Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 833

Dec 13

1) Today was a beautiful day for a road trip - to Belfast! My buddy Zi Yan, and I had booked a guided tour to Belfast, visiting three places - Titanic Belfast, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and the Giant's Causeway. As the bus would leave from O'Connell St at sharp 7am, we had to get there by taxi. Zi Yan walked from his house to mine, and my host mom Emma had very kindly booked a taxi for us the night before.

2) We had a hot coffee at McDonald's while waiting for the bus to arrive. Our tour guide, JP, was a very friendly Northern Irishman with a pawky sense of humour. As he explained the long history of the places we were going to, we drifted asleep in the bus haha. We awoke to find ourselves at our first stop, Titanic Belfast. Passengers had the option of choosing between Titanic Belfast, or the Black Taxi Political Tour.

3) Titanic Belfast is a monument to Belfast's maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city's Titanic Quarter where the RMS Titanic was built. It tells the stories of the ill-fated Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank during her maiden voyage in 1912, and her sister ships Olympic and HMHS Britannic. We enjoyed a good 1.5 hours touring the three exhibition floors, which included (but are not limited to):

i) Boomtown Belfast - the city at the start of the 20th century
ii) The Shipyard - a ride aboard a mini-car up and around a replica of Titanic's rudder
iii) The Launch - how Titanic was launched on 31 May 1911
iv) The Fit-Out - the fitting-out of Titanic from her launch through to April 1912
v) The Maiden Voyage - the journey from Belfast to Southampton, and from there to Cehrbourg, Cobh and westwards
vi) The Sinking - the disaster of 14/15 April 1912
vii) The Aftermath - the legacy of the disaster
viii) Myths & Legends - the facts behind some of the stories about the Titanic
ix) Titanic Beneath - about the wreck of the Titanic and its rediscovery

4) After this insightful tour, we were scheduled for the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge visit, which itself is a famous rope bridge near Ballintoy in County Antrim. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede (meaning "rock of the casting" in Irish). However, due to the very (and I mean VERY) strong winds today, we were not allowed to cross the bridge. JP gave us two options, go there regardless and take pics from a barricade, or go to Dunluce Castle instead. The majority of us chose the castle XD

5) As it turns out, it was well worth it. Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle, which served as film location for Game of Thrones Seat of House Greyjoy, the great castle of Pyke. It was also used as Snakehead's hideout in the 2003 action movie "The Medallion", which starred Jackie Chan. As our ears and fingers froze, we braved the strong gusts of wind while making our way through the many rooms and courts. Finally, we returned to our bus, where we continued our journey to the Giants Causeway.

6) We had lunch at a local pub called "The Nook". Our guide recommended the Irish Stew, and so we ordered that. The stew was really thick and creamy, while the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender! Our hunger satisfied, it was time to continue on foot to the star attraction of the day, the Giants Causeway. The Giants Causeway is famous for its approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. There are two theories to explain the marvellous hexagonal (in some cases heptagonal or even octagonal) columns that seemingly project out of the sea. The first theory (geological) is that around 50 to 60 million years ago, due to intense volcanic activity, molten basalt formed an extensive lava plateau that cooled and fractured horizontally, forming these leaving pillar-like structures.

7) The second theory (legend) which I like more, is that the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool - still the most bad@$$ name I've come across), from Gaelic mythtology, 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. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner, while in another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises his foe is much larger than he is (I wonder if this has anything to do with which side (Irish or Scottish) was telling the story XD).

8) Anyway, Zi Yan and I followed the different trails leading to the famous basalt columns, and we took lots of pictures. We had 2.5 hours here, with one hour lost to our fantastic lunch. Afterwards, we double-backed to hike up a steep hill to get some spectacular aerial view of the said rocks. Then we ran all the way back to our meeting point in front of the hotel. It was time to leave, and we slept through most of the journey back. Along the way, we woke up for a movie screening of "Elf", a feel-good Christmas movie starring Will Farrell.

9) We arrived back in Dublin at around 8.00pm (thanks to the massive traffic jam). It was a tiring day, so I returned to Beaumont early, and that is it for today. I tried my best to continue packing up, to little success. I'll get more done as the days count down to my departure haha. For now, thanks so much for visiting my blog, and have a lovely day ahead. Cheers ^^

Tldr - check out the cool pictures below. Enjoy! :D