Not being long enough in Ireland is a safe way to make a wrong decision. If you decide to explore the Northern part of the island, you will miss the South. If you go to the South, you will leave aside the fantastic North.Our wrong decision this time was to explore the North during Easter holidays (in 2014… some posts take longer than expected!). 
Ireland is an island which is divided in two different countries. The Southern part is the Republic of Ireland, which is a country in the Euro zone, using the metric system (i.e., kilometres) and mostly catholic. Northern Island is part of the United Kingdom, using British pounds, the imperial system (i.e., miles) and with a strong division of protestants and catholics in their population.
This is the outcome of a number of historical happenings. All was initiated with Henry VIII, who wanted the divorce and founded a religion that accepted it. In the 17th century, England sent a Scottish King to the Ulster region, who also “imported” protestant Scottish peasants to the nowadays Northern Ireland. Ireland joined England in 1800, and all their representatives in the Parliament had to be protestants (or say so, at least). In 1916, the Easter Rising ends up with a Free State that led to today’s Republic of Ireland. The population that remained in the North are a mix between the original catholics from several centuries ago, and the protestants that populated the area around 200 years ago. They do not get along very well, and have been fighting ever since.
We had three bases in Ireland during this trip: Dublin, Londonderry and Belfast. The first one is obvious and recommended in any trip in this area, as it is a living city with lots of entertainment opportunities… although you should pay attention if you go in Easter with some closing days; the second one was very convenient to explore the Northernmost coast, and we though Belfast would be similar to Dublin… but it is not.
Newgrange (A) was my first excursion in Ireland. It is a set of constructions, from the Neolithic that were discovered by chance in 1699 when they were removing stones to build a road. There are 37 satellite tombs (with more than 100 people) around the main one, which hosts remains of five people. This construction took three generations to be built (note the life expentancy by then was less than 35 years) and it is quite surprising that the material used (white quartz) was brought from a distance of at least more than 80 kilometers. The main tunnel, which has several curves, channels the sunlight to a specific point in the centre of the tomb only during the solstices. If you are not impressed yet, let me remind you that Neolithic was 10,000 BC.
Dublin (1) is a must in Europe for a relaxed weekend trip. A very intense city thanks to its university, with its fantastic Trinity College, hosting one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, and some of the oldest books in History. Their pubs are also worth a visit… or that is what I heard because they are all closed in Easter Thursday (yes, that was our “Dublin day”).
LondonDerry (2) (or Derry, depends on what are the speaker’s political views) does not have a lot to see. Some murals remembering the Bloody Sunday and the Troubles, and a fortress, but it was a good place to start our journey through the Northern coast of the island. In this coast, we visited Portstewart, the Dunlace Castle (great location) (B), and the Giant’s Causeway (C), a geologic formation formed by basalt columns that were formed after a volcanic eruption got in contact with the water.
Belfast (3) was for me the biggest deception of the trip. We thought it would be nice to sleep in a big city, as it would have more life than other places, but we did not see any life there. Maybe the day (Sunday in Easter) was not the best one too. From the visitor point of view, Belfast is known for hosting the shipyard where the Titanic was built, and for the sadness of having the conflict between catholics and protestants still alive. The two neighbourhoods are still separated by a wall, which have several gates, that are closed during nights and on special days (Easter Sunday, for instance) to avoid more problems.
