Giant’s Causeway

The Giant’s Causeway is a series of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns on the Northern Coast of Ireland. My cousin is a stone sculptor and there was no way he was going to come to Ireland and not see the Giant’s Causeway. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but after hearing the legend of the Giant’s Causeway involved an Irish giant named Finn McCool (which happened to be the namesake of my favorite college bar in the U District), I was excited too. Giant’s Causeway is managed by the National Trust, a non-profit that conserves the site (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway/news/what-makes-the-giants-causeway-a-unesco-world-heritage-site). It has been a UNESCO site since 1986 and includes the surrounding coastline and sea, and according to the National Trust, makes the Giant’s Causeway the most precious and protected place in Northern Ireland.

We stayed in Belfast at the end of May, 2022, and just drove up for the day. I was hoping to tour the Bushmills Distillery, but because of the Covid restrictions in place in Northern Ireland, Bushmills wasn’t operating tours. This allowed us to spend even more time at the Giant’s Causeway, so I didn’t mind too much. We also stopped by the “Dark Hedges”. I had never heard of them before, but it’s a road with birches along it and the birch trees overhang the road giving it an ominous, tunnel like look. I guess there is also a ghost story associated with it, but when we stopped there a tour bus pulled up as well. I only really got one photo without a bunch of people, and it was the middle of the day, so I didn’t really feel like a haunted grove. I think if I was there alone and it was quiet, maybe it would feel a bit more intimidating. It was also made somewhat famous in Game of Thrones as the King’s Road.

On the way back from the Giant’s Causeway we also stopped by Dunseverick Castle. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the history behind this castle is very interesting, and a fort at the site might have even been visited by St. Patrick around 500AD. At the time I was tired and cranky and just wanted to get start driving back to Belfast, but my cousin wanted to walk around, so he checked it out for a few, probably not long enough for him, and too long for me. In retrospect we probably should have checked it out more, but again, I was hangry so we didn’t stay too long.