EsTrails: Weekend Getaway in Belfast

Belfast City Hall

Hello beautiful earthlings!
I hope this post finds you well and hope that 2018 is being good to you so far. Am I not on a roll with these blog posts? I'm really trying to catch up as I will be having a busy sched in the next couple of weeks.

Anyways, this blog post is dedicated to our very quick weekend getaway in Belfast back in October 2017.
My family along with two family friends decided to go up north to Belfast one weekend to celebrate the birthdays of our family members. We took the 705X Aircoach bus from Dublin City Centre to Belfast Glengall St. We took the 05:30 AM bus and got in Belfast around 07:30 AM. We stayed for a night at ETAP Hotel Belfast. I recommend it. It is quite central (only 10 minute walk from Victoria Square). The rooms are clean and basic. I've got no complaints and they also offer complimentary coffee and tea.

A post shared by Esjae (@esjaeee) on Oct 23, 2017 at 2:34pm PDT

We booked a Giant's Causeway Tour with PaddyWagon. This was about €29 per person. I suggest booking this in advance and have a printed confirmation with you.
The first stop of our excursion was the Dark Hedges where beech trees towered over this road. These trees were planted back in the 18th century. The place was eerily beautiful especially when we were there with the typical Irish/northern Irish weather.
They currently have implemented a traffic ban around this area to preserve the flora of the area due to the popularity of this tourist attraction due to the famous show Game of Thrones. This was shown as Kings Road in Season 2 of the series!

We then headed to Carrick-a-Rede. It was raining when we got there so be sure that you're prepared by having appropriate clothing and footwear! Haha

There was a bit of a hike from the parking lot to the suspension bridge but I didn't mind the walk. I got to enjoy the view of the Atlantic Ocean, the overall scenery in the rain and slight fog.

I expected the bridge to be tall and long but it was not that bad. But then again, I'm not afraid of heights. My sister said she was shaking walking the rope bridge and almost peed herself (she even said this on my VLOG 😂)

There was a bit of a wait when crossing the bridge and back as it was the only way in and out of the cliff. By the way, we had to pay £8 to have access to the rope bridge and was not included in our tour. This is also optional so those with height phobia can opt out.

After Carrick-a-Rede, we headed to Fullerton Arms Hotel for lunch. As far as I can remember, this hotel was used for accommodation when the actors and staff filmed for the series. Also, this door was door number 6 out of the 10 Door of Throne. This was carved from the fallen beech trees from Dark Hedges.

My momma seating on the Iron Throne

They also had a throne where you can take lots of photos and pretend that you have the Iron Throne all to yourself.

Beef and Guinness stew and chips and

Before we got to the hotel, our tour guide has already asked us what we'd like for lunch so he can order it before we arrive. We paid for our lunch at the hotel and was not included in the tour.
It was pretty chaotic when we got there for lunch. There were other tour groups that came so it was very hectic that we did not get to seat with people we were with. One of the hostess seemed a bit rude telling everyone that there was no way that we'd be able to sit together etc.
The food was okay. I've had better beef and Guinness stew but I was hungry so I could not really complain.

We then made our way to the Giant's Causeway. We didn't have to pay (thank goodness!).

We had audioguides to accompany us from the visitor's centre to the Causeway. Again, I suggest wearing appropriate footwear as there is a bit of a walk to get to the Causeway. If walking is not your thing, don't fret! They offer bus rides for £2 each way. I know this because mom and our family friend with a baby took the bus back to the visitor's centre.

It was such a sight to see. And the basalt columns was so fascinating to see!

The last stop for the day was Dunluce Castle. This was just a quick photo stop and was free. This castle was used as another set of Game of Thrones. This castle portrayed the home of House Greyjoy.

We got back to Belfast around 05:30 PM and got back to our hotel to check in and get ready for our dinner out in the city.

A post shared by Esjae (@esjaeee) on Jan 3, 2018 at 2:39pm PST

The following day, we headed over to Grannie Annie's for brunch. Check out my blog post on our foodie adventure there and photos of this eccentric restaurant.

Steffi and Niel

We prebooked our tickets into Titanic Belfast but we finished brunch early that we arrived there an hour earlier than the time slot we had booked. The staff were kind enough and allowed us to go in and said that it was no problem at all.

I love this old-school posters that was displayed in one of the exhibitions

The museum was filled with artefacts like old handwritten letters, exhibitions of what the rooms looked like in the Titanic and what surprised me the most was there was a ride in the building! The short ride showed the history of how the shipped was built and the history behind it.

This display was in the SS Nomadic which was actually my favourite out of the whole Titanic experience. This was the tender to the Titanic and it is the last White Star Line ship in the world.
I have fascination of old things and I appreciated the whole atmosphere that was built here. The displays were one of my favourite along with empty halls that was probably used as a dance floor back in the day.
My sister even got to play dress up here too!
Watch my VLOG of our Belfast adventure:

Et voilà! That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this lengthy post and I will see you in the next one!
Peace and Love,