It was 6:30 in the morning and the sun had just begun to rise on Easter weekend in Northern Ireland.

Instead of sleeping in my cozy bedroom apartment in Belfast, I was winding my way along back roads to the north, praying my downloaded map was taking me to The Dark Hedges, also the King’s Road in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and now one of Northern Ireland’s most popular destinations.

Not only was I sleep-deprived and navigating unfamiliar roads, but it was only my second time driving my rental car and sitting on the right side of the car instead of the left, and driving on the left side of the road instead of the right. It was all so discombobulating.

Less than an hour after I left Belfast, I parked at The Hedges Hotel and walked the short path to my destination. Holding my breath, I prepared to encounter other tourists as I rounded the corner.

What I found was a completely empty King’s Road dappled with warm, sunrise lighting and not another soul in sight. I had it all to myself.

I spent the next 30 minutes alone on the small road, taking as many photos and videos as I wanted and drinking in the peaceful scenery. Later in the day, I would have experienced traffic, parking problems and hoards of strangers.

I am not a morning person by nature but when I want to see a popular tourist destination, getting up early is the most useful way to have a more solitary, genuine experience.

And because I started my day so early, I made it to another popular destination by 9 a.m.: the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge in Ballintoy on the northern coast. It was so quiet, the ticket clerk congratulated me: “You’ll have it to yourself,” she said.

That wasn’t quite the case but I encountered very few people on the 20-minute coastal walk to the rope bridge. Once there, I was able to walk back and forth on the swaying bridge as the waves crashed 100 feet (30 meters) below.

I asked a couple strangers to take my photo but my favorite pictures ended up being the ones I took with my mini tripod and remote control, and the selfies I got using it as a selfie stick. If I had arrived later, I would have had a lot less time to have the solitary experience I did and might not have snagged a favorite photo memory.

 My first two jaunts of the day came at a price. I wasn’t able to get to another popular spot, the Giant’s Causeway, until around 11 a.m. Luckily it was still early enough to get good parking a short walk away from the main visitor center, and I experienced a truly stunning cliff walk about an hour out along the coast.

But when I made the walk down to sea level and toward the area’s famous basalt columns, it was mania. Tourists coated the entire area, and that was my cue to leave. I didn’t force myself to walk out onto the columns because at that point, my early morning and my hikes had caught up with me. I was tired and not in the mood to jockey for a spot at the columns.

So I walked back to the car and went straight to Dunluce Castle, which I didn’t realize at the time but is the home of Theon and Yara Greyjoy in “Game of Thrones.” The 17^th century castle is in ruins but its clifftop location makes them the most romantic-looking ruins I’ve ever seen. I probably spent 30 minutes walking around and taking in the views through the castle windows, imagining the people who once lived in it and what life must have been like. It was a quick and worthy stop on my Northern Ireland morning.

Another reason I wanted to get up early that day was so that I could get a proper lunch and walk in Derry, which was on the way to my accommodation in County Donegal.

Though now many foreigners associate Derry with the hugely popular and very funny Netflix show, “Derry Girls,” the city is the site of the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1972, when British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march, killing 14.

The atrocity is marked by a monument, which is very near Free Derry Corner and the Free Derry Wall, an important symbol of civil rights the world over. I happened to be visiting these sights on the 25^th anniversary weekend of the Good Friday Agreement, which marked the end of the Troubles in 1998.

It was an emotional visit. I was moved to tears walking around the somber spot, particularly the monument to the H Block hunger strikers of Maze Prison, where 10 men died in protest in 1981. An inscription on the monument that hit me hard read: “Let our revenge be the laughter of our children.”

These issues aren’t forgotten history in the region. They are ever-present and an important part of any visit. Whatever you do, don’t bring up the subject with locals, something no one should have to say but it’s a frequent occurrence and can be deeply offensive.

My visit to Derry marked the end of a long day in Northern Ireland, as I had booked a yurt about 90 minutes to the southwest in County Donegal. It was both a beautiful and a sobering day, one I’ll never forget and one that would have been near impossible if I hadn’t gotten up just a little early.