Sunday, May 29 -

I’ve been unable to add to the blog since everything went haywire a few days ago. Still don’t understand why, but tonight I found a back door way in so that I can add a new post. I’m not going to add any more pictures because I have so many but haven’t had time to sort or edit. I will do so in the future and will try to put an album or book together. 

In the meantime, we left  Waterford without taking the crystal factory tour. We could find absolutely no place to park and truthfully I was in no mood to spend more than 15 or 20 minutes looking for one. My anxious mood was caused completely by the issues accessing the blog and also being blocked from sharing the link on Facebook. 

So we headed for Dublin via a town called New Ross, where we visited the Famine Ship. The tour was interesting and heartbreaking because these ships were filled with poor people who were dying by the thousands from starvation. Frequently it was the landlords who paid for their passage to America, but the conditions on the ship were unimaginable. Confined below decks 23 hrs a day, with 220 other unwashed, sick, and starving famine victims, surprisingly most lived long enough to reach America. Just seeing living conditions on the ship as well as having visited the famine village  in Donegal, made me cry. At the same time, however, you remember that the slave ships were even worse and that there are millions of people who right now live with and die from starvation 

It only took a couple of hours to drive on to the Dublin airport and turn in the car. A taxi brought us to our hotel which was perfectly located on the Liffey River next to the O’Connell Bridge. During our two days here we learned that we needed to get tickets in advance to visit the Kilmainham jail, the Guinness facility, and the Book Of Kells in the Long Library at Trinity College. We were able to get the Library tickets, and that was definitely the most important to me. 

We have also learned a lot about the struggle this country went through gaining independence and becoming a Republic, as well as the conditions the Irish lived in under British occupation. We stumbled on the site of Michael Collins’ assassination, and on the mural and memorial celebrating Hugh O’Flaherty. Both led to us researching these men, which in turn led us to watch the movies Michael Collins with Liam Neeson, and The Scarlet and Black with Gregory Peck  These movies, as well as a mini series we recently watched on the Easter Uprising of 1916, and the novel Trinity by Leon Uris, gave us a greater appreciation of seeing the actual places where the battles of the 1916 uprising and the 1922 Civil War occurred.

Both of us are absolutely ready to come home tomorrow, although this trip has been incredible. Everywhere we went we saw beautiful scenery and visited interesting places, but the best part was the awesome friendliness of the Irish people. 

This trip is a 41 year continuation of our first trip here. That trip was on May 4 - 6 1981 and ended abruptly the second day we were in Ireland by the death of the hunger striking prisoner Bobby Sands. When the tanks filled the streets of Dublin and convoys were on all the highways, we decided that leaving Ireland was the smart thing to do. We have wanted to return ever since.

 Thursday May 26-

We had to travel down some very twisty and narrow lanes to get to the town of Clonakilty today, but we were delighted that we did. To say that the Model Village there is worth seeing doesn’t begin to capture the elaborate set up or the time, effort, money, and imagination that went into its creation. First, it’s much larger and more elaborate than we expected. There are a multitude of miniature villages, castles, forts, and people and a lot of trains running through and around the villages.

Next we headed for Cobh, the former Queenstown. This is where the survivors of the Lusitania were brought, and it was the final stop for the Titanic to board passengers. We toured the Titanic Experience, an interactive exhibition located in the original White Star Office. Upon entering you get a card assigning you to one of the passengers who boarded in Queenstown and at the end you learn whether you survived or not. Mine did, Brian’s didn’t. I was concerned when we arrived because the only place we found to park was very high up on a hill. The stairs and walkway down was long and very steep. All the way down I was wondering just how I would get back up. Perhaps the real highlight of my day was my actually making the climb without loosing my breath and only stopping for very brief rests just a few times. What helped the most, I think, was at the start of the return Brian reminded me of how you eat an elephant - one bite at a time. 

We are now in Waterford and it seems appropriate that since we started this trip in a castle hotel, we spend our last night before returning to Dublin for the weekend in another castle hotel. This one is on an island and you have to take a ferry to it. It’s just a few minutes ride across a river, and this one is an actual castle. For some lucky reason we got upgraded and are in a three room suite filled with antiques. In fact we are in our sitting room feeling very posh as I write this.   Tomorrow we are heading to the Waterford Crystal Factory, touring a famine ship, then heading to Dublin.

Ok, yeah, I did forget to post last night. Undoubtedly the Bailey’s hot chocolate left me too relaxed. 

