Europe Trip - Belfast, Northern Ireland

On Friday, June 22, the ship spent the day at Belfast.  We elected to take a shore excursion and are glad we did because it was pouring rain and there was flooding in Belfast.  Because we had seen the main city sights on a prior trip, we decided to take a tour out of town to "Grey Abbey & the Ards Peninsula".

The idea was to get out into the countryside to see the wonderful green landscapes outside of Belfast.  We took the coastal road south along the sea.  Our first stop was Grey Abbey, which is the site of a Cistercian Abbey where we toured the ruins.  The Abbey is set in beautiful gardens, including a "Physic Garden" of herbs.

After visiting the Abbey, we continued in the pouring rain through the Ards Peninsula - quite beautiful but no point takinig pictures in the pouring rain.

Stopped in the small seaside town of Donaghadee where we all went into the Pier 36 Pub on the Pier for an Irish  Coffee, which helped warm us up.