Kippers! After two weeks of “Full Scottish” and “Full Irish” breakfast I was excited to see Kippers on the menu this morning.I haven’t eaten them for years, and very nice they were too.
It ws drizzly again in the morning but as we approached the border with Northern Ireland the skies improved and it was much brighter when we stopped briefly in Newtown Cunningham ( near Derry) so Neil could take a snap of the church. One of his Mum’s ancestors came from the town. We skirted Derry ( or Londonderry, depending on your point of view!) and made tracks for the Antrim Coast, the far north coast of the island. The scenery along here was just lovely!
We stopped first at Dunluce castle, which has an interesting history. In the 16th Century when Sorley Boy McDonnell came over from Scotland to consolidate McDonnell territories in both Ireland and Scotland, his main base became Dunluce Castle. It was Sorley Boy’s grandson, the 2nd Earl of Antrim, and his wife who finally decided to abandon Dunluce. In 1639 as they were waiting for dinner one evening the kitchen, along with kitchen staff, fell into the sea, taking several servants with it! We were so happy to feel the sun on our faces here after several grey and gloomy days.
From the castle it was only a ten minute drive to the big star attraction of the Antrim Coast, the famous Giant’s causeway. Like the Cliffs of Moher down south, this site is a major tourist draw and was well set up to handle the volume of visitors. There were guides directing the traffic entering the carpark and a huge visitor centre that provided audio guides and information for the visitors. We paid our tickets fee and set off down the path for the10 minute walk to the shoreline, along with hundreds of other people. Along the shore there are around 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption.
Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres and the huge crowd surged over them climbing the high column stacks and hopping along the natural stepping stones.
We decided to pass on the shuttle bus that takes weary travellers back up to the top and hoofed it up ourselves. I’d been hoping for a coffee in the cafe but again we were thwarted by massive tour bus queues. We decided to give the cafe a miss and head on to the final big sight on the coast, Carrick-a-rede Bridge. Suspended almost 100 ft (30 m) above sea level, the rope bridge was first erected by salmon fisherman 350 years ago. Today, its a huge tourist draw. The sun was shining brightly when we parked and walked along to the ticket office but we had a decision to make when we learned that tickets were for times slots to cross the bridge and we’d have a long wait if we wanted to cross to the tiny island. We decided that we were happy just to walk up ( the 1km path) to see the bridge and to give the crossing a miss, and as it turned out this was a wise decision.
Not long after we reached the viewing point the rain came down again and it was drived by a sideways wind that plagued us for the entire walk back to the car. I’d been wearing my raincoat so at least only my jeans were wet, but Neil had been a bit optimistic with his jacket selection and he was VERY wet when we finally got back to the car. We just laughed at the state we were in and headed off down the road for the 70 minute drive to Belfast.
We’re staying at the Radisson Blu , in the refurbished gasworks area of Belfast, on the river. After checking in we set out for a quick look at the main downtown area. The City Hall is a huge and imposing edifice, with a statue of Queen Victoria skowling out the front. The lobby interior is lovely!
We’re fortunate to be here to see the evocative Shrouds of the Somme exhibition, remembering the thousands of servicemen from the Ulster and Irish regiments, or from Belfast, who died in the Battle of the Somme and have no known grave. 3,775 miniature shrouded figures have been laid out in the Garden of Remembrance at the City Hall.
On the other side of City hall is the Titanic memorial Garden, remembering all those who lost their lives when the Titanic sank in April 1912.
We made a bit of a detour back to the hotel to take a quick look at the Europa Hotel, Opened in 1971, it has hosted presidents, prime ministers and celebrities.It is known as the “most bombed hotel in Europe” and the “most bombed hotel in the world” after having suffered 36 bomb attacks during the Troubles!! I bet they don’t put that in their advertising literature.
We were glad to stay in and have dinner at the Radisson Blu tonight, some very tasty tempura battered squid & prawns followed by a Thai chicken curry. Yum!
We have a couple of interesting things planned in Belfast tomorrow, stay tuned!
Great Photos!
Thanks 🙂