Off Set Vacay #4: 3 Days in Northern Ireland/ Ireland with my Aunt!

When I got into the operating room with a schedule that typically ran Monday to Friday, I thought my "off set vacays" were over. When I noticed a 4 day stretch off in August I immediately started looking at flights out of Halifax. I found a direct flight to Dublin leaving Friday night and returning Tuesday that would allow me to make it back to work on Wednesday. I posed the question to some of the family to see if anyone was crazy enough to go on this short adventurous trip. I didn't expect any takers but to my glee, my aunt called me up and said to book the flights! The hard part with such a short trip was to find what we wanted to do the most. The original plan was to stay in Ireland, but we found a Game of Thrones tour we both were really interested in that left from Belfast, so we changed our plans and spent two nights in Northern Ireland before returning to Dublin for our last day. 

Day 1 (Aug 3rd):

After our red eye flight we arrived in the morning in Dublin. Westjet didn't have screens which was unfortunate. I was able to get some sleep on and off but unfortunately for my aunt the journey was not as great. Just some of the cons to travel that you have to deal with to enjoy adventures in other countries! 

Ireland doesn't have Uber so we took a taxi to the train station where we would be off to Belfast by train... or so we thought. Apparently the train doesn't run on the weekend so we ended up being brought to a bus. We were so confused for a moment. They told us to go around this corner that was leading us away from the trains. We thought we were going the wrong way but we did find the bus. We were the first on and wanted to have the center back seast of the bus to have leg room. We didn't think it through enough because the bus was completely full so we had to eventually move over and lose the center seat. 

After just over two hours and views of sheep and fields (while I dozed on and off) we made it to Belfast.

First stop once we got off the bus was to head to our hotel and drop off our bags. It was only about a 10 minute or so walk from the station.

Once we were relieved of our bags we headed to the St George's Market. There was so much there! Food items, books, trinkets, souvenirs, and much more. The hardest choice was deciding what magnets we wanted! We also bought some brownies to eat later on.

After departing the market we were in search of someplace to eat. A quick google search brought up a place called Granny Annie's that seemed to have a good variety of selection and good reviews. We both ended up loving the choice. The decor inside was really cool. A lot of old fashioned looking furniture was throughout the restaurant and on the ceiling. At our booth, my aunt appeared to be lying on a bed with the way they had a bedspread and pillow vertical on the wall behind her. The kitchen area looked to be inside a house. Above our heads was a side table with a lamp upside down. The food was also pretty good. Would recommend Granny Annie's. 

After filling up our stomachs, we continued our walk of the city. The old reddish brown brick buildings were really cool to see. There was a little clock tower that looked like a mini Big Ben. Just before reaching a well known art attraction: The Big Fish, we noted a food truck selling poutine. It also had a beaver playing hockey. We both thought it was one of the most Canadian looking trucks we had ever seen. My aunt went up to talk to the employee to see if they were from Canada. He was not, but the owner of the buisness was, which makes sense with the Canadian decor and food. We then snapped our pictures of The Big Fish and made our way across the bridge to the other side of Belfast where we were hoping to find the stain glass Game of Thrones art.

Out of the six stain glass art pieces, we managed to find three of them, with the final one being the iron throne one. It was really pretty and they even had a stool you could sit on to make it appear as if you were sitting on the throne. The day was also beginning to get quite hot. I had left my sunscreen back at the hotel, and was beginning to worry I was going to get a burn. So much for rainy and cloudy Ireland!

Nearby to the stain glass, we also went in to the Titanic museum to take a look. We did not go in to the actual musuem but went to the gift shop as my aunt's boyfriend really likes the titanic. She was able to grab a souvenir for him, though one day they will have to return to visit the actual museum together!

We then headed back to the side of Belfast we started from and found a street with some shops. It had begun to sprinkle a little bit. We went in to a bookshop called Oxfam. It had not come up in my searches, but I managed to find a copy of the Hobbit that I did not have! From there we spotted a ice cream shop that we decided to try. It was one where we could serve our own ice cream and add toppings and would then be charged by weight. We both thoroughly enjoyed our creations, though the marshmellows we both added were a bit stale tasting. The rest was really tasty.

