Christmas Day started the way most Christmas Days start, with breakfast and presents. After eating a hearty breakfast, we headed up to the Giant’s Causeway. Usually the National Trust (UKs version of the National Park Service) tries to make people pay to visit the Causeway, something that has caused much controversy among the locals, who feel like it should be free to visit. Since it is Christmas, the National Trust is closed, and the Causeway is free to access. We spent the next several hours hiking along the causeway and enjoying the scenery.
The Giant’s Causeway’s unique geography is literally the stuff of legends. According to the tales an Irish giant by the name of Finn McCool decided he wanted to fight the giant of Scotland (whose name I can neither spell nor pronounce). So, McCool grabbed pillars of rock and set them in the sea to build a bridge to Scotland. However, upon his arrival, Finn discovered that the Scottish giant was in fact larger than he was, and quickly retreated to Ireland. The Scottish giant, seeing the bridge that McCool built, followed him back to Ireland, ready to pick a fight. McCool meanwhile dressed himself up as a baby, and sat in the Causeway, so when the Scottish giant arrived, he thought that if McCool was only a baby, there was no way he would want to fight a full-sized Irish giant. He ran back to Scotland, and destoryed the bridge along the way.
In reality, the stone columns of Giants Causeway were likely caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. As the lava cooled in the cold water it split apart in into its unique geometric shapes.
In either case Giant’s Causeway was a great place to spend Christmas, and after a short drive through the Irish country side, we returned to cook Christmas Dinner and hang out by the fireplace in our little cottage.
I truly hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! We will have more adventures to share in the coming days. For now, Merry Christmas from the Williams clan!
