Category Archives: Ireland

It’s our final day in Ireland and our entire agenda involves getting to the hotel at Dublin Airport so we can fly to Glasgow in the morning. To try to make it seem like we are actually touring instead of merely transitioning, we plan some stops to pay homage to two of Ireland’s most famous names: Jameson and Waterford.

Frank had a change of heart after leaving Dublin and decided that it was worthwhile to learn about Irish whiskey afterall so we headed to the Jameson distillery in Midleton, Co. Cork. The tour covered the old distillery, in use until 1975, and was pretty interesting although Duncan objected to the videos that they showed at various stops; he was surprised that they had no real content and we’re really just advertisements for the whiskey- shocking! At the end of the tour, Frank was one of 8 people chosen to do a tasting and they compared Irish, Scottish and American whiskeys. He passed with flying colors and is now a “certified” whiskey taster with a certificate to prove it – as if he needed one! I also discovered that I quite like Jamesons and ginger ale. – who knew? That stop was the good for the day.

We wandered around town looking for somewhere to eat lunch (yup, whiskey tasting in the morning!) but were once again plagued by the lack of choices other than sandwiches which doesn’t suit me. Dejectedly, we left town and stopped at a pub on the road 5 minutes away in the middle of nowhere. There on the menu was the little “c” that someplaces here use to indicate that something is suitable for coeliacs – yippee!

Then back in the car and on to Waterford. The factory is closed now so all there is to do is walk around a display area and, of course, the gift shop. We dutifully did so but as Waterfors crystal fits neither our style or budget, none was purchased. But it was an entertaining break in the drive at least so maybe it really wasn’t so bad.

Then on the road to Dublin in what passes for rush hour traffic here. We made our way to the hotel, dropped off the luggage and the kids in the 2-bedroom apartment (which was nicer and cheaper than the one in town) and Frank and I went to return the rental car. That’s when things got ugly. Not with the car itself but later on when we realized that I had left the GPS unit in the glove box! Of course, we didn’t realize this until about 10:30 at night so there wasn’t much to be done but needless to day I was fairly inconsolable over my incredible stupidity! Which is why this post is being written a day late. The good news is that we got it back but now I must endure a full week’s worth of ribbing from the family – and deservedly so (she says contritely!)

/san/
Pedometer: 13,423 or about 6 miles Odometer on rental: over 1000 km travelled on a single tank of gas! Love that Jetta diesel!

Waking up this morning we were quite depressed to see the liquid, leaden skies.  My run was completely out of the question and our planned day trip to the south-west coast was in danger as well.  We breakfasted and decided to head west and see what happened.  We drove across teeny little roads (7 feet wide, two directions of traffic!) to get to Bantry at the edge of County Cork.  We wandered about a bit to let Frank relax from the drive – you really need to concentrate when there’s a large truck coming at you and one of you has to pull into the hedges at the side of the road to let the other pass!  We had a cup of tea in a cafe and did a bit of wandering – okay, visiting charity shops!  What is it with teenagers and thrift stores?

It was sprinkling a  bit as we wandered around town but looked like it just *might* clear so we headed for the Sheepshead Peninsula.  It’s the spit of land below the Beara Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry.  It’s advertised locally as one of the few unspoilt places left in Ireland.  I don’t know if there are others like it but I know that this is one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. And as if the powers-that-be wanted to make sure we enjoyed things, the sun decided to actually shine as we drove along the jetty.  (Here is someone else’s photo of the area – I’ll add one of the 200 we took today when I have a real connection!) We stopped several times on the way down the northern side of the peninsula overlooking Bantry Bay.  There was sheer rock on the left and the drop down to the water on the right.  So we were driving down more tiny roads that were meant to carry traffic both ways while trying to figure out how to stop and take photos safely.

The plan was to drive out the north side, visit the lighthouse at the end then return in on the south side. (Here’s a map to give you an idea.) Unfortunately, some of the local residents didn’t like that idea: we were stymied by a dog! About half-way down the headland, the road took on the suspicious look of someone’s driveway as it approached a couple of isolated houses.  It was apparent that the track continued on past the two lonely cottages but sleeping in the middle of the road was an old dog.  We tried to indicate that we were interested in passing – and a neighboring canine understood our intention and made it clear he was unhappy with it.  At least I think that’s what the barking, snarling and chasing the car meant!  But his older companion was nonplussed.  We were not going to interrupt his sunbathing.  So continue further on this route was not on the agenda.  We retraced our approach and decided to cut across the headland which turned out to be lucky happenstance.

