Ireland, Part 4

While we were at Belleek Castle we received a challenge...we were told that there was NO WAY that we were going to find Coragh Dtonn well...we did! Coragh Dtonn means the sound of waves in Irish. It was a beautiful spot where the land meets the sea. It was very windy but spectacular!

After Coragh Dtonn we spent the day in the beautiful county of Donegal. When we stopped in the town Donegal we were told that we had to go to na Beanaa cliffs. The na Beanaa cliffs are the tallest cliffs in Europe. Jim and I agree hands down that these cliffs are more spectacular than the Cliffs of Moher.

On Tuesday night we stayed in Letterkenny. On Wednesday morning we woke-up and headed to Northern Ireland. When Jim went to Northern Ireland as a kid he remembers crossing the border and being stopped by a man with a machine gun; this is not the case anymore. Now, the only way that you know that you have crossed the boarded is because the speed signs change to miles per hour rather than kilometers per hour. Our first stop in Northern Ireland was Derry. Derry is the only walled city left in Ireland. The city has now grown bigger than the the walls allowed, being the 5th largest city in Ireland, but...you can still walk all the way around the top of the old wall.

Derry is most famous, in recent years 1/30/72, for being the place where Bloody Sunday occurred. Besides being a song sung by U2 Bloody Sunday was a tragic day where 14 people were shot and killed. They were all shot in the back. None of the people who fired the deadly bullets were ever charged with a crime.

Derry also has a lot of amazing murals which symbolize the persecution that the Catholics endured in Northern Ireland and the lives that were lost. There are 11 murals in all here are a few of them:

After Derry we headed to the Giant's Causeway. Giant's Causeway was said to be built by the giant's because there is no way that it could be naturally occurring. The coast is full of hexagon shaped columns, it was a site to be seen!

After the Giant's Causeway we headed to Carrick-a-Rede rope Bridge. This is a VERY small swinging rope bridge that crosses between the mainland and a small fishing island. The view there was wonderful!

When I said the bridge was small...I meant it!

And VERY windy!!!!

More to come soon!

Ireland, Part 3

Saturday night we stayed in the GREAT town of Westport. Westport was by far one of out favorite towns. Westport is an extremely charming town in the county of Mayo.

Below is the river Carrowbeg. In the 18th century the redirected this river to insure that everyone in town had a great view.

Being Saturday night we were on the search for some entertainment. Our bed and breakfast hostess suggested M.J. Hoban.

This ended up being a GREAT suggestion. At M.J. Hoban we heard the most amazing Irish music set ever. We heard great music, singing, limericks, jokes, and dancing. We walked into the bar thinking that we were just going to stay for a few pints but we ended up helping to close the pub down. Here are some pictures of our night.

The locals were very friendly. I was even pulled into one of the stories. There was a man named Seamus who was resiting a limerick about the mountain of Croagh Patrick. Croagh Partick is Ireland's holly mountain on which St. Patrick is said to have spend the 40 days of lent in 441. The story was that God spoke to him and told him that is he hiked Croagh Partick that he would find a new wife and...I was the new wife.

On Saturday morning we headed to Achill Island. Achill is a beautiful island full of great beaches.

We had a nice picnic at Keem beach. Keem is the beach at the end of Achill island.

After lunch we headed to our Castle Mannor house, Belleek Castle. Jim had arranged that we stay at Belleek Castle for our anniversary.

The owner of Belleek castle had found a Spanish Armada ship and deconstructed it and used the wood inside the castle. It was amazing especially the bar...

The one weird thing was about Belleek was that we were the only guests...a bit creepy...but nice. Our hostess Jackie was so nice and a constant source of entertainment. She would always include us in her guests and her activities.

On Monday, our anniversary, we went for a drive where we saw the following...

...there are Rogers in Ireland, but we knew that.

Monday night we had an amazing dinner at the castle where we sat flaming stake on a sward. Jim said it was the best piece of stake he has ever had.

Another special thing about Belleek is that Jim was able to pour is first Guinness...he might have a new career on his hands.

We had a great anniversary and I would most definitely go back to Belleek.

I will post more soon.

Ireland, Part 2

After our relaxing night in Baltimore we headed towards the Beara, Kerry, and Dingle Peninsulas. The first was the Beara Peninsula. We drove half way down the peninsula and then we too the very scenic Healy Pass through the Caha Mountains. After living in Chicago for 2 years it was nice to see the mountains again! The mountains of Ireland are different than any mountains that i have seen...it looks like you could walk right up them. They are rocky but not to the extreme that I am used to in the Cascades or the Olympics. Here was the view from the top of Healy Pass...The next peninsula was the Ring of Kerry. This is the most touristy of the peninsulas and the one that is advertised the most but Jim and I are not sure why...we decided it was completely over rated.

