We booked our tour through Shore Excursions Group and it was operated by Odyssey tours.
Our first stop was at the ruins of Dunluce Castle, a medieval Irish Castle. The first photos in the gallery below are scenic views in the area. Look closely at the last one and you can see the castle ruins on the distant clifftop.
The main attraction for our tour was the Giant’s Causeway, one of the many amazing wonders of the world. Often this scenery shows up in visual trivia games. It looks like stacked hexagonal blocks and columns. Geologists say this was caused by volcanic activity. I like the legend better: that it was a road built by a giant to get over from Ireland into Scotland so that he could beat up a rival giant.
We were given 2.5 hours here, and it was not enough time. (Well, it might have been sufficient time if the line to the ladies room was not one-half hour long.) There is a path down to a shuttle area which will take you to the Giant’s Causeway. BUT, a kind gentleman told us if we take the scenic overlook trail, we would have amazing views and there were 150 steps down, rather than 150 steps up. He was right. The views were spectacular.
The clifftop path took us longer than we realized, and by the time we circled back to the Causeway, we only had a little time there to marvel at the stones.
The shuttles were slow, so we trekked a mile uphill as fast as our out-of-shape bodies would allow to get back to our tour bus at the appointed time. There was a family with older parents on our tour. We waited over a half-hour for them to get back, but when they still had not made it back, our tour group had to leave them there with instructions to take a taxi to a later stop on the itinerary.
We next visited Portaneevy and viewed the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, constructed by fishermen in the mid 1700’s to link the island to Northern Ireland. No one on our tour expressed a desire to walk across the rope bridge.
We stopped in the little community of Ballycastle for lunch and to look around a bit. A church sits where a castle once stood. Rather than a town square, they have a diamond. We ate at the Diamond Bar and Grill, and purchased some biscuits (cookies) at the co-op (grocery).
I had the mushy peas; Hubby opted to substitute an onion ring for the peas.
Made a brief stop at the Village of Carnlough for a restroom break.
Our motor coach traveled a gorgeous coastal road. Listed as one of the top 10 coastal roads by Lonely Planet. Views from the bus were spectacular – photos from bus windows were not so spectacular.
Our tour ended with a drive through the city of Belfast. No stops, just views from the bus windows and interesting commentary by our guide who said there is still a major division in Belfast between Catholic and protestant groups, but it is more political than religious. He said there were 4 main political groups. Those who want unity and wish to get it by diplomatic means; those who want unity and are willing to get it by using extreme violence; those who want separation and wish to get it by diplomatic means; and those who want separation and are willing to get it by using extreme violence. We saw murals in the city that memorialized individuals who lost their lives to violence, and we saw walls erected to separate Catholic and protestant neighborhoods. This is a beautiful but troubled part of the world.
Next port: Glasgow, Scotland
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