We arrived in Belfast around eight o'clock in the morning which was a quick thirty minute flight across the Irish Sea & North Channel. Upon our arrival walking through the airport I saw a massive sign for Game of Thrones, since a lot of the show was filmed there, and instantly I got all giddy inside hoping the group would let me take a couple stops and check out some locations of where they filmed the show. No better way to open up the second days blog post than with GOT am I right? :)
Once we got our rental car we were ready to take on the roads of Ireland...but they drive on the left side of the lanes AND put the driver on the right side. Talk about overcoming an obstacle right away on our trip. Jaseena would be the designated chauffeur for the trip and she was quite good at it. We started off a bit shaky at the beginning to find out where to go and understanding the road and the signs but eventually it was smooth sailing...or driving. I gotta say the Irish are fast drivers and drive with purpose. You'll understand why as you read further into my blog. Eventually we got the hang of it and it was a memorable first experience.
Since it was early in the morning and we hadn't had much for breakfast we decided to drive into Belfast in search for food. We found an affordable and gorgeous coffee shop to fulfill our needs called The National. It had an interior that was a green turn on modern industrial with unique lighting, plants, and adorable plates and silverware. And I won't forget to mention the AMAZING breakfast selection and delicious coffee and espresso. As a fellow barista, I give them an A+. I had eggs benedict with homemade hollandaise sauce, homemade english muffins, and a traditional Irish ham. My mouth is watering just thinking of it. I complimented that with a cappuccino with a couple raw sugars with it. Classy and yummy. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.
After eating we explored the space a bit and had a mini photo session in the garden patio area. Too cute to pass up a photo. We walked a couple blocks in the city as well but decided to save city exploring for the next day and decided to drive up the coast today. So we got back in the car and headed further North to see what the coast and countryside of Northern Ireland had to offer. Our first stop along the coast was Carrickfergus where we checked out the Carrickfergus Castle and the local farmers market going on nearby.
We didn't do a full walk through tour of the castle but a brief history lesson for you. It is over 900 years old and has guarded the approach to Belfast Lough since 1177. Fergus was the first King of Scotland and gave the town of Carrickfergus its name. He sailed home to Ulster during the 25th year of his reign in AD 501 to find a healing well to cure his leprosy. A storm arose and shipwrecked his boat on basalt rock (or carriq) and Fergus drowned. The rock was forever known as 'carriq-fergus' and 600 years later the Angle-Normans built the Carrickfergus Castle on that very rock.
It would've been a cool tour to be apart of but we had so many sights to fit into this one day so we moved forward on the coastal road. Our next stop was in Garrons Point where we saw local fishermen on a rocky shore that reminded me of the North Shore back at home in Minnesota. The North Chanel was quite different than Lake Superior and smelt of sulfur and sea salt that filled the air but you got used to it quickly. We relaxed on the rocky edge and took some cute photos of each other and of the beautiful landscape in front of us. I was flooded with memories of my family and I camping and being next to the rocky shore similar to this one and instantly missed home already. I knew this was going to be an impactful trip for me, but I couldn't help but think about my family I left back home.
We headed back on the road again and continued the coastal drive. We found a map that showed two sights that were on my list to visit and solidified our plan for the day. We finally had an end goal. The roads in Ireland reminded me of Arizona and driving into a small mining town called Jerome. The reason being the roads were windy and narrow. You make sharp curved turns around blind spotted areas and had to be half on the road when a coach bus was heading your way. Jaseena and the girls would always scream whenever a bus would come close to us and it felt like a amusement ride to us. And this was the norm for country roads here so we had no choice!
We were greeted with small towns and farms along the way with beautiful rolling hills and breathtaking views of the countryside. We also had many coastal stop s along the way and stopped in some towns for food for the road trip. And then we made it to our first major sight of the day, Giants Causeway. I was recommended by many to check this spot out so I had been looking forward to it when we drove up to the place. We did a self guided tour and had a twenty minute hike into the rocky shore.
*TOURIST NOTE* We did pay 15 pounds for admittance into Giants Causeway BUT if you plan on traveling there in the future, you are paying that much JUST TO PARK! After buying our tickets inside the building we just walked out and found a trail to go on. We didn't know till after our hike that there was a trail right next to the parking lot that wasn't guarded or being checked by staff so essentially we could've gotten in for free and walked ALL the trails and still get the same experience FOR FREE. Just keep that in mind for the next visit, but it also doesn't hurt to be a good tourist and pay for admittance.
Regardless, we enjoyed our windy hike down to the shore and I was impressed with the coast and the rock structure. But I wasn't impressed with the amount of tourists scattered around there. It made it hard to take in the beauty of the natural formations and even get a good picture of them. That is where I thought the owners could've changed something in admittance but of course crowds like these are always to be expected. Overall, I felt it was very chaotic and it reminded me a lot of the Grand Canyon in Arizona if you've ever had the chance to go there. It is also a very touristy destination and hard to take photos and a lot of shuffling around BUT worth going and experiencing.
When we reached the shore and was satisfied with our walk through, we decided we wanted higher elevations. So we found the Red Trail that took us away from the hustle and bustle from below and gave us newer sights. We had about a 30 minute steep inclined hike up along the cliff side to the highest elevation of the area. It was a warm but thankfully windy day so the occasional breeze was nice as it gave us a chance to cool down. If you aren't much of a hiker, I still recommend this hike because the view is worth it in the end.
Throughout our travels along the coast I had seen these beautiful bright yellow bush like plants with yellow flowers and wanted to know what they were. Ahead in my sight of vision I saw that infamous bush and made my way faster to it, only to first swallow a bug and nearly chocking on it in my own disgust and then reaching the bush I was getting swarmed by the same very black bugs I just swallowed. Needless to say I got a few quick pictures, not knowing if they turned out or not and booked it to get away from the swarm. I don't mind bugs (usually) but when they get in my own personal bubble and my mouth that is when I am done for. We walked along he cliffs edge and snapped a few more pictures till we were greeted with the entrance and parking lot.
Our next stop was very close to Giants Causeway and was a Game of Thrones film site, Duluce Castle. This is where the Iron Islands and house Greyjoy was filmed. It was mainly ruins at the castle but throughout the site they had information markers that explained and drew out what the castle looked like back in the day which I found helpful. And of course I was just happy to be around a spot where my favorite show was being filmed. The grounds were beautiful and picturesque. I was imagining myself in the interior of the castle where the old ballrooms would be or the kitchen or bedrooms with breathtaking views.
We snapped many pictures in the space and headed a bit farther north, although it was getting to the end of sunlight and also tiredness was creeping up on us fast. We did a lot of hiking and exploring today so we felt very accomplished. Food was on our minds so we checked out Portrush where a motorcycle event was and then headed back down to Belfast to check into our Airbnb. We finished off the night making spaghetti at the house ad watched a movie to unwind from the busy day. We planned for the following day to explore the streets of Belfast and check out a local restaurant. I caught up with my family once again and Alex before falling asleep to a movie ready for the next day's adventure.