MSC Magnifica picture heavy fun review -- 12 days British Isles incl. DIY port trips

[CTBob]

:confused:can't decide what to post first ... the actual bridge crossing followed by the island or the two posts with scenic pictures ... you decide... I'll wait:).

 

Stef

It really doesn't matter as long as there is another post to read every day. As an Irishman who's never been to Ireland this is as close as I've ever been. Wish I was as young and adventurous as you are! Thanks, Bob

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Aww, you can't leave us hanging at the edge of the bridge (with bonus pics of cute dogs and kids) without letting us crossing it! I vote for the bridge crossing. We'll enjoy the scenery after "our" hard work. :D

 

lol-- your wish is my command! Bridge crossing coming up in a minute:).

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

an Irishman who's never been to Ireland

 

Hi Bob,

 

:eek:how tragic -- what's keeping you? As soon as you're home from the Divina cruise, heck or even WHILE onboard Divina -- book another MSC cruise around the British Isles! I believe it's the MSC Splendida, who does this tour in 2015...never too late to finally see Ireland especially as an Irishman. Go for it!

 

or screw a cruise ... book a land vacation, to give you more time to explore your roots in all length ... lol -- or just to enjoy longer evening pub-visits. You don't have to be neither young nor adventurous to visit Ireland. You'll love it anyhow ... and if you have any Irish blood left in ya, I'm sure you'll be able to connect to the locals. Every Irish we talked to was very communicative and friendly towards visitors. Again -- just go for it!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Carrick-a-Rede (post three of five)

Crossing the bridge!

After standing in line --- and you WILL stand in line if visiting during the peak season, you finally approach the bridge.

Gulp. This is what it is anchored to…looks sturdy enough.

They let a group of 8 people walk over at a time. On the way to the island I was the first of our group. Here’s a picture of the last person of the group before us. Gulp!

It was really windy and heck that thing moves!

I originally wanted to pause for a second while in the middle and take a picture… lol – at least that was my plan when I was still standing on solid ground… once I was ON that sucker… all I wanted is to hurry over to the other side and hang on with both arms.

At least that last minute whimpyness resulted in a rather quick crossing and so I could turn around and take a picture of my loved ones while they were still ON the bridge.

Tadah! We made it! I really don’t think it’s dangerous, yet if you plan a crossing when heavy wind is blowing be prepared for some motion. It definitely was a thrill this way!

I’ll tell you about the island in the next post, so now you’ll immediately get to enjoy our route back over the bridge…remember … it’s an island…no matter how scary … you’ll have to cross the damn thing

again

to get back to the shore. It’s 65 feet long and a hundred feet above the rocks… but remember … no human has ever fallen down in over 300 years … and they renew the bridge very frequently – why should you be the first to tumble down there? I took this picture right before returning to the main land.

See my foot behind Tarik’s? Proof – I was there! And you can see the gushing tide way,

way, WAY

! below.

Aaaahhh !!!!!

Big breath and let’s cross this thing one more time and be done with it!

Lol – Tarik and I were pretty fast again, so this time I had the opportunity to catch a pic of Tanja fighting with the wind gusts.

Come on honey -- -almost there!

And since nobody (sniff) took a picture of ME while on the bridge (maybe I was just too fast because I was being whimpy), they took one of me with the entire bridge in the background afterwards:

Tadahhh!

It was – for us -- worth the entrance fee. I don’t know if it would be a bit boring to cross, if there’s less wind … but then again maybe you could actually pause on the bridge for pictures then … I guess there’s always ups and downs.

Next up: a few impressions from the little island.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[suekay]

That's impressive. Brought back the panicky feeling I had when walking on the Bridge over the River Kwai (and that one doesn't sway so I dont know how I'd be on your bridge[emoji4] ) Enjoying your posts!

[windjamming]

Stef, that was awesome!! I could practically feel the wind and a tightened stomach just looking at your pictures! What a rush it must have been, especially as leader of your group!

 

I feel like I should cue up the Indiana Jones music as the soundtrack, lol!

 

Thanks so much for sharing this with us! (And ahead of the scenery, heehee)

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Carrick-a-Rede (post four of five)

There is really nothing to do on the little island than to enjoy the scenery once more. Take care in where you set your feet … some areas right next to the cliffs are only partially secured. But ever since visiting the Grand Canyon in the US I keep close watch over Tanja (and now Tarik as well) so they don’t get too close to the abyss … Tanja scared the heck out of me once there doing exactly that … so now I take precautions and tell them ahead to stay at a safe distance. Too bad that the definition of “safe” is different in my book than in Tanja’s.

