Northern Ireland, The Antrim Coast

On our second day in Ireland, we took a full day Railtours trip to Northern Ireland to Belfast, where we then boarded a tour bus that took us, along with other tourists, along the Glens of Antrim, the wild Atlantic coast, and The Giant's Causeway.

Railtours is a wonderful way to see Ireland, as it is fully escorted by charming older guides who were raconteur's as entertaining as the beautiful landscape we passed along the way, by both comfortable train and coach bus. Railtours has many different tour packages available for half, one day, and multiple days tours, and I think they are the best bargain for travel in Ireland if you do not wish to travel by car. I highly recommend them!


The train from Connolly Station in Dublin to the city of Belfast was about two hours and 20 minutes long, and we passed many interesting seaside towns and counties.
Belfast is Ireland's second largest city after Dublin and is the capital of Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom.


We didn't see much of Belfast, as we headed immediately for the coast where we stopped at the town of Carrickfergus, County Antrim's oldest town, where we saw Carrickfergus Castle, one of the best preserved medieval structures in the whole of Ireland.



This magnificent structure, built in the 12th century by John de Courcy, commanded access to Belfast Lough, and the land approaches into the walled town that developed beneath its shadow.



The tour guide told us to look up at the ceiling in the entrance. If an invader had made it past the moat, and then the fortified castle door, they would have hot oil poured down upon them from a hole in the ceiling in the entrance. You can see the bucket ready to do that horrible deed in the photo below.


We then drove through the towns of Glenariff, Cushendall, and Cushendun and saw the mountain Glens of Antrim. The scenery was spectacular even though it was a rather misty morning.







Tomorrow I will take you on our adventure crossing the "Carrick-a-Rede" rope bridge! I can't believe I actually did it both ways, and in a strong wind no less! The sun shone brightly when we were there, and the photos of that beautiful area are not to be missed.