Anyone who has ever watched GOT knows that it is not only the drama, the story line, the characters (and of course the dragons) which got them glued to the series but also the breathtaking locations which made them go 'WOW'.
Although most of the locations were heavily CGI'd, it is not unknown that GOT was shot at various locations across Europe like Iceland, Croatia, Spain, Northern Ireland, Malta, etc.
In fact, because of this highly successful and loved TV Series, different tour operators have started 'Game of Thrones Tours' in those countries.
We booked our full day 'Game of Thrones with Giant Causeway - Belfast' tour with McComb's Coach Travel Limited through Viator during our Northern Ireland trip.
We boarded the McComb's coach in front of their office on a very rainy day. It took us about one and half hour ride along the Antrim coast to reach our first destination, a small village called Carnlough with a small, pretty harbour.
Its link to GOT is that this is the harbour where Arya crawled up the steps after being stabbed by The Waif. This was a quick stopover and we carried on to our next stop with the rain already ruining our trip.
Our next destination was the Cushendun caves, where (in GOT) Melisandre gave birth to a shadow baby who killed Renly Baratheon. It was a short walk along the coast to the 400 million years old caves from the village.
At this point, it got too windy and too rainy. Umbrellas were of no use and it was hard to click a picture without getting water drops on the camera lens. Nonetheless we enjoyed the walk and the gorgeous view of the sea.
Moving on to our third viewpoint, we reached the Dark Hedges, the avenue of beech trees which were shown as The Kingsroad in GOT and also got featured in the movie "Transformers - The Last Knight".
Wikipedia says - "In about 1775 James Stuart built a new house, named Gracehill House after his wife Grace Lynd. Over 150 beech trees were planted along the entrance road to the estate, to create an imposing approach". You can visit the Gracehill House if you are travelling by car. But on a bus tour, we decided to stay on the road as time slots are provided for each destination.
The next stop was the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Giant's Causeway, an area of thousands of hexagonal basalt columns formed due to volcanic fissure eruptions. A 15-20 minutes walk from the Visitor's Centre will bring you to one of the greatest natural wonder of United Kingdom. The walk was easy and the views magnificent. This is one of the most visited places in Norther Ireland and we could see hundreds of people on the columns. It is hard to believe we managed to take a picture without so many people in it.
After lunch break, we reached one of our favourite spots on our tour, the tiny and charming Ballintoy Harbour. In GOT, this is shown as Lordsport in the Isle of Pyke where Theon Greyjoy arrived and met his sister Yara. Situated at the end of a narrow steep road down the Knocksaughey Hill, the harbour has a parking lot and a small cafe nearby.
A 5 minutes ride from Ballintoy harbour and we reached our final destination, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. It was around 1.5 km walk from the parking to the Bridge and the views were spellbinding.
Fortunately the rain stopped by this time and the clouds only made the views more dramatic. Crossing the rope bridge was kind of challenging as it was very windy and the bridge was swaying badly. The entry fee to the bridge was not included in our tour, so we had to pay extra to cross the bridge.
We walked all the way back to the parking to find that the sun is out for the first time in the entire day and there was no rain whatsoever. So after the heavy downpour throughout the day, we finally got a sunny evening and bid adieu to the stunning Antrim coast to go back to our hotels. If you have a car, you should not miss this, one of the most scenic drive along the magnificent Antrim coastal road. If you don't have the option to drive, then you should include any of the guided tours if you are in Belfast and you would not regret.
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