The last few days in Ireland
OK, here's the recap of the last few days of our Ireland trip, with some details that need to be filled in when I get back to the US (more on that later).
Tuesday 9/18
We got up in the house where we were staying, after the confusion with the reservation, and went next door, to where we were supposed to be staying, and had breakfast. Turns out two sets of couples who were traveling together from Arizona, and staying at that B&B were going to the same first location as us, and we bumped into them when we got to Trim Castle.
Our impressions of Trim were that it was tied with Bunratty for the coolest castle we visited. It was a little less well preserved inside, but there were large grounds, with the curtain wall still mostly intact, a series of excavations going on that found remnants of other buildings in the complex, and walking trails where you could see what was left of early churches, all along the River Boyne.
What Trim Castle lacked in terms of castle preservation (there was alot of open space, as center floors were no longer there, and a plexiglass roof cover was in place to protect the inside of the castle), it made up for with a great guided tour. This was the point at which we learned alot about castles - why the stairways up the turrets went clockwise, why round building was preferred to squared off building (to find out why, you'll have to ask us).
Trim was beautiful, though!
Main building/Tower house
Excavation of former Great Hall site
Looking out from the top of the castle at the turrets in the curtain wall
We headed out from Trim to Newgrange. This was one thing we were really excited about. In the valley of the River Boyne (Bru na Boinne, in Gaelic), were early settlements, of late stone age peoples. As part of these settlements, megalithic tombs were built, and dot the landscape. These tombs are large mounds, with chambers in them, and souterrains connecting some of the mounds built roughly 5000 years ago. They predate even Stonehenge.
Access to the tombs was guided from the Bru na Boinne visitors center, and you were bussed out to the tombs. There are three main areas around there - Knowth, Dowth, and Newgrange. Access to Dowth is limited, as it is contained on private property, but apparently you can get permission from the owner to visit. We took the two part tour of Knowth and then Newgrange. Knowth was okay, but the tour guide didn't do a very good job explaining the tombs, but I think part of that is that the archeology work down at Knowth is a little different. While you could see passages, you couldn't really go into them, and could only go into the manmade chamber in the largest mound.
This gives some perspective as to the size of the mounds
It's hard to see here, but the large stones contain neolithic carvings, done by the inhabitants of this area. The ledge over the stones was manmade, to protect the stones found in the area.
When we went to Newgrange, though, we were very impressed. The guide was much better, and we got to really see the inside of the chamber. In the large mound at Newgrange, there is a passage that goes about 60 feet inside the mound, very low and very tight, which opens up to a chamber that is illuminated for the five days around the Winter Solstice, by the rising sun. It was such a mastery of engineering, from the spiral roof of the chamber, supporting millions of pounds of dirt that is totally waterproof, to the alignment of the light box where the Solstice sunlight comes in, which is over your head when you enter the passage, and below your feet when you get to the chamber. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the chamber, but here's the mound, for perspective
We left Newgrange, thoroughly excited for having seen this, and stayed in a B&B I can't remember at the moment!
Wednesday 9/19
We headed into Dublin, and got majorly lost. Again, little signage to guide you, one-way streets, and general confusion. There were two things we wanted to see - the Guinness brewery and Kilmainham Gaol.
First, we found Guinness. When we got there, the free parking lot was full, but the very nice attendant let us sit outside to wait for someone to leave. We spent about 45 minutes parked there waiting, but we were able to relax and do some reading and just veg out after trying to find Guinness.
Once we got there, we were sorely disappointed. Our advice to anyone visiting Dublin - save yourself the money, and go just drink some Guinness in a pub. The tour was self-guided, through self-aggrandizing displays about the beer, and was the most expensive tour we had taken, even after using our student IDs to get student discounts.
Guinness is dead to me now.
After leaving Guinness, we tried to find Kilmainham Gaol. If we thought our earlier adventures in driving were bad, oy! How we fit down some of the streets we were on, and how we found our way, without finding the gaol, is beyond us. So, we headed into the town center, got to our hotel, and checked in. While the Jury's Inn in Cork was very nice, the Jury's in Christchurch section of Dublin was *shrugs shoulders* "eh".
We walked around a bit, tried some pizza at a decidedly non-PC pizza chain in Ireland - Apache Urban Pizza, which featured pizzas named for famous Native Americans, and huge photos of said Native Americans. The pizza was okay.
