UNDER THE TREES AND SPAR... THE REAL GAME OF THRONES
I’M standing outside Spar in the sleepy village of Carnlough, Co. Antrim, munching on a home-crafted sausage roll. Between bites my eye casts to the tiny harbour across the road where Irish music plays from a boat.
It’s hard to imagine the bustling Bravosi harbour that Game Of Thrones directors had conjured up right here.
You see, this fishing village on the Northern Irish coastline is right where Arya was filmed jumping into the sea in a bid to escape The Waif in season six of the popular HBO series.
Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I’m a huge Game Of Thrones fan, so I jumped at the chance of seeing where the scenes were filmed in and around Belfast city.
I decided to make a weekend of it along with my two sisters Elaine and Orla.
We booked two nights in the 4star Europa hotel in Belfast city which is located on Great Victoria Street.
The hotel is a tourist attraction in its own right after becoming the most bombed hotel in Europe during The Troubles.
After a great sleep we head down for a full breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant and fuelled up for a long day of bus touring.
Our GOT tour was with McComb tours, who are the only tour company to receive a fivestar award for their services.
The bus is clean, comfortable and modern, and our tour guide, Derek, is not just well-versed, he has everyone wide awake and in a great mood before we leave the city behind.
What’s great about McComb’s Game Of Thrones tour is that they don’t just talk about the popular HBO show, even though that’s the main attraction.
The tour also adds in historical snippets about the Antrim coastline, from pointing out the Earl of Antrim’s manor house to hearing the story of Paddy the pigeon, a carrier bird who was awarded the Dickin Medal in WW2 after being the fastest pigeon to arrive back in England with news of the successful D-Day invasion.
Our first stop of the day is Carnlough, from there we headed on to Cushendun, which is the cave where Melisandre gave birth to the shadow assassin who killed Renly Baratheon.
What you don’t see though in that iconic scene is the gateway in the background which signals the entrance to someone’s house. I kid you not. Ballintoy Harbour was the next port of call, where Theon Greyjoy returned to the Iron Islands via Pyke Harbour.
The walk down to the Harbour took about 15 minutes but the views were stunning.
Next on the to-visit list was Carrick-a-Rede Ropebridge and The Giant’s Causeway.
Neither feature in Game of Thrones specifically, but they’re well worth a visit, and when you’re already in the area, it makes sense to put them on the list.
The last place we visit is The Dark Hedges which has become the most popular location from Game Of Thrones.
This is where Arya Stark made her escape down The Kings Road.
It was in truth only in the show for a brief moment, but it was long enough to capture the hearts of Game Of Thrones fans everywhere.
One thing I’d say about the Dark Hedges is that it’s very hard to get a picture to do it justice. Many tour buses now stop at the location as well as tourists travelling via car.
At any given time there could be 40 plus people on the infamous stretch of road attempting to take the same breath-taking photo we see in the show.
Saying that, we did find out the history of the hedges, which were planted to create an impressive driveway up to Gracehill Manor, a house which was built by the Stuart family back in the 18th century.
ON Sunday, we headed to The Titanic Exhibition for some real life history. The building is beautifully designed and gives you the sense that you are walking inside the huge ship itself.
The museum gives great insight into the Industrial Revolution in Belfast as well as the building of the Titanic.
There are so many interesting facts and figures to gleam from the many rooms and interactive boards scattered around the building.
Our favourite part of the tour was seeing what the living quarters looked like for various passengers, including first class and Captain Smith himself.
The tour takes about two hours and ends with submarine footage of the sunken Titanic on the floor of the ocean.
It wouldn’t be a girly weekend away without a bit of shopping, so after a tour of the Titanic building we headed to Victoria Square Shopping Centre.
It has everything from high street favourites Topshop and River Island to Guess and Karen Millen, a lot of damage can be done if your feeling frivolous.
Game Of Thrones will be back on our screens in July and we’re certain a few scenes from the north will be spotted as Westros gears up for the great war. But if none of that entices you to visit Northern Ireland, perhaps those tasty sausage rolls will..