We countinued our exploration and the sun was beginning to shine again. On the way back to the hotel we came across the Belfast sign and got our pictures in front of it. Not too far from there we spotted a Tim Hortons. We were both surprised to see one. I did not realize the UK had any Timmy's since I did not recall any in London. Turns out it is just Northern Ireland and some of Scotland that have them according to google maps. We would visit there the next day.

Now back at the hotel, we grabbed our luggage and rested for the evening to get ready for our busy tour.

Day 2 (Aug 4th):

We started our day bright and early by running up to McDonald's for some breakfast. It was sprinkling a little, but not too bad. We would have tried the Timmy's but it did not open early enough. We brought our food back to the hotel to eat and await the tour start. We were smart and booked the same hotel as where the tour pickup was. 

When we were ready and packed for the day we headed on down. The tour was a smaller bus which was nice. Our guide was very animated and was an extra for several seasons of Game of Thrones! I later realized that the tour site does tell you that, but we had both forgotten that little tidbit. So it seemed like an extra bonus at the time!

The first stop was a bit of a drive, but the views were beautiful. Much better than the drive up to Belfast. Most of the drive was coastal. The roads seemed so narrow at times. I could see what my parents meant when they had visited Ireland just before us that the roads here have little to no curb at all! 

The first stop was at a little harbour in Carnlough. Here we saw the stairs leading into the harbour that Arya had to climb up out of the water from. The cool thing we learned here is that most of the Braavos scenes were shot in Spain. They had wrapped up the season but noted that the flow was wrong for one of the scenes with Arya and the chase scene. They brought back Maisie Williams and brought her to this little harbour in Northern Ireland to have her coming out of the water after having "Arya" jump into the water in Spain. 

Next stop was some caves in Cushendun. The scenery here was stunning. I really enjoyed the little goat statue we saw before making our way to the caves themselves. Once there we were told of Melisandre giving birth to the dark spirit in the very spot we were standing and how they had used artificial light to create the moon in the show. Just on the other side of the caves also featured a fight between Jamie Lannister and Euron Greyjoy.

Ballintoy Harbour would be one of the coolest stops because this is where we got to dawn the Greyjoy outfits that were apparently made by the original makers in the show. It was at this harbour that Theon rejoined the Greyjoys and where he meets his sister. It was also where Theon and Euron were drowned and born again. A fact we learned about Euron's actor; we were told they were going to shoot his underwater scenes in the studio, but he refused and wanted it to be as realistic as possible and had them shoot his underwater "drowning" in the cold water of the harbour. Then we were off to walk around in our cool outfits and swords and try to take some awesome photos. We wish we had had more time! The other crazy thing with this location was the getting there. The road down was so narrow and twisty. I do not think a bus any bigger than ours could have made it down.

On the other side of the harbour, if you stand just right it looks almost exactly how it does in the show. We had some time here as well to walk around and take in some of the beautiful coastal views. I also really loved that the weather was overcast. Really made you feel as if you were in the Iron Islands. 

The next stop on this tour is not a film location, but rather is one of the most popular tourist locations in Northern Ireland; Giant's Causeway. And for good reason! It is a very amazing spot. It is mind boggling how so many of the surrounding rocks all formed in these hexogonal shapes and stacks. It reminded me of some of the terrain in Iceland. It was also much slippier than one would think. Even moving carefully I still managed to fall on my butt. Did not hurt anything though, just a little embarassing! It is so amazing that the Earth can form such unique terrain naturally. Despite not being a film location, it was still worth the visit! We made sure to give ourselves plenty of time to walk back up the hill to the pickup location. It was close to a 15 minute walk and we did not want to be left behind. While waiting to continue on it had just begun to sprinkle a little bit.

