First Stop: Galway
I've been to Galway before (once while driving to
the wedding in Sligo) and didn't really think it was all that memorable to be
honest, but it is the home of where my Claddagh ring was purchased, so it does
hold a tiny place in my heart. We walked up and down “Shop Street”, which is
full of shops, and had dinner in a place called the Spanish Arch Hotel.
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| A shop...on Shop Street |
This struck me as odd, since we hadn't even gotten our dinner yet after waiting all this time. Luckily, our dinner FINALLY showed up and we were out of there before we needed to be thrown out due to our randomly imposed time constraint.
Second Stop: Inishmore!
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| Trap and "Pony" Rides |
Rob had been wanting to take me to the Aran Islands
for a while. He indicated to me that it was like “a whole different world
there, like stepping back in time”. After being there, I wouldn't necessarily
agree with that description, as it appears to have become a lot more
commercialized since the last time Rob visited. Everything you read says
that renting bikes is the way to see the island, as it didn't appear that you
could rent a car – not that you would want to as the island is only 8.6 miles long and 1.8 miles wide. Or you could take a charming (yet surely over-priced) trap and
pony ride.
We opted for the bikes at a place right next to our Bed and Breakfast.
The tires on most of the bikes looked sun baked (does Ireland actually
get any sun for this to happen?) and as if they would burst at any moment. Most
of the seats were tiny and my backside was not looking forward to that meeting.
I searched through several bikes and found one with a seat that looked a little
more comfortable than the rest and tires that might explode only if I tried
really hard to make them.
Cycling on Inishmore is not easy. This isn't
Florida with our nice flat roads and "hills" which barely have your
car trying to get over them. When you see signs like the below you can
only imagine that going down hill will be a breeze, but your return trip is
sure to put you in a whole lot of pain!
The tourist attractions on Inishmore are sparse to
say the least and there are not very many businesses around to lure you in with
pomp and circumstance – in that respect, it did feel like we were
stepping "back in time"! The weather more or less cooperated with us,
up until the time we needed to go on a 10-mile round trip bike ride out to the
island's blockbuster attraction, Dun Aenghus. It rained fairly decent
while we had our lunch, at a place called Ti Joe Watty's – which was
nothing to write home about on the food front, and eased up enough for us to
venture out to the fort.
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| Some nourishment before our bike ride! |
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| Got wind? |
We also visited St Benen's Church while we
were there. This 15 minute hike up to this ridge was interesting as we were
trying to battle stones, giant cow patties and soggy mud. Once you were at the
top, however, the view was beautiful and the rock just went on for as long as
the eye could see!
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| St Benen's Church |
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| Rock, rock and more rock! |
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| View from half way to the top! |
The only other sight we visited while we were there
was St Enda's Church, which I just happened to stumble upon while taking
pictures in a cemetery. Apparently St Enda is said to be buried here along with
125 other saints who flocked to Inishmore in the fifth century to learn from
him.
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| St Enda's Church |
Third Stop: Dromoland Castle via Newmarket-on-Fergus
There was lots to see and do between leaving the
Aran Islands and arriving at Dromoland. Sights we saw upon the way included:
An Spideal Beach – doesn't look too
comfortable for a lazy afternoon in the overcast sun!
The Aillwee Cave was a
highlight for Rob in his younger years on school trips. Having seen the Crystal
Caves in Bermuda pictured below... I would have to say the Ailwee Cave wasn't
nearly as beautiful. During the Ice Age, underground rivers carved countless
caves such as this one. Brown bears became extinct in Ireland over 1,000 years
ago, but found these caves great for hibernating, as it is a constant 50
degrees in the caves, regardless of the temperature outside.
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| Crystal Cave in Bermuda |
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| The Burren |
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| Portal Tomb |
The Cliffs of Moher rise
a whopping 390 feet above the Atlantic Ocean and reach their maximum height at
702 feet (take that Dun Aenghus!). With 1 million visitors per year, this
attraction promised to be infested with my American countrymen, and it didn't
disappoint! There are apparently an estimated 30,000 birds
living on the cliffs, representing more than 20 species. I found this
surprising considering I don't recall seeing any birds (especially the elusive
Puffin) but I did see plenty of cows.
