The Belfast and Giants Causeway tour.

We got up early, had coffee and tea with some donuts.   Out on the street for our early morning walk to the bus stop.

The tour bus stop was several blocks into town.  No problems just a bit chilly.

The bus arrived a few minutes later and we had only had a half full bus of people in the end. 

Soon, we were out of Dublin and into the countryside.  Our first real look at Ireland.​

Daren our driver and guide was great.  He spoke on the Irish and words that are common.
We stopped at a fuel station/convenience store on our way to the Giants Castaway for a bathroom break.  They had Krispy Kream donuts for 2.9 pounds each WOW, that would be $3.80 each.  No thanks. 
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In the parking lot was the largest private vehicle I have seen in Ireland or the UK.

When we reached the Giant's Causeway Visitor Centre we were dropped off and decided to walk down to the bottom of the hill instead of taking the bus.  It is fairly steep but only 6/10th of a mile or about 1 Kilometer to the bottom.

We walked out on the formation.  The top of the formation looks like lots of large hexagon tiles.  In some areas they were standing up, it was interesting.  The first recorded visiting of the formation is in the 1600s.

Science warning:

The Giants Causeway tests as being formed about 60 million years ago when Ireland was still attached to North America.  A similar formation is found many places on different continents.  Devil's Tower in Wyoming is a similar hexagon formation.  Iceland also has this formation.  In Scotland, it has what is considered the other "end of the causeway".

This formation is interlocking basalt columns.  Much of what we are able to see is just the tops of these and they extend up to 100s of feet below the surface. It is estimated that there are approximately 40,000 stone pillars.  The shape is from the cooling of basalt in a molten form.

Now a myth warning:

There are several myths of the columns.  The most recent involves Aliens visiting earth. 

Older myths involve an Irish giant who was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant. The Irish giant accepts the challenge and builds the causeway across the North Channel so that the two could meet.  In one myth, the Irish giant defeats the Scottish giant.

In a different myth, the Irish giant hides from the Scottish giant when he finds out that his opponent is much bigger than he is. His wife hides him as a baby and tucks him in a huge cradle. When the Scottish giant sees the size of the "baby" he thinks that the Irish must be a giant of giants and flees back to Scotland destroying the causeway behind him so that his opponent would be unable to follow him across the sea.

In Irish mythology, not a giant, but a supernatural hero and the causeway is steppingstones of a race of mythological beings who were giants.

In the last one, the causeway was built for love.  An Irish giant looked across the see and fell in love with a Scottish maiden giant.  He was so sad that he could not swim to her that he started building the causeway. That night his grandmother, being a witch, used magic to call up a storm to destroy it.  He begins again and each time the storm wipes out his work.  The last time he worked straight through the night and the causeway collapses behind him as he reaches Scotland, but he dies just as he reaches the maiden.

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Back to our visit to the causeway.

Near the bottom the cliff, we find the first formations.  The top of each column fits to the next in a nearly perfect hexagon.  Most of which are more than a foot across the top.
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​We had thought about taking the bus back up but after seeing the long line waiting decided to walk back.  It was a bit exhausting.

Just outside the visitor center was a restaurant called "The Nook" and we had some nice food.  We then only had a short wait for our bus.

​Off to Belfast but first we had a couple of quick stops, a castle used in Game of Thrones, and something called The Dark Hedges.

At one point on our seaside drive, we are only 14 miles from Scotland.  We can just see the coast.

We did have a short bathroom stop at the Bushmills distillery but being Sunday we were not able to tour.  The distillery was founded in 1608.

Our bus stopped in Belfast at the city hall building.   A big and pretty building.  The grounds are very popular and many people were sunning on blankets or having a picnic.

History Warning:

People have lived on the Irish island for over 10,000 years.  The culture of Ireland is old and does not appreciate interference by the UK to say the least.

Belfast has had a dark history even up to 1998.  Good Friday Accords ended the "Troubles" which was the name for the conflict between the Irish Republican Army and Britain.   There have been conflicts between the Irish and English before the 1600s.  Even today there is tension.

Bring up the "Troubles" is a really big deal and can be a problem. Catholic Ireland and mainly Protestant England fought over beliefs as much as rights. The people of Ireland were fighting against the British and even blowing up buildings for almost 40 years.  A lot of people were killed on both sides.  It was brutal fight with over 3500 people who died with 1000s being injured. Tall walls were built to separate neighborhood and we saw many that still exist today.

There were many terrible conflicts but in 1972 British troops fired on a protest killing 14 and injuring 15.  This became known as Bloody Sunday.  This made the IRA even more popular with the Irish and bombings became common.  Whole buildings were destroyed.  For decades more terrorist bombings occurred each year in Ireland than any other country in the world.

I remember seeing news reports on what was happening in Ireland.  So many people died or had their lives horribly changed by the violence. 

The Good Friday agreement gives northern Ireland the right to leave the UK and become part of Ireland.  All it requires is a majority vote to leave the UK then Ireland can vote to accept and at that point Ireland would be unified.  So far that seems to be far in the future but it could happen.

Today, Belfast is quiet and safe, well as safe as any large city could be. In our talks with the tour guide, we were told that the people of Ireland do not really think of Northern Ireland as separate.  We were also told that the people who live in Northern Ireland have changed in recent years, and he expected that they would eventually vote to reunite with Ireland.

We took a short walking tour around the city with a guide. A walking tour was included in the price, so we joined Brian for the tour.  He was very informative, and we walked for quite a while. 

He pointed our lots of historical sites like The Crown Bar where a royal crown is placed in mosaic tiles at the door.  Unionists would step on the crown and wipe there feet.  Loyalists would step over the crown in respect for the royal family.  Unionists are Northern Irish that would like to reunite Ireland.  Loyalists are those who want to be UK citizens.

The Europa hotel was the most bombed hotel in the world, 70 times.
The opera house across the street was destroyed several times.

"The Ulster" is a theater where Dickens gave his 1st read the Christmas Carol  and Led Zeppelin sang 'Stairway to Heaven' the first time.

Back at city hall, we walked to the Titanic memorial at the end the tour.

As we walked around the block to find some food and something warm to drink, we found this stone.

We walked over to Tim Hortons for some hot chocolate.  Yep, it was 14C or (57F) with a pretty cool breeze.  

Back to the bus and got back to Dublin by 7:30pm.

Shawna and I had dinner at the hotel and packed for leaving in the morning.  It was a very nice dinner.​