Yesterday we explored the Dingle Peninsula and Connor Pass, but nothing funny or unusual happened. Today, we are driving the Ring of Kerry, which was the only thing we were able to do on our aborted trip in May, 1981. Other than amazing scenery, the best thing today has been the Skellig Chocolate Factory, near Portmagee at the outer point of the Ring of Kerry.  

I doubt that there is any chocolate factory this remote anywhere in the world. Getting to it was a Mr. Toad’s wild ride and why it’s located at the end of the world is anyone’s guess, but we had been tipped off about it and told that they give out samples. Do they ever! Every time we thought we had tried all they would give us and thanked them, we heard, “Oh we aren’t through yet.” After we tried 7 or 8 different things we were told that if we saw something else on the shelf they would let us try that. And what a sales technique! The chocolates were amazing and we wanted just about everything we sampled. It’s doubtful that we will have to worry about room in the suitcase, though. We have five more days here and there might not be anything left! 

After leaving the Ring of Kerry we followed some very strange lanes until we found the Toy Soldier Factory. We each picked a figure (Brian’s is a soldier and mine is a fairy), watched

as they were cast in metal, and then we got to paint them. Now we have new card protectors for poker! 

So many of the roads here in Ireland are two way traffic, but barely one car wide, so I’m including a few pictures of them.

The Dingle Peninsula 

The Ring of Kerry 

At the Toy Soldier Factory 

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A very  interesting day…and evening.  About halfway between Shannon and Limerick is Bunratty, a very small town that developed around a castle. Bunratty Castle is surrounded by the Bunratty Folk Park where all different kinds of historical cottages, businesses, and manor houses provide a living history of Ireland. There is even a Fairy trail for kids because fairies are important to Ireland. It is like a smaller version of Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. We spent most of the day exploring the Park and then returned this evening to attend a medieval banquet in the castle. It was absolutely the best meal that I’ve had in Ireland, with the sweetest and smoothest mead I’ve ever tasted. The entertainment was terrific and included a young lady who played the Irish harp.

While we were in the Park this afternoon, we had a chance for a lengthy chat with Mary Anne, who was serving as the publican. We learned that the castle and park are owned and operated by the government. We chatted about many different things and she was able to answer a couple of questions for us. We asked if the children are taught Gaelic in school and found out that their language is Irish, and that all children are required to take three classes from first grade through high school. Those subjects are Irish, English, and Math. All children, everywhere. They also have total immersion schools which is where her children went. School was completely taught in Irish for the first eight years. These kids can test out of taking Irish in high school. 

The second question or observation that we brought up regards the architecture — and prosperity — evident all over the parts of Ireland where we’ve been so far.  Below are some examples of houses, both new and ok’d ones in ruins.There is a real sameness to the style of both new homes as well as the old tumbling down ones. The vast majority of houses are rectangular with the entrance in the middle of the front wall. Often the entrance won’t be flat, but will have a small patio, foyer, or sunroom around it. In addition there are new, and large homes everywhere, but are still in the basic rectangle that’s been used forever.  We learned that this style is called a bungalow and are located all over. The government requires that all houses be built in this style for aesthetic reasons and the only people who deviate from this style are ones with political connections. She did confirm that Ireland

 is really affluent, thus the large number of new and expensive homes/bungalows. She added that Covid had taken a toll on commerce and that employers can not find employees. This started because of the government’s enhanced unemployment benefits, but continues because workers now won’t tolerate abusive behavior, sexual harassment, or bullying from management or other employees. When it happens, the former employees walk away leaving managers with no one to manage.  In addition many workers over the years came from Poland but now that Poland is becoming prosperous they are returning back to their own country. There are lots of Ukrainians coming in, but they don’t speak English which limits their usefulness to the work force.

Altogether an interesting day. 

Bunratty Castle, Folk Park, and Medieval Dinner

           Mary Anne in the pub

Drive by touring scores again! This has been the best day of our trip so far, although it didn’t start out that way. We had booked - and paid for - a ferry trip out to the Aran Islands and back by way of the Cliffs of Moher. As it has been cold, rainy, and very windy, Brian has been expressing doubts about going because he is prone to sea sickness.  His position has been that I should plan on going even if he doesn’t.  I seriously thought about it, but realized that it wouldn’t be any fun without him and doing things together was much more important to me.  He insisted that we go ahead to the ferry this morning just to see how rough the water was.  We both instantly realized that he would be miserably sick and I no longer had any desire to go either. 