By this point, nothing was really getting us excited about Ireland. We had reached a bit of our limit of traveling, and weren't really liking anything. That is, until we found the Bull and Castle gastropub , right near our hotel. They offered amazing food, paired with beer from around the world, in a German beer hall atmosphere. This is one place everyone who visits Dublin should visit!
We went back to the hotel to crash and sort our receipts for customs claims, to figure out how much we spent. We really know how to rock the excitement!
Thursday 9/20
After breakfast in a coffeeshop, as opposed to full Irish breakfast, we did some last minute shopping at the Tourist Information shop, checked out of the hotel, and got detailed directions to the Kilmainham Gaol.
This jail was built during Victorian Times, when it was thought that fresh air and light could help rehabilitate prisoners. It was one of the first of the new style of jails. There were two wings, one older with standard grey cells and one newer, in the Victorian style. See if you can guess which is which!
Once we left the jail, we headed out towards our last B&B. It was very near the airport, which was good given our early flight. Along the way, we saw signs for a set of shopping centers that we assumed would have more Ireland-themed stuff. We were sadly mistaken. Not that they didn't have what we were looking for, but our best efforts to follow signs through roundabouts failed to materialize a mill shopping center.
We found the B&B, checked in, and found a pub in Swords to get dinner. It was another early night, especially since we had an early morning to get to the airport.
Friday 9/21
We left at the ass-crack of dawn, got lost trying to find the rental car dropoff, and finally got to the airport. Travel note for anyone going to Ireland - if you can avoid flying out of Dublin, do it! Shannon airport, where we flew into, was small, easy to navigate, and pleasant. Dublin was cramped, difficult to figure out, and confusing.
Our flight back was uneventful, but long. I have to say, the 7 year old girl sitting in front of us was much better behaved, with regard to getting cranky about the long flight, than my dear wife. By hour five, she was done. Kaput. Finished. We couldn't get off the plane fast enough.
We got to philly, went through customs, where Erin ticked off the customs agent by trying to help a woman with a very short connection. When we were called to the window, Erin motioned for the other woman to go up, at which point, the customs agent laid into both the other woman and us, for not following orders. Oh, well. That was at passport control. The guy at declarations was much nicer.
We got back to Albany on time, but our bags didn't...they showed up on Saturday afternoon.
All in all, it was an amazing honeymoon, and a wonderful trip, with some small hiccups. *sappy moment* kinda like life I guess.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
After taking our leave of our New Ross B&B, we headed into town to see the Dunbrody Famine Ship. This is a full replica of one of the ships that carried Irish immigrants to other countries during the potato famine of the mid-19th century. These ships were often called 'coffin ships' because of the number of people who died in transit. Looking at the living conditions on the ship, for a journey that would have lasted about two months or more, I can't imagine how desperate people must have been to take a chance like that.
After leaving the famine ship, we headed north towards County Wicklow. Our first stop was in Wicklow town, looking for a tourist information stop and lunch. While there, we visited the Wicklow gaol, a jail dating back to the 1700s, that was in used up to the middle of the 1900s. The exhibits they set up were a bit hokey, but all in all it was an okay tour. The jailer who led us through most of the tour was fully in character, which made it kind of interesting.
A few miles outside of Wicklow is Glendalough. In Glendalough, there is a monastic site, dating back to the 7th century, where St. Kevin set up a religious community. There is currently the remains of a chapel, cathedral and a round tower, in the midst of a modern burial ground. Even with people walking around, it was very quiet and peaceful there, and a nice site for reflection.
Knowing that we wanted to stay in the Trim area to visit Trim castle, we found a B&B up there, called and made a reservation, and headed up to Trim. However, when we got there, we found that the rooms were overbooked, so the B&B owner made some calls, and got us in to a neighbor who temporarily rents out rooms, though not as a full B&B. It was a bit awkward, but we settled in, and took a nice walk through Trim at night. We could see the castle a little ways off, and it was interesting to see how much the town relies on the castle for it's identity. We found an Asian restaurant for dinner, that was more Singapore-oreiented as opposed to Chinese-oriented. It was a very good meal, though now we've realized that in Ireland, if you want rice with your Asian food, you must order it seperately, and pay more for it.
