Belfast

And Beyond…

I wasn’t going to write a post for Belfast since we spent time here during the beginning of our Ireland trip, but as it turns out we’ve found a few more interesting things to do, and I wanted to share.  Also, I found another cat to pet, so that needed to be documented 😊.

The first time we were in Belfast we wanted to check out St. George Market, but it is only open Friday through Sunday and we were there during the week. This time we were in town over the weekend, so we made a point of stopping by. Unfortunately, we aren’t into buying souvenirs and we’re trying not to snack too much right now, so we just did a quick wander through.  It’s a great market with a lot of variety.

We also went to check out the Crumlin Road Gaol.  You may be sensing a theme; it turns out Ireland has a lot of gaols that have been converted into museums.  This one was built in 1845 and was operating as a prison up until 1996.  They’ve done an incredible job with the displays and have created a very immersive experience.  There are holograms, videos, and audio explanations throughout the tour.  Only one of the 4 wings is set up for the tour, but they’ve really made the most of the space.  One of the other wings has recently been converted into the McConnell’s distillery.  They managed to keep several of the original features of the gaol including the staircases and cell doors while still making it their own.  They offer tours of the distillery; unfortunately, they weren’t running the day we visited.

Mike is currently obsessed with church organs, so we popped into St. Peter’s Cathedral, and I must say it was pretty impressive.  It is by far the most colourful cathedral we’ve visited.  Even the organ was colourful!

Seasonal allergies did not stop Mike from wandering through the roses in the Botanical Garden taking pictures of every single one and smelling them too.

I fell out of the shower…yes you read that right.  I’m not sure I can explain how, but I lost my footing and fell into the glass panel (see below for reference).  Before you ask...yes, I was alone in the shower. The glass panel is hinged so it was kind enough to slow my descent and luckily, strong enough not to break.  I ended up on my back on the floor with my legs still in the tub.  It could have been way worse; instead, it was good for a laugh and just a few bruises.  Never was a fan of these stub walls on the tubs here.

While in Belfast we went out for dinner with a group of residents from the ship we will be boarding eventually.  It was nice to get to know some of our soon to be neighbours.  The ship still isn’t quite ready, so after a week exploring Belfast, we opted to head out of the city yet again.  We arranged to drop our extra luggage at the ship which meant a quick trip to Ikea to stock up on some organizers. It was a 2 hour walk; one way! Luckily, they had these handy backpack bags you could buy, so we loaded up for the walk back. We also thought it would be a good idea to walk an hour to the ship with 2 suitcases and the Ikea bag. The following day we picked up rental car number 4 and headed out. 

We had to check out of our Airbnb at 10am and we only had about an hour drive to the next place, so we decided to stop and check out the Belfast Zoo on the way by.  It was pretty great, and we even saw a few animals we’ve never seen before.  They had Scottish Wildcats which are endangered, and they also had a maned wolf which I’d never even heard off. 

 While we were wandering around, we were treated to a view of the Red Arrows performing.  They are the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, and they were performing for Armed Forces’ Day.

We moved to Portstewart for a week, and we’ve really enjoyed walking around the area.  Portstewart is right on the coast not too far from the Giant’s Causeway.  It has a pretty epic beach and a boardwalk to explore.

Portrush is just down the coast as well, so we walked there via the Ulster Coastal Trail.  They have a Ferris Wheel and an amusement park right off the beach.

We also drove over to Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne an 18th century coastal estate with woods, gardens, ruins and a temple.  It was a beautiful place to explore and had some pretty incredible views.  Before heading home Mike wanted to stop by Gortmore Viewpoint.  The views we epic, but the narrow road up to it was slightly traumatizing. 

Since we had this extra time, we wanted to hit up a cliff walk that we had looked into previously but ran out of time to do.  The Gobbins Cliff Path was literally chiseled into the cliffs in the early 1900s by Berkeley Deane Wise who was a civil engineer.  Consisting of steps along the rock face, various bridges and a tunnel the path is quite exceptional.  In 1954 the path was closed due to landslides and severe damage to the bridges.  Fifty years later Larne Borough Council put a plan in place to rehab the path.  The original bridges were replaced, and additional safety measures added; the path reopened to the public in 2016.  It was incredible to walk along the cliffs that way, but still feel completely safe.  It’s also home to the only mainland nesting site of puffins in Northern Ireland.

We’ve really enjoyed exploring Ireland, but it’s not the most cost-effective place to spend a lot of time.  Especially when you are booking accommodations last minute as our plans keep changing. When you throw in the exchange rate from Canadian Dollars to Great British Pounds it’s even less affordable.  With that in mind we’ve decided to head over to Liverpool for while.  It’s a little more affordable and since the ship is going to be a while yet we might as well visit somewhere new.  The ship delays have been very disappointing, but it has allowed us to spend far more time experiencing Ireland and the UK than we had anticipated.  We are looking forward to boarding but know that the ship needs a little more time for improvements.  It turns out taking a 30-year-old vessel that has been laid up for 4 years and getting it up and running is a little more time consuming that anyone anticipated.

P.S. I wanted to share this picture. There were a lot of great murals around Belfast, but this little guy was about a block from where we were staying and we walked by him almost every day. It was one of my favourite parts of our stay in Belfast.