A Natural Legend: Giant’s Causeway
Our Game of Thrones journey through Northern Ireland was accompanied by an intermission at one of Ireland’s natural wonders, Giant’s Causeway. The location is an intriguing collection of mostly hexagonal shaped basalt columns interlocked on Ireland’s northern coast. Legend has it they were created by a giant and are the remains of a causeway connecting Ireland and the northern part of Great Britain, hence the name of Giant’s Causeway.
Giant’s Causeway is located about a 20 minute drive north of the Dark Hedges, which is where we were coming from, or about 1 hour 15 minutes (60 miles) northwest of Belfast. Like the Cliffs of Moher, Giant’s Causeway can be accessed via a visitor’s center with a price paid primarily for nearby parking or through other routes without parking at local streets or hiking via the coast. In an effort to save time (and also because we didn’t exactly know where else to park our car) we opted for the visitor center. Tickets were 12.50 pounds at the door (approximately 16 US dollars) each. The visitor center appears relatively new on the inside. It has several exhibits inside as well as a cafeteria and bathrooms. It also offers a bus ride to circumvent the remaining portion of the walk to the actual. This costs a small extra fee (we think 1 pound?) but since the walk was only other 10 minutes we forwent the bus and walked ourselves. There is also an audio tour that you can do, that’s included in the price of entry. Erin decided to do the audio tour and it does give you additional information about the area as you walk near various locations.
The walk took us on a winding road down to the shore with a small bay to the west and a sharp right (east) turn at the bottom. Giant’s Causeway was located to the right and out of view until turning the corner. Then in the distance we could see the varied elevation of the basalt columns outline against the background of ocean and cliffs. From far away the site did not look impressive and even seemed smaller than expected, but once we got closer we could appreciate the area much better and it turned out to be a good amount of fun traversing it. The scale of the landscape is really hard to capture; pictures just don’t do it justice. The hexagonal shape of the columns is truly wondrous to see, especially if you have not seen similar basalt columns before (while Giant’s Causeway is a prime example of this geography, is it not the only site in the world, there are even some in Iceland that we would see in a few days). The columns also rise higher than we thought, reaching at least 40 feet in the main outcropping of the site. One of our tourist peers actually attempted “Free Soloing” this section. He made it halfway up the wall before getting asked to step down by a member of the safety staff.
After watching the waves crash against the edge of the pillars and taking far too many pictures, we started to make a circular loop according to the site map we had. This is when we came upon Brad’s favorite part of the location. Forget unique hexagonal basalt columns, we had a found a ROCK CHAIR. Yes, a rock that you could lounge in and bask in the glory of the ocean a few hundred yards away (this rock chair is actually advertised on the cover of the visitor center pamphlet). The rock itself has obviously seen its share of sitters, as its surface was slick from countless hands and bodies. But this didn’t stop us from relaxing in its solid yet comfortable embrace. Ah, heaven on earth.
Eventually we had to give up the rock chair to the next group of visitors and we continued on the roundabout loop, which had us scale the cliffside to head back to the visitor center. This involved a steep cliffside staircase that made us feel a bit too winded for our age.
The top of the cliffs are dotted with pretty yellow flowers and there is a lookout point from which you can peer down at Giant’s Causeway from above if you are brave enough to get close to the edge.
From atop, the columns look like a pixelated photograph due to their unique geometry and staggered heights.
Ultimately we made our back to our car in the parking lot. We were hungry. We checked out the visitor center cafeteria but nothing on the menu grasped our taste buds. Instead, we ate at a nearby restaurant called The Nook, serving a variety of Irish mainstays and seafood. Brad got a beef pot pie and Erin got a grilled chicken sandwich. We recommend a stop here if you visit! Hit the spot (although Erin thought the place had poor service and smelled strongly of rotting fish).
Once our bellies were full, we headed off to complete the rest of our Game of Thrones tour.
