Our first full day in Belfast was actually not in Belfast at all.
We got up early and headed out to catch our tour bus for our Giant’s Causeway tour, which was a doozy, let me tell you.
Our tour guide’s name was Patrick, and he was a funny guy. He liked to ramble while he talked, which usually ended up with him talking about Irish separation and the political climate across Ireland.
We started off by stopping at Carrickfergus Castle. It was having some construction done, but it was right on the water, which was also so beautiful!
From there, we took the scenic drive along the coast, in and out of these small villages on the water.
I feel like this goes without saying, but Ireland, north and south, is hecka beautiful. These little villages really have it made – looking out over the ocean like that day after day, it’s so relaxed and peaceful.
From there we drove to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge that spans across the ocean to a small island.
From the bus, we had to walk about 20 minutes across the cliff to get to the rope bridge. It was a beautiful walk, and the ocean looked amazing!
After the walk, we were able to climb down some stairs to the bridge.
I say again, it was BEAUTIFUL! Ireland is simply spectacular, and I loved taking pictures of it.
The rope bridge was cool, and a little scary. The wind didn’t help, but it was also pretty awesome. Up there, on the cliffs, with the ocean and the wind and the rolling hills – what a sight!!
We made a short stop at Old Bushmills Distillery from there. To be honest, I cared very little about this stop – it was raining also, which was less than ideal.
Other people on our tour seemed excited by it, but as 3 sober people who care nothing about alcohol, it was just a time to stretch our legs and pretend to be interested.
There was whiskey tasting and stuff, but we didn’t really do anything with that.
AND NOW, for the big event of the day: the Giant’s Causeway.
While we were driving through the afternoon, it was pouring rain, which made me a little disheartened. But, we had the luck of the Irish on our side. Within 5 minutes of arriving the rain cleared and we were able to enjoy our time.
We got audio guides, and started our journey down the hills to the Causeway.
According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that the Irish giant Fionn (Finn) MacCool, 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.
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.
Fun Fact: 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
It’s a bit of a hike down to the water.
And the walk led to some amazing views.
Eventually, you make your way down to the water, go around the corner, and there it is!
Sorry for the spam, but it was BREATHTAKING! The stones went on forever, right into the water. It just blows you away, and you can walk along all the stones, climb up on them, and just honestly stare at them. It’s incredible to be there. All the stones just…. look like that!?
And you have the sea and the wind and you feel like you’re in another place, like the edge of a different world.
We couldn’t walk all the way to the edge, as it was too wet and slippery, and there was a guy standing there telling people not to go. Of course, some people went anyways, but we didn’t want to risk slipping and getting hurt or falling into the sea (for seemingly obvious reasons).
This is the view back up the mountain, which is where it’s believed that Fionn lived, and so he built the causeway from the mountain to the water, and across. The view below is the opposite direction.
I have about 60 more pictures, but I think you get the gist of it! It was incredible – I can’t recommend it more to anyone I talk to. If you can go, you HAVE to go.
We were so wrapped up, we started running out of time to make it back to the bus for our ride home. So we decided to take the shuttle back up the visitor’s center, because we were worried about not making it in time if we walked. But then, the shuttle took longer than we had anticipated to get to us, so we really started to worry. We estimated we had about 5 minutes before the bus driver told us we were leaving.
So, we made a game plan.
My job was to run to the bus and make sure it didn’t leave without the other two. My mom’s job was to run into the gift shop and try to find souvenir patches to buy (it’s a thing my family does when we travel), and my grandma’s job was to return our audio guides.
I made it to the bus, and casually made small talk with Patrick, our bus driver, about the Causeway, about his job, basically anything I thought would be somewhat interesting. My grandma came out just after me, and by the skin of her teeth, my mom came rushing out just in time. She pumped her arms when she got to the bus and said “I’m the winner! I bought patches, and even made it to the bathroom on time!” So we were all winners.
Riding on the high of the last great stop, we relaxed in the bus all the way back to Belfast. Patrick chatted on the way back, talking more about Northern Irish politics and such.
We got dropped off close to the city center, and we decided to do a little walking around (in the pouring rain, obviously).
We saw a fish and a church.
We also ended up in a McDonald’s, where we got hot chocolate, because, as I said before, it was pouring rain, and walking around for an hour got us pretty wet and cold.
After the loooong day, we grabbed a cab back to the airbnb where we all went to bed happy.
So yeah, it was basically the best day and I loved it and I want y’all to know that.
NEXT STEP is getting to Glasgow, but we’ll talk about that later.
Wandering Miss Emma.K 
It wasn’t just a fish—it was the “salmon of knowledge”! And I agree—it was the best day!
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