A lot of catching up to do
Many days without internet access have left this blog behind. I just finished posting from a few days where we did writeups in Word, so we didn't have to create them anew. However, there is still alot to do. I'm going to try to get to alot of it soon.
Sunday (Cork and the Southeast)
We woke up feeling rejuvenated and refreshed after our spot of crankiness. After getting packed up and getting breakfast, we checked out and found the closest Catholic church, which was right down the road. It was an experience, to say the least. Prayers were said as if the priest and the congregation were competing auctioneers, and when you combine in the Irish brogue, there were times we had to remind ourselves where in the mass we were.
After mass, we headed to the one attraction in Cork city that really caught our eye – the Cork Butter Museum!
Yes, a museum dedicated to the history of sweet cream Irish butter. How it is made. How it is marketed. How it is sold. It was, in a word, ridiculous. Erin was a somewhat willing participant in this escapade, indulging me in my desire to see a museum about butter. I truly married a wonderful woman!
We left Cork city and headed to Midleton. In the words of Phoebe from Friends when Rachel got a job at Saks, “It was like the mothership was calling me home”. We went to the Old Middleton Distillery, where Irish whiskeys such as Jameson, Powers and Paddy Murphy’s used to be made (Bushmills and Tulamore Dew are made by other companies). We took a tour of the old production buildings and learned how Irish whiskey is made, and how it differs from Scotch whiskey and American whiskey. Following the tour, the guide asked for volunteers for a whiskey tasting. At first, I was being a bit shy, but Erin reminded me I would regret it if I didn’t do it, so my hand quickly went up. I was joined at the table with two other Americans (whose only whiskey of experience was Jack Daniels) and a Scot (who only drank Scotch whiskey). I was the oddball, an American who had a strong preference for Irish whiskey. We were given a taste each of American and Scotch whiskey, as well as a taste each of Jameson, Powers and Paddy Murphy’s. What was funny was watching the other Americans realize how much smoother Jameson was than Jack, and watching the Scot realize that not all whiskeys had to be smoky. I even got a certificate naming me an official whiskey taster!
I bought myself a special present in the gift shop – a bottle of 12 year aged Jameson, not available anywhere else in the world but at the factory, that has a personalized label on it. It was a bit of a splurge, but well worth it.
After leaving the distillery, we headed towards Waterford. Initially, our plans were that if we were in Waterford, and the crystal factory was open, we would stop. Neither of us had a huge desire to see it, but we felt it was one of those places in Ireland that we would later say “We really should have gone there, just because it is what it is”. However, by the time we got into Waterford, the factory and shops were all closed down. We continued on towards Wexford, with the anticipation of going to see the Dunbrody Famine Ship (more on this later) on Monday. However, a closer inspection of our travel books indicated that the ship was actually in New Ross, not Wexford, which saved us about a 30 km trip. We called a B&B that was close by the center of New Ross, booked a room, and headed over there. On our way, we passed by the Dunbrody, and settled in for a quiet night. Traveling has been taking it’s toll, so it felt good to be out of the car and just relax. We did watch a replay of the All Ireland Gaelic Football final, and figured out most of how it is played and scored. However, it was a broadcast in Irish, not in English, so we didn’t get the benefit of the explanation. By the way, Kerry came out on top, making them back to back champions.
Saturday (Dingle and Cork)
We started the day with yet another Irish breakfast. However, there has been some interesting revalations. 1) Though we are in Ireland, potatoes are not regularly served as part of breakfast, and 2) happily, black pudding is not regularly offered.
The bulk of today was spent in Dingle town, the main town on the Dingle peninsula. As today was also the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk, we decided to walk, in spirit, with Erin’s family back in MA. So, we wore our Memory Walk t-shirts all day today.
We started off at the tourist office in Dingle, and got some basic information about driving around. The main road that goes around the peninsula is Slea Head Drive, and it can do a full circle from Dingle and back. We started following this, with the idea to stop wherever we saw roadsigns indicating something interesting to see. Our first stop was at the Gallarus Oratory. This was a 8th century early Christian church that is still standing. It was built with stone, without the use of any mortar, in such a way that it was watertight on the inside. This was accomplished by angling the successive layers of stone outward, while building up to a peak, so that the building looked like an inverted boat. It was amazing to think that 1200 years ago, it was used as a place of worship by the Christians who settled throughout Ireland.
