Hi everyone,

Although this is Part 4 of the 5-part series, this is the last full-day that’s packed with a long drive because last days when you’re traveling always involves rushing to catch a flight that almost takes a good quarter of the day. So let’s go!

Our first stop for the day in Belfast was the same as where we ended off i.e. Titanic Belfast. While you get to appreciate the lights, seeing it in the day makes it look even better. Of course, you have to be thankful for the good weather too! Clear blue skies always make for good backgrounds in photos, especially landmarks.

Here’s the Titanic Belfast in daylight and under really good sun of course! Completed in 2012, it is a monument built on the site of H&W shipyard where RMS Titanic was built more than 100 years ago.

I’m sure most if not all of us know about the Titanic tragedy in 1912, where it sank on her first voyage despite it claiming to be unsinkable. It’s one of the deadliest maritime disasters and the 2nd largest ocean liner to ever sink, beaten by its sister ship, the Britannic (a hospital ship that sunk after being hit by a torpedo by enemy ships during the WWI). The exhibition within tells of how the Titanic was constructed between 1909 and 1911, then into how it was launched and how the different classes of cabins were like. The Titanic’s maiden voyage and eventual sinking follow straight after. There’s also a “Myth and Legends” gallery that explores the many different stories that came about after, most notably, the multi-award-winning James Cameron film. The final gallery is about the wreck of the Titanic which was discovered in 1985.

That was it for the morning as we decided to head straight for lunch before the drive down to Dublin. Having seen so much of nature the past few days, I wasn’t very intrigued by the city sights which was perhaps why I wasn’t very shutter-happy and only got a few other shots of Belfast. If there’s one thing you’ll notice a lot of in Belfast, it’ll have to be the wall murals. There was one the day before with George Best standing out and here’s 2 more which I thought were very interesting ones:

Unfortunately, I’m not very good at interpreting them so I should keep away from that. Better sticking to admiring the artwork.

Here’s another sight that I notice quite a lot, both in Ireland and Northern Ireland. A street that’s lined with blooming flowers with 2 Guinness Bars opposite each other. I never got to asking what so special about this though.

 

Before heading out of Belfast, there was still time to check out the Belfast Castle, which was a little out of the way since it was in the North but it’s never a problem when you’ve got a car. What you don’t get to see in the photo are the beautiful flowers that brightened up the gardens of the castle.

Next was the drive straight out towards Dublin, which included a stopover that was in County Meath, the area of Brú na Bóinne which means Palace of the Boyne. The prehistoric monument you see below is the Newgrange passage grave. It’s apparently built during the Neolithic period which makes it older than Stonehenge and even the Egyptian pyramids, according to the information panels, at least. We arrived a bit too late to go on the tour so we could only admire it from afar and once again, I’m glad that my lens is sort of a zoom lens!

Once we were in Dublin, my friend suggested that we head to Poolbeg Lighthouse that was in the Dublin Bay area. Here’s how it looks like, when zoomed in. Since we were there, we were definitely going all the way, even if it meant we had to take a long walk all the way there.

This is the silhouette of the power station that was behind me when I took the shot of the lighthouse above.

You’re going to see this lighthouse a few more times… Here’s the start point of the 2 mile walk towards it!

Since it was a 2 mile walk, no harm getting a cup of hot chocolate with a nice little Irish flag on it to savour along the way 🇮🇪

Those dark clouds were a warning sign that the rain was coming in, but we were still confident that we could make it to the lighthouse before the rain started so we carried on!

Another one of the lighthouse and the rainclouds are just getting scarier.

When you’re closer to the lighthouse, it seems there’s a bit of sun that brightens up the place but it’s just around the lighthouse. Everywhere around it is just dark clouds, waiting to open out with pouring rain.

Just a little more to the lighthouse but by the time we were there, it was just all dark. Deciding to head back from here probably wasn’t the best idea because we were soon caught in a crazy downpour!

After much struggle and getting absolutely drenched, we got back to where we started and we were blessed with a beautiful double rainbow! 🌈

Here’s another angle of the rainbow and you can see the stark contrast between the 2 sides of the rainbow.

Being drenched isn’t the best of feelings and it took us at least 2 hours before we managed to dry up. By then it was already pretty late so dinner was a really late one once again. The post-dinner activity was to get some night views of 2 of the bridges in Dublin City Centre.

The Ha’penny Bridge

And the Samuel Beckett Bridge.

At this point, I remembered that I needed to conserve the battery of my camera for the waterfalls the next day so it was time to call it a night.

That’s Part 4 then, with Part 5 coming soon after. Until then, take care and God bless you!

Ben