Belfast - 18 August

We arrived in Belfast on a beautiful sunny morning and joined our tour.  We were immediately told that there had been a fatal accident on the M2 so the itinerary would be changed a little.  We were given a quick tour of Belfast.  It has some fine Victorian buildings in the city centre and the Queen’s University is very impressive.

As we moved out of Belfast on to the Antrim Plateau we passed areas of fairly new social housing which had replaced the former slums.  There are still clear signs of loyalism with a lot of Union flags on houses.

We climbed out of Belfast and were struck by the beautiful countryside, tidy towns with beautiful floral displays and wonderful coastline.

After about an hour of very pleasant driving, we arrived  at Portrush – a lovely seaside resort with an impressive golf course. We learned that this is the home of Graeme MacDowell and Darren  Clarke.  We passed Darren Clarke’s house which is adjacent to the golf course – very convenient!  Rory McIlroy is from Hollywood – just outside of Belfast.

We then made our way along the coastline past this Dunluce Castle to the Giant’s Causeway. 

Our guide, Jennifer, was very knowledgeable and told us stories of the Causeway – both scientific and folklore.  She also told us of a Spanish Galleon from the Armada that had sunk off the Causeway and that numerous gold treasures had been retrieved.

We were given 2 hours of free time at the Causeway so we decided to walk the high road above it which was most enjoyable.  We then walked down to the Causeway and climbed up onto it.  We were so pleased that we had taken the walking sticks.  We then walked back to the bus.
 

The route home took us past this beach where apparently the local cattle like to have a paddle and the famous rope bridge.
 

On the journey home Jennifer told us the history of Ireland, something of St Patrick and the troubles.  We were sorry not to be taken through the areas we knew so well from the news in the 60s or past Stormont but we loved this area so much that we hope to return.

Belfast is where Titanic was built by Harland and Wolff.  A new area named the Titanic District has recently been developed and is also the home of the Titanic Museum.  Do you see how it is shaped like the bow of the ship?  It is also of the same height of  the original and the finish on the building is supposed to remind us of an iceberg.
 

We were really tired when we got back but a burger and drink soon revived us and gave us enough energy to dance along with the Beatles Celebration group who were really excellent.