We continued along, driving some very narrow roads, until we came to a pier with tremendous views. In the distance are three mountain peaks named the Three Sisters by the Vikings who visited Ireland around 900 CE. It was also an area known as the End of the World, as all that was visible and attainable was open ocean, with North America the next bit of land to the west.
The warning at the pier:
The three sisters:
We continued on through what we thought was Slea Head Drive, though we really weren’t sure. The views were beautiful, but we ended up at a dead end pier, and turned back towards Dingle.
Back in town, we did a bit of shopping, and had lunch at Murphy’s Pub. It was about a 50/50 split of locals and tourists there. It was also my first experience with a meal of bacon and cabbage. It was a plate of boiled Irish bacon, boiled cabbage, mashed potatoes and carrots. It was also delicious!
We kept walking around, getting some homemade ice cream – Erin trying the Bailey’s Irish Cream flavor, with Cardamom and Vanilla for me. After all the shopping was done, we headed out of Dingle, and into Cork.
One quick observation – Through our travels between Dingle and Cork, we experienced the culmination of the All-Ireland Gaelic Football Championship. Basically, from what we understand, each county in Ireland fields a team, and they play in a tournament. The finals this year were between Cork and Kerry (where Dingle is located). The support that these little towns show to their county team is impressive. All throughout towns in County Kerry, yellow & green ribbons, flags, signs, stuffed animals and banners were present. Throughout County Cork, red & white ribbons, flags and signs were present, though to a slightly lesser extent. The only comparison I can make is to imagine that Yankees-Red Sox occurred with both cities sharing a common boundary line.
Our travels into Cork were not bad, until we got into Cork city. We hadn’t booked a room anywhere, and as it was Saturday night, it was difficult to find one. We decided to seek out a hotel, and drove around stopping in to ask if they had any rooms open. This involved a lot of driving through one-way streets, poorly marked streets, and roads that just ended. Needless to say, there was a lot of frustration trying to get around. We finally found a hotel in the outskirts of town, and booked our room. We then headed back into town to get dinner. By this point, exhaustion, hunger and driving frustration were taking their toll. We were cranky and frustrated, and ready to fly back to the US that night. There was a moment of homesickness for those things we take for granted – street signs, road signs, familiar surroundings. So, to kill two birds with one stone (hunger and homesickness) we decided to examine the seedy underbelly of globalization that night for dinner, and went to Burger King. With bellies full of greasy artificially flavored French fries, we headed back to the hotel, and found that Independence Day was on TV. Perfect! An American movie to kill the remaining bad feelings.
We continued on towards Dingle, with directions to Devane’s Farmhouse. Little did we know that the route off the main road towards the B&B would expose us to a stampede of livestock. Now, sheep are cute and cuddly. Pretty to look at, even. However, when you are traveling up a dirt road that is barely wide enough for your car, and the road is meant for two-way travel, and sheep are being herded from one field across the road to another field, pretty, fluffy sheep can become a terrifying mass.
Here’s what I think happened: The sheep ringleader realized that there was open road around them, between the fields. So, he ordered a massive prison break. The only problem was that there was a Nissan Note blocking their path. That didn’t stop them from charging towards the car. By my recollection, there were between 500 and 600 sheep led by drummers and battle flags, with the second line carrying pikes and muskets. However, Erin stands by her assertion of less than 100 sheep, with absolutely no weaponry. By the grace of God, and an attentive sheep-dog, we were spared being caught up in the sheep stampede. I must say (as I was driving when this happened) that I was truly scared. All I could imagine was trying to explain to the car rental company about how the damage was the result of a sheep stampede.
We continued on the dirt road, following signs to the farmhouse we were staying at. At the last sign, we turned into what we thought was the farmhouse, with echoes of “Deliverance” running through my head. However, the scary woman who lived at that house indicated that Devane’s Farmhouse was just up the road a bit. So, we muddled on, and arrived at a lovely B&B, and actually felt like our trip (which took all of only 2 kilometers) up the dirt road was well worth it.
