Northern Ireland Travels

Here it is Thanksgiving with no holiday celebrations here in the UK, so we are off on another adventure.  We flew to Belfast to meet up with John's cousin Whitney from Florida, whom was on holiday with friends and family. 

Our first stop was a late lunch in Glasgow before our evening flight.  Nothing says Thanksgiving like some good Mexican food and a Christmas cocktail!

The flight to Belfast is about 45 mins, with 20 mins of that actually being taxiing time. 
We checked into our hotel and headed across the street to the pub for a few drinks and a snack before calling it a night.

Since it was Thanksgiving we opted for the Chips with Gravy (that's the closet we could find to a turkey day dinner.)

The next morning we got out to explore downtown Belfast.

        St Anne’s Cathedral         Albert Memorial Clock

City Hall, Garden of Remembrance and The Cenotaph

The Duke of York Pub
We found this really cool pub down a cobbled stone alley.
It is decorated with memorabilia and furnishings reflecting Belfast's historical past.
(Snow Patrol’s first ever gig in 1998 was at The Duke of York Pub in Belfast)

We then headed to the Christmas Market in Donegall Square

The city was beautiful all lit up at night.

 

 The following day we headed out to continue on with our journey. 

On our way out of city centre we headed to the Holywood Arches Library where there was a life size bronze statue of C. S. Lewis, in front of the wardrobe from his book, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".  C. S. Lewis was born in Belfast and used Northern Ireland as settings for a lot of his books. 

We then headed to the shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built.

We continued on taking the scenic Causeway Coastal Route, stopping a few times along the way to take pictures of the stunning scenery.

Our next stop was the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.  The walk to view the bridge has stunning views of Rathlin Island and Scotland.

The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede.  It is thought salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years.  The current bridge is made from wire rope and Douglas fir and raised early in 2008.  

  Dunseverick Castle ruins

We checked into our cottage, visited with John's cousin Whitney for a bit, then hit the town of Bushmills for dinner and a few pints and called it a day.

The next day we met up with Whitney and her "gang", for an excursion to Giant's Causeway.
Giant's Causeway is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption, it contains 40,000 interlocking basalt columns. 

Legend has it that Giant's Causeway was the stomping ground of giant Finn McCool, who lived in these parts nearly two thousand years ago.

The Chimney stacks that mark his house.

The Organ he built for his muscial son Oisín.

 The giant boot he left on the shore.

After 2 miles, 162 uneven, steep stone steps and almost 100 pictures we made a complete loop back to our starting point.  It was an absolutely amazing sight to see this natural wonder, and we were glad we got to enjoy this experience with Whitney and some new friends.

Back in the car we headed west on the Causeway Coastal Route to see more sights.  

Our next stop was Dunluce Castle.

In the 13th century Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, built the first castle at Dunluce.  It is first documented in the hands of the McQuillan family in 1513, later becoming the home of the chief of the Clan MacDonnell of Antrim and the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg from Scotland. 

 

 Interesting popular culture facts about Dunluce Castle:

 * Dunluce Castle is regarded as the possible inspiration for Cair Paravel in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. 

* It appeared on Led Zeppelin's album (inside cover) Houses of the Holy.

Just down the road from the castle we found a beach access where we took a walk on the beach.  The unique white limestone cliffs and rocks made for some beautiful pictures. 

Our next stop was Downhill Demesne and Mussenden Temple.  The Downhill House was a mansion built in the 18th century for Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol.  Much of the building was destroyed by fire in 1851 and rebuilt in the 1870's.  It fell into disrepair after the Second World War.

 Mussenden Temple 
The Mussenden Temple was built in 1785 and forms part of the estate.  It was built as a library and modeled from the Temple of Vesta in Italy.  I can imagine curling up with a good book and reading here, how about you?  

We stopped for lunch in Portrush at a restaurant on the Harbour, we were starving and ready for some good food.

I did say we were starving right?  Well, this was one fabulous and huge burger!
Now that we were re-fueled it was time to get back on the road.  We continued on to Londonderry.  It was dark by the time that we arrived, so we didn't get too many pictures. 

The Peace Bridge

Londonderry is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-largest city on the island of Ireland.  It is the only remaining completely intact walled city in Ireland.

We headed back to our cottage in Bushmills where the rest of the gang had prepared a "Thanksgiving" dinner.  We joined them for some food, drinks and laughs.

The ladies are having fun with facial masks.

We found the perfect wine for the trip.

The next morning we started out at Bushmills Distillery.

The Bushmills Distillery claims to be the oldest licensed distillery in the world.  A licence to distill in the area was granted to Sir Thomas Phillipps in 1608 by King James I.

Our next stop was to The Dark Hedges.  It is a beautiful row of beech trees that were planted by the Stuart family in the eighteenth century.  It was intended to be an impressive landscape feature to impress visitors as they approached the entrance to their Georgian mansion, Gracehill House.  Two centuries later, the trees remain a magnificent sight and have become one of the most photographed natural phenomena in Northern Ireland. 

 The iconic trees have been used as a filming location in HBO's  Game of Thrones, representing the King's Road.  

It was an amazing sight to see and it truly felt like a magical moment straight out of a fairy tale.

Well the road lead us back to the airport and flying back to Glasgow, awaiting for our next adventure.

"You will never know how awe inspiring a place can really be until you've seen it with your own eyes." 

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season filled with family, friends, love and joy, 

John and CJ