Ballycastle ~ Northern Irleand

We stopped in Ballycastle to walk around and get our feet wet.  This was our first stop where we put our toes in the ocean, the beach area was sandy and inviting, and the waves just the right size for getting your pants wet. This area of the water is call Rathlin Sound and the island that you see in the background is Rathin Island.

Antrim Mountains

We have the same plant at home we call it Alaska Wild Cotton.  It was fun to see it growing in the fields of this high country in Irlenad.

The white dots in this photo are indeed sheep.

The Antrim Mountains (551 meters above sea level) are more like hills to us but as you drive up the coast and then turn inland at Glendun Viaduct you have a grand view of the country side all around and the sea back to your right.  We also drove through Ballypatrick Forest which is a sight to behold after all the open farmland and sheep grazing.

Carnlough ~ Antrim Coast

After lunch it was ice cream cone time ~ 

ice cream toast to a great day!  

And it is only early afternoon with plenty more time in 

the day for driving and exploring.

Antrim Coast ~ Northern Ireland

Our drive up the Antrim Coast was beautiful.  Sunny and blue, both the sky and the water.  It was a calm day and a peaceful drive.  The bay in the photo above is Carnlough Bay, we stopped in Carnlough for a bit of lunch and walk about the village. We ate at the Londonderry Arms Hotel "The Historic Hotel in the Glens of Antrim"

Emily and I both ate a meal of traditional fish & chips!  

It was an awesome piece of fish!

Refreshing Magners cider ~ quickly became one of our favorites! 

Ed ate a seafood salad

Josh ate fresh Atlantic Salmon on mash ~  

 Irish sure know how to make sauces! 

Glenarm Castle Walled Garden

There were still some tulips in bloom when we were there which was wonderful to see.  The gardens have their annual tulip festival in March and they also have monthly concerts, highland games, and an entire venue of events all year long.

 The guys had a great time with us in the garden, hiding behind hedges and shrubs and pretending to be the stone statues at the top of the waterfall steps.

 This is the first of our self-group-photo using the camera's timer.  I set the up the group shot and had everyone sit in the grass... here...here and here... and then set the timer and joined them sitting in the grass.  Well the joke was on me because when I sat down was when it became apparent that the grass was wet.  "Hey the grass is wet" I said and they said, "Yes! Yes it is"! With cheesy grins on their faces. 

Everyone was a good sport for all the group photos we took throughout the trip.  Thank you guys for playing along so well with my impromptu photo shoots, we now have thousands of snapshots to remember all the laughter and our greatest Ireland vacation.

Glenarm Castle – for 400 years the family home of the Earls of Antrim and the setting of a glorious Walled Garden which is open to visitors from May to September.

Glenarm Castle website click HERE!

The Green Grows

The green grows and grows fast in this country.  Not many a day of travel went by without us seeing some type of road mower out and about taking care of the green and keeping it in check.  The roads were well maintained and even the small (and I mean small) country rural roads were easy to travel.  The shrubs and stone walls were at times right up against the edge of the road and you did not dare get too close and in fact in several places there was a groove in the shrub hedges made by cars side mirror cutting it a bit close.

The center line is white with the edges of the road being marked in yellow. When the white line is long it means no passing and a short white line in the middle means it is okay to pass.  If the road is small and plenty of them are, there are only yellow dotted lines on each side of the road with little pullouts every so often for those times when you meet another car on the road headed in the opposite direction.

All in all it was an easy drive around the island for our wheelman.  Thank you Ken for safely traversing 1919 kilometers while we gazed out the windows as the scenery passed us by in all its green glory.

Belfast ~ Northern Ireland

Down town area of Belfast

Belfast City Hall with its spectacular interior
stone work walls and floors. 

I even liked the faucets in the water closet.

Ed, Josh and I spent the morning exploring down town Belfast while Emily spent quality time at the Botanic Gardens exploring the Tropical Ravine House.

Queen’s University ~ Belfast

Queen’s University Belfast where more than 17,000 students and 3,500 staff call home to study and work.  Founded in 1845 and becoming a university in its own right in 1908 is an international center of research and education in the heart of Northern Ireland.

Palm House ~ Belfast

First established in 1828, the gardens have been enjoyed as a public park by the people of Belfast since 1895. There is an extensive rose garden and long herbaceous borders and the tree enthusiast can seek out the rare oaks planted in the 1880s, including the hornbeam-leafed oak.  Situated near Queens University Belfast, the Botanic Gardens is an important part of Belfast’s Victorian heritage.

What an amazing place of green humid quiet in the middle of a busy city ~ it was hard to leave even at closing time.

Titanic Museum ~ Belfast

The building is clad in metal shards and when the light plays on them it looks like the movement of water. From above, the building resembles a white star, the symbol of Titanic’s builders.

The experience takes you through the boom of Belfast as a linen manufacturing town, to a booming shipyard town.  There is a shipyard ride where you ride through a mock up of a shipyard in action complete with all the noise.

There are tons of interactive displays that are fun for kids and adults alike and a computer generated image of all the levels of the Titanic from the engine room to the decks all you have to do is stand in the room and the walls display the images as if you are riding in a glass elevator riding through the ship.

There is a floor just for the maiden voyage, the sinking and the aftermath which were all very intense.  They made it very personal as you could follow along with a few folks lives from a newly booming shipyard to them being lost at sea.

All in all it was interesting, and very computer technical heavy.

Here is their website if you want to explore more about the museum: Titanic Belfast

Knowth ~ Ireland

Knowth is a complex of prehistoric passage tombs just west of Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland. Dating from about 3000 BC, Knowth consists of a large central mound surrounded by several smaller ones. It is especially important for its rich collection of megalithic art, which includes over 300 decorated stones.

The central mound contains two passage tombs, entered from the east and west. These are not accessible to visitors, but the eastern passage can be glimpsed from an excavated chamber.

Just spectacular!  

And remember to say "spectacular" with an Irish/British accent and very exaggerated.  Our tour guide that day was a tiny girl who spoke very meticulously and used the word spectacular ~ a lot!