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| Cliffs of Moher |
After our sightseeing flurry, we finally
arrived at Dromoland
Castle. I had always wanted to stay in a castle, so here was my
chance! We had booked both an archery and a clay pigeon shooting lesson
while we were there, which promised to be the highlight of our stay. Our
instructor was Pat, who had to be in his seventies and was apparently a local
clay pigeon shooting champion. Having been using a gun and bow and arrow since
the early age of ten, this guy seemed to know what he was talking about!
The rain impeded on our archery lesson a bit,
but it didn't hold either of us back from getting a couple of bulls eyes....
while I will admit, that Rob did get three bulls eyes on one of his turns, I
was the first to get one. ;)
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| Just call me Katniss Everdeen! |
The next day I was able to fire a gun for the
first time – a 20-gauge shotgun no less, and we both did fairly well. I eeked out
ahead on the shooting front, however. One with a bow, the other with a gun, I
think the gun might have the upper hand, Rob!
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| Bang! |
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| Me and my smoking gun! |
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| Dromoland Castle |
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| Entrance to the walled garden |
Fourth Stop: The Dingle Peninsula
It took us quite a while to get from the
let-down castle to Dingle. We made one stop along the way to another one of
Rob's old haunts from field-trip heaven when he was younger- Craggaunowen.
This not-so-popular attraction by the amount of visitors there when we arrived,
was supposed to let you relive "the living past", however
there was really nothing living about it, with the exception of a woman
spinning wool, which was actually quite interesting to learn about.
Their website touts that it "features
a stunning recreation of some of the homesteads, rare animal breeds and
artefacts which existed in Ireland over 1,000 years ago." I saw some
sheep, a donkey and the back of some kind of giant black pig. Were those the
rare animals I was supposed to be "noticing"? There are plenty of
sheep to be seen... Apparently when we did get to Dingle, the peninsula was
home to 500,000 sheep, and only 10,000 people, so the sheep outside the
Craggaunowen didn't seem like anything to write home about. Their website also
makes it appear that there will be people there "living" like they
would back in the day, the only person I saw along the way was the wool lady I
mentioned, and she was at the first stop. I just found out while getting the link to Craggaunowen, that they closed early this year, I'm not surprised. even if it was open, I would just give this a pass.
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| Craga-what? |
Once we were close to Dingle, Rob wanted to
take me on the "scenic route" via the Conor Pass. Which is a two way
road (with one lane), snaking up a mountain. The view from the roads was
supposed to be breathtaking, but with rain pounding down around us, clouds
dangling in our face, the occasional stray sheep in the middle of the road, oh
and the other cars zipping around blind corners straight at you, it seemed like
we were in some kind of video game instead. People actually ride bikes on this
thing too. I can't even get up a baby mountain in Inishmore, and people are
trucking it on bikes. Amazing.
We stayed at a little B&B just outside the
time in the Fungi the Dingle Dolphin room- Fungi is one of Dingle's claims to
fame and is apparently a lone, hermit bottle-nosed dolphin who loves humans and
has been hanging around the Dingle Harbor since 1984, We didn't see him while we
were there, but there was a bunch of rain in my way, so I’m sure he was there
looking for me too.
We were finally able to hear some traditional Irish
music that night at a place called the Courthouse. It was mildly ruined
however, when an American family sat in the very front of the musicians, with
their giant Sasquatch height and proceeded to yell over the music to each
other. The daddy Sasquatch was very interested in his blackberry which involved
taking pictures and showing random people pictures for most of the time, as
well as standing at full attention (he was a Navy fan of course) where the
likes of non-Sasquatch people like myself could only see him front and center.
Of course it would be the Americans causing this amount of stress in my
evening. ;)
In the morning, we were treated to a very
lovely breakfast at our B&B which included the best and most interesting
banana pancakes I've had as well as some hard boiled eggs nestled in the cutest
"egg mittens" I have ever seen!
We did a driving tour of the Dingle Peninsula,
which started out rainy and bleak, but ended with some sunshine. Along the way,
we stopped at the Blasket Island Center where we learned about the small
population of people who lived on the nearby Blasket Islands until the 1950's,
drove along Slea Head Road, which reminded me of driving on the Conor Pass-
just mildly less frightening, or maybe more frightening because giant tour buses
toted American and British tourists along its narrow road.
