Day 5: The Giant's Causeway & The Coastal Route

We spent the morning exploring the Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was really nearby our hostel so we just walked over when we were ready. We paid the £7.50 entrance fee, but later on realized that the fee was just for the Visitor's Centre, and not for the Giant's Causeway, which you can technically enter for free. Oh well...

The legend is that the Irish giant Finn McCool had a rival Scottish giant (from across the sea) that he wanted to fight. So he starting building the causeway as a bridge to cross the sea from Ulster (Northern Ireland) to Scotland).  The bridge was made of enormous six-sided stones. But when time came to fight the Scottish giant, he realized how big the giant was, so he ran back home and hid in a cave. His wife was able to disguise him as a baby, which made the Scottish giant terrified at how big Finn McCool must be given the baby's size. The Scottish giant ran back home, breaking the causeway on the way, which is also said to be the reason why there is a similar Giant's Causeway on the Scottish island of Staffa.

Like stepping stones

The geological explanation is that the stones were formed as a result of volcanic activity and the cooling of the lava. It is famous for its basalt columns (mostly of hexagonal shape). It's a tad bit difficult to explain, but it was really interesting to see.

While there are other similar basalt columns around the world, the Giant's Causeway is one of the most famous because it offers a 3D view to the columns, and allowed geologists to study them well.

One last picture

After visiting the Giant's Causeway, we headed back to our hostel and just chilled there until our bus to Belfast. We heated up some pizza we bought at the supermarket the other day, and watched a movie at the common room.

We took the 4:40pm bus to Belfast via the Causeway Coastal Route (£11.50), since we heard it's supposed to be very beautiful. While the view was truly beautiful, I got a bit dizzy on the bus ride since it really twists and turns following the coast. The bus even passes along several filming locations of Game of Thrones which I found really cool, but we weren't able to get off to explore.

We got to Belfast at around 8pm, and walked to our hostel, Lagan Backpackers. It's actually owned by the same people as Finn McCool's in Causeway. The hostel is not as cozy, but it was fine. We checked in, left our stuff in our room, and set out to find some dinner. We found a kebab place that was selling 2 for £6, so we had a delicious meal to end our night!

Lamb and steak kebabs