Sat June 7, 2025
Hi Gang! Today we are docked in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Belfast is the capital city of Northern Ireland with a population of almost 350,000. It is part of the United Kingdom and separate from the Republic of Ireland (though they coexist on the same island!). The town’s early growth was driven by an influx of Scottish Presbyterians. Sectarian tensions existed with the Irish Catholic population which erupted into two periods of sustained violence
In both 1920-1922 and over three decades from the late 1960’s, the British Army was continuously deployed on the streets. On April 10, 1998 (Good Friday) both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland signed the Good Friday Agreement which stopped the violence known as “The Troubles”. In essence they could all go back to just drinking in the pubs all day! Lol
Today we did an independent tour with an Irish company called Paddywagon tours. It was an all day tour and we started out going north to what’s called the Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The area consists of approx 40,000 hexagonal basalt columns, some believed to be formed by volcanic activity 60 million years ago. However many of the Irish people believe it was built by their Celtic warrior giant Finn McCoole as a walkway to Scotland.
It is such a cool setting and somewhat surreal. You can see Scotland from the shores. (Don’t worry Scotland, we’re coming back to see you tomorrow!). We also stopped at Dunluce Castle which is a ruined medieval castle. In 1973 the castle appeared on the inner gatefold of the Led Zeppelin album “Houses of the Holy”. And exterior shots of the castle were used in Game of Thrones for the Pyke of House Greyjoy on Pyke Island.
We then stopped at a pub for a wee bite to eat then on to the lookout point where we could see people crossing the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. It was first erected by salmon fisherman in 1755 to get to the smaller island that was teeming with salmon. Such a beautiful spot and the weather was gorgeous. We also looked down on White Park Bay which had a nice sand beach and they said sometimes the cows wander on the beach but not today!
Afterwards we returned to the City of Belfast where we did a panoramic tour of the city seeing highlights such as the City Hall, Queens College, Titanic Quarter and Belfast Cathedral. We also had some time for shopping and site seeing.
We then returned to the ship. Whew… that was an 8 hour tour so we didn’t get back until 7:30 PM. So we grabbed a quick bite at the Lido and listened to the solo guitarist for a little bit before calling it a night. We’re back in Scotland tomorrow. YAY! Hope everyone had a great Saturday!
The Wandering Italian 