Once we got settled, we headed back down the road, and into Dingle town, to get some dinner. We walked along one of the main roads with shops and pubs, and finally settled on the Dingle Pub. After dinner, we navigated back up the aforementioned road (with no livestock in sight), and settled in.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday (Galway, Limerick, Dingle)
We woke up Friday morning, and took our leave of our B&B in Galway, and headed in to town. After fighting through one-way streets and a lot of morning traffic, we finally got to the downtown shopping area. Because on-street parking was at a premium, we parked in a garage. As we drove around looking for a spot, there was a rhythmic clicking sound that we realized was our antenna clanging off the beams in the garage. Only after we parked did we see that the antenna was hinged, and able to be bent down...oh well, at least we didn't break it off!
It was here that Erin completed her two shopping goals - she had previously gotten an Aran Sweater from the Aran Islands, and was now in possession of an authentic Claddagh ring, from the Claddagh and Celtic shop in Galway (a shop featured on the Today Show's "Where in the World is Matt Lauer").
A short stroll along the canal, and we were at the Galway Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of our Lady Assumed into Heaven and Saint Nicholas. It was a very impressive church. I'll let some pictures speak for themselves.
We were so struck by the beauty of the Cathedral, we took a lot more pictures, but they will come later.
We headed out of Galway, and started our trek toward Limerick. Getting in to Limerick was fairly simple, and we were pointed to a parking lot for St. John's Castle. Ordinarily you have to pay for parking for sites here, but we didn't have to. That should have triggered alarm bells. King John's Castle was, in a word, disappointing. The front of the castle was not present, a modern glass entry way/visitors center in its place (we didn't find out whether the center was put in where the castle had a previously destroyed wall, or if they took a wall down...). The visitors center had a slideshow on the history of the castle, and a video with some of the worst acting we've ever seen, attempting to convey the horror of being in the castle while it was under siege during the Jacobite Wars. We couldn't wait for these to be finished. But then we headed into the castle. With rooms staged with wax figures of people and motion-sensor triggered audio files explaining what was going on. It seemed like they wanted to try to make history exciting and accessible, but failed on both counts. The other castles we had seen were left to explain themselves, with plaques explaining what the rooms were, etc. While we had previously wanted to walk around Limerick, our goal now was to get out of town.
Which wasn't easy.
We hit afternoon rush hour, which coincided with all of the catholic school kids getting out of school. There were uniforms everywhere. Girls in skirts down to the ground, with either blazers or sweaters over their shirts and ties, and boys in dress pants, shirts & ties, and blazers or sweaters. Except for the one girl who we think was off uniform, based on the spandex mini-skirt she was wearing with her shirt/sweater.
It is important to know that in Ireland, doorways are brightly colored, and some of these uniforms (blue, green, burgandy, red) seemed to act as camoflage for the schoolkids. All of the kids were sorted by uniform color, except for the one girl in purple walking in the middle of four girls in green. Either it was a cross-school friendship, or they had her cornered and were going to give her some green-school justice.
Travel was extremely slow (see previous note about nail filing). So much so that we started getting a little loopy. At one point, I wanted to do the "cha-cha slide" with the car, and everything was funny. Trying to get out of Limerick put us in roundabout/traffic circle hell. They are everywhere over here. Now, traffic circles, on a good day, driving on the correct side of the car and road are problematic. ARGH!!!!
However, we did get to listen to the obituaries being read on Galway FM radio. They actually read all obituaries for Galway residents (and Americans who were from Galway) on the radio.
Finally, we got on the larger road out of Limerick and headed to Dingle. We hadn't made any room reservations, and quickly found that everything in Dingle town was booked. However one pleasant woman recommended a B&B outside of town run by a friend. So we called Devane Farmhouse, made a reservation, and kept heading towards Dingle. Along the way, there were animals on all sides of the road. Now, I had been given a request by Jess Nadeau to get pictures of the painted sheep (which are painted so that when they wander into other fields, farmers can get their sheep back). Due to no shoulders on the road, we failed in this.
Or so we thought.
We found a pull off, and were able to get pictures of the painted sheep, along with a sheep that should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. You'll see why.