Most of the spots were secured either by rope:

Or by a wooden fence:

But some lacked safety completely.

The wind was getting fiercer and fiercer and we still had to cross that bridge again.

So slowly but surely we headed back to stand in line again to return over the bridge. Here you can see a boat dangling in the air …

is this to show the fishermen’s history? Or is this actually still in use? We’ve read that they have to “rescue” stranded tourists off the island on a regular basis. Either by boat (most common) or by helicopter (if there are injuries forbidding the boats).

Lol – if you’re too chicken to return via the bridge --- I highly doubt you dare to hike down these steps to hop onto a nutshell…

see the steps leading down underneath the boat?

They probably bring much bigger, safer looking boats though :-) . Not that I’d like to find out …. That would be a highly embarrassing situation … to be transported off under the looks of all the people standing in line to cross the bridge. Mhhh, I wonder if they ever had to close down the use of the bridge due to the weather with people still on the island…

I guess that’s the only “non-embarrasing way to leave the island by boat -- if they have to evacuate everybody this way.

Anyway, enough of the island. I’ll treat you with more pictures of the beautiful coastline next.

Stay tuned!

Stef

Edited November 19, 2014 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Thank you Suekay and Windjamming:p

 

Lol -- had to google the Kwai bridge ... do trains still run on it? What do you do, if you're right in the middle and a train arrives? :eek:

 

I love the Indiana Jones thought! Although I must say we weren't THAT brave:D. But still -- from now on I'll have that theme song in my head when I remember that bridge .... and I'm loving it! Thank you for that!

 

Stef

[suekay]

Thank you Suekay and Windjamming:p

 

Lol -- had to google the Kwai bridge ... do trains still run on it? What do you do, if you're right in the middle and a train arrives? :eek:

 

I love the Indiana Jones thought! Although I must say we weren't THAT brave:D. But still -- from now on I'll have that theme song in my head when I remember that bridge .... and I'm loving it! Thank you for that!

 

Stef

In my case.....panic even more[emoji5] There are small refuge platforms -if you google photos you'll see what I mean. Yes, train still run regularly on the line. We travelled on one of the old trains for 1-2 hours then stayed in a riverside hotel near Hellfire Pass overnight. You really must go to Thailand one day, but make sure you write a review[emoji1]

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Carrick-a-Rede (post five of five and a half ;-) I just couldn’t decide on which of those to show … so you’ll get a bonus picture post)

 

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Carrick-a-Rede (last post)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way back to the bus we got into a humongous argument. I don't want to go into detail, but let's say the kid lingered a little too long to take pictures although we discussed we'd have to hurry to catch the bus. The whole thing sort of got out of hand and ended up with Tanja and Tarik shoving each other...:confused: am I travelling with TWO teens? My petty attempts to calm the situation down were in vain and Tanja and Tarik ended up refusing to talk to one another ... oh please... guys ... the Giant's Causeway is coming up next ... my favorite site of the whole trip to see...don't spoil it for me! But it was hopeless... the air was filled with tension and aggravation. We did make it in time to the bus and on to the causeway, but I wanted to tell you right away, that I don't have as many pictures and happy feelings concerning it, than what I would have liked. It's not the Causeway's fault ... Family life isn't always smelling like roses, so I guess I'll just have to get over it.

 

I'll still try to tell you all about it however and imagine that our visit would have been in better spirits.

 

 

next up: the Giant's Causeway!

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:osorry guys, since the next post has a bit of history attached to it, it'll take me a day or two to finish it... Please be patient. I'm working on it.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Giant’s Causeway (post one of three)

Our busdriver once again showed a very money-saving attitude, when he decided to drop us off at the roadside right in front of the visitor center, instead of driving onto the designated bus parking lot … because that would have cost money. He told us that since he wasn’t allowed to stay on the roadside however, he’d return in about two hours to pick us back up at the same spot.

I would have really loved to know where he spent those two hours lol. I bet it was pleasant – he just wasn’t the type to let an opportunity like this pass unused.

This is the entrance to the parking lot or the street you’ll walk up if you get here by public bus.

