Belfast Tour



Bushmills  
Our stop at Bushmills Distillery was a welcome relief from our adventure over the rope
bridge. We saw at first hand how the craft of whiskey making has been carried out for over 400 years using the same traditional methods to create some of the finest Irish whiskeys in the world. After the tour we enjoyed a complimentary hot toddie.

Giant’s Causeway
The highlight of the tour was a visit to this magical heritage site steeped in myth and legend supposedly carved from the coast by the mighty giant, Fionn Mc Coole, who left behind an ancient home full of folklore. It is a geological wonder with over 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, which was the result of intense volcanic and geological activity. It is a 60 million year-old legacy to the cooling and shrinking of successive lava flows. There are several colour coded walking trails with breath taking views of jagged cliffs and bays lashed by wind and waves. The energy efficient Visitors Centre boasts a number of exhibition areas and a glass roof with 360° degree views of the Causeway coastline.

Knowth
Leaving the North we travelled south to Brú na Bóinne, Co. Meath where one can see the remains of over 40 mounds which are the oldest surviving traces of human activity in the area. They remained the focus for activity and farming tradition long after their formal use as burial places ended. Newgrange is the most famous of the monuments but we visited Knowth. It is a spectacular site with 127 massive kerbstones richly decorated. In fact 2/3 of European Neolithic art is on those original stones. Around the central mound (which has two passages the western and eastern passages), there are 18 smaller tombs as well as standing stones
and settings of exotic stones outside the entrance of the tombs. Within the mound we were able to see down the eastern passage.  There are surviving foundations of Early Christian houses as well as many souterrains on the site.

Best-kept secret!
The best-kept secret of this monument is that the eastern passage is orientated towards
the rising sun on the morning of the equinox (March 21st and September 22nd) when the length of the day is as long as the night. The western passage is aligned to the sunset on the same days. The eastern passage lights up in the morning and the western passage lights up in the evening. What geniuses our ancestors were!!

This was a wonderful trip with comfortable accommodation at the Wellington Hotel, Malone Road, an excellent tour guide Peggy and careful bus driver Pat who attended to our daily needs. A special thank you to Marathon Travel who organized the tour. We enjoyed good food, great conversations, fine singing voices and above all good company. Thank you all for making it a memorable trip.

Mary Kyne 2014