This beautiful tourist destination includes locations featured in episodes of the popular HBO television series.
The HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’ was filmed in various locations across Northern Ireland. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Northern Ireland is often overlooked as a tourist destination, partly because of the province’s troubled past and partly because the neighbouring Republic of Ireland attracts the lion’s share of visitors.
But Northern Ireland has a lot to offer the traveller, including some of the best coastal scenery in the United Kingdom. Here are some of the highlights:
Dunluce Castle occupied an almost impregnable headland location with steep cliffs on all sides. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Dunluce Castle was one of the grandest castles in the region. In the early 1600s it included a fine Jacobean manor house that is now in ruins.
The tourism authorities are making the most of the location’s connection to the HBO series “Game of Thrones”, which was filmed here, to attract visitors. The rugged coastline at Ballintoy Beach featured in a couple of episodes.
The tiny harbour at Ballintoy (left) is protected from churning seas by a seawall. Meanwhile, it is difficult to imagine that nature could have formed these 12m-high columns. (Thrifty Traveller pics)
The small island of Carrick-a-Rede is joined to the mainland by a rope bridge suspended 30m above a chasm. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Northern Ireland’s most famous natural wonder is the Giant’s Causeway, a landscape made up of an estimated 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, mostly hexagonal in shape.
The Giant’s Causeway is a Unesco World Heritage site. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Stunning scenery around the Giant’s Causeway (left) and at Fairhead, Ballycastle, another ‘GoT’ filming location. (Thrifty Traveller pics)
The landscaped estate called Downhill Demesne was created by the Earl Bishop of Derry, Fredrick Hervey, in the 18th century. One of its best features is the circular Mussenden Temple, built as a library for the Bishop.
The Mussenden Temple was modelled on the Roman Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Built on a clifftop, the Mussenden Temple has fantastic views of the beach and railway below.
There are excellent beaches all along the coast of Northern Island, such as the Whiterocks Beach at Portrush. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Away from the coastal scenery, other noteworthy places to visit include the following:
The Old Bushmills Distillery has been making Irish whiskey since 1608. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Belfast City Hall contains an interesting permanent exhibition on the city’s history. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
Construction of the Anglican Belfast Cathedral began in 1899 and continued for nearly 80 years. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
The Palm House at the Belfast Botanic Gardens opened in 1840 and was one of the first curvilinear cast-iron glasshouses in the world. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
The Big Fish is a 10m-long statue on Donegall Quay, Belfast, and is clad in printed ceramic tiles.(Thrifty Traveller pic)
The people of Northern Ireland are very friendly with a good sense of humour. (Thrifty Traveller pic)
