Photos and the City

Tag: Causeway Coast

  • Bushmills

    After wandering around the Giant´s Causeway the shuttle bus brought me back to Bushmills and I decided it was about time to stroll around the village and to fulfil the whiskey orders I had brought with me.

    bushmills, northern ireland, united kingdom, ursula schmitz, roadtrip, whiskey, travel

    Bushmills name came from the River Bush and the large watermill built there in the 17th century and the village is probably best known for its distillery, the oldest one worldwide!

    1608 – On April 20th 1608, King James I granted Sir Thomas Phillips – landowner and Governor of Co. Antrim, Ireland – a license to distil.

    1784 – The Old Bushmills Distillery is official. Hugh Anderson registered the Old Bushmills Distillery and the Pot Still became its registered trade mark. It’s still our mark of genuine distinction today. (Old Bushmills)

    You´ll already smell the distillery before you´ll see it! It´s possible to take a tour around, but I just went into the shop and bought the desired Reserve, only available here.

    bushmills, northern ireland, united kingdom, ursula schmitz, roadtrip, whiskey, travelbushmills, northern ireland, united kingdom, ursula schmitz, roadtrip, whiskey, travel

    On my way back into the city centre I passed a watermill – maybe the old one? At least it looked very idyllic!

    bushmills, northern ireland, united kingdom, ursula schmitz, roadtrip, whiskey, travelbushmills, northern ireland, united kingdom, ursula schmitz, roadtrip, whiskey, travel

    Bushmills seemed to have quite an interesting project going on – photographs on doors and windows of empty houses (there was a lot of them) show how these used to look.

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    You´ll find even more images here: The Guardian

    bushmills, northern ireland, united kingdom, ursula schmitz, roadtrip, whiskey, travel

  • In the footsteps of giants…

    Welcome back to Ireland! After Venice and the English winter wonderland, it´s time to finish my road trip along the Causeway Coast.

    giant´s causeway, ireland, northern ireland, uk, unesco, nature, landscape, sea, ocean, cliffs

    The basalt columns might be the most known part of the Giant´s Causeway, but there is more to explore!

    giant´s causeway, ireland, northern ireland, uk, unesco, nature, landscape, sea, ocean, cliffsgiant´s causeway, ireland, northern ireland, uk, unesco, nature, landscape, sea, ocean, cliffs

    When Finn fled from the wrath of Scottish giant, Benandonner, he left his boot in this bay – also know as Port Noffer. In the back, you see the Whishing Chair – until some years ago only ladies were allowed to sit on the chair.

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    There are two possible trails – the one on top of the cliffs, which takes you about 5 miles from the Giant´s Causeway to ruins of Dunseverick Castle and another kind of the mid of the cliffs taking you around them for some may half a mile. There used to be a longer trail but it got buried some years ago.

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    The Whishing Chair from above.

    giant´s causeway, ireland, northern ireland, uk, unesco, nature, landscape, sea, ocean, cliffs

    View of the “Organ” and the buried former pathway.

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    Hello Scotland! I spot you! And would love to do a little cruise on that sailboat!

    giant´s causeway, ireland, northern ireland, uk, unesco, nature, landscape, sea, ocean, cliffs

    View in direction of the basalt columns and Finn´s “camel” in the back.

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  • Giant´s Causeway

    giant´s causeway, northern ireland, county antrim, uk, basalt, ocean

    On the next morning, I got up quite early, had a quick breakfast at my B&B and off I went to Bushmills to visit the main reason I came to Northern Ireland: the Giant´s Causeway – declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

    I remember looking through a book at Waterstones in Cork many years ago and seeing the first picture of this place and instantly fell in love – it took some time but finally, I was going to visit it!

    giant´s causeway, northern ireland, county antrim, uk, basalt, ocean

    Some logistics:

    The Giant´s Causeway is one of the most visited tourist’s attractions in Ireland, be there as early as possible. There are some parking spaces around the visitor centre which were slammed when I left around 11 – I was very pleased that I choose to park at the park & ride in Bushmills and take the free shuttle bus from there, way less stressful! And even helps save money!

    When you arrive at the Giants Causeway there are two ways to enter, one for free via the path or the second one via the visitor centre, which costs £10,50 (or £9 if you´ve used the bus!) and offers an audioguide, exhibitions, toilets, coffee shop and a souvenir shop.

    The path (Coastline & North Antrim Coast Path) is open from dawn to dusk, the visitor centre from 9 to 5. (spring & summer until 7 or 9 pm)

    giant´s causeway, northern ireland, county antrim, uk, basalt, ocean

    From that point, it´s about one-mile walk down to the Giant´s Causeway – you can either walk or take the Bus for £1 – also know as Translinks shortest and probably most profitable bus route.

    The Grand Causeway

    giant´s causeway, northern ireland, county antrim, uk, basalt, ocean

    The area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption thousands of years ago is probably the most known feature of the Giant´s Causeway:

    The columns may even continue under the sea as there are similar ones in a place in Scotland.

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