Weekends on the move: After eight years again on the Giant’s Causeway
The Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland’s stunning natural beauty, attracts all kinds of tourists and has lured me twice in the last decade.
In the years 2014 – 2016, we traveled a lot around Ireland and at the end of September we headed to the famous Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland for the first time. Coincidentally, I returned to the same place in September 2022 with my friend N. He had never been there and has a car, so I joined and it was very nice.
The funny thing is that it was ugly during both visits, so I only have cloudy photos. Hopefully I’ll be more lucky the third time around! Here are some photos from 2015:
Now you are probably saying, what is the Giant’s Causeway? Maybe you’ve seen them in photos on the internet before and didn’t even know it. However, this is a natural phenomenon – stones that look like stones to us, because we can walk on them. But these are columns that arose from intense volcanic activity. This happened 50 to 60 million years ago.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Ireland without a true Irish legend. It says that the Irish fighter Fionn mac Cumhaill (in English, Finn McCool haha) was supposed to cross over to Scotland and fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner. That’s why Fionn built that walkway (aka those stones), but fell asleep along the way. There are several versions of how it happened, but generally Benandonner came to Ireland and Fionn and his wife tricked him and he ended up running back to Scotland and destroying the pavement in his wake. This is all linked to Scotland, as there are similar hexagonal stones on the Isle of Staffa off the coast of Fingal’s Cave.
If you’re wondering how to get there – you can normally drive (look for ‘National Trust – Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre’ on the map) or there are tourist buses from Dublin and Belfast. There is a charge for parking but the grounds are free and dogs are allowed. From the entrance to the stones, it takes about 15 minutes to get to the most touristic part. You can also walk on the cliff above the asphalt road for views. During both visit I have not been by the natural amphitheater, but maybe next time 🙂
The visit is definitely worth it, it’s not that far from Belfast, the so-called Rope Bridge is located a short distance away, and then also Dunluce Castle, which is known from Game of Thrones. So you can plan a whole day and have the Giant’s Causeway as one of the stops.
