Day 16 - Trip Home

We took an uneventful early flight (9:20 am) out of Dublin on United. Our plane was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner back and arrived in Newark around 11 am, ahead of schedule. That is a fantastic plane. It has windows where the shades are electronic darkened. The whole flight was in daylight but at one point they dimmed the lights and darkened the shades to simulate night time and most people slept.

Day 15 - Belfast and the Titanic

Closed Peace Wall

It was Sunday morning in Belfast and we started with a driving tour of the neighborhood that saw all the sectarian violence in the 70s, 80s and 90s that they call “the troubles” here. Since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, violence has stopped and Belfast has rebuilt itself into a vibrant, beautiful city and a tourist destination again. From what I understand, the younger generation has pretty much moved on from the root causes of the problems but you have to wonder about the older generation and what they still hold in their hearts. Unfortunately the issue of an impending Brexit is bringing some of this to the surface again. Right now there is an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but some of that has to change when the UK (including Northern Ireland) leaves the EU.

Bobby Sands Mural

There are still visible signs of the past problems. The peace wall, which was built as part of the accords, is still there separating the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. You can normally drive it but for some reason the gates were closed. Maybe this was because of Orange Day which was only two days ago. In the Catholic neighborhoods, there are memorials to the IRA and leaders of “the troubles” – a huge mural of Bobby Sands, an IRA museum and a Garden of Remembrance for the fallen. The Protestants have their own mural to William of Orange and a few signs along the lines of “we will never surrender” but no direct reference to the times of troubles. Of course they are still the majority and still in power.

Titanic Museum

There is one piece of Belfast history that is still very much celebrated and that is the fact that the Titanic was built at the H&M Shipyards in Belfast. At the time it was built Titanic was the largest ship in the world and took an army of men and a lot of manual labor to complete it. The Titanic Museum is a fantastic museum and it takes you from planning to construction to sinking as you pass through the museum.  They have reconstructions of the state rooms and you can almost feel that you are on the ship. It isn’t just a museum where you look at artifacts, but one where you almost experience the Titanic in many different ways. There is a ride through the construction of the ship ala Disney, a very good wraparound video that takes you through the decks of the Titanic and finally and underwater segment when you can look at the wreck on the bottom of the sea. Well worth the time to visit.

Downpatrick and County Down Railroad

We headed out of Belfast toward Dublin with one more stop in Downpatrick. The have an old steam train still running on Sundays and we took a ride. It is very short, about 10 minutes to cover maybe one mile, but it takes you back in time. The railroad is run completely by volunteers and the old guys are more than willing to tell you about it. They obvious have a great passion for the old days of railroading. I thought it was fun and we both thought that our two year old grandson, Finn, would have really like a ride. There was another two year old on the ride and he was dressed in his Thomas the Tank shirt to take the ride.

"Grave" of Saint Patrick

The last stop of the entire tour was at Down Cathedral to visit the grave of Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick was a fifth-century Christian missionary and is the primary patron saint of Ireland. He is credited with bringing christianity to Ireland and of course for driving all the snakes out. Of course as one tour guide pointed out, Ireland is a cold country and no snakes could live here anyway. He said that the snakes were a metaphor for the druids, whom Patrick is said to have driven out of Ireland when he established Christianity there.

Of course no one really knows where he is buried but this is the site according to legend and there is an old rock with his name engraved on it so it must be right? Or maybe not. Doesn’t matter. I’m fine with legends.

Day 14 - Antrim Coast

Bushmills Whiskey Distillery

There’s always a day during a long trip when things go a bit sideways and that was today. Jeanne had been fighting a cold for a couple of days but today it got worse and we stopped to get some cold medicine. On the way back to the car she missed a curb and fell. She scraped her hand, forearm and knee. Later in the day the GPS sent us down a very narrow one-lane road and at the end there was a hard left with no room on the right and a concrete wall on the left. No way to back up and I thought I could fit but the van was very long. Wrong. Side of the car was scraped car. Oh well, thank goodness for insurance.

Giant's Causeway

First stop is Bushmills Whiskey distillery. This is the oldest licensed distillery in the world, dating back to 1608 when King James I gave them the license. The tour was interesting and they were continually comparing themselves with the way Scotch is made, trying to make the case that they were better. Triple distilled versus twice distilled for scotch, etc. There was a tasting at the end and the 12-year old whiskey wasn’t bad but I really just don’t like any hard liquors much. Jeanne passed on the tour and the tasting. The Irish pronunciation during the tour was entertaining. Spirit is pronounced spurt. Tour is tur. Barry is Bar-e, not Bare-e.

