“You’re taking pictures of people taking
pictures of the rocks,” one of my travel mates commented.
Such is the
price you pay for sun, a rare sight in County Antrim, a county along Ireland’s
Northern coast.
Giant’s
Causeway protruded out before us into the Irish Sea. Considerd a World Heritage
Site for its folklore and unique rock formations, it was originally formed by a
volcanic eruption sixty million years ago. Its rock formations look much like
thousands of pentagonal and hexagonal tree stumps lumped together. Some of
these stumps rose to form little hills, while others were compacted into large
boulders. The tops of the rock pillars sported circular water stains that
looked up at you as you stepped on their eye.
I stopped
climbing long enough to pick up the blue cell-phone-like audio guide the
visitor center had given me earlier, which had fallen out of my pocket again
just as the giant’s wife was donning a bonnet on him.
Of course,
the giant Finn McCool hadn’t built the Causeway for people as tiny as me, or
any of the other visitors dwarfed by the pillars. Finn had dropped one rock
after another into the sea until he created a bridge connecting Ireland and
Scotland. The bridge presented an invitation to the Scottish giant Benandonner,
whom Finn wished to challenge to the death. Yet when Finn caught sight of
Benandonner’s size as he crossed the land bridge, he went running to his wife, the
giantess Oonagh, for help, knowing that he could never defeat such a large
opponent. Oonagh then dressed Finn as baby, complete with the bonnet and baby
blanket, and went to greet Benandonner herself. When Benandonner sees the
“baby” in the corner, he grows worried about the size of the father and flees back
to Scotland, destroying the land bridge to keep Finn from coming after him.
There are
many different versions of this story, yet the basic plot remains the same. Whether
interested in the geology, folklore, or both, Giant’s Causeway provides ample
opportunity to experience a piece culture and history.
I will say Jimmy (looking for a nickname )MCCullough really irritated me. When I have a guide, I want a guide, not a person trying to be a comedian. He had useful information, but he was a pain in the neck.
ReplyDeleteGood job summing up the hostory of Giant's Causeway and the Finn Maccumhail myth. Maybe more of the tension Clare Keegan talked about--was Giant's Causeway what you expected? Did the hordes of tourists piss you off as much as they did for me?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm a little lost with the "I stopped climbing..." line. I think I like what the sentence is doing--giving the causeway agency and activity as you're climbing across it--but I'm unsure with what's techinically happening.
I feel you could have put more of your own opinion and experience in the piece. You're dangerously close to sounding like an encyclopedia, a problem I fall into ALL OF THE TIME. A bit more narrative from you and this would work great, Finn MacCool has some great stories and your so right in saying he didn't build that bridge for someone so small! I felt the same way!
ReplyDeleteGood to recount the myth, it seems to come at the expense of your experience at the causeway.
ReplyDelete