Giants Causeway Northern Ireland Antrim Coast weekend break

Giants Causeway
The Giant’s Causeway is Northern Ireland’s top tourist attraction, and only World Heritage Site. A dramatic coastal landscape steeped in local mythology, the Causeway draws up to half a million visitors a year from around the world. The Causeway consists of around 40,000 polygonal basalt columns, jutting out into the sea amid a spectacular coastal landscape of cliffs, headlands and crashing waves. Geologists explain that the Causeway was created during a period of volcanic activity some 60 million years ago. The famous columns were formed when lava cooled quickly upon flowing into the sea. The surrounding cliffs also demonstrate the many lava flows that have shaped the spectacular North Antrim landscape. This picture shows the causeway sticking out into the Ocean. It does not look very much from a distance but it is spectacular close up. If you have problems walking a bus takes you to the turning circle you can see at the end of the road from the visitor centre.

Giant's causeway costal road in Northern Ireland

Local folklore offers an alternative explanation for the Causeway’s creation. The story goes that it was built by the Irish Giant Finn MacCool so that he could cross the Irish Sea to Scotland to challenge a rival giant, Benandoner. Finn is also credited with the creation of the Isle of Man, which is said to have been formed when he scooped a massive sod of earth to launch at his rival. The resulting hole filled with water to become Lough Neagh. Among the quaint names given to the Causeway’s many strange formations of rock are the Giant’s boot, the organ and the wishing chair.

Giant’s Causeway is Northern Ireland’s top tourist attraction

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