Despite staying in Belfast we spent our first day touring the Antrim coast and Giants Causeway. Our first stop of the morning was Dunluce Castle, built in the 13th century and slowly losing bits and pieces as the basalt cliff beneath it erodes. One of the most interesting things about the castle is its cannons which are from a Spanish galleon wrecked there during the defeat of the Armada in 1588.
The next destination was Giants Causeway, the main attraction and possessing two origin stories.
The first and most likely (obviously) is that the Giant Finn MacCool was challenged to a fight by the much larger Scottish giant Benandonner. Finn built the causeway to facilitate the fight. Finn’s wife disguised him as a baby and when Benandonner saw him he assumed Finn himself must be gigantic and ran in terror, destroying the causeway behind him to prevent pursuit.
The far less likely origin is that some 50 million years ago high amounts of volcanic activity created the roughly 40,000 basalt pillars we see today. The best way I’ve heard it described is that the cracks between pillars formed similar to how mud cracks when it dries. Either way it makes for an incredible morning of rock hopping and tide pool exploring.
We needed to be rejuvenated at this point so it was off to the Bushmills Distillery (Ireland’s oldest since 1608) for a flight of some of their finest offerings.
The next stop was Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge which spans a chasm of over 75 feet to take you out to the island of Carrickarede or island of casting. Our tour guide explained this was because fisherman had worked from the island for hundreds of years. Just before we visited it was closed due to vandalism but luckily repairs were quick. The views were incredible, but the overwhelming smell of bird crap was ever-present. What many don’t know is that as you cross the bridge you are also crossing the mouth of an ancient volcano that last erupted 60 million years ago.
At this point it was time to head back through the village of Carnlough which for Game of Thrones fans is where Melisandre has her demon appear and where Arya comes out of the water after her fight with the waif.
On the way back into Belfast we made one last stop at Carrickfergus castle, built in 1177 and seeing action right up to World War 2.
The tour was with https://irishtourtickets.com who I would highly recommend!
thedreameroftheday 
Or that the Genesis Flood accounts for its formation. See this article by a Ph.D. Geologist: https://answersingenesis.org/geology/natural-features/giants-causeway/
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