Giant's Causeway (Side View)

Next stop is the Giant’s Causeway. I think this is supposed to be the top spot to visit in Northern Ireland and the name comes from an old legend about Finn McCool, an Irish giant, who built a land bridge (causeway) from this point in Ireland all the way to Scotland. When he went to Scotland by the bridge he met an even bigger giant who chased Finn back to Ireland. The Scottish giant was so big that Finn knew that he couldn’t defeat him but Finn’s wife had an idea. She dressed Finn up as a baby and when the Scottish giant saw him, he was afraid. After all, if a baby is that big, how big must the father be! So the Scottish giant ran back to Scotland and Finn destroyed the causeway and what we see today are the remains. Interesting to see but very crowded today.

Antrim Coast (Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge)

We drove a bit of the Antrim Coast drive, which is very scenic, passed on the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge because of long lines, had a nice lunch and decided to head to Belfast as it was getting late. It was at this point that I scraped the side of the car after winding through the countryside. We arrived in Belfast and Jeanne’s cold peaked so we stayed in for dinner for the first time on the trip. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Day 13 – Driving to Northern Ireland

Donegal Castle

Most of the day, about 5.5 hours, was spent driving up to Northern Ireland from Galway. We made one stop in Donegal for lunch and to see the castle. We took a tour of the castle and learned quite a bit about the end of Gaelic rule in Ireland, which I’ll try to summarize. The English conquered Ireland and began a long process of trying to colonize Ireland and eliminate Gaelic influence. Three Gaelic kings, including Hugh O'Donnell of Donegal Castle, finally revolted against the English Tudor rule in 1593 and began the Irish 9-years war. Early on, the Irish won most of the battles but eventually the power of the English army defeated the three kings and ultimately the families of the Gaelic leaders left Ireland and never returned.

Castle Interior

From Donegal (Ireland) we headed toward Bushmills (Northern Ireland) in an attempt to arrive there before the last tour at 4 pm. We did get there with about 15 minutes to spare, but then we got another lesson in Irish history. Today, July 12, is a holiday in Northern Ireland and they had closed early. In case you didn’t know, and we didn’t, the 12th is Orangemen's Day which is an Ulster Protestant celebration of the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. That victory maintained Protestant rule in the Ulster area of Ireland and it remains the same today. They celebrate now with bonfires on the evening of the 11th and parades on the 12th, often through Catholic areas just to rub it in. In any case, missing the tour is not big deal. We’ll just go tomorrow.

View From Our Restaurant (Portrush)

We headed to our room and passed right by the Royal Portrush golf course, which is the sight of the British Open next week. All the stands are in place and they look like they are ready for the tournament. The tournament was last held here in 1951 and it was the only time it was held outside of England and Scotland.

We had a nice dinner in Portrush which is a seaside resort full of people on holiday. We have a hard time understanding how they are able to do it, but there were several people swimming while we are going around in jackets. The town has a Ferris Wheel and a number of Arcades to entertain visitors.

Trad Music

After dinner we went back to the hotel just in time to listen to some “Trad Music.”  This is traditional Irish music where people just show up and start playing and singing old Irish tunes. There were I think eight players tonight but anyone is welcome to bring an instrument and join in. They use the traditional instruments - fiddle, guitars, accordion, pipes. Alan and I went and we were the only tourists there but they made us feel welcome and we chatted politics and music with a couple of guys. It never fails to amaze me how much foreigners know about American culture and politics and how little we know about theirs.

Day 12 – Galway and the Aran Islands

Galway to Kilronan

Today was a really good touring day and one of my favorites on the trip so far. Most of the day was spent on visiting the Aran Island by ferry. This is a very popular thing to do when in Ireland and ferries run all morning long out to the island and in the afternoon, run the reverse way.

Aran Island Ferry

I included a map to illustrate the trip, but we started the trip by driving from our AirB&B in the heart of Galway out to Rossaveel to catch a ferry to Inis Mór. The drive to the ferry terminal takes about 45 minutes and we were on the 10:30 ferry. This is kind of an approximate time as they leave when they have a full boat but that was the approximate time we left. It is about 40 minutes to cross over to the port in Kilronan, which is the main village of the island.

