedish for immigrants, SFI, works in a way that one can learn as fast or as slow as one wants. When the pupils are all at the same level, usually in the beginning, the teacher can give what I call a normal class, following the book, explaining grammar and showing how to pronounce the most difficult sounds. Later on, as each student develops in a different rhythm, we should study the book on our own, while we get random exercises during classes. 

I started in a class with "normal" lessons, but since I went to the summer school and I try to use Swedish now and then at home with the boy, that class became too easy for me as I had already learned most things. I moved to a more advanced class last week, in which we do work more on our own. I do miss the fun classes we had before but I also know this is far better for me as the other students are at a similar level than me. In this new system we can call for a test every time we feel we have learned 3 chapters. In my first class in the new group (last Tuesday), I asked the teacher if I could have the test today. She replied that she would be on vacation and we would have a replacement teacher and if it was ok to have it the following week instead. I agreed and I thought that maybe by then I could have done 3 more chapters and do 2 tests in one (they are not very long). I spent the weekend trying to learn as much as I could in the next chapters. 

When I went to class today, I heard a colleague saying she would do a test today, the one with the same three chapters I wanted. An idea started formulating in my head... could I do it today as well? No, I hadn't study for that. "What was exactly in those chapters?", I asked the girl. Plural, prepositions, past tenses and such. I don't remember that being so difficult... Should I do it? Yeah, why not? I did it! It felt crazy at first. Crazy as in "am I really doing this?", but when I saw the test I realised it was a good idea. I saved myself some stress (not much though, as I don't usually stress that much) and it was quite easy, so I got rid of this one really nicely. Since I use all the grammar when I (try to) speak and write it felt just like another exercise. I don't know my grade yet, but I know I didn't fail much. 

Nice!

I'm starting to feel that I can do this!

Stories of my world #7

He was a grown up when I met him. He was nice. The first words I ever heard from him were "go in and we will see what you can do". I couldn't do much then. I could do a lot more one year later. He taught me a lot. He pushed me. He showed me how to achieve goals through persistence. He proved me how I could do so much better than I thought. I was no champion, but I almost got on the podium for the first time in my life, because of him. Almost, because when they called my name I didn't believe it was me, and I didn't go. Silly little girl. He handed me the prize later that day. He was my coach for two years. Two years of "keep your head down", "point the elbows to the ceiling", and "make each stroke count". Nowadays, back in the pool, when I am completely alone with my thoughts, I recall those times. I can still hear his words. I can still clearly hear his voice. I always try to correct my technique, as if he was there, on the side of the pool looking at me and my class. I also remember when he decided to test how fast I could do 100m. I did it as fast as I could. In the end he told me the time. I asked him how was that. He smiled and replied "an eternity". I admire his honesty, then and now. I appreciate the fact that he didn't try to be nice and that he told me the truth. He was one of my favourite teachers/coaches. He was my swimming coach. He is still a swimming coach in my hometown. He is still there, teaching young people not only how to swim, but also life lessons. He is still great, I bet. He is Carlos.

Dreams outside the cookie jar

I often dream and, even better, I often remember what I dream. Usually my dreams are so insane that I give a good laugh when I wake up. It seems that I pick the smallest details of my day, mix them well and make great plots of insanity. Today however, I had a very deep and beautiful dream. I don't know if dreams mean something or not. My scientific-oriented brain tells me they are not more than a mix of images captured or created in the brain, but who knows. 

There’s a bear fighting with my friend Telma. The bear is aggressive but it’s not hurting Telma. It is standing on the back paws, roaring and fighting with its arms and claws. As my dream progresses the bear takes the shape of a human being. First still big and aggressive but later on smaller. I observe the scene, at first unable to react, but then as its size decreases I get closer. Now, a lot of people bumps into the bear/human and he ends up in the floor being stepped on. I start shouting at people, telling them how rude they are for not even noticing they are stepping on a being. I help the bear/human up, all dirty, scared and insecure. He thanks me for defending him. Now, it has become a little boy. I stick with him, as I understand that he is fighting some inner fights within himself and he needs help. We go together on a train ride. Now and then, someone goes by and shouts at him. I defend him all the time, until slowly it stops happening. Slowly, he becomes bigger, more like a man, but not a giant. Definitely not aggressive either. When I’m sure he can take care of himself I say goodbye and we part ways. You are ready now, the world is yours, I tell him.

Interpretations accepted!