Northern Ireland - Experiencing the Impact of the Conflict Up Close and the Legendary Giant's Causeway - 6 Months in Ireland

The last stop of our trip was completely unknown territory for me. We went to the Northern Irish capital, Belfast. Northern Ireland has been known for many things in the past: George Best, the Dark Hedges, the Giant's Causeway, and the bloody conflict in the early 90s.

Belfast is a caricature of the entire situation in Northern Ireland. The city is divided, with a 15-meter-high wall in the city center separating the Irish quarter from the rest of the city because people are afraid of being attacked. Armored police cars drive through the streets, and no matter where you are, the Union Jack is celebrated so strongly that the streets are crowded with it. In the Irish quarter, it's the same, just with the Irish flag. The conflict has since eased, but the wounds are still deeply rooted in the population.

We also visited the Belfast Docklands and took a trip to the large Titanic Museum. Very interesting, but not worth the price. When we came out, it was pouring rain, so we took the bus to the city center, and suddenly it stopped. We thought we were on the safe side and walked towards our Airbnb in the North Side of Belfast. And then it started, and how: it was pouring rain, and we walked home in the rain. When we arrived home, we were so wet that everything was dripping with water.

Then we finally got to our highlight in Northern Ireland. The Northern Irish version of the Wild Atlantic Way! So we booked a bus and started the tour, as renting a car here is even more difficult than in Ireland. The bus tour turned out to be a real insider tip. The bus driver used to be a comedian, it seemed, because the jokes he cracked were really hilarious. I still remember one joke he built up for 5 minutes and ended with a roaring laughter as we looked at a mural of an old woman on a house wall. The locations we visited were beautiful, many Game of Thrones filming locations, and then we finally made it: the Dark Hedges, the King's Road in GOT, a magical, natural tree-lined avenue. We walked along here and took magical photos.

Then we went to the coolest place in Northern Ireland, the Giant's Causeway. The story of the Giant's Causeway is as follows:

High up in the north of Ireland, there once lived a giant; Fionn mac Cumhaill was his name. His castle stood on the steepest cliff of the coast, and its tower was so high that it tickled the clouds. But for the giant, it was only three steps over the cliffs down to the water, and even when a storm raged, the foaming surf did not reach above his shoulders.
With his beloved wife Oonagh, Fionn led a peaceful life: in the early morning, he went hunting, during the day he looked after his cattle, and in the evening, he enjoyed a delicious meal by the fireplace, prepared by Oonagh. Occasionally, however, when the sun tickled him too warmly in his beard or the rain pelted down so heavily that even his giant head could feel the drops, he felt the urge to fight. Fionn needed someone to test his strength against. But in the whole country, there was no one who dared to do this, and that annoyed Fionn immensely. What good was it to be the strongest guy in the country if there was no one to fight with him?!?
One mild evening, Fionn had had enough of this misery. He stepped in front of his castle, raised his voice, and called so loudly that even the sound of the sea fell silent: "Am I surrounded by nothing but cowardly clucking chickens and miserable worms crawling on their bellies?!? Where are you, warrior, who dares to measure his strength with me in an honest fight? Step out of your earth hole and confront Fionn McCumhaill in battle!"
And what the giant did not expect happened: he received an answer! "You call me a miserable crawling worm, Fionn McCumhaill? Ha! You are the worm yourself, and if you dare to open your mouth any wider, I will crush you under my thumbnail and throw your intestines to the whales for food!" It was Benandonner, Fionn's Scottish neighbor, whom he sometimes saw walking on the cliffs over there. Benandonner's words angered Fionn even more. Did that guy over there truly believe he was stronger than Fionn? Angry, he threw an insult back, and in no time, a true giant fight was going on.
The fight lasted for weeks. Evenings were filled with fierce insults that echoed across the sea, and the waves bowed down under unprecedented vulgarities. The day came when Fionn, in his anger, tore a piece of earth from the ground and threw it at Benanndonner. However, the clump of earth fell into the water before it reached the opposite coast. There, it formed an island that was henceforth called the "Isle of Man." Not at all discouraged by this failure, Fionn devised a new plan: From the cliffs in front of his castle, he broke off rocks. He shaped them into mighty pillars and rammed them into the seabed. It was to become a dam on which Fionn could walk over to Scotland and finally make it clear to Benanndonner who the proud giant was here - and who the miserable worm!
Day and night, week after week, Fionn worked. With every pillar he planted in the seabed, he looked forward to his battle with the big-mouthed Benanndonner. And finally, the day had come: With a chest proudly puffed up, Fionn stepped onto his path and hurried towards the foreign island. Just like at home, he climbed the cliffs in three steps - and was startled. Was that a mountain that rose so steeply in front of him? A mountain shaped like a huge, bare sole? Fionn walked around the mountain and was even more startled: The mountain was indeed a gigantic sole, and its owner was certainly none other than Benanndonner, lying here along the ground and sleeping. Benanndonner, who from the home coast had looked no larger than a human!
Full of horror, Fionn's gaze wandered along the never-ending body up to the face of the giant. From a distance and with closed eyes, it certainly looked peaceful. But what if Benanndonner woke up and realized how small his opponent Fionn looked up close? Fionn didn't hesitate for a moment. With one big leap, he was back at the cliffs, and with another one, he jumped into the water. Then, only the causeway separated him from his protective castle...
Oonagh, who had always watched over the events patiently, was already waiting for her husband. She led Fionn to the bedroom, put him in one of her nightgowns, and placed an embroidered bonnet on his head. In this costume, she sent him to bed. A little later, when the Scottish neighbor hammered on the castle gate, making the very bed in the bedroom tremble, she politely invited him in. "I'm afraid my husband just went hunting," she explained, "but please come in and wait for him!" Benanndonner followed obediently. Fionn's jump over the cliffs had violently awakened him, like an earthquake, from his nap, and he still wasn't completely clear-headed.
He emptied the bucket of tea that Oonagh offered him and accepted her invitation to taste Fionn's favorite food. But when he bit into the sandwich made of two slices of oak wood, topped with thick leather and held together by iron nails, and broke a tooth, he began to feel a little uncomfortable. What kind of man must he be who ate like this? What a tough nut was hiding behind this Fionn??? Oonagh, however, didn't notice his discomfort. "Now, since you have fortified yourself, would you like to honor Fionn's descendants with your visit?" she flattered, smiling. And Benanndonner had no choice but to smile back, follow her into the inner chamber, and admire the baby: Fionn.
The baby had curled up into a ball, pulled the bonnet over its closed eyes, and suckled on its thumb. Benanndonner swallowed. In his giant life, he had so far seen not many babies, but one thing was clear to him. This one was neither small nor cute, as it should be, but extremely big, wide, and ugly. Which, in turn, could mean nothing other than that his father was even bigger, wider, and uglier.
"By all good spirits, no!" he told himself. "I will not knowingly walk into my doom by waiting for this boy's return!" And with that, he ran as fast as his bare soles could carry him. Back to the castle gate and across the causeway to his own island. On the way, Benanndonner ripped out several of the basalt columns from the water. Just to make sure that Fionn wouldn't get the idea to visit Benanndonner again! How should he have known that Fionn was as afraid of him as he was of Fionn?

The truth is that the Giant's Causeway was formed naturally over 60 million years, with up to 12-meter-high, hexagonal basalt stones. This stone setting was enchanting, and thus our trip to Northern Ireland and the whole journey came to an end!