UNESCO deemed it fitting to designate this site on the Emerald Isle as a World Heritage Site—and for good reason! This almost unbelievable landscape is the Giant’s Causeway, which LEC is featuring today as part of your language study trip to Ireland…
Giant’s Causeway or Clochán na bhFómharach
During your language study trip to Ireland, if you bring up the topic with English speakers, you’ll need to use the name Giant’s Causeway. If you try saying it in Irish, you’ll need to say Clochán na bhFómharach, which literally means “The Fomorians’ Little Pile of Stones” —the Fomorians being evil beings from Irish Celtic mythology.
Language Study Trip to Ireland: Where Is the Giant's Causeway?
A natural wonderof Northern Ireland located in CountyAntrim, across from Rathlin Island, the Giant’s Causeway is a volcanic formation consisting of some 40,000 basalt columns that stretch far out into the sea. It is their surface, eroded by the sea, that has attracted the curiosity of tourists and locals alike: it forms a rough pavement that is simply one of a kind.
The Legend of the Giant's Causeway
But why is it called the Giant’s Causeway? Here’s the explanation, which you’ll surely be able to share during your next language study trip to Ireland. According to legend, two rival giants lived on opposite sides of the sea: one in Ireland, the other in Scotland. The Irish giant threw stones into the water to build a path so he could go and face his enemy, while the latter took care to dismantle the causeway so the Irishman couldn’t reach him!