Following our excursion to Belfast, we headed to the north coast, to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. We descended multiple sets of steps to get out to the soft, green cliffs that the bridge spans, passing many an out of breath tourist coming back from the sight. The bridge came into view when we reached to the top of a steep set of steps with a guard. Each of us climbed down the stairs and stepped onto the bridge. What we'd been told of the bridge was that it swayed in the wind in a lot and that it was really cool. That's pretty much all we knew about it.
The bridge was significantly smaller than I'd imagined, and newer. I crossed it, looking down into the vibrantly turquoise water. It looked like the Caribbean. Emma told us that they rebuilt the bridge every year for safety. Oh. I guess I'd assumed that, like most of the sights in Ireland, a large part of its worth was that it was old. Also, the bridge didn't sway, but that's just because it wasn't very windy I think. It was a cool bridge, in an absolutely stunningly beautiful area, and I enjoyed our trip there, but I was a bit confused as to why this bridge was such a big tourist attraction. I found out that it's because there has been a bridge spanning those cliffs for centuries. That really makes perfect sense, because surely a bridge that old would not be one that you would want to walk across unless you're pretty reckless or you have a sincere death wish.
It was really nice standing up on this bridge above the blue water with the green cliffs all around.
We were on a tight schedule to get to our next destination before dark, so we didn't spend much time at the other side of the bridge. We crossed back and ascended the hundreds of steps back to the parking lot. The hills were so green and so soft looking that I couldn't help but run my hands over the hair-like grass that covered them. This urge to touch the things we were seeing became routine for us during this adventure, and we normally acted upon it. But for some reason, whether it was a building or plant, touching these things was never quite as satisfying as it seemed like it should have been.
It was getting late as we arrived at the parking lot of the Giant's Causeway, so we took a short bus trip down to it instead of walking in order to maximize the daylight in which we could see this awesome sight. And it really was awesome, in every sense of the word. It was also a little bizarre. In case you're unfamiliar with it, the Causeway is a natural phenomenon in the form of a mass hexagonal blackish-gray stone pillars protruding vertically from the ground up to a height of maybe twenty feet, and tapering down from there and descending into the ocean. It's truly spectacular. Most of them have six sides, though some have only five. Though they're not absolutely symmetrical, many of them are pretty close.
Now if there was ever a sight that should be touched, it's this one. We immediately began walking and climbing on the strange, geometric columns. Right away I climbed to the top of the tallest ones and stood looking down at the sea and at these odd formations. Emma told us that they were created by a volcano; they're volcanic rock, to which their blackness of color can be attributed. But a volcano, in Ireland? It seemed slightly absurd.
I should mention now that this is the most geographically, botanically and zoologically mellow country that I've ever heard of. They literally do not have any poisonous plants or animals here. (They don't even have mosquitoes; those bugs that I mentioned turned out to be these things called midges that don't bite or sting, which is why I haven't gotten a single mosquito bite living here despite my having run through what I had formerly assumed were droves of them). When we were in the forest taking of tour of the property with John, Liesl asked if there were any poisonous plants that we should be aware of. He said no, they don't have poison oak or anything like that here. There aren't even any poisonous spiders (though there are giant ones), and the most dangerous plant we've encountered is stinging nettle: no big deal at all. They don't really have dangerous wild animals either. I believe a deer or a badger would be the most frightening large creature that you might encounter. Also, as I've mentioned, the mountains here are like Californian hills. (Although, they do have some sharp cliffs here, so my original statement isn't entirely accurate in terms of geography).
So as you can see, the concept of a volcano in this country is somewhat silly. But they don't have volcanoes anymore, the one in question erupted some 50 to 60 million years ago. Or at least that's when the Causeway was formed. We were too late to go to the visitor center, so we didn't really learn about the science or legend behind it the Causeway, but we think that the shape of the columns has something to do with pressure, and the way that the lava dried. And honestly, I often don't care about knowing exactly why nature is the way that it is. I'd be somewhat interested to learn about this particular phenomenon, but I don't feel like I missed out by not hearing about it at the time. I could look up everything about it right now and relay it to you, but I'd rather talk about my personal experience of it. And my experience was of standing at the highest point of a unique natural rock formation on a Tuesday afternoon, feeling the wind on my face and reveling in the thrill of being at such a wonderful, unique place.
I went down to where some of the pillars disappeared into the ocean, and stood a bit too close to the waves. My feet went for a short swim when a wave came in and washed over my shoes. The Giant's Causeway actually goes on under the sea all the way over to Scotland I believe, though I'm not certain whether or not it actually comes up onto the land there. Legend has it that it was created by a giant--hence the name--that wanted to get across to Scotland to see his lover. I haven't really been able to find any information on the Scottish Causeway, so I think that it at least isn't as prominent there as it is on the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland.
Liesl and I took great pleasure in exploring the Causeway. It was both of our favorite parts of our short trip. The rocks didn't cover as much land as a I thought they did, but it was still endlessly delightful to walk on them.
We walked up the hill to the car and set off for Dunluce castle, a ruin. It was on the darker side of dusk when we arrived, and picture taking didn't really work out very well. It was also incredibly cold and windy. But we walked down below the castle--it was after hours so we couldn't go "inside"--and saw a little tunnel down to to the ocean, which was cool. Emma said that there was a legend that a man was once lured to his death by a mermaid at the end of this tunnel. Irish history, she told us while we were driving at some point on the trip, is a combination of fact and fiction. The line between the legends and the historical events is blurred, so they're sort of all one now. I'd asked her about the legend of St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland, if it was real, or if there were any snakes in Ireland now or ever. She said that there are no wild snakes in Ireland now, and that she wasn't sure whether there were at one point or not. It seems kind of unlikely actually, when you think about it. It's too cold here for snakes to survive I'm sure. St. Patrick's Day, Emma said in response to my other inquiry, is celebrated only in the Republic of Ireland, but, she conceded, is definitely a far more popular holiday in Chicago.
The castle is a ruin now, but a castle was first build on the cliff in the 13th century. I believe Dunluce was built on the ruin of that castle some centuries afterward. Emma said that that often happened with buildings, like churches and castles. When one was crumbling another would be build on top of it. It's a pretty sweet location for a castle, set into a cliff overlooking the sea. Emma told us another story about it. The ballroom was the room closest to the ocean, and once, the family that lived there invited their rivals over for a ball. While they were in the ballroom, the waves came up and oh so conveniently washed all of the rivals into the sea. The family that owned the castle was totally fine (I got the impression that they didn't get wet at all actually). I guess that's just how life was in Medieval/Renaissance Ireland.
We went to dinner after the castle, and then to Emma's parents' house where we stayed the night. It was really nice being in a house that wasn't our house.
Today--more than a week since this trip by the way--Liesl and I are finishing up the important process of voting. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to encourage you all to please, please go out and vote on Tuesday. This is a really important election, not just because of the Presidential part. They are a lot of important propositions too, and for other positions too. If you don't know who/what to vote for, just read up on it online. That's what we've been doing. It's actually really fun. And did anyone catch the Presidential debate? Hilarious, right?
Stephanie
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