Being a travel junkie has it's perks...You become more open minded and a much more confident person. You get to learn so much by observing new ways of living and brushing up on history. You also get to taste delicious, authentic foods from all over the world, not just from the local restaurant down the road. It also has it's downfalls...Emptying your wallet of that hefty paycheck you worked for all week long. Exhaustion from walking around for 3 days straight looking at old dusty buildings, vowing to yourself you never want to see another map again as long as you live! And the worse one, causing you to go insane from withdrawals when you're not out exploring a new city or site-seeing!
We had only just got back from Sweden just over a month ago and here I was, already wanting to see something else! I'd been to Northern Ireland before, but didn't get a chance to see Giant's Causeway. And having the luxury of it only being a 4 hour drive away to Bushmill, N. Ireland, I was sure it would hold me over until our next trip...At least I hoped!
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| The country part of Northern Ireland is a lot like Republic of Ireland, just Ireland to the rest of us down here. Stone walls, rolling green hills, 40 shades of green, cows, sheep and farms at every bend. |
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| And lots of windy roads |
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| I was really excited to see these. The last place we went site seeing in Ireland were the Cliffs of Moher over 3 years ago! |
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| How cool is that? They even did the cobblestone outside the visitors center to look like the Causeway stones! (I'm easily amused) |
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| It was quite a walk down but they had tour buses as well for a little extra that would drop you directly at the stones. We enjoyed the walk. |
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| This is Ireland for ya! |
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| So beautiful |
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| Science says 50-60 million years ago, Co Antrim experienced intense volcanic activity, when basalt came up through the chalk beds and created a lava plateau. |
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| The lava cooled rapidly then contracted and to shorten it up a bit, left about 40,000 basalt columns. Some of them lead down into the sea. Eerie! |
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| Legend has it - Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool), an Irish warrior, fell asleep before he got to Scotland. When he did not arrive, the much larger Benandonner crossed the bridge looking for him. To protect Fionn, his wife Oonagh laid a blanket over him so he could pretend that he was actually their baby son. In a variation, Fionn fled after seeing Benandonner's great bulk, and asked his wife to disguise him as the baby. In both versions, when Benandonner saw the size of the 'infant', he assumed the alleged father, Fionn, must be gigantic indeed. Therefore, Benandonner fled home in terror, ripping up the Causeway in case he was followed by Fionn...(Yes I copied and pasted that from Wiki!) |
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| This is probably one of my most favorite photos of all time... |
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| Enjoying the chilly August weather. That's right, it was freezing! People ask me if it ever gets warm here, it's an Irish joke to say we had Summer, it was on a Thursday! |
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| Trying some yoga on the rocks...Didn't work too well! |
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| Yet another farm animal on the side of the road. This donkey was by far the coolest I've seen so far. |
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| Afterward we had some lovely Irish potato and leek soup at the Causeway Hotel. Divine! (Mine's the best though) |
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| And yes, we ended the day with, you guessed it, rain! Oh and a €600 towing fee to get us back down to Dublin! Our car wouldn't start...Luckily it's fixed now but what a pricey trip this turned out to be! |
Go see this place if you can, it's a must do!
