Last entry for Ireland: Giant's Causeways and more!

After enjoying a wonderful night’s sleep powered by a tasty Irish meal, we headed out for the coast.  The final destination was the Giant's Causeways, but there were many great sights to see along the way.  First stop was the Carrickfergus castle.  Built in 1177 the castle played an important military role until the early 1900's.    Today the castle is one of the best preserved medieval structures in Ireland....which is quite surprising, given the nasty cold wind that is common along the coast.  Hence the heavy jackets and hats........

Not sure if this guy got the memo: the war is over dude........we're not trying to storm your castle.

Continuing our drive up the coast.....the views were amazing. 

Our next stop was the famous Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.  This 20 meter rope suspension bridge links the mainland to the tiny Carrick Island and was at one time a vital route for the local salmon fisher’s years ago.   If you look REALLY hard, you may see it in the gap between the rocks on the far right of the picture.  Why didn't we get a close up or even cross the bridge?  Well......a nasty weather front had moved in bringing buckets of rain/snow, the walk out to the bridge was about one hour each way, and most importantly......there is an admission fee (denominated in pounds).

Looking out from the overlook near the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. 

When we arrived to the Giant's Causeways the weather had settled into a revolving calm/massive storming routine that was highlighted by gale force winds.  Excellent weather to explore the Causeways!   So what exactly are the Giant's Causeways and why are they such an attraction?  It is an area right against the water’s edge where roughly 40,000 interlocking basalt columns form a unique series of "stepping stones".  The scientific reason for the unique shapes is a volcanic eruption that took place some 50 to 60 million years ago.  There is, however, a fun and more entertaining reason for the unique "stepping stones".  Legend has it that the Irish warrior Fionn McCool built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner.  Whichever version you choose to believe, the Giant's Causeways make for an impressive sight and worth a visit if you find yourself in Northern Ireland.  

Heading down the path to the Causeways.... 

A close up of the unique structures.

Us standing in front of the Giant's Causeways.

I did mention the gale force winds, right?  Here the girls are doing their best to maintain a vertical stance against the winds.  It was seriously that windy.....

The drive back to Belfast was all about drying off and warming up.  The sightseeing was not over however.  We still had a few more sights on the agenda before we called it done.  The first was the Belfast City Hall.  

Unfortunately the building was closed due to the New Years holiday.....go figure.  No worries, the next stop was going to more than make up for the disappointment: the Belfast Shipyard.  

This shipyard is probably most famous for building the ship Titanic in 1912.  Here we are standing in front of a dry dock near where the ship was built and fitted.  This dry dock was not the original, however, it is big enough to hold the Titantic.....if it had not have sank on its maiden voyage to America anyway. 

This coming April 2012 marks the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic's creation and....sinking.  There are many great events planned for the special occasion, including a new visitor’s center that houses period pieces and one of the original boats that was used to ferry out passengers to the Titanic before it set sail.   

Here is a replica of the bow section of the Titanic built to scale...

...and a drawing to help give perspective to the size of the ship.

And finally, no visit to the Belfast Shipyard be complete without taking a picture of the two massive cranes that have built several large vessels over the years: Samson and Goliath.

And just like that our weekend in Ireland came to a close.  A quick drive back down to the airport and before we knew it we were sitting back home in Germany.  Ireland is a great country and one that we hope we will be able to return to someday.  The Northern coastline and the beautiful countryside is a great destination.....probably even better when visited during the warmer months of the year.