Along the pass was an outcrop of rock that was posted as Finn McCool’s seat – the legendary giant of Irish legend has a home on the Sheepshead Walk.  Duncan and Gillian climbed all over the rock formations enjoying the sunshine, strong winds and incredible scenery.  We continued along the Goat Path (yup, the name of the road and a pretty good description) to the village of Kilcrohane – a church, a school, a post office and two pubs – for some lunch. Refortified and undaunted by the canine impediment, we continued to the end of the jetty to see if we could find the advertised lighthouse.  About 2km before the end of the spit, the road ended and the hiking trails began.  We took up the challenge.

Of course, when we left Kinsale this morning we were fairly convinced that we’d be touring museums and other indoor activities so my footwear was appropriate for that activity – very cute but not built for hiking.  Yet here I was faced with the challenge of clambering up and down rocks and crags as well as negotiating peat bogs in shod in urban chic.  Eh – why not!  We spent as much time changing altitude as we did traveling across land but it was breathtaking and invigorating.  Eventually after passing many cliffs, we found the lighthouse and watched the bright blue waters of the Atlantic crash in white waves on the grey outcroppings.  I can’t do it justice.  You’ll need to wait for the photos.

The trek back was not quite as exhilarating but just a scenic and we began the travel back to Kinsale.  This time we decided to try the roads that might actually fit two cars across and wandered through such interesting places as Skibbereen and Clonakilty before arriving back in town in time for a much deserved meal.  The Blue Haven Hotel has a restaurant with lovely little (c) markers on the menu for meals suitable for coeliacs (interesting spelling!) so it won the day.  We had a lovely meal – I even had desert! – and even got to enjoy a local musical group playing some traditional music.  I felt compelled to buy their CD it was so enjoyable!

Now we prepare to travel back toward Dublin tomorrow to prepare for the early morning flight to Scotland on Friday.  Only one more night in Ireland?  How did that happen?

/san/

Pedometer: 18,264 or about 8.5 miles but it’s probably a bit higher since the pedometer kept falling off when I climed over rocks.  Say nearly 10 miles just for fun.

Because we were due to be spending a fair amount of time in the car, we weren’t at all surprised to see the sun come peaking out from behind the ever present clouds.  We enjoyed our last breakfast at the Rosquil house (spinach and feta omelet with GF toast – thanks Rhoda!) and hit the road.  It was about an hour to the Rock of Cashel which is not at all like what the name conjures up.  It’s a ginormous hill that’s been used as the seat of power for the kings of Munster since the 4th century but it was handed over to the church in the 12th century and they put buildings on it which are still standing.  The kids decided that this was the coolest historical building place we’ve been to so far because it’s a ruin:  Duncan is tired of Victorian restorations of medieval buildings and really appreciated seeing things as they have survived.  There is St. Patrick’s cathedrals – the most important cathedral in all Christendom at one time according to Dave the Guide. Appended to that was the fortified archbishop’s residence and Cormac’s chapel – an architectural anomaly in these parts due to the round arches and sandstone construction but very interesting nonetheless.

We then had fun with modern technology.  We had “Sally” the GPS unit (the one we were swearing at in Dublin!) plugged in and programmed her to navigate to Cork so we could get some lunch.  Even though we updated the maps before we left home (and tried really hard to buy new ones in Dublin!), Sally apparently didn’t know about the new M8 motorway between Cashel and Cork.  We were speeding along happily at 120km per hour while Sally showed our car careening through fields and across streets.  Every time we hit an overpass, she wanted us to turn left or right on the street 40 feet over our heads!  It was most entertaining!

We managed to find our way into Cork without incident – Sally recognized the road when it went from the M8 (motorway) to the N8 (dual carriageway).  We parked and wandered around until we found someplace suitable for lunch.  It actually took us a while because there seems to be an abundance of bagel sandwich shops and fried chicken places in Cork City!  A pint and a fine pub lunch later, we stopped at the shopping centre but this time it was for Frank not the teen consumers.  My beloved spouse packed a pair of Levi’s out of the clean laundry basket before we left without actually looking at them…. yup, they’re mine!  So he’s down a pair of jeans, the ones from yesterday weren’t quite dry yet, and it is just a bit chilly for shorts so we are off jean shopping.  Got a reasonable pair of Marks & Sparks dungarees (and some pajamas which he also forgot!) and then we were off to our actual destination:  Kinsale.

