Northern Ireland | Dillon's Blog

After we left the Giant’s Causeway and Belfast, we went to Londonderry (Derry). When we arrived in Londonderry, we went to a small house that was nice and cosy with an electric fire with images of flames on the front of it, and comfy couches.

When we left the house, we went to a bustraunt (a bus that had been converted into a restaurant) called Pyke ‘N’ Pommes, that was next to the river (Foyle).

The bustraunt

A statue next to the bustraunt

A bridge over the Foyle

There were really nice views over the river and terrific tacos to go with it. I had squid, steak and cauliflower tacos, which were all delicious!

Squid taco

Then we had a walk around the walls and saw the Peace Flame (unlit) and lots of murals. We also saw the Bloody Sunday Memorial.

The peace flame

The path leading up to the peace flame

A sign near the Bloody Sunday memorial

The Bloody Sunday Memorial

The next day, we went to a museum about the walls of Derry and why they were made.

The Walled City

A mural from when the wars were happening in Derry

The walls were built in 1613-1618. They were made to defend people who settled in Derry in the 17th century. There was lots of interesting information including a detailed timeline of the history of Derry.

Me next to a cannon on the Derry walls

Then we drove to Portstewart Strand, which is a beach over 2 miles long. We wanted to go for a nice walk over the beach, however we couldn’t as it was raining really hard!! Instead, we went and had some delicious bread and Camembert-like cheese in a restaurant called Harry’s shack nearby.

Harry’s shack

View from Harry’s shack

Afterwards, we went to Portrush, which is a town near Portstewart Strand, where we went to a nice house for the night.

Portrush sign

It was a really nice house and was very homely. We then went to a small amusement park where we played 2p machines for hours. We got lots of tickets and cashed them in for a BB-8 lamp. We also went on the wheel outside a few times and we saw some nice views over Portrush.

The amusement park

The wheel

Me on the wheel

BB-8 light

It’s really nice and looks amazing on my wall!

BB-8 in my room

BB-8 in my room (slightly better quality)

Then we went for a walk along the coast and saw dolphins! They were quite far away behind a canoe. They were really cute and looked amazing!

A view of the coast from when we were looking at dolphins.

Me on the rocks on the coastline when we were looking at dolphins.

We then went to a nice tapas restaurant for tea and had lots of lovely food including oysters and mussels.

Some really nice tapas

Sadly, we had to leave the next day to drive back to Dublin and get on the ferry to home.

When we got off the ferry, we went to a really nice fish and chip restaurant called Enochs in Wales. It was really tasty and I loved the hake that we had along with some amazing chips, fantastic frickles ( battered pickled gherkins) and mushy peas.

Fish and chips at Enochs

Some frickles at Enochs

This is the end of my lovely holiday in Ireland and I loved it all. Ireland is a place that I definitely want to go back to.

When we left Dublin, we drove over the border to Northern Ireland and went to Belfast. Once in Belfast, we went to a flat with the most comfortable beds that I’ve ever slept in!

From the flat, we could see some H&W cranes, which I learnt were shipyards and that the Titanic was made in one of them! They are enormous and look really cool.

H&W shipyard in the distance then went to Crumlin Road Gaol, which is now a museum after it closed.

The gaol

Me as a prisoner

Stocks at the gaol

When we went in the museum, I got locked in a holding cell and was stuck in a tiny enclosed space. Then we went into a tunnel which led under Crumlin Road and to the court building.

In the underground tunnel

Out of the tunnel, we went up to the Governor’s office where we saw the Centre Circle where all of the wings join together next to the Governor’s office.

Circle where the wings meet

We then went down the C wing and saw where prisoners would live, eat and work.

Wing C

If prisoners weren’t behaving, then they got beat with a birch rod 18 times if they were under 18, or if they were over 18 they could be hit by the cat o’ nine tails (the cat) or the birch rod 36 times. The cat was a rod made of nine ropes of cotton twisted together. It was a type of whip. There were some old army vehicles outside as well.

Military helicopter

We then went to a restaurant called Mourne Seafood Bar, where I had langoustines, a lobster burger and a buttermilk panna cotta with strawberries and really crumbly shortbread.

Languistines

Lobster burger

When we were going back to our flat, we saw lots of murals on the walls of houses and other buildings.

A mural

The next day, we went to the Titanic Belfast Experience.

Titanic Belfast

There were lots of parts of it including the makers Harland and Wolff and how they made it. It took over 10 months to decorate the inside of the Titanic with furniture, carpets, etc. We also went in a 360° cinema to take us on a tour of the Titanic in her beauty days. After she set off from Dublin she went to Southampton then to Cherbourg, France and then to Cobh, Republic of Ireland then the bottom of the ocean when she sunk in the North Atlantic Ocean. We went in a cable car and had a look around a shipyard that was built into the museum. Finally we went to the cinema and saw what she’s like today, resting under the ocean.

A map of where the Titanic was made in the shipyard

View of where the Titanic was put into the water from the Titanic Belfast Experience

H&W logo

Me using a morse code telegraph transmitter

When we got back to the apartment I saw the film Titanic for the first time.

Titanic

The next day, we left for Londonderry, but on the way we went to the Dark Hedges and the Giant’s Causeway. The Dark Hedges are made up of beech trees and look really interesting.

The Dark Hedges

The Giant’s Causeway is only 12 miles from Scotland and if it’s a clear day you can even see part of Scotland from the Giant’s Causeway. The Giant’s Causeway is a lot of hexagonal shaped rocks that were made from lava fissures but look like they have giant’s features in them. The main giant was called Finn McCool and got into a fight, which was how the Causeway was made. He had a camel as well to ride home on. It was really interesting and I would love to go back again.