Wednesday night we stayed in the town of Dingle on the Dingle Peninsula. This is a very cute town that has its own resident dolphin, Fungie. We did not see Fungie but we did see a statue of her. Her are some pictures of the town...

In Dingle was our first experience with Irish music pub seen. We saw two different groups that night but our favorite was Pauline Scanlon (http://www.myspace.com/paulinescanlon1). Jim and I liked her so much that we bought one of her CDs.

Thursday, we explored our now favorite peninsula, Dingle. This was the most picturesque of all of the peninsulas. Dingle has amazing beaches...

Historic famine houses...

A Donkey...

Beautiful sites...

By Thursday afternoon we were in Bunratty at Bunratty castle.

At Bunratty castle they have a medieval festival where you have dinner in the castle...no utensils of course because that didn't use forks back in the day. Jim went to this festival when he was 15 and remembered it fondly so, he wanted to take me...we had a BLAST! It was great food, great entertainment and Jim even got thrown in the dungeon.

To get out of the dungeon Jim had to sing a song to appease the Earl. Jim...and the rest of the room...sad a great rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. He was a great sport and did a great job!

On Friday we headed towards the Cliffs of Moher. It was VERY crowded there but they were spectacular.

On Friday evening we stayed in Cong. Cong is the town where The Quiet Man was filmed. The Quiet Man is one of Jim and my favorite movies. The director of the film toured all of Ireland searching for the quintessential Irish town and he decided on Cong. This town is a bit sleepy now but it is definitely located in beautiful countryside.

Sean Thornton's cottage...


Right outside of Cong is Ashford Castle. Ashford Castle is not a very elite hotel that costs about $500 a night. The castle had beautiful grounds but I didn't really like the castle...it looked like a castle on steroids. As much as we tried we could not fit the whole castle into one picture frame.



One thing that I started noticing when we were in Cong...a VERY small village...was that there was a Chinese takeout restaurant. Every town we went through regardless of its size had a Chinese restaurant. I was surprised at first but by the end of the trip I was finding it quite humerus. Just for the record...we did not eat Chinese when we were there...pizza yes, Chinese no.

More to come soon.

Ireland Part 1

We had an amazing time in Ireland. It was 14 days of adventure, driving, and breath taking sites. We have so many great pictures and stories that I am going to have to create several posts.

We took off from Chicago on the evening of Saturday, May 10 and we arrived in Dublin Sunday morning. We were tired but we headed right into down town Dublin. The best thing that we saw in Dublin on that first day was the mother of all breweries...the Guinness brewery.

We took a tour through the museum there and not only do you get a free tasting of Guinness...

The give you a WHOLE pint...

The next morning we left Dublin and headed South to Glendalough in the county of Wicklow and we had an amazing hike past on old church and up a mountain.

After our hike we headed to Dungarvan in the county of Waterford four our second night's sleep. Dungarvan was a rough blue collar town but our bed & breakfast had an amazing view of the harbor.

After out night in Dungavan we headed to the famous Blarney castle to kiss the Blarney stone. The legend of the kissing the Blarney stone is that it is supposed to give you the the gift of eloquence or, the gift of the gab. Blarney castle was beautiful with exquisite grounds.

The Blarney stone is located at the very top of the castle and in order to kiss is you have to lay on your back over the castle's edge. A little scary but...there is an older Irish gentleman holding on to you...NOT so reassuring.

Next, we headed for Clonakilty. Clonakilty is one of the towns that Michal Collins lived. Wikipedia described Michael Collins as:

'An Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, both as Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the National Army. He was shot and killed in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War.
Although most Irish political parties recognise his contribution to the foundation of the modern Irish state, members and supporters of Fine Gael hold his memory in particular esteem, regarding him as their movement's founding father, through his link to their precursor Cumann na nGaedhael, a name adopted in 1923 by the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Fein.'

Jim has read a lot about Michael Colllons and was really interested to see where he spent some of him time. It was a very nice town and in hindsite...it was one of our favorite towns.

Monday evening we evened up in a very charming town by the name of Baltimore...yes...Baltimore. We LOVED this town. The downtown was one side of one street but, it was a great street across from the harbor.

We sat in the town square all afternoon than then into the evening. The sunset was amazing!

The next day we where off the the Beara, Kerry, and Dingle Peninsula. I will post more of our adventures soon.