Okay, I have heard places referred to as picturesque and I’ve actually seen some very pretty towns in my time but this place is right out of a tourbook!  The buildings are painted vibrant colors, the shops are quaint, the roads narrow, and there are boats in the water as far as you can see – including some incredible yachts!  We found our B&B which is actually on a hill overlooking the water (yup, breathtaking view) and got settled in.  We have a real wireless connection here – not just the BB – and there’s a computer for guest use so the kids are beside themselves and are planning to spend all night on Facebook!

Unfortunately, the B&B is too far out of town to walk so we drove back down the hill to the adorable town and did our wandering thing.  We popped in and out of a few shops then realized that was very dangerous (but I swear I *need* the royal purple cashmere cape…really!) so we headed for a walk along Kinsale Harbour (the Scilly walk) to build up an appetite.  Then off to dinner.  Kinsale is “famous” for being a foodie town so we were happy to get a table at a restaurant that came highly recommended.  I really didn’t need three courses but who could pass up cream of vegetable soup, chicken breast stuffed with spinach, feta and pine nuts, and meringue with ice cream and fresh raspberry sauce.  Frank and I had to walk an extra half hour tonight just to make sure we could still fit in the rental car!

The best part – it was dry and mostly sunny all day!  We’re trying not to get our hopes up for tomorrow so we haven’t actually planned anything until we see what Mother Nature has in store.  We’ve had yesterday’s shoes drying in the back window of the car all day and hopefully we won’t have to do that again!

/san/

Pedometer: 22,357 or about 10 miles.

Okay, you may have guessed that it’s wet. The day started out fine and I got a run in this morning (about 7km but don’t ask my time because my watch died halfway through!) Then a phenomenal breakfast – an omelet with GF toast! – before heading out to Dunmore cave. What a cool place – even if it was raining inside and out! The guide Mike was incredibly entertaining and the cave itself was amazing! Not only did we learn about limestone, acid rain and other geologic stuff, we also got a history lesson about a viking massacre on the site in 928 AD. Very cool!

Then into town for the human history stuff. It actually wasn’t raining when we decided to walk – we were faked out my mother nature. First, Kilkenny Castle, home to the Butler family (English Earls of something but not royalty). It was raining by the time we got half-way into town so we ducked into a coffee shop for a hot beverage – and a lovely GF brownie…yum! – before heading into the castle proper. A 13th century structure with extensive 19th century renovations, it still lost something by not having royal connections. There’s a contemporary art exhibit in part of the castle right now which was most entertaining. Can someone please explain how a TV showing a video of a waterfall is “art”? I’m obviously a cultural imbecile!

It was raining when we left the castle and grabbed a quick bite in a cafe before heading to St. Canice’s Cathedral, another beautiful *Anglican* church with lovely stained glass windows and amazing roof beam structure. It’s the episcopal seat for the diocese and has been in continual use for worship for 800 years. St Kiernan’s chair dates back to 1120 and is still used when the bishop of Ossory is enthroned. There were tombs for members of the Butler family – from Kilkenny Castle – dating back to the 1500’s.
The rain stopped long enough for us to climb up the 30-meter-high, 800-year-old round tower (except Frank the wuss!) where we had a fantastic view of the surrounding area.

We tried to head to the St Francis Abbey brewery (where they brew Smithwicks and *gasp* Budweiser) but we missed the single 3pm video showing. It started to rain again so we ducked into a nearby pub for a pint while the thunder roared and the rain lashed down. After awhile, it let up and we walked another 5 minutes to the Black Abbey, a working Dominican abbey with unbelievable stained glass windows and all the Catholicism we’d been missing from the other Cathedrals – love that Sacred Heart of Jesus!

It was only sprinkling when we wandered up the high street for our daily dose of consumerism (Duncan – clothes, Gillian – bodhrun) and then headed to one of the best restaurants in the city (according to the proprietors of our guest house) which just happened to have a menu covered in G’s – the universal symbol for GF! I had mussels and fresh haddock and ice cream and YUM!

It was sprinkling when we left the restaurant and decided to walk home – which of course meant it was pouring by the time we got home. This was weather.com’s idea of 30% chance of light showers! It scares me to think what “steady rain” actually means!

/san/
Pedometer: 17,264 or about 8 miles – 1200 steps underground but all of them wet!