That's all for now. There is more about Dingle, plus our travels on Saturday, but we need to get going and head out to explore Cork City.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Catching up on some stuff
OK, so while we were thinking about what's gone up here, and what we've experienced, there were a few notable omissions. So, here is another catch-up:
1) When we first got into Galway the other night, we were parked, trying to figure out how to get to a B&B. While sitting in the public parking space, a man and woman were arguing while crossing the road, ultimately standing in front of a shop, continuing to argue, with another guy stepping in to keep them separated. Ultimately, this led to the two guys getting into a fight, on the sidewalk, with the guy who was arguing taking the brunt of the fight, ending up on the ground, laying there for a minute and then getting up, staggering to some other people sitting on a bench. While I did have a fleeting moment of wanting to help, realizing how drunk he was (as evidenced by the way he was arguing and slurring words), we felt it best to stay back. Welcome to Galway!!!
2) It was interesting to come to Ireland to see a billboard for McDonalds, advertising a Mexican spicy fajita wrap...
3) While writing about the visit to Dun Aengus on the Aran Islands, I neglected to mention Erin's bravery. While I said that there was a 100 meter straight drop to the ocean, I didn't talk about Erin venturing right to the edge to get pictures. As evidenced here:
To get this pic:
Needless to say, my fear of heights was overwhelming, and while I approached the edge, did not get nearly as close as Erin.
4) This should be included in our departure from Limerick, but I'll put it here...I forgot to clip my fingernails before we left. Ordinarily not a huge issue, but they have proceeded to grow quickly - maybe due to the hearty Irish breakfasts with full cream milk. I don't know the reason, but they were out of control. So, while sitting in traffic trying to get out of Limerick I decided to do the next best thing - bite them down. However, this left me with ragged, jagged nails. So, while stuck in traffic jams, I borrowed Erin's nail file, and proceeded to use all sides of it - coarse grit, fine grit, smoothing. The whole nine yards. I couldn't figure out what people were looking at until I realized that I was sitting in a car, in a pink/salmon colored polo shirt, filing my fingernails. I did not allow Erin to take a picture of this, so there is no photo evidence, but we thought it was interesting and sharable.
More coming about our last two days journeys later - trips through Galway, Limerick, Dingle, Blarney and Cork.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Day 2 and 3
Sadly, our stay at the Bunratty Castle Hotel had to come to an end. However, we were introduced to Irish Breakfast. As it was explained to us, it is important to eat heartily in the morning, as the days will be busy. And, seeing as how most places include full Irish breakfast in their stay, it is something to get accustomed to.
Imagine if you will - eggs (scrambled here), potatoes, baked beans, brown bread with sweet Irish butter, sausage, bacon (actually back bacon, more similar to Canadian bacon, but less "hammy"), coffee, white pudding and black pudding.
Let's go in order:
Eggs - good
Potatoes - good
Baked beans - not normally seen at breakfast, but good
Brown bread - good. Very hearty
Sausage - it looked like American brekkie sausage, but was less seasoned, and slightly sweeter
Bacon - extremely good. (As I write this on Thursday night, I think Erin is getting tired of me raving about the bacon)
Coffee - a little on the weak side, but it'll do
White pudding & black pudding - didn't try them, and probably won't. White pudding is basically a sausage with pork, suet, seasonings, bread and oats. Black pudding is simply white pudding with the addition of blood cooked into the mixture.
After checkout from the hotel, we headed over to the Bunratty Castle and folk park. The folk park was a recreation of an early Irish village, with replications of farmhouses, fishermans houses, blacksmiths, etc. It was really cool to see alot of the little houses, and how the early Irish lived. In the folk park was Bunratty Castle. The castle as it is now was completed in 1425, and is less a full castle than a tower house. After the first few rooms of the castle, our camera battery died, preventing any more pictures of the castle or folk park. We remedied this by buying a picture book of the castle and folk park, but it was sad to not have our own pictures. The castle was amazing - we were in and out of stairwells, and rooms and just generally enjoying the visit.
After leaving the castle and folk park, we headed to a cafe next door to Durty Nelly's where we had some coffee while we charged the camera battery.
We hopped back in the car and headed up the N18 on our way to the Cliffs of Moher. These are cliffs rising between 120 and 214 meters from the Atlantic, and are a major tourist draw. It was breathtaking to see all of the different views looking over and past the cliffs, including looking over to see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay.
Looking over from near O'Brien's Tower:
Looking back towards O'Brien's tower.