Dún Aonghasa

On the island we were met by Gerald who drove us and about 10 more people around the island in his van. I had made the reservations with him in advance and it was a good thing as more people wanted to get on but we were okay with our reserved seats. I thought I was doing well driving but Gerald put me to shame. Not only did he drive with one hand on the wheel and another on his microphone, but he went flying by horse carriages, bikes and other busses, he never slowed down. Yikes!!!

View of the Sea (Dún Aonghasa)

We stopped for two hours to see Dún Aonghasa which is an ancient ring fort on top of a hill overlooking the Atlantic. It isn’t a complete ring because one side is built on sheer cliffs hundreds of feet up in the air. No need to defend that. It was a pretty decent hike to the top but after we came back down we had time in the village to shop and get a bite to eat.

Streets of Galway

After the Dún Aonghasa stop, Gerald droves us around the island pointing out thatch roofed cottages (for real use and not just for show), a seal beach and various types of cattle they raised on the island. We also saw a couple of leprechaun houses. The tiny houses with their own windows and doors, I think – and I’m not sure – are an inside joke. I say I think because there is still a small chance that the people still believe in leprechauns out on this isolated island.

We reversed our route back and got into Galway around 6 pm. We had dinner in town and came across a band playing in the street on our way back to where we were staying. They were the Galway Street Club and tonight they had 9 members and they were very good and very entertaining. According to what we read about them, they were individual buskers (street performers who play for coins) but a couple of years ago they decided to form a group. Probably never going to make it big but they were having a good time and the crowd enjoyed them a lot. Notice the ironic "Galway Girl" playing a fiddle in an Irish band (from the Ed Sheeran song).

Day 11 – Cliffs of Moher and the Burren

Adare Trinitarian Abbey

There are quite a few stops on today’s agenda, so we got an earlier start – 8am instead of the usual 9am. Really didn't help that much in the end as the day was too packed with things to do. We drove about two hours to the small village Adare. It has colorful homes, shops and the Adare Trinitarian Abbey. The abbey was once Ireland’s only Trinitarian abbey and it was founded in 1230. The Trinitarians are a catholic religious order dating back to the time of crusades. After its suppression during the Reformation, the abbey fell into ruin and in 1811 is was converted into the present-day Catholic parish church.

Thatched Roof Shop in Adare

The church is right across the street from some thatched roof houses.

Cliffs of Moher

Another hour and a half drive in the rain and we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. These cliffs are one of Ireland’s most amazing natural wonders and I’ll just have to let the picture describe the beauty. Fortunately for us the rains stopped just in time for us to take the walk out to see them and didn’t start again until we were headed to the car from the visitor center. So far this has been the only day with any significant rain and it really hasn’t impacted our touring in any way.

Instead of eating lunch in the crowded visitor center, we drove about 20 minutes to the tiny town of Kilfenora and ate at Vaughn’s Pub. The pub food in Ireland can be a bit basic but it is always very tasty and substantial. Guinness Stew, sandwiches, etc. I had the bacon and cabbage, which I think we would call ham and cabbage. In a pub everything is served with potatoes.

Celtic Cross (Kilfenora)

After lunch we went to the Burren Centre (Burren is pronounced like “burn”) to learn about the history of the area. The Burren region is extremely rocky because a glacier in the last ice age gathered up the rocks and deposited them here. There is no other place in Ireland quite like it. There are literally limestone rocks everywhere, so much so that the land is only good for grazing cattle who can eat the grass that grows between the rocks.

Kilfenora also has an ancient ruined cathedral and couple of very old Celtic crosses.

Poulnabrone Dolmen

We had also planned a visit to see a sheepdog demo that they put on a few more miles into the Burren from Kilfenora but we were a bit late and the rain made it impossible, so we skipped it. Instead we stopped to see the Poulnabrone Dolmen which was very close by. The Poulnabrone Dolmen is a portal tomb - one of approximately 172 located all across Ireland – and this one is in the Burren. It dates back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC and 2900 BC. It was also raining there so just a quick stop for some photos before heading to Galway for the night.

Colors of Ireland

Green fields around Blarney Castle

Here is a sample of the colors we have seen on this trip. The most overwhelming color is obviously the green of the fields. They are so lush that it is easy to see why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle. Green is everywhere and in every shade, but if you look closely you can see other colors as well.

Orange Welsh Poppies

Blue of Dingle Harbor

Red Fuschia Lines the Roads Everywhere

White of the Sheep

Black of the Guinness

Colorful Houses in Dingle