Finishing Up Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was definitely a highlight of the trip for us.  It was less crowded and seemed to have lots of unique attractions to see and do.  Don't get me wrong - all of Ireland was beautifully green and blue - but, Northern Ireland was more laid back and we enjoyed to get off the beaten path.  On our way out to Belfast we made our way to one last castle of the trip.  And this one was probably the most complete/well-preserved castle we saw on the second half of our trip.

Dunluce Castle was built right on the shoreline and the furthest side of it was actually built off the cliff.  When we were in the visitor's center, they said that back in the day when the castle was actually being used, part of it fell off into the ocean because of it being so close to the edge.  It had a few people in that portion of the castle, too, and they went along with it.  A lot of people ask why none of the castles, churches, etc. had roofs on them.  They actually did have roofs when they were built/used, but they were made of wood.  Wood deteriorates a lot faster than stone so that's why they are missing.  In the case of churches/abbeys/etc., Oliver Cromwell removed the roof so that the inhabitants would leave.  Pretty tricky.

From here, we left for Belfast.  It was about an 1.5 hour drive to get to the city.  Once there, our first stop was to see the Titanic Museum.

Belfast is where the Titanic was built to set sail.  The museum had several floors to it and talked about the company who built it, the labor conditions, what went into building the ship and, of course, the aftermath of the tragedy.  I think my favorite part of the museum was reading mini-biographies of the passengers of the ship who died and who survived the crash.  

 Replica of Titanic

 Life boat

 I'm the King of the World!

You may or may not be able to tell, but this is where the Titanic sat while it was being built.  They have the markings of the ship's outline so you can get a perspective of just how big the ship was.  Also, the corners/height of the museum was built to show how tall the ship was.  Spoiler alert:  it was enormous.

After we finished up at the museum, there were a few prehistoric, natural sites we wanted to stop at.  These weren't popular tour stops, but kinda cool nonetheless.

 Giant's Ring - prehistoric burial site.  They also had chariot races around it and the entire site looks like a grassy race track.  

Farm from the 500s.  They would hide down underground for protection and you can still get down there.  

Proleek  Dolmen - another ancient tomb.  How on Earth did they stack all these tall, heave stones?  Sidenote: Legend has it if you make a wish, throw a rock on top of the dolmen and it stays, your wish will come true.  Unbeknownst to either of us, we both wished for the same thing and guess what arrived 3 weeks later?  Moral of the story: if you really, really want something, fly to Belfast and get a rock to stay on top of this thing.  Ben is proof :)

That filled our entire day so we just drove to our next bed and breakfast and called it a night.  Tomorrow - Dublin!