Then it was lunch time. Our tour guide had given us some options earlier to pick from. I ended up choosing the chicken fingers (obviously) though they were called something different. Chicken goujons I believe. I should start referring them to that back home so it sounds like I am eating something more refined. The restaurant we stopped at was called the Fullerton Arms and the really neat thing about this place was the door leading inside. Scattered across Northern Ireland are doors carved into Game of Thrones art. You can even get a stampbook type thing that a fellow traveler had shown us. I think the only way to complete it would be to have your own car. But we got to see the Targaryen door, so that was really awesome!

Next stop was not one we went inside, but we could see from afar; Dunlace Castle. From the angle we could see it from is how they had shot of the castle in the show to represent the Greyjoy's castle. Even from afar it was an impressive sight. 

Sadly, we were nearing the end of the tour. We were heading towards our last stop; the Dark Hedges. This was filmed as a road into King's Landing. Our guide took us to another entrance where most people wouldn't go to try and give us the best look without a bunch of tourists. 

Along the road prior to arriving at the stops we would see clips from Game of Thrones featuring the locations we were going to. Our guide who as I mentioned was a extra, had so many amazing stories about his experience on set. I could not possibly remember them all. He did show us clips that he himself was in. He had a couple of close up shots throughout the season which was pretty awesome. He mentioned in one scene he was originally in the middle, but since he was able to make such a great intimidating face, they placed him in the front and you can see him quite clearly in the shot. He also mentioned how all the extras would just be waiting and hoping for calls back to the show for the next seasons. They had to keep their beards grown out, which his mother was not always fond of, but it was for Game of Thrones, so obviously he had no choice! They did not even want the extras trimming the beard as soldiers would not be doing that in Game of Thrones. Another interesting moment he told us was when they were picking extras for Jon Snow or Ramsey Bolton. Everyone wanted to be a Stark and not a Bolton. They would walk in to a room and be told privately which army they would belong to, but it was obvious who was a Stark as they would come out screaming and the Boltons would come out sorrowful. These stories really made this tour great! I loved hearing how it was on set and some of the behind the scenes stories from someone who was on the show!

Now back to our hotel we stopped for some Subway for supper. Later on when we determined the rain was not too bad, we walked up to the Timmy's and got ourselves a little treat. Then it was time to make sure we were all packed up and ready to leave for Dublin in the morning. 

Day 3 (Aug 5th)

The next morning we caught a 0800 bus to head back to Dublin. We got there by about 1030 or so. Our hotel was not too far from the station so we started slowly walking there while observing some of the architecture. We both found it quite amusing while we were walking with our bags and were stopped by some other presumably toursits and asked for directions. I tried to help by looking at my google map (that we were using ourselves). Maybe they did not have data to use google maps themselves, it was just funny that they thought we could help direct them when I'm sure we must have looked like tourists ourselves.

Walking the streets we passed Trinity College and scouted out other potential spots we might want to investigate closer. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and countinued on our walk bags free. We still had some time before the tour we had booked for the afternoon, so we decided to walk in the direction of the pick up spot and grab something to eat as well.

Our path led us down a walkway with some boutique shops and food places and overall looked so pretty with the brick buildings and the florals from some of the windows. It was also where the famous Temple Bar was located. We never went in but could see how crowded it was from the outside. 

We then crossed a bridge to the otherside of Dublin and made a stop in a Burger King. With the time constraint we did not want to risk being somewhere too long at a sit down restaurant and potentially miss our tour. 

Just outside Burger King as we were leaving some guy stopped us and said he needed some help and that he needed some money to go to another place in Ireland. My aunt said politely that we did not have any cash and moved on. He had even asked where we were from, and said he was also supposedly from Canada. We did not believe him! Just some scam I'm sure.

After finding the location for pick up we immediately felt at ease, but were still a little early. We decided to check out some nearby shops. One we went in had a lego Kylo Ren. In the center of this area we were walking was this giant white pole thing. I was quite confused as to what it's purpose was. It was so much taller than the buildings around us.

