Day Twelve: Giant’s Causeway and Belfast

I got a great night sleep in this huge hotel room, but still woke up before my alarm. I got ready and packed the car before grabbing a croissant and cheese stick from the breakfast bar and checking out. Because I have a 1.5 hour drive to the Giant’s Causeway and I am not trying to fight the crowds just to walk down there.

The drive was super chill and I enjoyed my audiobook the entire way, arriving around 8:30 am. The Giant’s Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage and a UK National Heritage site because of the unique geological formations of basalt formed after a volcanic eruption between 50-60 million years ago. It forms a similar geological structure to the one on the Scottish island of Staffa where Fingal’s cave is located, likely from the same eruption. The entire area is made up of basalt (volcanic glass) columns that fractured into these strange hexagonal shaped tubes, which look CRAZY. The visitor’s center doesn’t open until 9 am and you have to have timed tickets (screw that nonsense) so I parked at an adjoining parking lot and just walked the 35 min. down to the site, because it was beautiful (if a bit windy) and I wanted to get moving.

Look at my little feetsies on these massive blocks!

I got there well before the first groups and got to see the site mostly without anyone else being there, my favorite part about waking up early is that you can’t basically avoid all the crowds and actually enjoy looking at what you came to see.

I made the walk back and then drove to the next location, a short drive away, Carrick-a-Rede. Now, all the signs say you’re required to buy a ticket online but when I asked the entry guide he explained that was just for the summer when things are unhinged levels of busy, and that it was completely fine to just walk up and buy a ticket. Which was great because I was going to have to turn around otherwise, since I had ZERO cell signal to buy a ticket online. I parked the car and walked the 20 minutes to the National Heritage site location, which is a rope bridge (!) that connects the mainland to the island of Carrick-a-Rede.

The water is indescribably green and beautiful.

It was a beautiful walk along an already breathtaking shoreline and the rope bridge wasn’t quite as long or scary as I had feared. The island of Carrick-a-Rede was relatively small but had a huge swath of grass where I could plop down and have my snack while looking at the ocean. It was lovely.

I walked back and got a sausage roll from the shop for lunch before starting the 1 hr. or so drive to Belfast. For scheduling reasons I need to finish up sightseeing in Belfast because I need to leave relatively early in the morning. I got to the car park near the hotel around 12:30 pm and left most of my things in the car so I could walk to the Titanic Belfast experience down in the harbor.

As several T-shirts I’ve seen explain, Irishmen built the Titanic and an Englishman sank it. Which is accurate, since the Titanic was fully built in the shipyards here in Belfast. The Titanic Belfast experience gives a really solid background on the full construction of the ship and I really learned a lot about the masses of men and women that worked to build and run the ship. There was a really big emphasis on the ship itself, since the drama of the accident has been fully explained by other media.

It’s a little crazy that I’ve gotten to see the very first and last ports that Titanic visited before it sank on this one trip.

I thought the memorial to the victims was really amazing since they were able to display the names of everyone lost, and included a lot of information about the committee hearings that ultimately lead to a series of maritime law changes that keep people and ships safe to this day (including that there should be enough lifeboats for everyone on board a ship). I really enjoyed the history (and there was a fun little cable car ride in the middle too!).

By the time I was done with the Titanic it was time for me to check in at the Malmaison Belfast, so I walked back to my car to get my bags and then walked the two blocks to the hotel, which is a really cute boutique hotel built inside a listed building in downtown Belfast.

I got checked in and went up to my room to drop my bags off and y’all…

I don’t know what sort of good luck I got, but they upgraded my standard room to a suite.

It was massive. I was concerned they mixed up the room so I called reception and no, this is my room.

I unpacked and crashed for a while as I finished my book, and then went down to eat in the restaurant. I had a very leisurely dinner and then went back to my room to watch movies and cross stitch.

Because I’m on vacation. I have a massive suite. And if I want to stay in and do things I enjoy after several full days of driving, no one can get me off of this extremely comfortable teal couch.