Trip to Northern Ireland and the North of Ireland — Part I

This was a quick trip (6 nights) so there will be about 3 posts at the most!

Driving in Ireland was a bit daunting at first, but teamwork is paramount. I think I only got one fist shake because I almost did not yield at a busy roundabout. The highways away from the larger cities were fine. City driving was done by mainly by my travel friend, Ann. I did drive a bit around Galway. Ann drove in Dublin and Belfast. Car pictures do not do the scenery justice. Therefore, I include only a handful.

We landed in Dublin at the airport on the outskirts and immediately headed north to Belfast. The shuttle driver to the rent car area said stay to the left and red is red (no turns on red). Good advice. The approach to Belfast is shown in the last two photos above.

I was impressed with Belfast. We stayed at a modern hotel, the Maldron, and decided to walk around and then did a Hop-A-Bus  tour (even though it was late in the day). Belfast seems to have a lot of new architecture and new designs co-existing with the old. Below is an Albert memorial (Albert Clock) and next is the Titanic Museum. The ship was built in Belfast and the museum’s four corners replicate the exact height of the hull of the ship. Nearby was a boat painting building (huge) transformed into movie studios (Titanic Studios). Game of Thrones’ Winterfell had an outside set we could see from the bus. Lots of filming is happening in Belfast!

Above, the gates lead to Stormont, where the Parliament of Northern Ireland meets, and the statue below was down the road. Belfast is a city of murals. One wall is constantly updated by sections. I tried to listen to the guide so I missed some pics. Such a lot of history. People accept how divided the city was and is, but everyone seems to want to move forward.

The area below was near Queens University. The picture on the top right shows student housing. We ate at Bright’s, a wonderful local fish and chips restaurant.

A museum at the university, the beautiful city hall building, and another mural are show below:

The Parliament building at Stormont, a mural dedicated to the Queen, and more streets of Belfast follow:

The next day we had a 3-hour drive, but decided to detour to The Giant’s Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1986). Of course, I had never even heard of The Giant’s Causeway, a stepping stone from Ireland to Scotland for the Giant that roamed the area.

I didn’t even realize this was the place that the album cover from Houses of the Holy (Led Zeppelin) was photographed. I had seen this type of lava rock cooling before in Hawaii. We hiked just around the point in the photos above. The above photo was of a bay entering the causeway area.

The Legend of the Giant’s Causeway (from Wikipedia):

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he is. Fionn’s wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the ‘baby’, he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn would be unable to chase him down. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this.

In overall Irish mythology, Fionn mac Cumhaill is not a giant but a hero with supernatural abilities, contrary to what this particular legend may suggest. In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) it is noted that, over time, “the pagan gods of Ireland […] grew smaller and smaller in the popular imagination, until they turned into the fairies; the pagan heroes grew bigger and bigger, until they turned into the giants”. There are no surviving pre-Christian stories about the Giant’s Causeway, but it may have originally been associated with the Fomorians (Fomhóraigh); the Irish name Clochán na bhFomhóraigh or Clochán na bhFomhórach means “stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh”. The Fomhóraigh are a race of supernatural beings in Irish mythology who were sometimes described as giants and who may have originally been part of a pre-Christian pantheon.

In one of the photos above, you can see what is called the Pipe Organ. We had an audio guide that was narrated by a real character and was totally enjoyable to hear. He talked about the mythology of the Giant. Below is the Pipe Organ closer up and some very tall columns that formed a wall.

A gateway was made a long time ago.

Close to the water, below, as well as the approach to the Pipe Organ. Getting closer. Also, the odd rock below is known as the Giant’s Boot.

Above, the easy part of the trail. In the lower left, two staircases in the distances if one desired to take that trail. Life lesson: you can’t do it all (or a reason to return).

Below, a rocky field and the huge wall.

At this one spot below top left, the pictures came out dark. Scat on the trail means lots of critters at night when no humans are wandering around.

Sandstone on the trail. The bended columns were interesting and far away (I zoomed in). The stack of rock was actually green. Ann at the end of the trail. It was a little nippy and it was drizzling part of the time, but we were lucky for being there in the middle of winter (no huge crowds).

The wall was painted by a woman named Susanna Drury around 1903. The area constantly changes but you can see the wall and the camel formation in the background that looks the same.