NORTHERN IRELAND: Belfast and Beyond

By: MJ + PJ

Taking a train north we were able to see some of the coast, regional towns, and farmlands along the way. A regional train is a nice way to travel from city to city and within a country, and Europe definitely has the infrastructure for this kind of travel. (See our post about train travel in Europe)

We had decided on visiting Belfast, as we wanted to see Titanic Belfast and the iconic coastline to the far north, which includes The Giant’s Causeway. This also set up our general direction towards Scotland, which is another non-Schengen country and a bucket list location we had. Given that we intended to leave Europe in Spring, we had to delay our entry into the Schengen Visa countries if we were to make our time there possible.

It was cold and damp in Belfast for the most part, but that’s what you get in Winter! This did not stop us having a good look around and seeing a lot of awesome things. (See our Bucket List: Month Eight post, and our photos post of our time in the region at PHOTOS: Northern Ireland.)

Titanic Belfast was an excellent museum. It should be noted that it is about the history of the city and the context of shipbuilding, not just about that one ship… that sank. Coming from Colorado, we had visited the Molly Brown House in Denver, and so it was nice to have the connection to her story. Spending about five hours in the museum (we ambled around and read almost every word) we did not have time to see the actual SS Nomadic dry docked outside, which is included in the ticket. Staff told us that we could return the following day to see it, so we did. We learned a lot about the industries of the region in Titanic Belfast and a little on how the growth and politics of the region influenced the Emerald Isle.

Visiting the Belfast City Hall we walked through about 16 rooms which really expalined the history of the Emerald Isle, from the nomadic bronze era through The Troubles and the present. This helped put a lot of things we had heard and seen about Northern Ireland into context, and we highly recommend seeing this free permanent exhibit. There is a tour of the City Hall several times a day, but we did not time it well enought so we missed out on that (last tour was about 2pm we recall, an we arrived around 2:30!).

Seeing The Giant’s Causeway was high on our list and we contemplated how we could do this effectively. There is a bus to Bushmills and a shuttle, but we figured by the time we took that we’d have about an hour or two only before we’d have to catch the last bus back. Renting a car seemed cheap, but the road conditions and navigation challenges made that seem dubious. There are tours also, but we were not sure if we would get rushed along at each location. We ended up taking the tour bus with Irish Tour Tickets, and we did not regret that decision at all.

This tour company has a Game of Thrones tour also. You may be disappointed to find out that we know virtually nothing about that show! Hence, we did not do that tour, but we did pass by a few sites where it was and is filmed.

UTake a look at the bucket list for all the things we saw on that day: Carrickfergus Castle and up the Antrim Coast through to Bushmills Distillery on the list. Our guide and bus driver were awesome and since it was quiet season we didn’ have to deal with lines at any loactions. This was particularly important for the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge where timed tickets are issued – we enjoyed the quiet and elevated coast walk and waited only a few minutes to cross the bridge once there. A beautiful area as you can see in the photo below! It was very cold later in the afternoon as it had snowed in some areas overnight, but we literally and figuratively ‘warmed up’ at the distillery as the daylight ended!

The Ulser Museum was a bit of a surprise. We had noted some very good reviews online but had not heard of it before, so were curious about this. It was only a short 10 min walk from where we were staying, and right next to the Belfast Botanical Gardens and Queens University. Hence, we got to see three things for the walk to one! If you have children, the museum is a must see. There are education rooms designated on each floor, and these are clearly not afterthoughts – plenty of variety and interactive experiences in each room that are even great for adults! Do not miss the drawers with the minature mosaics in the room on the very top floor in the Applied Art area. We left the museum feeling fulfiled and talking about all sorts of things we saw.

Just out of town we were able to visit the Belfast Castle and Cave Hill Country Park areas. You can get there easily by catching a bus from the City Hall streets. Outside the castle is a really fantastic playground… that is only open onweekends in the winted months. We had one devastated child in our company after reading the sign, particularly since MJ had really talked up this particular playground. Lessons learned! It was a very cold day again, but we did make it tot the top of Cave Hill to the ancient fort area to get views of the city and the water. 

On our way back into the city we got off earlier to see Belfast Cathedral, the Church of St Anne’s, a very new construction, but nonetheless impressive and with strong connections to the city and people. The bus driver went out of his way to point us in the right direction to walk. Once there, we had a private tour with a guide wearing a heavy coat (it was quite cold inside!) while we kept our gloves on!  She showed us around and explained several features of the cathedral and some notable items. Mosaics were seen here too, but high above in several half domes along the inner sides of the church. These were fantastic works but difficult to photograph as the vibrant of the light being reflected cannot be captured!

It was getting colder and darker so we took a brief walk through the oldest streets and alleys of old Belfast before dropping by the Victoria Square (a mall) to try to warm up on our way to catch the train. This rounded out our time wandering around the city for the week.

The last day we were able to meet with some of MJ’s relatives who live out in the countryside south of Belfast. They were kind enough to pick us up and drive us around a bit before we had lunch and headed back to get ready to head to Edinburgh the next day. On a whim, they drove us near the Northern Ireland Assembly building (Parliament House) and we all ended up getting out to have a look. The entrance road itself is something to be seen! We got to sit in one of the chambers to hear a little about the history of the use (and current non-use!) for these chambers. We then drove around Strangford Lough, taking the ferry across the inlet. Talking while taking these country roads, we learned a lot about the area! Again, we were lucky to have family here to show us around – these are the experiences you can’t really get driving yourself or on the tourist destination or themed tours.

As seems to be the norm on our adventure, we felt we could have used aother day or two in Belfast. There was more we could have seen in and out of the city, but we will have to leave that for another time!