Sunday, May 18th – Monday, May 19th, 2025
Belfast Day 2
For our second day we were in Belfast, we woke early, went down to the hotel restaurant for our complimentary breakfast, then began our adventures. We began the morning returning to the Titanic Quarter where we purchased tickets to go through the museum. Nothing could have fully prepared me for this museum, the vastness in size and the layers of information were immense. And even though I was perfectly aware of the history of the Titanic, the museum truly struck a cord, taking you through a journey of the very beginning (even before the boat took off, but explaining the process of designing and the thousands of lives impacted by the ship building industry). Even knowing everything I already knew about the Titanic, seeing its artifacts, hearing the stories, and seeing the list of over a thousand casualties made it a very melancholy visit. But, regardless, I would recommend the museum to anyone, it took an hour to get through and it was worth every second. It was beautifully designed, filled with interactive components to really keep you engaged (including a ride, you heard me right, a ride inside the museum). Overall, it was just a really informative and momentous experience.
Later that day we went to Colin Glen, a park in Belfast that offers something I have been looking forward to doing since the beginning of this class: an alpine coaster and Ireland’s longest zip line! The hype was worth it, because it was so fun. We got the chance to go on the alpine coaster 3 times, a shorter zip line first, and then the 700 meter zip line to finish things off. The alpine coaster has been something on my bucket list for ages, and it did not disappoint, I am so glad I finally had an opportunity to try one. Although I was terrified of the large zip line (as it was much taller than the other one), I still participated and had a great time while I was in the air. The views were also amazing!
After some tribulations trying to get back to the hotel (Uber is a lot harder to come by than anticipated, and buses were not out this way), we finally made it back, exhausted and desperate for a pizza which we ate while we watched Indiana Jones (I’ve noticed that every hotel I have been in recently has some sort of Indiana Jones movie playing).
Belfast Day 3
For our third and final day in Belfast we had an entire Northern Ireland bus tour booked, so again, we woke early, ate, and checked out to go to our bus. The theme of our tour was Game of Thrones, so each of our destinations were places that were featured in Game of Thrones (but mostly it was just going around to see iconic things).
Things we saw on our Game of Thrones bus tour:
- Carrickfergus Castle
- Larrybane Quarry
- Dark Hedges
- Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (from a distance)
- Dunluce Castle
- Giant’s Causeway
- And a few others…
My all time favorites on the tour were the Dunluce Castle and Giant’s Causeway. For starters, I have said since before this trip that I wanted to dance around in an ancient castle and I was not disappointed. I felt like Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride and I could not get over the view of the Atlantic Ocean. The water was an unbelievable blue color, I’ve never seen anything like it. Additionally, we went to Giant’s Causeway, and I am actually so excited we actually got to see it. I didn’t think I was going to get an opportunity to on this trip, but it was just an unbelievable natural wonder and I was taken away by its beauty. I could not recommend Giant’s Causeway enough.
The rest of that evening was spent bussing back to Belfast then catching our other bus that would take us back to Dublin, so it was mostly just riding busses for the entirety of the time. But I’d say it was 3 days well spent in Northern Ireland.