Sightseeing tour of Belfast
Get to know Belfast, the cultural heart of Northern Ireland, from a local’s perspective on a guided tour.
- Glimpse the copper-domed City Hall and the recently restored Grand Opera House.
- Learn all about Belfast’s long history, from its origins in the Bronze Age and rise as an international seaport to its role in the conflict known as “the Troubles.”
- Enter the Titanic Belfast Museum for a look at the vessel’s infamous history.
Giant’s Causeway
Pay a visit to the rugged Giant’s Causeway, a series of naturally formed basalt columns. The hexagonal columns, which you can walk on, are 60 million years old and originated as volcanic lava. A colorful local legend says that mythical giant Finn McCool built the walkway so that he could cross the sea to Scotland.
Signed the Belfast peace wall — a reminder that we still have so much to learn as humans.
Love one another, y’all.
Today we did a tour of Belfast, which was largely boring and a little depressing. There’s still a “peace wall” up between the Protestant/loyalist side and the Catholic/united Ireland side. Tensions are still high. Bombs were going off not twenty years ago. Our bus driver had two little flags on the dashboard — one American and one Irish — and he took the Irish one down today because we were driving through Protestant Belfast and a Protestant village. Humans are gross sometimes. I can’t believe we bomb each other over this shit.
We also did the titanic “experience,” which was mostly just stuffy and crowded.
But then. Then! Then we drove to the coast to see Giant’s Causeway. I can’t even describe how beautiful the coast of Ireland is. I just don’t have the words. It’s breathtaking.
That combined with the mist and the wind and the basalt columns and everything was just almost more than my poor heart could handle. I loved it. Loved it. I want to live there and wear duck boots and cable knit sweaters all year. I want to spend every day scrambling across slippery rocks and squinting against rain and wind as I lean up a grassy hill. It was just the best.
Sara K. and I walked both ways up and down the Giant’s Causeway trail. Here we are soaked in some Irish sunshine. (Our tour guide says it’s good for the skin.)
After dinner we found a bar with live music and then the remnants of a wedding reception at the hotel. We drank and laughed and danced and took stupid pictures and I am full to the brim with joy and booze.
Stupid pictures:
Left to right: Jaimie, Sara K., Kate, Viki, me, Margaret, Sara Jane in downtown Belfast. Photo credit: Carol-Ann
Left to right: Kate, Carol-Ann, me.
Left to right: Sara Jane, Viki, Kate, Margaret, me, Jaimie, Sara K. Photo credit: Carol-Ann
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