Weekly Wanderlust – Giant’s Causeway of Northern Ireland

All photos by © Brandon Elijah Scott / Eye & Pen

The Giant’s Causeway of Northern Ireland makes the ‘must see’ list of millions of visitors each year, and no matter if it marks your bucket list or not, it’s still one of the most impressive scenes to witness in the United Kingdom.

Upon entering the Giant’s Causeway Visitor Center, you are struck with a vibrant scene of interactive media channels which both entertain and educate the visitor on both the geological history and the legend of this world renowned attraction. From exiting out of the other end of the center, you have the choice to hop on a bus for a short ride, or you may choose the rather enjoyable trek down to the the coast. As you round the bend of the road, you’re greeted with a rocky coast that – depending on the weather that day – is treacherously pounded by the incoming barrage of waves. From there, you continue down to where hills and mountains of columns rise up from the ocean. Hiking and climbing around the region can easily take a couple of hours, as there are endless details to explore and photo ops to snap.

The Giant’s Causeway is basically a coastal area of over 40,000 basalt columns that are a result of some sort of an ancient volcanic eruption. Similar numeral-sided columns can be found in other places around the world, like that viewable in the small seaside town of Vík, Iceland. While that’s the more-‘geological’ reasoning behind these bizarre columns, there is a standing local legion that a giant by the name of Finn MacCool created the causeway. He apparently was challenged to a fight by another giant by the name of Benandonner from Scotland – the causeway was built as a sort of bridge that would connect the two, so they could then battle.