When we are in Ireland visiting my family and staying in my parents, we try and plan a few things…to get away. A little vacation within a vacation. There’s 2 parts…to get alone with time the hubs of course AND to give my parents some alone time with my kids in their Ireland home. They like getting them to themselves. So it works. Everyone enjoys the time!
Yosh has been wanting to go to Northern Ireland since he met me. And every time he has come to Ireland…since 2004…there is some type of violence that happens that we hear about on the news. So it makes us too scared to go up there. Well its been a few years…and we thought it was time. We didn’t know what to expect. When we rented the car they specifically asked if we planned on going up north…yikes. Why..whats the big deal?!?
Side Note: Before we came to Ireland Yosh had bought me a Joby for my iphone. Its so freaking awesome and we used it so much! Its a little magnetic tripod with a remote…so we were able to take so many decent pictures of just us two…without asking someone to take one.
From Foxford to Belfast it was about a 4 hour drive. We stopped for lunch in Enniskillen. It had a cute sandwich shop and an even cuter castle!
We got to Belfast and tried to make it to see the Titanic Museum before it closed!
There was SOOO much info in there…it could take a person a full day to get through it all BUT…we zipped through all the good stuff and it was just right! I just walked around looking for Leo! lol
This was the real launching deck for the TItanic. It was amazing how HUGE it was! And we found out that the Titanic had a hanger, which is still very close to the museum where they did all the work on it. And in the hanger NOW is the Game of Thrones indoor filming studio!!!!
And across the way there was a real ship docked…we were allowed to walk on that and look around.
From there we tried to find a place to eat in downtown Belfast. Well…let me tell you…its was a Wednesday night…and it was the weirdest thing. NOTHING was open past 7pm. We walked in the downtown area and shops were closed, they had their metal shutters down and everything. It was creepy! Now I know a little about “the troubles”…but was always told that it wasn’t really an issue anymore. Ummm if its not an issue WHY does every store have METAL SHUTTERS!!!! So we were a bit nervous walking around trying to find somewhere to eat. But we found somewhere…then headed back to the hotel.
We were told later by a taxi driver that everything still closes early because of those “troubled times”…no one has changed it for whatever reason. They have 1 night, Thursday, where shops are open “late”…and that Belfast is broken up in Quarters. Shopping district/quarter. Dining. Entertainment. Think we were in the shopping area looking for food…so that wasn’t a good idea. haha
The next morning we were up early…in the rain…for our Game of Thrones Aran Island Bus Tour. Before we went to Belfast I mentioned going to a nurse at kaiser. She told me about this tour she took and how AMAZING it was. I was hesitant since I get SUPER car sick SUPER easy…BUT…we booked tickets for the same tour. That was the BEST decision EVER. I think that day was one of my favorite days…and I had never even seen an episode of the show. Yosh was up to date and LOVED G.O.T. I wasn’t a fan. But hearing all the insider stories from our tour guide (who was an extra on the show numerous times) and seeing all the beautiful filming locations…it was magical!
This is Andrew…our tour guide…IN the Battle of the Bastards episode.
You better believe the only person on the bus who had NEVER seen an episode got the FRONT seat (I was terrified to puke!)
Since I knew I’d never remember all our stops…here was our itinerary. Each stop our tour guide, Andrew, would give us all the details. I Loved every minute of it.
At the time I didn’t have a clue what I was looking at or listening too. Since I didn’t know any characters or story lines. Now after watching all 7 seasons in 2-3 months (oh yes we binged watched every one!) I wish I could do this tour again…and listen again…it would all mean SO much more now!
Where the red witch gives birth to that demon asshole thing.
After a few G.O.T. stops we were brought to another very popular tourist stop the Carrick-a-Rede…aka rope bridge! Which has NOTHING to do with the show…and that is another reason why I liked this tour before we booked. They were scheduled to bring us to a bunch of filming locations AND a few non-G.O.T. stops too!
Walking across the bridge was pretty disappointing. When we researched this place online it seemed like the bridge was LONG. I was thinking i’d be scared to walk across the whole thing. But in real life…it was like 20 feet long and not scary at all. But when you got on the island it was breathtaking. At every angel it was absolutely stunning!
Don’t worry…no one was injured during my instastorying/selfie…
After the Carrick-a-Rede we stopped at a cute little pub for lunch. BEFORE we got there, as we checked in they gave us the fixed menu to choose from. All the basic foods, shepards pie, fish and chips, chicken goujons…so when we arrived they had seating for us and our food out and ready VERY quickly. It was AWESOME! Another plus about tours…they take care of all that for you!
I got the goujons and Yosh got the shepherds pie.
We then continued and got to some more G.O.T. filming locations. Its pretty cool that even if we weren’t on this tour, they have posted these signs that help you understand what you are looking at. Now to FIND all these signs could be a task!!!! We didn’t have the time or patience for all that so I’m very happy AGAIN to be on the tour!
See how our awesome tour guide was able to show us the EXACT scene from the show and then tell us all about filming and shoot it!!! And it was interesting to see that a lot of the locations were used for numerous scenes. They would angel the camera a different way and get 1 completely different “locations” out of the one place!