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| View of Blasket Island from Slea Head Road |
We made a quick stop at the Gallarus
Oratory, in Irish: Séipéilín Ghallarais, literally means "The
Church of the Place of the Foreigners, was built about 1,300 years ago
and is one of Ireland's best-preserved early-Christian churches.
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| Gallarus Oratory |
And we also visited the ruined church of
Kilmalkedar, which was a Norman center of worship for the end of the peninsula
on which it stood. It dates back to the 12th century and is surrounded by a
densely populated graveyard and also has an ogham stone in front of it.
This stone stood here for 900 years before Kilmalkedar was built. It
marked a grave indicating that it was a pre-Christian holy spot. A hole was
drilled through the top centuries ago as a place where people would come to
seal a deal while standing on the graves of their ancestors, in front of the
house of God where they would then "swear to God" by touching thumbs
through this stone.
Fifth
Stop: Glenflesk
“Glenflesk? What’s in Glenflesk?” you might ask. Well, I will tell you what’s in Glenflesk – Kennedy’s Pet Farm! I came across this pet farm while doing some research, and knew that I had to go! My hopes of getting to play with many animals, was only mildly subdued, due to the fact that a.) Not all of the animals wanted to let you pet them b.) Looked mildly mean (Shetland ponies) or c.) Were behind a fence and out of reach. The ones I did get to pet were very cute – with the exception of a giant black pig, which I thought was expecting piglets, only to see later she had already had them. She snored as loud as my dog, and if you’ve ever heard Dexter snore- that’s pretty loud! For anyone wondering, Rob kept his arms crossed the whole time, refused to touch any animals and then scrubbed his hands furiously when we left. So if you were thinking he was a "changed man" in regards to animals because of me, guess again!
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| Bambi! |
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| Baby chick! |
Sixth Stop: Cork and Cobh!
The next day, Rob took me to Cobh, where his parents
are originally from and own a house on this “island”. Cobh was the major port of Irish emigration in
the 19th century. Of the six million Irish who have emigrated to
America, Canada and Australia since 1815, nearly half left from Cobh. Cobh was also
the last port of call for the Titanic before she sailed out for her maiden and
incomplete voyage, however at the time, Cobh was actually named Queenstown.
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| Me and Annie Moore- the first irish immigrant processed through Ellis Island. |
Due to its naturally protected harbor Cobh has
historically been important as a tactical base for naval military bases. For
instance, Cobh was of major tactical military importance as a naval base during
the Napoleonic wars between France and England. The Napoleonic
Wars meant the town became a British Naval port with its own admiral and
much of the present day buildings were built at that time. Cobh very much
reminds me of Bermuda, and all that makes sense, since Bermuda is a British
territory! It wasn't until 1922 that the name was changed from Queenstown to Cobh, to celebrate their new independence from Britain.
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While in Cobh I was able to see the place where Rob took a leap of faith as a young boy under his fathers encouragement to join him in the water at Whitepoint Beach and he jumped off the pier into the "freezing cold temperatures" of the sea. As the story goes, he was gasping for air when his head finally came up from the icy fingers that wrapped around his leprechaun body. It's no wonder he likes swimming with manatees, in a wetsuit, in the 72 degree water of Florida in his adulthood!
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| Cork Harbor- Whitepoint Beach |
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| St Colman's Cemetery |
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| St Colman Cathedral |
Seventh Stop: Back to Dublin!
We headed back to Dublin with a heavy heart
having had a really great trip, but were eager to meet up with Rob’s aunt
Angela and Uncle Tony for a “traditional night out”. Unfortunately, due to the
fact that the Navy v. Notre Dame game was happening the next day the pubs were
slammed with Americans, and the one we were at was blaring traditional
pop/rap/rock music through its speakers all night long (where we had to scream
over to each other to be heard) even though I believe they advertised
traditional Irish music nightly. I guess they must know what us Americans
really want!
Feel free to check out more of my photos below- with Irish music at no additional charge!
