McComb's Giant's Causeway Tour
Today was BUSY but not busy at the same time. It was our first all day tour since we’ve been here and I really enjoyed it.
I forgot to mention yesterday that all the “Share a Coke with“‘s here have Irish names!!! So cute. And also, Irish people say “Mitcheegan.”
This morning we saw the face of the sleeping giant which was an inspiration for part of Gulliver’s Travels. We also learned that Ormeau park has the cleanest air in Ireland. And also learned that Belfast is the safest city in Ireland for going out at night, second safest in Europe.
We made it downtown on time and Liam, the guy in charge of McComb’s Tours that day, was very nice and had saved us seats in the front of the “coach” (the driver corrected me after I called it a bus). We left 15 minutes late and the coach was only half full, the driver, Allen, informed us that a train or bus was delayed from Dublin - their sister company, Real Tours (?), was bringing some people to join our tour. We took off anyway and headed for Carrickfergus.
We learned a lot of things on our way through Belfast, Allen told us stories about why St. Albert’s statue is leaning, we passed a bar that opened in 1711, the arena of the Belfast Giants (an ice hockey team), the two giant yellow cranes named Sampson and Goliath that together can lift almost 1700 tons and are considered monuments, a bunch of things I don’t know how to spell, and some Game of Thrones spots.
We learned that golfer Rory McIlroy is from Holywood, which is where we are going tomorrow to see some dead relatives.
We saw A LOT of pink, and we were informed that it was because of the Giro D’Italia that came through the Ireland Coastal Route. It’s a bicycle race similar to the Tour de France except the lead cyclist wears a pink jersey instead of a yellow one, thus the pink.
Thanks to gram’s chair and our front seats I got some decent pictures of most of the things out the front window, I’ll post everything when we get home!
Oh we also passed the forensic lab and evidence storeroom! It’s said that if somebody took out the entire Northern Ireland police car garage this building can replace the whole fleet.
So we reached our first destination, Carrickfergus Castle. When Prince William got married the Queen proclaimed him the Baron if Carrickfergus. We stopped for a hot second to take photos and then got back on the bus & waited about 20 minutes to meet the Dublin people. We also got combo deals to cross the rope bridge and go to the visitor’s center at giant’s causeway and the company discounted them because of how late of a start we got and all the mess with the Dublin people.
We learned that if cows are sitting down it means it’s going to rain. We also followed the same route in our coach that the Olympic Torch took for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
The first photo is gram passed out on the bus! She always falls asleep on the road.
Our next stop was the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge which is in the next three photos and the video I posted. We were there for just about two hours and it took that long to get across and back and take photos. The weather was beautiful and it was so clear we could see Scotland.
Following that it was lunchtime at the Old Bushmill’s Distillery. We were late because people were late getting back on the bus (like 20 minutes late) at the rope bridge. Our driver called ahead and made sure they stayed open for us. Gram and I split a DELICIOUS Bailey’s muffin.
Cut short our Dunluce Castle trip to a very fast photo op. We jumped out and took a few photos, I think I’ll have some good ones from the zoom lens on dad’s DSLR camera. It was beautiful and the thing about it is, the kitchen collapsed at one point killing everyone in there but a little boy. After that the castle was abandoned and left uninhabited for some 700 years and those walls are still standing there weathering all the storms and the time itself.
We learned about the great salmon death a handful of years ago when the red jellyfish came in. In a span of four hours 100,000 salmon were killed and the sea was blood red. This year they are finally back to their original numbers.
Did you know a pigeon from here earned the coveted Dickin Medal? It’s the animal kingdom equivalent to the Medal of Honor. His name was Paddy and he has a plaque for carrying important info to Europe in 4 hours and 50 minutes.
We drove through some rocky roads that now have steel mesh wrapped around them to help meld them together after a bad rock fall that closed the road for I think almost a year.
Lastly we made it to Giant’s Causeway, made by volcanoes (basalt columns) but known by the Irish to be made by Fionn MacCoul (there are different spellings both English and Gaelic). The last six photos are from Giant’s Causeway. The place is indescribable and I could not stop taking photos. Gram was able to take a bus down and then I ran her back up in the wheelchair. And then I didn’t even feel bad about eating the “best ice cream in Ireland” afterward. I’ll post the picture after this, it would only let me upload ten and I couldn’t choose.
I guess that’s all for now. Our driver/tour guide was fantastic. I asked him about the black and white birds everywhere, I guess they are Magpies and there is a rhyme that goes with them but the key thing is if you see one by itself it’s bad luck so you have to say to him, “Hello Mr. Magpie!”
For dinner we went to Robinson’s, a nice little restaurant and pub downtown on Victoria street. It was good, I got to have my Smithwick’s on draft that I had wanted last night. It sure was tasty.
I will leave you with the Irish proverb Allen left us with, “May you remember what’s best remembered and forget what’s best forgotten.”
Goodnight!