NORTHERN IRELAND: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

 July 10, 2024

The Giant's Causeway is a geologic rock formation formed by an erupting volcano 50 or 60 million years ago. The molten basalt seeped through chalk beds to form a volcanic plateau, and as the lava cooled, it cracked, much as mud does when it dries, leaving about 40,000 mostly hexagonal interlocking stones.

According to legend, these columns are the remains of a land bridge, or causeway, built by the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhail and the Scottish giant Benandonner so that they could meet in the middle and fight it out.  The Scottish end, which supposedly looks like the Northern Irish end, is called Fingal's Cave.

This early-19th century poem presents a slightly different motive behind building the causeway:

THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

They met beside the stormy sea, those giant kings of old,
And on each awful brow was set, a crown of burning gold.
No ray the yet unrisen stars, or the wan moonbeams, gave,
But far and bright, the meteor light shone over cloud and wave.

"I have been over earth to-day," exclaimed one mighty king,
"The toil of half the human race, it is a foolish thing;
For I have seen on Egypt's land, an abject million slave,
To build a lofty pyramid above their monarch's grave.

"Now let us put their works to scorn, and in a single night
Rear what would take them centuries, and nations' banded might,"
Then up arose each giant king, and took a mighty stone,
They laid the quay; they piled the rocks—ere morn the work was done.

Vain fable this! yet not so vain as it may seem to be,
Methinks that now too much we live to cold reality;
The selfish and the trading world clips man so closely round,
No bold or fair imaginings within our hearts are found.

So vortex-like doth wealth now draw, all other feelings in,
Too much we calculate, and wealth, becomes almost a sin;
We look upon the lovely earth, and think what it may yield;
We only ask for crops, not flowers, from every summer field.

The mind grows coarse, the soul confined, while thus from day to day
We let the merely common-place eat phantasie away:
Aye, better to believe, I trow, the legends framed of old—
Aught—anything to snatch one thought, from selfishness and gold.

-Leticia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838)

The Giant's Causeway was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986. In 2005, a poll named the Giant's Causeway the fourth-greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom.

We arrived at the visitor center and left our car in the parking lot, for which we had prepaid about $40. That included access to the visitors center (and the bathroom, which made it worth every penny). 

IRELAND, DAY 5: SLIGO

 July 8, 2024

Sligo, population 20,000, is located on the coast just west of Northern Ireland.

As we drove into town, I spotted this mural, which I have since identified as the 1916 Easter Rising Mural. We would learn more about the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection by Irish nationalists against British rule that took place during Easter week in April 1916, when we got to Northern Ireland. The large figures of seven men and one woman at the bottom of the mural were key figures in the revolt.

This mural, known as "Sligo, Set your Spirit Free," pays tribute to the big waves that have made this area a surfing hotspot.

Sligo has what looks like a classic small town American Main Street:

IRELAND, DAY 2: ROCK OF CASHEL AND HORE ABBEY

 July 5, 2024

We were hitting jet lag on the afternoon of our first full day in Ireland, so I picked up a Coke Zero at the gas station. I was intrigued by the ingenuity of the attached cap. That's a great way to keep the cap with the bottle for recycling.

Not long after entering County Tipperary, we came across a blocked off right-of-way for a herd of milk cows. Now that's something you don't see everyday (or any day) in California.

Eventually we made it to Cashel, a little town of about 4,400 people with a BIG tourist draw, St. Patrick's Rock, more commonly known as the Rock of Cashel. The word "cashel" means "fort" or "castle" in Irish.

We had to park at the base of the rock and trudge up the hill, but the view looking up was quite impressive.

PORTUGAL: SANCTUARY OF OUR LADY OF NAZARE AND DOS VENTOS RESTAURANT

June 26, 2022

There is a story that in the 4th century a small wooden statue of the Virgin Mary was brought from the city of Nazareth in the Holy Land to a monastery in Spain, and then in 711 it was brought to the Portuguese seaside by a monk and the current king of Portugal. They promptly became hermits, moving into a small grotto in the cliffs above the sea. When the monk died, the king left the Madonna statue on an altar in the grotto.

Flash forward 400+ years. As mentioned in my previous post, sometime in the 12th century a local official was chasing a deer during a hunt in the fog, and he chased the deer over a cliff near the grotto. Just as the hunter's horse was about to follow the deer, the hunter called out to the Virgin to save him, and, miraculously, his horse stopped abruptly on the very verge of a death drop. 

To honor this miraculous intervention by the Virgin Mary, a chapel was built over the grotto in 1182.  A bigger church that could accommodate more visitors to the Virgin was built in 1377 by King Fernando I, and it was remodeled multiple times between the 16th and 19th centuries. Today, this beautiful baroque Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nazaré still houses the miraculous statue. The name Nazaré (pronounced Na-zuh-RAY) is the Portuguese version of Nazareth, the city in the Holy Land from where the statue came.

Unfortunately, when we were there the statue itself was out for repair and restoration, but there was still a lot to enjoy in the rest of the church.

PORTUGAL: NAZARE, PRAIA DO NORTE

  June 26, 2022

The small town of Nazaré (population 10,000) is known for two unrelated things: surfing and a miracle. I'll start with surfing.

The town was very crowded the afternoon we were there, and we had to park a fair distance from our first stop, the famous Praia do Norte, or North Beach. I'll get to why it's famous in a minute.

We noted a definite hipster/surfer vibe as we approached the beach--street signs covered in beach bum stickers and a giant marble and steel statue that has the head of a deer and the body of a surfer.

The deer has a story that actually ties in to the Nazaré miracle, so I guess my opening statement that the surfing and the miracle aren't related isn't entirely true.

There used to be a lot of deer in the area, and the legend is that on a foggy day in the 12th century, the mayor, Dom Fuas, was hunting and chased a deer over a cliff. Just as Dom Fuas was about to follow suit, he cried out for help to Our Lady of Nazaré (whose story I will tell later). At that moment his horse stopped abruptly, saving itself and its rider from a fall of more than 300 feet onto the rocks below. See the depiction of the event below, painted by Portuguese artist André Luís.

Picture from here

We were walking towards those very cliffs, but first we passed through the gate that welcomed us to the the site of the Biggest Waves in the World.