Blogs from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 8

Lazy day today. Woke up early again because the beds in this hostel are shit. I easily woke up 8 different times last night, which is better than the night before I suppose. Here's hoping for less than 5 wake ups tonight. (Ok I need to do a run down of my experience at this hostel because it's been comically sad lol. This is more as I reminder for myself, so I'll put it at the end of the entry.) I went to Bangor today which is supposed to be a nice little seaside town. Yes, well, I suppose it would be if it weren't raining and people were actually around. It was sad and empty haha. All that being said, it was a nice morning/mid-afternoon visit. It had a nice small town vibe, a beautiful ... read more

This past weekend, I took a trip to the capital of Northern Island. Belfast is a city that has a violent history, but was very welcoming while I was there. The Tall Ships Festival was going on during my stay, and it was awesome to see sailboats from all across the world in the harbor. I also visited the Titanic museum to learn more about one of the most famous disasters in history. I was in Belfast from Friday-Monday, and while I was there I visited a lot of the local pubs and had some of the best Guinness of my life. I also did a Black Taxi tour, which toured the divided Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods of Belfast and examined the murals of the Belfast Wall. The wall is taller and longer than the Berlin ... read more

Paying just 9 Pounds for a Rambler ticket gets you unlimited hop-on, hop-off service on all Ulsterbus, Goldline and Metro services along the North coast in Northern Ireland. The bus stop is right outside our door here so with just a few overnight things in our daypacks we were off to tour the north coast. It was a beautiful scenic tour along the North Channel as we passed through Glenariff, Cushendall, Cushendun, Maghercashel, Ballyvoy, Ballycastle and got let off at the entrance to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge next to the town of Ballintoy. For 5.90 Pounds each, you get access to the pathway and steep stairway along the cliffside down to the rope bridge across to Carrick Island. It's a very popular tourist attraction and the view... read more

It appears that any first-time visitor to Northern Ireland is going to have certain images in their mind of the prolonged troubled period in which random life-threatening incidents blighted the average citizen's ability to go about their business in a calm and non-vigilant fashion. The peace process in itself has not been without its occasional foray into the unstable zone, but on the whole, there's never been a better time to visit Belfast and surrounding area. Economic strides have been made in recent years, all of which have added to the path of Ireland's progress, and the city's two premiermost shopping plazas, Victoria Square and Castle Court, are centrally-located hubs of commercial activity. On a more firmly-established note, the sprightly shopping enclave that is St. George's Market is a largely food stall-filled city institution which never ... read more

Long day yesterday Marseille to Belfast; dragged our suitcases down the street five blocks to the Metro station. Down escalators and stairs and onto the subway then up escalators and stairways into the train station to catch the bus to the airport. All of that actually worked out very well with no problems. After a VERY tight connection in Munich we arrived in Dublin, but, ... our suitcases did not. The counter staff knew they were still in Munich and would arrive in Dublin by midnight. Not much use to us as we were immediately getting on a bus to Belfast. So off we went, just with our carry-ons. Quite nice actually not having to drag those suitcases along! Arrived into Belfast Victoria Street station and walked across the road to the Days Hotel. Quick check-in ... read more