Today we said goodbye to Dublin. After a long sleepless night – Dublin likes to party until all hours on a Saturday – we managed our first hot showers, picked up the rental car and headed north to Newgrange.

Of course as soon as we pulled out of the city, the rain started. We arrived in the Boyne valley at the 5000 year-old burial site. It was absolutely fascinating to see how it was constructed and to ponder the why’s and wherefores. While waiting for out turn inside the tomb, a neighboring field full of cows started some angry mooing and milling about. It was as if they were saying “Bloody moo already!”

The rain held off while we were visiting but as soon as we hit the road for Kilkenny, the rain started again and we had 2 hours of windshield wipers. We arrived at the B&B and got checked in then wandered around the town. It was much more like what I expected of Ireland – but still looks like a dozen Scottish villages I know. I was amazed though at how many stores were open on a Sunday. It used to be that there was really nothing to do on a Sunday (in Scotland at least).

So we had a lovely meal, watched the end of the Federer-Roddick match (wow!) and headed back to the guest house. Then I carried on with my Sunday night ritual: bath night! The bath tub here is long enough and deep enough that I can soak from chin to toes completely covered in water and bubbles – hot water too! Aaaaahhhh!

/san/
Pedometer: 16,021 or about 7.5 miles. We spent too much time in the car I guess.

The plan for today was actually to minimize walking because the weather forecast is calling for rain all day. So we begin with cereal, GF porridge and cold showers (water heater still isn’t behaving) then we venture out to St. Patrick’s Cathedral – after the uberconsumer teenagers ravage several charity shops, of course! The cathedral is lovely and possibly my favorite place in Dublin. Jonathan Swift was Dean of the cathedral and is buried there. The stained glass windows were lovely. At 11 am, there was a short prayer service so we counted that as our church for the week! (Note: I find it funny that a cathedral in Dublin named after the patron saint of Ireland is an Anglican church!)

Of course when it came time to leave, the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down. Luckily Christchurch was only a few minutes away. Another lovely Anglican church, it’s the burial place of Strongbow, the resting place for a saint’s heart (ugh!) and has a magnificent crypt with a mummified cat and mouse! There was another short prayer service while we were there and we exchanged the sign of peace with the priest and considered ourselves doubly churched! The only downside was that there was a display of Russian icons all over the church which really took away from the building itself.

Then off to lunch and some wanderings around Temple Bar before touring Dublin Castle. While definitely old enough to warrant respect, it’s an odd castle because no royal court was ever in residence there. Monarchs visited from time to time to keep an eye on the feisty Irish subjects but otherwise it was the home of the English viceroy and is now a working government building.

After all that culture, we had to make a beeline back to Henry Street for Duncan to return something. Then we grabbed dinner at an Indian restaurant in the Temple Bar (which was lovely but apparently not quite GF as became apparent later!) Frank and I dumped the kids off at the flat and headed around the corner to the Brazen Head, Ireland’s oldest pub (circa 1198) for a pint.

Then the crisis began – in preparation for leaving Dublin tomorrow, we fired up the GPS unit to find that we could navigate to anywhere outside the US and Canada when we bought it specifically because it was supposed to have European maps. So I did not take this news well as I would then be stuck navigating with inadequate road maps (see Belgium, 2007 to understand my angst). We badgered the front desk to let us use their internet since ours never did work (Yup – typing this on the BB again!) After an hour of unsuccessful attempts to download maps including several international phone calls to support numbers) Frank was banished to find a road map. After much time (and arguing), we sat down with the map book he had walked halfway across Dublin for and noticed that the GPS was prompting us: you seem to be outside the US, would you like to change maps. ARGH!! It took so long to pick up the GPS signal, we had figured it *couldn’t* find us!

So we are now the proud owners of an ordinance survey map of Ireland map and have had our first falling out of the trip. But then we got to make up… 😉

/san/
Pedometer: 23,017 or just over 11 miles not including Frank’s noturnal map hunt!

It doesn’t always rain in Ireland. After 12 hours of sleep, we woke to a few clouds but plenty of blue sky and started the adventure of making breakfast. I didn’t think much of it as we had picked up bacon, eggs and bread at the Spar last night but we forgot one small thing – butter. So I fried the bacon dry and tried to use the little bit of fat to fry the eggs before serving it all with slices of dry toast. The yogurt was good!

