A Causeway and a Cause

 Tuesday August 29, 2023

The Giant's Causeway is a world heritage site in northern Ireland.  It is an amazing structure of 40,000 stone hexagons formed by a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago.  The tops of the basalt columns form stepping stones which have been weathered over the years.  The legend is that a giant built the causeway trying to cross to Scotland to dual with a foe. (Scotland is only 12 miles away!)

It was a little treacherous trying to cross over the rocks leading to the ocean, but the views were stunning!

We didn't have enough time to hike the entire trail around the causeway, but were able to get far enough to see the giant's pipe organ...more columns on the side of the hill.

On the way out, we drove by the Dunluce Castle, which is now in ruins.   It sits high on the side of a cliff, and back in 1639, dinner was interrupted when part of the kitchen fell into the sea taking the servants with it.  The lady of the castle packed up and moved inland!

From there we drove to Derry, sometimes called Londonderry, a city with quite a stormy past.   This city has been in turmoil for hundreds of years with people fighting for a cause--either for territory, religion or civil rights.  They call these times the "Troubles".   Our local guide was proud to tell us, "we have been at peace for the past 25 years!" Yikes, that isn't really very long.  The peace bridge which we can see out of our hotel window is a symbol of peace, as it connects the Protestant waterside (east bank) and Catholic (west bank) sides of the city. 

Derry was a critical port--one of the most western points of Europe in the Atlantic Ocean.  There have been conflicts for hundreds of years over ruling the land.  The British took control over a section of the land and built a walled city in an attempt to take over.  The walled city was populated and manned by British armies for years; the walls have never been breached. The cannons still show up in the walls. 

Our guide shared stories about growing up in the area, and never being able to come close to the walled city--there were a series of checkpoints, soldiers on top of the walls and it was dangerous. As a child, she was sent away to live with a family in France to avoid the violence.

 Derry is the site of "Bloody Sunday" in January 1972 when British soldiers shot unarmed civilians who were fighting for their cause of religious freedom and 14 people died.  There are murals and monuments to those people.  I remember watching the news stories about it.

I also noticed this IRA sign on one of the posts as we were driving by.

Today the walled city is open to all.  It is a commercial area with restaurants, shops and museums, with a great viewpoint over the city.  You can see how the British kept an eye on what was going on!

We had a group dinner at the Walled City Brewery which was the former naval base.  

And then, Jim and I stopped for a beer in the oldest bar in Derry--just cause!