The black klutz to the right is the new visitor center. It apparently is a very well thought out architectural design, which won many prizes for its innovative and sustainable style.

My personal opinion … it couldn’t be any uglier or unfitting for this beautiful landscape. But I’m biased. I just love old houses and a more traditional style. This is way too modern for me. Maybe it’s a beauty inside. We wouldn’t know, because we didn’t check it out. To see the Causeway itself is absolutely free of charge … just when you enter the visitor’s center you have to pay admission.

To simply get to the Causeway, you follow the path this nice parking-lot-man shows you in the above picture … just leave the klutz to your left and you’ll end up on the path seeing this:

To get to the main part of the causeway, you have to pass this first bay called Portnaboe.

Here you would have the opportunity to see the “Giant’s camel” and the “Giant’s boot” . Lol – I guess I’ll have to pause at the end of this post to tell you a bit about the legend of the giant, who gave this place its name. Hang in there.

Well, we didn’t go see the boot or the camel. Sigh, I had my hands full with keeping the moody situation somewhat bearable. At least I got Tanja persuaded to join us on our way to the causeway, but just because she grudgingly agreed to come along, didn’t mean she was in a better mood or at least be done with quarreling with the kid. Sigh, she’s a Taurus and can be unbelievably stubborn sometimes.

Sigh, I did take this panoramic picture, in the hope of maybe seeing some details on it later on at home...

… but I don’t spot a boot and I’m thinking I only captured the hump of the camel (being the hill on the left in the picture) … but not the complete “animal”. Heck, better half a camel than no camel at all … wait, that sounds horrible… just erase that. Aehm, let’s move on.

Multiple well done info posters were set up, where you could also activate an audioguide (I guess you can get those in the visitor center). They also had rangers explaining stuff to little groups of people. But like I said – I had my mind elsewhere. No matter how awesome the Causeway…family comes first…always … although honestly I felt ready to kick both of them in the butt (Tanja, Tarik: no worries, I still love you both … and how you both handled the Dublin fiasco … I’ll never forget and be forever grateful!)

Well, at the end of the second bay called Port Ganny, you finally get to the main sight of the causeway, the countless columns stretching out into the sea. On the following picture you can see, that you don’t necessarily have to walk here…

they have this little shuttlebus going back and forth for one pound each way.

Personally I thought the constant engine noise and honking to get people out of the way was a wee bit annoying … but again… maybe it was just because of the circumstances.

Also you can get an impression of the amount of people here in the peak season. I’m not a crowdy sights person, so … bummer.

But at least I got to see these structures:

Did you know that the tallest ones are more than 16 meters high? Felt like balancing on a giant’s toothpick.

Tadahh… my feet… I really WAS there … somewhat.

So, now. Let’s talk about this phenomenon, which is called the Giant’s Causeway.

There are two completely differing versions on how it came into existence… one geological and one legendary one. I would love to start with the legendary one if you don’t mind … so all you people wanting to remain believing in Santa Claus, giants, fairies and such things, can choose to skip the “factual” bottom part of this post. I’ll warn you in time as to when to scroll down real fast, okay?

The Legend of Finn Mc Cool (or Fionn mac Cumhaill in Gaelic)

There once was a giant called Finn McCool, living happily on the Antrim coast with his wife Oonagh. Life would have been pleasant as can be, if there wouldn’t have been this pesty other Giant Benandonner from Scotland, who constantly teased Finn.

At one time Benandonner came over to harass Finn again. He scooped up a clod of earth and hurled it at Finn … thankfully he missed. The clump landed in the sea and formed the Isle of Man and the place, where it was scooped up, filled with water and formed Lake Neagh, a huge lake in Northern Ireland … just to give you an impression of the dimensions we’re talking here.

Anyway, at one point, Finn was fed up and was ready to challenge Benandonner to a proper fight. Now, too bad that Finn would have to go to Scotland to do so and he just didn’t want to get his feet wet --- even giants can be sissies sometimes. So he built the Giant’s Causeway to get dry footed to Fingal’s cave on the Scottish Isle of Staffa, where Benandonner lived.

But once he approached Benandonner, he realized, that so far he had always seen him from quite a distance and as he now got closer and closer the ever growing, overwhelming size of this Scottish giant scared the crap out of Finn.