It took forever to get through the morning routines as there was only enough hot water for two showers at a time so there was much waiting … But finally we headed out to the Killmainham Jail. I didn’t realize I was so dumb about Irish history until I got there. It’s pretty impressive and the tour was quite good – I did recognize the west wing from “In the Name of the Father” so I didn’t feel completely dumb.

Then we wandered through the Phoenix park on the way to the Jameson distillery. We found a nice cafe advertising gluten free soups so we had a bit of lunch. We wandered to the distillery but Frank decided that 30 euros was a bit steep for Irish whiskey so we gave it a miss and decided to head across town to Trinity College. We braved the tram and ran into our first nun – yes, they are still stalking me!

We wandered around the college in the brilliant sunshine and headed into see the Book if Kells and the Long Room -very impressive! Today’s interesting fact: there is no J used in Latin. Don’t say you didn’t learn anything here!

Now that we got culture, it was time to be consumers. We wandered up and down O’Connell street and the surrounding shopping district where Duncan and Gillian decided to test the limits of their pre-paid Mastercards! (Ask Duncan to show you his shoes from Schuh!) We had a shopping break to have a pint – love that Bulmer’s cider – then wandered off to find something for our evening meal.

And today’s reason to love Dublin? A chip shop on O’Connell Street that does gluten free fish and chips – that’s right a GF fish supper!! I had steeled myself for this first trip without a meal at a a chippy and here was one where I could eat! Joy!! I don’t think I’ve ever finished an entire fish supper on my own before tonight. (Downside? They only had malt vinegar – the one vinegar that isn’t GF. I enjoyed it anyway!)

As we wandered back to the hotel, it became obvious that it was a Friday night. The obnoxious drunken people were spilling out of most doorways which cemented out resolve to have a night in. Another interesting observation (or maybe I missed this in my imaginary Irish history lesson): people openly smoking weed! Is cannabis legal in Erie? It wasn’t Amsterdam by any stretch but on multiple occasions during the last two days, the air has been redolant with that sickly sweet smell – and not just in the dodgy areas either but even in the shopping areas! Most unexpected.

So our first full day comes to an end with tea and biscuits and the latest episode of “Top Gear”. Now it feels like we’re on holiday!

/san/
who had to type this on the Blackberry again due. Sigh…

Pedometer reading: 23,063 and I’ll do the math properly later but I think it’s just over 11 miles.

So we make it to Dublin on a late but otherwise fine Aer Lingus flight. We hail a cab and have a most entertaining discussion with the cabbie on, what else, Michael Jackson as well as crime in DC and why we should be in Galway not Dublin.

We arrive at the hotel – after grossly overtipping due to lack of sleep – but the room isn’t ready so we traipsed all over the Temple Bar and the shopping area north of the Liffey in the rain (of course!).

Several coffees and sore feet later, we’re allowed to check in. It’s actually a two bedroom apartment so we have lots of space and a full kitchen (so we don’t have to pay 40 euro for breakfast tomorrow). We manage some lukewarm showers and clean clothes and go to fire up the laptop – with no luck at all. The laptop works fine but the wired connection (!) won’t let us get anywhere. The attempt is abandoned and chalked up to our jetlag and off we went to dinner.
We had a lovely meal at The Porterhouse Brewing Company in Temple Bar. The food was lovely (it has been pointed out that I am overfond of using the word Yum!), my cider delicious – and GF – and Frank declared his cask conditioned ale to be divine. We walked it off by tramping all around Grafton Street and St. Stephen’s Green as the weather had cleared and the evening was delicious!

When we had stayed awake the requisite number of hours, we headed home. Of course the laptop is still not working, none of the tech support channels I follow provide any real clues until one operator says “I think there’s been trouble with the wiring at that location” – ha! Vindication! I am not a totally incompetent user. But they still can’t help tonight so iif I want to do a blog post now, I have one choice: my Blackberry!

So dear friends, I have chronicled this on a tiny little keyboard so please forgive the brevity and mistypings.

/san/
Pedometer reading: 22,562 but I’m too tired to convert it to miles tonight!

So we travelled last year but for some reason it didn’t occur to us to do this blog thing.  Maybe it’s something about flying across the Atlantic that does it because we’re doing it again.

This is a short trip – nothing like what we did in ’07 (we’ve barely finished paying for that trip!) but we’ll play for about 2.5 weeks in Ireland and Scotland.  It’s our first trip back since Frank’s dad died and since I was diagnosed with Celiac disease so there could be some very interesting stuff!

So keep an eye on us if you are interested, and if you are not, we won’t be offended!

/san/