CMV Australia

Samson and Goliath are much-loved landmarks soaring above Belfast’s skyline. The two great, yellow-painted, gantry cranes are a reminder of the shipbuilding industry that put Northern Ireland’s capital firmly on the map. Housed in an iconic, state-of-the-art, 6-storey building, Titanic Belfast relives the city’s golden era and traces the story of the ill-fated liner built in the shipyards of Harland & Wolff. At the heart of today’s cosmopolitan city is Belfast’s elegant City Hall, which stands in Donegal Square. The extraordinary Giant’s Causeway is a popular excursion from this city with omnipresent Irish charm.

Part old Norse, part modern city, the Icelandic capital has a quirky character of its own. Although Reykjavik is one of the world’s smallest capital cities, it is home to almost half of Iceland’s population. Mosaics, murals and sculptures are found throughout the oldest part of the town where brightly coloured houses with tin roofs are watched over by the towering Hallgrimskirkja Church. The classic ‘Golden Circle’ featuring vast lava fields, bubbling mud pools, crashing waterfalls and spouting geysers, is a popular optional excursion along with the chance to bathe in the famous geothermal Blue Lagoon.

Once the site of an annual Viking gathering, Tórshavn is today one of the smallest and most pleasant capital cities in the world. It sits on the southern tip of Streymoy, one of eighteen islands in the Faroese archipelago. Tinganes is the old part of the town where characteristic, red wooden buildings with turf-covered roofs cluster on a narrow peninsula. It juts into the natural harbour around which the modern town has been built. The Faroe Islands have a wild and dramatic landscape, which is a magnificent backdrop to optional excursions showing how islanders live on this remote and unspoiled archipelago.

The capital of the amazing Orkney archipelago, the Royal Burgh of Kirkwall sits almost exactly in the centre of Mainland, dividing the island into East and West. The magnificent St. Magnus Cathedral, a legacy of the town’s rich Viking heritage, dominates Kirkwall’s skyline. In its shadow, the town is a cluster of grey stone buildings lining narrow, flagstone streets. Excursions explore these beautiful islands whose history can be traced back some 6,000 years through Neolithic standing stones and the magnificent archaeological site of Skara Brae. Modern day Orkney is a hive of creative activity and its craft workshops are perfect for a special souvenir.