He fled in terror with Benandonner hot on his trail. During this hasty retreat, he lost one of his boots, which can still be seen (and climbed on) today. Even in those days family was the most important thing: Finn’s wife saw the two approaching and jumped to Finn’s rescue.

She managed to distract Benandonner to have enough time for Finn to slip in their cave and then stuffed him in a giant baby’s cradle, dressed in huge baby clothes. When Benandonner finally came into the cave to look for Finn, Oonagh told him, that only Finn’s baby son was at home, pointing to the cradle.

The sheer size of the baby made Benandonner nervous about the size of the father and after Oonagh tricked him once more with fake pancakes with “stone” filling for the “baby” (she actually took eggshells for the crunch effect), he finally decided it would be better to flee himself … fast. So fast, that he ripped up parts of the Causeway on his way back to Scotland.

This is why today, we only see the remaining parts on the Antrim-, as well as the Staffa coast and not in between.

There are three more sights around the Causeway considered part of Finn’s story.

The camel -- once alive of course, seemed to be the only animal large enough to carry Finn on his back. One day, it laid down in the surf and fell asleep so deeply, that it turned into stone.

The wishing chair was built by Finn’s parents for baby Finn to sit in…of course it only served as a seat while he was a wee kid … or otherwise it would be way too tall for humans today. If a human today however takes seat in the wishing chair, she (until shortly it was only allowed for women to sit on it) is granted a wish. You can imagine, that this seat became very popular and it got smoothed down from all the use over the centuries to a degree, that it turns out to be quite comfy today. Guys—go ahead, it is now open to men as well.

The organ. Life gets boring without music … also for giants. So they constructed their own gigantic organ to play on, close to their cave. The size of this structure will be sure to impress you!

So that’s the legendary approach. I am in utter love with it. But of course there has to be a non-mythical explanation as well for all you scientific adults out there (where’s Peter Pan when you really need him?).

Following will be the scientific approach to the phenomenon. So scroll down NOW, if you don’t want to know. Lol – of course it’s always better to know more and THEN decide which version you wanna stick to.

Science coming up in

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The Giant’s Causeway and how it was formed by plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions

60 million years ago Europe and North America started to drift away from each other, creating a huge, ever increasing crack, which eventually formed the Atlantic Ocean. (Interesting fact: The separation line of the American and the European plate runs straight through Iceland…so in a way you can physically be in Iceland and still stand on ancient American ground :-) but now back to the coast of Antrim)

This whole plate cracking and moving business was accompanied by heavy volcanic activity. Lots of lava flowed up to the earth surface and hardened into basalt when it cooled off.

Then everything was quiet for hundreds of thousands of years. Then the earth cracked open again and more lava forced its way out. This time, the lava cooled slowly, cracking along the way. So how did we get the columns?

I understood it through this example:

Have you ever seen rain puddles, which have dried up and the dried up mud on the bottom has cracked to form bizarre patterns? This is just the same! It’s called honeycomb effect and basically the columns you see today are like the cracked mud in the puddles…just way, way bigger and solid.

Later on, more eruptions covered up the freshly created columns. It then took millions of years for them to be revealed through a mixture of erosion and changing tides. It wasn’t until the end of the last ice age (a measly fifteen thousand years ago), that the columns were revealed to show the shoreline we see today.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[AnnMR]

Love your history lessons - both types in this case. Keep up the good work.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Giant’s Causeway (post two of three)

Darn, there really were a LOT of people:

But Tarik managed to get this people-free shot with only the two tiny human specs on top of the cliff walk.

A very popular spot was this structure, leading out to the sea.

Since we thought it was too occupied already, we only walked up to its side.

But also the structures not in direct contact to the water were worth some time and pictures.

Tarik was already smiling again… kids are so much easier than adults sometimes. Tanja didn't want to walk on to the columns and was waiting at the departure point of the little shuttle bus. We didn’t have much time to roam around since letting her wait for a longer period of time would have escalated the situation once more. This whole deal was very strenuous, but I guess everybody is entitled to be …cranky sometimes. Just a bummer, that it had to be at the Causeway.

It was still cool to climb around … but on some of the tilted columns it was a bit slippery. So watch out for those.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Giant’s Causeway (last post)

If you climb up on the columns at the end of Port Ganny, you get a glimpse of the next bay called Port Noffer. You can see the coastal path leading slightly upwards past the Organ.