We then made our way down this little windy road to a little fishermen's warf type place. Our tour guide got out boxes of costumes. Yes…we all dressed up like GrayJoys and had battle scenes on the same beach that Theon was baptized at. I was clueless at the time…BUT months like (as I write these blogs)…how DARE them make us dress like them. I was NOT a fan of that family! haha
It was by far the geekiest thing I have ever done!! Oh what you’ll do for your love! And to make it worse we were like the craziest things…everyone was taking pictures of us! haha Oh how embarrassing.
Another non-G.O.T. stop was at the Giants Causeway. This one was a MUST for our visit to Belfast. Our tour guide was NOT amused. He said that when he was younger in grade school they went to the Causeway on EVERY school tour almost every year in school. It was so over it! haha But I was excited. He didn’t give us much time there…so we literally RAN down the LONG walkway to the bottom. You could pay money and take a tram down but a) I wanted the workout b) we were in a hurry! THankfully here there was a tram option for the older/disabled folks. At Carrick-a-Rede there wasn’t a tram and it was also a HIKE to get to the bridge.
It was pretty beautiful. The only downside was it was VERY VERY crowded. So trying to get a good picture was near impossible.
The legend that a giant, named Finn MacCool was challenged to a fight from a Scottish giant. So supposedly Finn built the causeway across the Northern Channel so the 2 giants could meet halfway. Supposedly there is the same causeway, the interlocking basalt column rocks on the coast of Scotland as well. And on a really clear day you can see Scotland from here!
So after a few…been there done that pics we literally had to RUN up the hill again, pee and pray we didn’t miss our tour bus! haha THankfully we made it and weren’t the last ones on the bus.
Last stop of our tour is another VERY visited G.O.T. location….the Dark Hedges.
It was cool to hear how they covered the street with a brown cover and then brought it shrub. All the set up for only a very short scene! The amount of time and detail that goes into every location is nuts.
Currently people can drive this road, it was originally owned by a man who sold it. Since the popularity of this site as grown, all the cars driving causes slight vibration and unfortunately has caused a few of the trees to fall over. Next summer they will be permanently closing the road to cars.
We drove back to the start of the tour, which was in downtown Belfast and about 1.5 hours away from the Dark Hedges. During that ride they played the episode ‘Battle of the Bastards’…which at the time I couldn’t even follow because I had NO clue about anyway. So I napped…
The tour was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a LONG time. We saw SO much of the northern border of Ireland. I truly believe it was because of Andrew…he was so awesome and I REALLY hope all his stories were real and not just bs.! haha
This was him in the Battle of the Bastards episode
Yes we googled the sh*t out of him to make sure this wasn’t all smoke and mirrors!! hahaha It was legit. He was totally legit and it was so awesome.
He told us about the indoor filming location…its in the old Titanic hangar! If you watch the show and know about “The Wall”…well its totally not that big…at all!! Some other cool insider info:
1) All the snow you see on the show…its all paper! Yes all of it!!
2) The extra’s are given “battle pay” if they get involved in a battle scene and swing their sword!
3) Once an extra is dead and their face is showing they are off the show…until production started using them as the undead extras.
4) Some of the extra’s beards were really cut for the show and they all FREAKED out because they use their beards to get work, many of them are extras on the show Vikings as well.
5) The Giants head is a zipper’d top. And he was drinking gallons and gallons of water a day and he wasn’t able to feed or drink himself…someone had to do it for him. Also the giant had huge weights on his feet in the costume so he’d walk like he was really a giant.
6) They used wax on all the tree’s and stuff to make it look like snow as shimmering off it
7) Jon Snow is really the most pretty man in real life, just like he is on the show!!! (Andrew’s words)
The tour was a LONG full day!! But it was such an awesome day. We asked our tour guide about any good restaurants in walking distance of drop off. He recommended ______ I’m drawing a blank and so annoyed with myself. But it was a super tacky, yet really cute restaurant and I had the best chicken strips ever!!! And in the middle of our dinner, in walks our tour guide and his gf!! haha It was kinda awkward because they were seated directly in front of us BUT we made the best of it.
There is SO much history around Belfast. Next time we go, we want to do a “black taxi” tour, which brings you around and tells you about “the troubles” as they call it.
Seeing the political buildings, the political murals still up on the walls of business is nuts too!
One thing that really struck me as odd was how there was no real border. When you leave the Republic of Ireland and cross into Northern Ireland/United Kingdom there isn’t anything that would signify that was a country change. And its a big change…you can’t use your phones when in the U.K., you have to use the English pound and not the Euro…its weird. Hardly no signs showing you crossed over nothing.
The particular road we took home, thanks to Google Maps we were directed to go total back roads almost the whole 4 hour drive home. It was so annoying! haha But when we crossed the boarder (and we only knew because it showed us on google maps) there was a memorial. We stopped and read it…Yosh also had to pee so we stopped.
A lot of tension, a lot of violence, a lot of unsettled feelings up in the North. Its weird. From religious differences to political differences…it baffles my mind being an outsider.
This is the sign that showed we were NOW in Ireland. And you would have missed it if you had blinked!
Our little vacation within a vacation was great!!!! Getting some no-kid time…and giving my parents that bonding time with my kids..it was a win/win! Thankful to have my parents to help and so happy we made the trip up.
I def want to go again…and the same tour company we went with does a “Winiterfell” tour….YEP I’m ALL the way…especially since we are TEAM STARK!
While on the tour we also got our friend Sam a shirt as a souvenir…he was watching our house and pool and he is a total G.O.T. nerd like us. And you better believe I made us all wear them when we watched Season 7 finale in August!
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