If someone were to ask, what was your favorite port of call on this cruise, without a doubt my answer is Belfast.
We used Paddy Campbell's Black Cab Tours - his email is here:belfasttours@hotmail.com. Our driver, Peter was superb! We still talk about what a great guy he was and how much fun this day was. I cannot believe how much territory we covered.
Peter picked us up at the pier and we headed straight to Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge - hoping to beat the tourists! That we did.
The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge was first erected by salmon fishermen in 1755 to connect the mainland to carrick-a-rede island. The rope bridge is suspended almost 100ft (30m) across the Atlantic Ocean.
Having a driver for this excursion was really well worth the money. Not only did he take us to the sites we wanted to see, he had places we didn't even know about all lined up. Like this pub:
One stop you must make is the Giant's Causeway. On the shores of the North Atlantic Ocean, this natural landscape is something to behold. It is little wonder it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of volcanic fissure eruptions. The columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. To think that nature created these hexagonal - and in some cases, seven or eight sided, formations, is mind boggling.
The legend is very charming: the columns are the remains of a causeway built by the Irish giant, Fionn MacCool. He was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. There are apparently two versions to this story: in one version, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In the other, Fionn hides from the Scottish giant when he realizes, the Scot is much bigger than he. Fionn's wife disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the 'baby', he believes that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants and he flees back to Scotland,destroying the causeway behind him to keep Fionn from chasing him. D
Peter takes us to Bushmills country where before tackling the distillery, we have a lunch of fish and chips! Yummy.
We make lots of little stops for pictures and history lessons, including Dunluce Castle.
I mention that I heard about this road of trees. Peter knows what I am talking about. It is apparently in an opening scene of Game of Thrones.
We make our way back to Belfast to see the political murals and this portion of the tour turns into an incredible history lesson. One that I did not quite understand. I believed that troubles of Belfast had been over. Not quite. Communities
are separated by a wall up to six metres high and gates along its length that
are still locked at night. This was such a revelation to me.
On either side of the wall is artwork that is filled with historical and political references. Peter is at the ready for us to add to the graffiti wall with pens in hand.
We did want to do the Titanic Museum but we simply ran out of time. Another reason to return.