 

Wait … here’s a close up:

Naaaahhh still not close enough. One more:

Yes, now you can see the incredible size of this thing. See the tiny people at the bottom?

I would have so loved to walk there. On the way back, around half way of Port Noffer we could have taken the Shepherd’s steps (162 uneven and tall steps) to the up above cliff path to return to the visitor center with probably beautiful views and a lot less crowds around. Maybe we would even have had enough time to do a little further hike to look at the ruins of Dunseverick castle.

Sigh. Needless to say -- none of this would happen today. So we half climbed, half slid down our look out spot to return to Tanja.

She wanted to return to the visitor center right away, so we followed along. When we were there, we were way too early for the bus and I was exhausted from all the stress. I don’t do well with disharmony between me and Tanja. She is my world and if we get in a (thankfully rare) fight I’m simply downright miserable. We agreed on going inside this bar/restaurant venue with a lot of sewing machines lined up in front, but after a renewed verbal argument of my two contestants on the way to the front door, I was done. I refused to continue anywhere with them in this manner and just sat down on the curb to the side of these sewing machine-tables and cried.

 

To make a long story short … we all ended up crying like there’s no tomorrow sitting on that curb. We must have been a disturbing sight. I apologize to everybody. But it was sooo necessary to get it out of our systems. Back on the bus, something happened to me that never has so far and hopefully won’t happen to me again during a port day visit …

I fell asleep … totally drained.

We’ll definitely have to return to the Causeway one day, since I refuse to let this visit count.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Love your history lessons - both types in this case. Keep up the good work.

 

:p thank you!:p

 

I'll give my best. But after this port day I think I might need a few days of rest until I continue.

 

Stef

[Pluto_fan]

Aw, Stef, I'm sure it was difficult for you to relive this part of the trip, just for the sake of giving us a thorough review. We appreciate your honesty! I'm glad to know it's not just my family that has moments of "real life" even when we're on vacation! :o

 

The Giant's Causeway looks fascinating...that is at the top of our list for our next trip to Ireland!

[denisey]

Oh, I like the Science story best, no wait, the Legend, no wait, the Science....I think they are both fascinating.

 

I'm sorry it was such a difficult day for your family. I'm glad you could see the beauty of the area and are willing and planning to go back!

 

When I looked at your Carrick a Rede pictures, I thought Tarik and Tanja were both making the same squishy faces in the wind! Maybe that was a sign of things to come.

 

Take a lot of deep breaths and enjoy your weekend with your family! We'll still be here later, waiting for you!

 

Denise

[AnnMR]

I have two boys and the oldest behaved like a teen even before he reached 13. He doesn't come on holiday with us anymore - this was after a trip to Paris where we lost each other on the Eiffel Tower due to some moody 'I don't want to be with you behaviour' which ended up with him having to find his own way back to our apartment (aged 14) after we failed to track him down - and our first cruise where he said he'd come as long as I didn't make him come on any trips! So I recognise some of your pain ;-)

 

These photos are awesome. This isn't a bit of Ireland I've been to, but it's on my wish list now.

[bridgetjonesni]

Awww I'm so sorry that family fighting happened when you were at the Causeway - I know that was one of the places you were really looking forward to visiting. If it's any consolation, you probably just looked like the average Irish family anyway - we love nothing more than a huge argument here, so in a way you were just living like a local :p If that is no comfort to you, you'll just have to come back another time and see it all again when tempers are calmer :D

 

I love your photographs though. The bit that stretches out right into the sea? One day in winter, when there was hardly anyone around (it's much quieter in winter months), my husband and I walked out as far as we could to where the stones meet the sea. I nearly slipped and fell about twenty times (you're not kidding about the rocks being slippery!) but the feeling of standing out on the edge of this mythical/ancient (depending on your preference!) walkway, being sprayed by the freezing cold sea smashing into the rocks at your feet... it's powerful and majestic, and even a little bit magical. One of my favourite places in this green little island of mine :) Just wear sturdy footwear and a good waterproof jacket!!!

 

Edit: Oh here, I found a photo taken by hubby:

Edited November 21, 2014 by bridgetjonesni

[Holiday Planner]

Hi Stef, I'm just catching up on the last two weeks as we were on our first MSC cruise last week (Splendida from Barcelona), and since have been visiting family followed by a busy time at work. Loving your review of Ireland. It's another place on my wish list and will go by ferry one day as we are only a couple of hours drive from Holyhead.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

thank you everybody for your nice posts!