Just to the side of the pick up location was this oval shaped portal type thing with a screen showing people in another location in Ireland. It would switch periodically to other locations. It was really interesting. We could see them and they could see us in Dublin. A good way to pass the time while waiting for our tour.

We made sure we were early for the pick up and we spotted the paddywagon bus which is what the tour said it was booked under. No one appeared from the bus for a long time. It was almost time to leave and we were getting a little worried. The next bus over that was not the same company was loading up passengers. Someone eventually asked if we were for the Wicklow mountains, which we were. A little annoyed, we went on the bus. We could have been on the bus way earlier but it was not comunicated super well. Or we could have potentially just stood around waiting while the bus drove off. 

Really funny on the bus though, some lady said her husband had not yet arrived and wanted the bus to wait a little longer. The guide said "no" they had another pickup location and that this tour had to be operated in a timely manner (which I can respect. I hate when people are disrespectful to fellow travelers and do not arrive on time). While we headed to the next location she was calling her husband and telling him he had to get to the next location. Next spot the guide got off the bus and walked to the meet up spot to guide everyone back to the bus. The lady claimed he was there but he did not come back with the guide. We were about to leave and she was getting super annoyed saying that he was there even though the guide went himself to gather up the passengers. The husband unfortunately found us and they did sadly join the tour. Spoiler alert: we did not see them on the bus back to Dublin despite being warned multiple times to be on time as the bus would not wait for you, so we assume they missed the pick up for heading back. That is what I would call "karma".

So, that was a fun little episode. The drive was really beautiful on the way there. Lots of greenery and fields of sheep. The hills gradually got larger as we got closer to the mountains. There were many paths that you could walk in the Wicklow area, but obviously we would not have time to explore everything. We made our way along the path to where the lake was and decided to stop at some of the buildings on the way back to ensure we did not risk missing the bus. The walk was beautiful with the green fields and the green hills around us. The air smelled so fresh. The woods looked so magical, like a fairy wood, especially with the overcast and foggy day. Though the pictures never turn out as mystical as how it appears with the naked eye.

The stop with the old church like building and grave sites was really neat to walk through. We actually spent a decent amount of time there on the way back. Which is why it is good to stop on the way back and not along the way, because otherwise we would have felt more rushed. We tried taking some artsy photos through holes in the old monuments and taking fun photos of each other. A deer even walked through the area, so everyone had fun trying to get a photo without scaring it off. 

Then we were headed back to Dublin while saying goodbye to that disrespectful couple. The tour was nice. I am glad we got to get out of the city for a little bit. Though I think having your own car and visiting would have been beneficial to not feel so rushed. Given our time constraint of only having three days, I think the tour was worth it for us and we did have a fun time.

Now back in Dublin we made our way back to the Temple Bar area where we grabbed ourselves a great supper; ice cream! While eating our treat we spotted a couple girls posing in front of the Temple Bar. We had ourselves a great private laugh as we watched them take what must have been hundreds of photos while doing various poses. So funny and awkward to witness. We were very tempted to just stand in front of Temple Bar and eat our ice cream just to mess up the photo shoot but decided against it! 

Then it was time to mosey back to the hotel. We stopped in a souvenir shop along the way. I got a bracelet for my brother and my aunt was able to find a few things as well. I found the quality of souvenir goods to be quite high. Then that marked the end of our three days in Ireland/ Northern Ireland. On the map randomly I had noticed they had a Leperchaun musuem and even had a "adult" evening where you could be told darker stories that actually sounded kind of interesting. It did not have a date for the evening we were in Dublin unfortunately. So then the next morning we returned to the airport with a taxi driver who was very kind and looked up the time for security and where our gate would be and said our final goodbyes to this fun little adventure!

For such a short trip I can easily say my aunt and I had seen and done a lot. Our days were busy but we had so much fun along the way. I am so happy that she took me up on the offer to visit Ireland on the long weekend. I have definitely made some unforgettable memories with her. To top it off, it was her first time in Europe, so it was really amazing to experience her first European trip with her! I am sure we will find another fun adventure to go on in the near future whether it is the two of us again or with more of the family!