After we left the Cliffs of Moher, we drove out towards Galway. This involved heading up some main roads, and some not so main roads. It is truly a wonder how two cars can pass each other by on some of these roads without crashing head-on. And it is a bigger wonder that the speed limit on some of these is 60 mi/hr. There were times we were going about 40 mph and feeling like we were going to go off the road.
We drove through Lisdoonvarna, where the worlds largest matchmaking festival was occurring, and through Kinvarra, where we came across Dunguaire castle. We had wanted to see this castle, and were planning on our way back from Galway, however, it was on the road we were traveling, and there was an easy pull-off. We parked, hoofed it across the street and were able to get in fifteen minutes before it closed.
This castle, again, is more of a tower house. It was built in the 1500's, and had been inhabited until the mid 1900's by a woman who renovated the upper floors into a living space. It was less imposing than Bunratty Castle, but all in all, we got to see two castles in one day.
We continued on into Galway, hitting it right about rush hour. After we made it into the downtown area, we realized we hadn't eaten dinner and hadn't gotten a place to stay. Well, food trumped shelter, so we wandered around the downtown looking for something that wasn't pub food, as all the tour books tout Galway's amazing restaurants. Well, we couldn't find them, so we went to a pub. it was a good dinner, but nothing amazing. Then, as we walked out the other door of the restaurant, we realized we were about 100 m from the good restaurant street. Oh, well.
We wandered around for a little while longer, saw the shop where the Claddagh ring was made famous (it was closed, but we will be going back), and bought our passage out to the Aran islands for Thursday. These are three islands sitting at the mouth of Galway Bay which used to be unspoiled beauty, until tourists started descending on them. More about that later, though.
At this point, we realized that shelter was now an important priority, so we picked up our B&B guide, looked up Galway city, found what was close, and called. The Maple House B&B was our destination, and after getting lost a few times (streets are not well marked), we finally found it, and were greeted by a woman resembling Delores Umbridge from the most recent Harry Potter film. It was a nice enough place - decent bed, but pink everywhere. We learned that B&B's over here are either "en suite" or not, meaning you have your own bathroom in your room, or you don't. Also, prices are per person, not per room. Once we got in, we basically crashed and slept until 7:30 Thursday morning.
We started the day with an abbreviated Irish breakfast - no brown bread, no baked beans, no potatoes, and no black or white pudding. But, there was yummy bacon, sausage, and eggs, and white bread. It did get us on our way.
We headed up the coast road to Rossaveal to catch the 10:30 AM ferry out to the Aran Islands. it was about a 45 minute drive, and about a 40 minute ferry ride, during which the Irish Coast Guard practiced a boarding/rescue, on the moving ferry, so while we were still moving, we had a helicopter hovering over us for about half the trip.
We landed, and were immediately greeted by mini-vans and horse-drawn carriages asking if we wanted to be taken up to see the sights. Previously, the islands main source of work was fishing, farming and producing knit Aran sweaters, mostly for use by the fisherman. However, as of late, a bustling tourist trade has developed, with constant ferry arrivals, and swarms of locals willing to take you (for a price) to see the stone fort (Dun Aengus), the Seven Churches, and other points of interest. Both Erin and I said at the same time how disturbed we were to be contributing to a tourist takeover of a formerly private, secluded set of islands, much the same that the Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish have moved away from some traditions to make tourism a huge business. Granted, it didn't stop us from using the tourist shop or taking one of the rides, but we really felt weird about it.
The seven churches are really two churches and some monastic buildings that were used by early Christians about 1200 years ago. They are largely ruins now, but it was amazing to see them.
Dun aengus was a fort started in the late Iron age, about 3000 BCE, and has since been developed by the early Celts into a series of stone ring walls. What is interesting about this is that the walls are only on three sides. The back of the fort is protected by a 100 m cliff. Posting just one or two pix here won't do it justice, so you will have to see them all. To give some perspective, though, here is a picture from an Ireland tourism website
Our tour through the island complete, we set out to buy Aran sweaters. Finding one long enough to fit my torso and arms proved a challenge, but we ultimately prevailed, and both Erin and I are now proud owners of a hand knit Aran sweater, and I have a patchwork wool Hanna hat to go with it.
