Ireland, Part 5...The End of the Road

After the Carrick-a-Rede bridge we headed back into southern Ireland. Wednesday night we stayed in the town of Monaghan. Monaghan was a nice little town but the best part of our evening there was watching the Manchester United vs. Chelsea soccer match. It was so fun being in a country that cared about soccer. Even though Jim and I were rooting for Chelsea Manchester United won in a shoot out.

Thursday morning we were back on the road. This day was full of ups and downs. First, the downs...we got into a small car accident. There were no other cars involved just us and a brick archway.

When we returned the car the check in lady was not convinced that we had done the damage but we assured her that we had...honesty is the best policy...right? The car was already so beat up it was hard to tell who did what damage. Well, because we were honest the rental car company automatically took 1600 euro (around $2000). If it is found that the damages cost less they will refund some of the money. Today is 6/19 we returned from Ireland on 5/24...we still have not heard from the rental car company.

After the MINOR scratch we decided to pay homage to our friends Andy and Tracy and pay a visit to Dundalk. Andy and Tracy live in Dundalk, MD.

While in Dundalk Jim decided that a Corona was in order, Andy's favorite beer. At least his favorite beer at the moment.

Next on the agenda was Knowth and Newgrange. Knowth and Newgrange are stone age mounds believed to be used for religious burial ceremonies. Knowth and Newgrage are 500 years OLDER than the Egyptian pyramids. These sights have the greatest collection of passage-grave art ever discovered in Western Europe. Another amazing thing about these mounds is that they were built so that the summer and winter equinox would illuminate the inside of the tombs. Both of these sites where amazing but Jim and I liked Newgrange a little bit better because we actually got to enter into the mound.

Knowth...

Newgrange...

Thursday night we ran into a hard time finding a place to stay. This was the first time during the whole trip that we had an issue. We had to go to 3 or 4 different towns before we finally found someplace. We ended up in the small town of Slane and the b&b that we stayed in used to be the post office, it was very cute.

Friday morning we went to Trim and visited the Trim Castle. The Trim Castle was used as the main castle in Mel Gibson's Braveheart.

After Trim we headed to Tara. Tara is the most scared place in Ireland, where the high kings of Ireland ruled from and many of the myths and fairy tales evolved. There is not much to see there now except some left over mounds on top of a huge hill that looks over the country side.

The tragic thing about Tara is that the government is planning to build a highway right though this architecture monument. The next time we go to Ireland this site will not be the same...it is a HUGE shame.

into Dublin for our final night...so sad! We did a bit of shopping and then headed out for the night. Friday night we headed to O'Donoghue's. O'Donoghue's is the birth place of the famous Irish group, the Dubliners. When we walked into the bar we saw an amazing site, a big picture of Jim's Uncle Pat and Uncle Joe...

Pat...

Joe...

We had a fantastic trip and thanks to our GPS Dierdre we navigated the narrow streets almost flawlessly.

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.