So we set out to see the Cliffs by land, but when we got to the parking lot at the Visitor’s Center we found out that our admission would cost $25.  Nope, no way. All that money for a very long and steep climb just to look over at some cliffs. Definitely not worth it. That’s when I looked carefully at the map and noticed a very small, faint line about a mile further ahead. It branched off the main road toward the sea, but had no markings. So, being the drive by tourists, we thought it was worth checking out. It turned out to be a very narrow unmarked - but paved - lane running parallel but below the rise to the top of the cliffs. After a short distance, an unpaved side track branched off directly toward where we knew the sea was. We took it and ended up in a little parking lot with a path that led to the top of the cliffs. The cutest gentleman, who introduced himself as Christy, was there to collect the fee of $5 each, which we were delighted to pay. But he stopped us from parking and said that since it wasn’t busy we could go through a gate and drive up a track where we would be at the highest point on the cliff. We did and found a spot to leave the car. We opened a couple more gates and came out at the absolutely best place to see the cliffs. We were on the long cliff walk and the folks who had gone in at the Visitor’s Center and climbed up to the top and walked a very long way to get to our spot, just kept looking at us, our car, and back to us. I’m sure they were wondering just who we were to be allowed to drive up!

After taking the pictures you see below we went back down to Christy to give him thanks and a tip, which he didn’t want. We had a lovely chat with him and he was happy to let us take his picture. This was the definition of serendipity!

But the day wasn’t over. We headed out into the area known as the Burren. “The Burren is a region of County Clare in the southwest of Ireland. It’s a karst landscape of bedrock incorporating a vast cracked pavement of glacial-era limestone, with cliffs and caves, fossils, rock formations and archaeological sites.” 

In the center of the Burren is the Burren Perfumery. We weren’t sure what to expect, but wanted to check it out. What a delightful place. We got there 5 minutes after a tour started and joined the group. I immediately made a fool of myself by standing in front of the poster the guide was explaining, then leaning back against what turned out to be the light switch! Everything went dark and in my humiliation I couldn’t immediately get the lights back on.  But after that I settled down and we had a very interesting tour of where and how they manufacture, bottle, and package their products: perfume, soap, lotions, and skin creams. 

Before going into the shop I had a chance to talk to the guide, Sandra,  about how to select a perfume that goes with your individual body chemistry. She went through a process of elimination with me based on the scent being on paper slips. When we had a couple of prospects, she skin tested them on me. We had learned on the tour about top notes, heart or middle notes,and base notes and how it took time for all to emerge. You have to give it this time to learn how it will interact with your body chemistry. The two that she used on me were very different. After about 20 minutes you could tell what they smelled like on me. The one that I was sure would be “the one” just wasn’t. I couldn’t smell it at all, but other people could and said it was subtle and amazing. But I learned  that if you can’t smell it yourself it isn’t the right one. I was positive that the second one she put on me would not work at all, yet during those 20 minutes I couldn’t stop sniffing that wrist— it just smelled so good. I tested both arms on her, and on some of the folks that had been on the tour and they agreed with my choice. Now 7 hrs later I’m still sniffing my wrist!

Then to top off the afternoon we went castle looking and I’m posting a few pictures of old castle ruins. 

The Cliffs of Moher

The Burren Perfumery

  

 

Oranmore Castle

Leamaneh Castle 

Newtown Castle

 

Dunguaire Castle

  

Ruins of a church 

We laughed the first time we saw one of these, but hey! It’s not a bad idea at all. Galway is a very crowded city and we couldn’t find a laundromat that had any place to park or was easy to get to. Then we were passing through a small town and we spot these at a Texaco station.  We needed gas anyway, the station has a minimart and bathrooms, and the washing machines automatically add detergent so we don’t have to worry about that. Yep, a darned good idea. Now all I need is a Dr. Pepper! 

 

Between the small coastal town of Belmullet and the much larger city of Galway, the scenery includes lots of treeless mountains, lots and lots of purple rhododendron, water in lakes (spelled lough and pronounced loch) and even a fjord of the Atlantic Ocean. And sheep. Sheep on the hillsides, sheep behind fences, and sheep on the roadside. Most have had red or blue paint swabbed on their sides and we don’t know why, but they all are placidly grazing away and even the free range ones don’t seem to wander onto the road. 

One other thing to see enroute is Kylemore Abbey, formerly known as Kylemore Castle. Built in 1868 by a wealthy British doctor whose family was in textile manufacturing. In 1920 it hbecame home to Irish Benedictine nuns who had lost their abbey in Ypres, France during WWI. The Abbey, grounds full of strange and beautiful trees and flowers, a Gothic church, a fairy garden, and a walled Victorian garden are open and made a terrific afternoon stop. 

Nothing particularly funny, weird, or exciting happened today, but it is definitely nice to be finally getting over jet lag and sleep deprivation.