After taking the ferry back, we got back to the mainland about 4:45, and were starving. We found a really good Chinese restaurant just inside the Galway city line, and after dinner, consulted the B&B book again. This time, we found a phenomenal B&B, Cappa Veagh, in the Salthill section of Galway. We were greeted by Katherine, and made right at home, in a beautiful home. I was able to get some good coffee when we got here, and after settling in, we re-arranged some suitcases, downloaded pictures, read, relaxed, and now I finish writing this blog a little after midnight local time.
Luckily, jet lag hasn't affected us too bad. We're a little grumpy getting up in the mornings, but overall, we've handled it pretty well.
That is about all for now. I need to get some sleep for tomorrows journeys back into Galway (when the Claddagh shop is open, and to see the Galway Cathedral), down to Limerick, and finally to the Dingle Peninsula for tomorrow night.
Day 1 (forgotten bits)
OK, so while reading over what I posted about our first day in Ireland, I realized that there were somethings that got left out.
1. While driving around Shannon, we passed a dog on the sidewalk. Jokingly, Erin asked "I wonder if dogs bark with a different accent over here", to which I responded "Of course they do - it just sounds like o'woof, and mcbark". It probably isn't that funny to anyone reading this, but it keeps us laughing just thinking about it.
2. Quick plug, though anyone can just google it - if you ever plan on traveling through west/central Ireland, the Bunratty Castle Hotel is amazing. I sang it's praises earlier, but thought it deserved a link.
3. Quick anti-plug. Our first lunch was while we were out trying to find our way around Shannon. We saw a place called Supermacs, and figured we'd grab a quick bite to eat. I have to say it was one of the worst fast-food burgers I've ever had, and overall it was really something we wish we hadn't ventured into. We don't know if other Supermacs are better, but we won't be finding out.
Also, since I started updating this blog, I forgot to send out information about it...which makes it kinda like a tree falling in the forest with no one out there...by the time you get an email about this, this post will have gone up, making for some kind of weird space-time continuum breach or something.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Well, I had an idea...I am going to blog everynight about our honeymoon (internet access-provided) - where we went, what we saw, pictures, etc. I'm doing this for three reasons - 1) I feel like I should blog more, 2) I suck at writing in a journal regularly, so this will help me keep my thoughts organized, and 3) it gives people a chance to live vicariously through us.
Let's start at the beginning. Monday morning, we finished packing and surprisingly, were able to fit enough clothes, Ireland books, and things for the plane in just two suitcases, a pilot's case, my backpack and Erin"s purse. I know, it sounds like a lot, but my clothes are big!
Our flight down to Philly was on a little regional jet - not the most comfortable thing, but not the least, either. We got in on time.
Which meant that we now had about 8 hours to spend in the Philly airport.
Lunch - 20 min
Foreign currency exchange - 10 min
Now we have 7.5 hours to spend in the Philly airport.
My newest book "Don't know much about history" is very good, though!
So, we start boarding at 8:05 (right on time). But, once we're just about to push off from the gate, a call comes over the planes speakers "If there is a doctor onboaqrd, please proceeed to row XYZ. Soon, three passengers are heading down, and we find out that the woman needs tob e taken to the hospital, so we had to wait for the paramedics to get there, and get her off the plane, and get her bags out from the luggage storage. So, our 8:50 departure finally took off at 10:10.
To say that a coach seat in a Boeing 757-200 is cramped is like saying the Atlantic Ocean is damp. While I did get a lot of reading done, exhaustion set it, and I managed to sleep about 2.5 of the 6 hours in the flight. There were some really nice people sitting around us, and once you mention the word "honeymoon", congratualtions start pouring in all over. We did get some good tips for travel in Ireland, including a book that lists all B&B's that are registered with the Irish Tourism Board.
We landed in Shannon about an hour late, getting in at 9:30 AM Tuesday (4:30 AM, eastern (normal) time).
As we left the plane, the first thing I saw before the visa/entry checkpoint was this sign:
Even when I'm on my honeymoon, I can't stop thinking about infectious diseases!
We got our car, a Nissan Note hatchback.
We figured ordering some Guinness would be good, especially since Erin has never tried it. But, because she never tried it, she didn't know that you pour most of it, wait for the bubbles to settle, then top it off. As she reached for her glass after the first pour, she was politely scolded by the bartender.
