Staffa Island, Scotland, United Kingdom
On first glance, Fingal’s Cave looks like the remnants of an ancient civilization, but its hexagonal basalt columns and enormous cavern were created by nature. It is a giant cave, around 20 metres in height and over 70 metres long. Boats from Iona and Fionnphort take tourists to the island of Staffa where they can explore Fingal’s Cave.
The island does not have any visitor facilities and is uninhabited. Tourists get around an hour to visit Fingal’s Cave and the other amazing areas of Staffa as well as to get up close to the many puffins that live there. It has been estimated that volcanic activity and a lava flow around sixty million years ago helped to construct the island and its unique features.
It has been said that on only one day each year, the sixteenth of December, the sun is in position to illuminate the entire Fingal’s Cave. The sea cave was also called the “cave of melody”, due to the sounds produced by the water and the large cavern. Composer Felix Mendelssohn is said to have written the Hebrides Overture after being inspired by Fingal’s Cave. Jules Verne visited Fingal’s Cave and it is something that could inspire a story like Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea or The Mysterious Island.
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