Road Tripping Northern Ireland
Here’s a bit of background in case you don’t already know: Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are two separate countries. Yep, this beautiful island is actually two separate countries. Northern Ireland is comprised of 6 counties and they all belong to the United Kingdom. We’re driving to two major cities in Northern Ireland: Derry and Belfast, but we are driving to a few places in between the two.
Sunday, July 7th
Today marks 1 full month of travel! We are so stoked to be able to take two months and do our favorite thing: travel!
We left Galway and started on the 3.5 hour drive up to Derry in Northern Ireland. We stopped for lunch along the way in a cute little park before making our way to the border. We were interested to see what the border crossing between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland would be like. Would we have to go through customs? Would they have to search our car? Would we get a passport stamp? The answer to all of these questions was no. Where we crossed, there wasn’t even a line indicating that we were crossing a border. There was only a sign indicating that the speed limit signs were now all in miles per hour rather than kilometers per hour.
This is exactly where we crossed over into Northern Ireland.
We drove into the town of Derry and then walked around the Bogside area, an infamous area known as the sight of Bloody Sunday and other tumultuous events during "The Troubles.” We walked around the area taking in the famous Bogside Murals.
After walking around the town and learning more about the history of the Bogside area, we went back to our AirBnB to watch the final match of the Women’s World Cup (GOOOOOO USA!!!!!)
Our AirBnB had a big TV, perfect for watching the game!
Someone’s a bit excited!
Where we stayed: A lovely AirBnB 9 minutes from the city center of Derry.
Monday, July 8th
Derry is the only city in Ireland with city walls that are completely intact, which makes for a really cool walk. You’re able to walk on the walls, giving you a great view of the city.
Craft Village—A cute collection of shops selling handmade crafts from local artists.
Museum of Free Derry—A museum created to remember the events of Free Derry by folks directly involved. This museum was well organized and tastefully done. With a collection of over 20,000 artifacts (according to it’s website), this museum does a great job educating visitors on the events of “The Troubles.” I was moved to tears many times in this museum, especially during the Bloody Sunday portion.
We also saw the Peace Flame and walked across the Peace Bridge.
We ate lunch at a really cool place called Pyke N Pommes, where delicious street food is served from a food truck and consumed in a converted double decker bus. Michael had a jalapeno burger and I had the Notorious P.I.G. flatbread wrap with bbq pork and slaw. We also split a crispy squid taco. All of our food was delicious and y’all know how much I love hand to mouth food.
Where we stayed: The same AirBnB 9 minutes from the city center of Derry.
Tuesday, July 9th
Today we drove from Derry to Belfast along the Causeway Coastal Route. Along with taking in the gorgeous scenery that is the Northern Ireland coast, we did a few major must-do things along this route.
Giant’s Causeway—Said to have been created by a volcanic eruption over 60 million years ago, these crazy looking stones along the coast are a must see. We walked the shortest trail down to the beach where you can walk all over the stones, exploring up to the water. There were a lot of people here, so you just have to know that going into it, but it’s still worth it.
Carrick a Rede Rope Bridge—Let me start out by saying that we did not pay to do this bridge, simply because it was a really short bridge and because it was £9 each and we’re cheap. But you can walk the 1km down to the rope bridge and see the spectacular views for free, so that’s exactly what we did!
The Dark Hedges—Known to some of us true Game of Thrones fans as the King’s Road, this was our first GOT location while in Northern Ireland. A set of really old Beech trees line the path to an old estate, making the state elude grander.
Where we stayed: A beautiful AirBnB about 11 minutes outside the city center of Belfast.
Wednesday, July 10th
Today we did a Free Walking Tour of Belfast and y’all know how I feel about walking tours. I just love them. But I’m going to be honest with you, I did not love this one. Maybe it was our tour guide, maybe it’s the sights along the tour, either way, I didn’t like it and wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. But I’ve linked the tour company anyways. The tour company happens to be the exact same tour company that we used in Dublin for our free walking tour, which gives me hope that maybe with a different guide this tour would be stellar.
Glass of Thrones—An installation art piece of 6 stained glass windows scattered around Belfast featuring the most popular scenes from Game of Thrones.
Backstory: If you’re a fan of one of the greatest television shows (next to Gilmore Girls and The Office), then you’ll know that a most of Game of Thrones was filmed in Belfast and in other surrounding areas around Northern Ireland. This is why you’ll see quite a few things about this amazing TV show in my blog because I’m a HUGE fan.
We went to each of the 6 Glass of Thrones locations to see them.
Where we stayed: The same AirBnB about 11 minutes outside the city center of Belfast.
Thursday, July 11th
Today we went on an all day Games of Thrones Winterfell Tour! Our tour guide was a stand in and photo double for Ser Davos Seaworth and has been working as an extra on the show since season 6. We started the day by driving out to Castle Ward, the location for Winterfell in season 1.
Taking the ferry over to Strangford to see Winterfell.
Castle Ward, also known as Winterfell. They obviously used tons of CGI.
Our guide kept calling certain trees, “sexy trees,” or trees used in the show that are well known for their appearance. This tree was used for the hanging of the women that Brienne of Tarth cuts down.
We did a 3km trek around the grounds of Castle Ward, seeing a few other random filming locations before having lunch. Michael and I opted to save money and bring our own lunch, so we ate lunch in the square and then walked around the gorgeous little city.
After lunch we met two of the Direwolves from Game of Thrones! These are a special breed of dogs that were a huge part of the show. We met Summer (Bran’s Direwolf) and Grey Wind (Robb’s Direwolf). We also talked with their owners who were extras, body doubles, and one of the owners was even a Dothraki slave master for many seasons in the show.
We then went on our way to Inch Abbey, another filming location where we dressed up in cloaks and swung swords. #geeklevel100
Things really started to get out of hand.
The power really started getting to my head.
When then made our way to Tollymore Forest for another 3km trek, seeing a few different filming locations throughout the forest, a lot of which can be seen in the first episode of GOT.
Overall, if you’re a huge Game of Thrones fan and you’re interested in seeing some of the locations and learning about some of how the show was filmed, then I’d recommend this. I will say though, this tour was quite expensive but it is an all day tour (8:30-6).
Where we stayed: The same AirBnB about 11 minutes outside the city center of Belfast.
Friday, July 12th
Today we had the best intentions of getting out to a museum in town and seeing a few other things, but little did we know that today is actually a bank holiday here in Northern Ireland. A lot of the roads were blocked because of parades and most things are closed, so instead, we went for a long walk around our AirBnB and got ready for our flight to Scotland.
Where we stayed: The same AirBnB about 11 minutes outside the city center of Belfast.
Today was our last full day in Ireland and I can say with confidence that this place is ridiculously incredible. If you’re not convinced by my photos alone, you just have to come here and see for yourself.
The people, the culture, the music, it’s all spectacular and we’ve made memories that will last us for the rest of our lives.
Ireland, you’re special and we love you. We will miss you and we will certainly be back again.
Safe travels,
Emily
