A Giant with a Cause

Our final stop of the day was the Giant's Causeway. This is a five-mile long stretch of coastline famous for its bizarre basalt columns. The shore is covered with largely hexagonal pillars that stick up at various lengths. Geologists claim that the Giant's Causeway was formed by volcanic eruptions more than 60 million years ago. (I have no idea how they came up with that number) As the surface of the lava flow quickly cooled, it contracted and crystalized into hexagonal columns. As the rock later settled and eroded, the columns broke off into many stair-like steps. 

When we arrived at the visitors center we quickly bought our tickets. We had to move fast before it closed at 6pm. 

View from the parking lot! The scenery in Ireland NEVER gets old! 

We received audio guides for all of us. The children had them too, but were given a different audio tour. We started our 20 minute walk down to the Causeway.  Initially there is a step downhill section but then it levels out to follow the coastline. Mercifully, when we arrived at the bottom we did see a bus picking up people to bring them back to the visitors center. I was not sure how L would do on the steep incline going back. 

Everyone listening to their audio tours!

This is part of the coastline where it starts to flatten out

The fun legend of the Giant's Causeway is that a giant Ulster warrior named Finn McCool knew of a rival giant living on the Scottish island of Staffa. Finn built a stone bridge over to Staffa to spy on his rival, and found out that the Scottish giant was much bigger than him. Finn retreated back to Ireland and had his wife dress him as a sleeping infant, just in time for the rival giant to come across the causeway to spy on Finn. The rival, shocked at the infant's size, fled back to Scotland in terror of whomever had sired this giant baby. Breathing a sigh of relief, Finn tore off the baby clothes and knocked down the bridge. Today, proof of this encounter exists in the geologic formation that still extends undersea - it surfaces at Staffa. Apparently there are many different versions of this story. All over this area you will see bars, b&b's, etc all called Finn McCool. 

We finally arrived at our destination. Wow! It really is spectacular to look at these rock formations in hexagonal shapes. Its even more amazing up close and personal then in pictures. The children had a great time climbing all over them. They probably could have been here for hours exploring. 

M with K and T

This discovery of the Giant's Causeway was announced to the world in 1693 by a presentation of a student at Trinity College, Dublin. The site then received international attention when a Dublin artist made a watercoloring painting in 1739, and won an award for it. The site became popular with tourists in the 19th century, after the opening of the Giant's Causeway Tramway. This tram brought tourists to this site and Dunluce Castle. In 1960 the National Trust took over its care. In 2012 a visitors center was built for the Giant's Causeway. Its a great building with loads of fun things - cute variations on the Finn story, and ridiculous theories of modern geologists, and the history of the Causeway. 

In the center of this picture is what they call, "the Organ"

One thing I thought was a little strange being here is that I was on a beach that faces directly North. Normally we are on beaches that either face East or West. I was looking into a horizon that I had never faced before, which in itself made the trip worth it. Ha! It was also fun scrambling around the rocks (at our own risk). This is something they would never allow in the US, but I was nervous with the children and either Joe or I were holding little L's hand. By the way, this site is in the "1000 Places to See Before you Die" book. Just in case you wanted to know. 

We had a great time exploring and took the shuttle bus back to the visitors center. We were exhausted from our long but fun day. Then we got back into the car and started our 3 hour drive back to Dublin. The children were not going to make it home without food so we stopped at a Burger King for dinner. Yes we did! Burger King in Ireland for dinner. For the record - fast food tastes so much better in Europe. Probably because the EU is much more strict on food then the US. No preservatives in fast food here! 

Thank you M for coming on the trip with us and renting a minivan so we could all fit in one car!