 

AnnMR -- oh my God -- I think I would have freaked on the Eiffel tower... I already freaked last year, when we lost Tarik on Mount Vesuvius. ANd there we retrieved him pretty quickly ... to imagine going back to the hotel ... waiting ... in a country, where he probably doesn't speak the language ... horrible! Thank God everything worked out. Quite the adventure for your kid anyway --- I'm sure he'll never forget.

 

bridgetjonesNI -- That picture is so gorgeous. Your hubby rocks! Thanks for sharing.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Home stretch

We left the Causeway really late… our fabulous bus driver had given us more time at Carrick-a-Rede AND the Causeway than what was scheduled. I figured, that somehow he had gotten the info on the prolonged boarding time --- being 18:30 now instead of 16:30. Well, it was a quarter to four, when he pulled over to a quick picture stop of Dunluce castle. This wasn’t even on our itinerary … what a nice guy. We were still at ease with the remaining time …

Quick sidetrack about Dunluce castle:

The first records go back to the year 1513, when the castle belonged to the MacQuillans. There are evidences of earlier structures; some say there are even signs of an ancient ringfort. However one (well -- me that is :-) )lacks more detailed information so far.

Dunluce has been the headquarter of the MacDonnell Clan from 1584. Quite handy for them (but definitely not for the poor sailors) came the sinking of one of the ships from the Spanish Armada four years later, laden with many treasures, that helped to pay for the uphold of the castle.

It was inhabited until 1639, when parts of the building broke off and fell into the sea. Tragically it was the kitchen area occupied by servants working in it, who needless to say, all lost their lives during this catastrophe.

Originally there was a village at the base of the basalt hill topped by the castle… it burned down in 1641. I guess, the area tends to tragedies… as in 1857 the "Exmouth", a ship headed to the colonies, sank and left 240 lives lost.

Today Dunluce is a main tourist attraction and you can tour the grounds with audioguides. Thorough stabilizing measures are being fortaken to the cliff… still… taken into the account all the tragedies sticking to this place so far… I don’t feel the strong urge to climb around on that cliff myself.

But all we did was to take a picture from far away… so that was cool.

On we drove … to the ship we thought… but our bus driver had other sights planned for us. He pulled into the parking lot of Bushmills distillery and told us we’d have an hour to tour the place …. It was well past four o'clock already and we started to get a wee bit nervous… we were still a looong way away from Belfast and our ship.

We don’t do Whisky and/or Whisk

e

y. Before planning for this trip I had no idea that there was a difference. It’s pretty simple: Whisky is from Scotland, Whisk

e

y is from Ireland… and apparently Bushmills is the oldest, or one of the oldest Whiskey distilleries in all of Ireland. Mhhh … if you’re a fan, you’d be happy about this extra stop… we were a bit annoyed. We were hungrier than hell – crying wears you out and we needed food – not Whiskey. We already had the Pizza from the Sahara Buffet restaurant in our minds watering our mouths… but now it would take at least another two hours to get a bite of those .. We needed something else.

Across the street from the distillery there is a tiny supermarket. We went in and bought snacks and drinks. And we munched on something I never tried before:

Oh My God! Those were the best chips ever! When we told our tablemates in the evening, they said they’d try to get some of those while in Dublin later on… know what?

They didn’t have them there …

The hometown of Guinness and you can’t buy those Guinness chips here… is this just a gimmick for the UK market? We loved them and I would definitely advise to try ‘em … wherever you can get ‘em that is.

We were all back at the bus early, because we started to worry about making it to the ship in time … who knows how Belfast rushhour traffic will be?

Somehow there seemed to have been a misunderstanding … I don’t know WHEN he planned to drop us off at the ship originally, but when we "carefully reminded" our driver that we’d have to be on the ship no later than 18:30 (basically to prevent him bringing us to even more sights), he hit that gas pedal …. Man he drove like the devil was right behind him. I didn’t know a bus could be this fast. We saw Northern Ireland rush by in a wild blurr and actually arrived a little before 18:00! at the port. New speed record!

This is the Titanic museum, which you can see from the port.

Tadahhh back at the boat. We made it!

Our second “scary-time-frame” port mastered! Yes!

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dinner day 6

 

Grilled vegetables

Cold vegetable ratatouille

 

Orecchiette alla pugliese