Giant's Causeway and Belfast, Northern Ireland

Friday, August 12, 2016

Well, we definitely would have liked more time in Belfast today.

We really wanted to see the Giant's Causeway, so we signed up for the ship's excursion months and months ago. Then we found a cheaper one With Paddywagon Tours on the internet and cancelled the ship's excursion!  This was by far the best of the 3 tours we've taken, our guide Val was good craic (sounds like crack, means fun). But don't call him by his full name Valentine or you will be taking a taxi back to the ship.

We lucked out and got the front seat of the bus - score! Val dubbed Anton as "Chieftain Anton" and the rest of the bus were his clan members.

The drive from Belfast was almost 2 hours each way.  We had a photo stop first at the dramatic ruins of Dunluce Castle, built precariously on the coastal cliffs with steep drops on all sides. It was built around 1500 AD by the McQuillans who came from Scotland in the 1200s as hired mercenaries.  

The castle was captured by a rival Scottish clan in the 1550s, led by the warrior chieftain Sorely Boy MacDonnell. He covered a bog with rushes, planted his own troops on firm ground, and fooled the McQuillans into charging into the mire.  

The MacDonnells abandoned the castle in the 1600s. One evening while the MacDonnells were waiting for dinner, the entire kitchen (with 7 cooks) broke off and fell into the sea.

The castle is said to be the inspiration for Cair Paravel in the Narnia series written by CS Lewis, and is also used in Game of Thrones.

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The Giant's Causeway is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland. It is an area of 40,000 basalt columns formed by a volcanic eruption. They reminded us a lot of the basalt columns we saw in Iceland.

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Most of the columns are hexagons. They reach up to 12 meters tall and 28 meters thick. The tops of the columns form stepping stones, starting at the cliff foot and disappearing under the sea. 

There are similar stones across the North Channel in Scotland. This has inspired several legends about the origins of the stones. One story says they were built by an Irish giant in an effort to reach his ladylove, a Scottish giant.

The more common story is about the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), who built the steps in response to the challenge of a fight from Scottish giant Benandonner. The story goes that Fionn became scared and hid when he saw how large his opponent was, so Fionn's wife disguised him as a baby and put him in a cradle. When Benandonner saw how big the babies were, he ran away in fright and destroyed the causeway behind him.

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Visitors can climb and walk all over the columns. However, when we were sitting enjoying the view, Frankie noticed a young couple who started to carve their initials into one of the stones.  Boy, did Anton ever give them what-for!  Their response:  "Is it not allowed?"  Duh.  People like that should not be allowed to travel.

Val then took us on a bit of a tour through Belfast.  The city still has walls between Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods, but Val kept us in the neutral city center.

The Albert Memorial Clock, built in 1869, is one of the most well-known landmarks of Belfast. Because it was built on wooden piles on marshy land, the tower has a 4 foot lean.  

Imagecredit:http://www.agendani.com/wp-content/uploads/AlbertClock2.png

We saw City Hall (constructed 1898-1906) located in Donegall Square.  

Val told us to go to the shopping mall where they have a free dome (ie climb lots of steps) with a view over Belfast.

Then we walked to see the Euphoria Hotel, which is the most bombed building in the world:  27 times in 40 years.  We decided not to stick around too long......

We all wanted to see the shipyard where the Titanic was built, so Val did a quick stop for us.  The saying in Belfast is, "She was fine when she left here".