Belfast

Our next stop was a short hop across the Irish Sea to Belfast.

At this port, we did a private shore excursion arranged by one of the members of the Facebook group and travelled in three minivans along the coast north of Belfast.

The drivers of each minivan acted as guides and from the start demonstrated a wicked sense of humour while also being informative and helpful.

The video below is a jumble of that coastal trip. The first stop was at Canlough where a pretty harbour and a convenience store were photographed. At this stop, there was also the first reference to the Game of Thrones TV phenomenon with a plaque referencing the scene filmed here with the character of Aria Stark.

A second stop was further along the coast for a view of the famous rope bridge. We had a good, if distant view of this landmark and a great view of the islands and the mountains of Scotland which were just visible in the mist. It was explained that there is now a hefty fee for walking across the rope bridge and also a long hike to get there so we settled for the long-distance pictures.

We continued along the coast and stopped for a short walk to a small waterfall (second video below) then onto the Giants Causeway. We had lunch before heading down to see the rock formation and enjoyed good food and the large gin glasses.

By the time we headed down to the Causeway, it had begun to rain. So a short bus ride deposited us at the start of the geological feature where the treacherously wet rocks were covered with tourists. I am sure there is more to see there on a fine day but we took the option of a quick look around the immediate area, some photographic evidence and then joined the wet queue for the bus back up.

With the time at the Causeway cut short we stopped on our return journey first at another GoT site, the dark hedges (rows of trees lining a road featured briefly in season 1) and then at the Bushmills Whiskey distillery where Piney was in his element.

Coastal Drive

Ballymena Waterfall

After our coastal drive, we returned to Belfast for a tour of some of the reminders of "The Troubles" and what I considered to be a balanced commentary from our guide. We saw the wall which is still standing between the two communities in the Falls Road and Shankhill Road areas and were surprised to learn that the gates in the wall are still locked every night to prevent gangs of stone throwing youths causing incidents which can escalate. At the wall we were offered felt pens to add our names to the ones already scrawled over the street art. Our van, out of laziness and a deep appreciation for garfiti artists work declined and made no personal contribution to the peace.

We drove past the titanic exhibition and the dockyards where it was constructed and launched and then headed back to the ship.