July 20, 2024

July 20, 2024

From Kilrush in southern Clare County, we drove north along the coastline. It is drizzling so I am driving slowly hoping the sun may decide to make an entrance. It doesn’t. Our first stop is at Trump’s Doonbeg Golf Course and Hotel. We watch golfers in shorts attempt to tee off in the blustery cold into a fairway surrounded by dune grass. It is pretty but Aimee and I have no interest in golfing here. Give me sun and warmth.

We continued north until we reached the Cliffs of Moher. This is now a major league tourist attraction. When we last visited twenty-five years ago, we walked right to the edge and wondered at the sheep feeding on ledges below. Today, it is packed with tourists and there is a big wall between us and a long drop to the ocean below. We also have to pay to park and there is now a large Visitor Center and gift store. Oh we long for the old days of wandering the earth. We hike along the cliff edge in both directions. We are confined to a narrow stretch next to the cliff. There is an electrified fence to discourage me from entering the adjoining farm fields.

Back in the car, we head inland to the Burren National Park. We intended to do one of the listed trails but we don’t like what we see. We have to travel pretty far to see interesting features. I drove down one rocky lane before I realized I was probably on the trail. I had to back up quite a ways before finding enough room to make a three point turn. Thankfully we rented a tiny Irish-friendly car. Instead I hop the rock wall and explore the immediate vicinity. The Burren is a vast Karst limestone landscape formed when glaciers swept the surface bare. I realized why the trail probably doesn't pass through here. The rocks are heavily and deeply corrugated. It is difficult to traverse, almost like scrambling atop boulders.

Instead we backtrack and head to Poulnabrone. This is a Stone Age portal tomb. I remember it being in the middle of the Burren on our last trip. Unfortunately it was pouring rain then. This 6000-year old Stone-Age burial chamber is simply a few slabs of rocks. It is not mentioned but I believe it is just the now-exposed internal stone framework of a passage tomb. The overlying soil has been eroded away.

Aimee and I explore the Burren area surrounding it. It is pretty cool. I am surprised how varied the Burren terrain is. It has hills and ravines like a soil landscape. The Burren is also not contiguous at all. The exposed rock alternates with farmland. I bet it is like our Caliche rock at home. It is just below even the most fertile soil.

We continue our drive north. We stop frequently to take photos of the Burren landscape. In the north, whole hillsides are solid rock while just below lie green farm fields.

We end in the town of Kinvarra. After checking in to our accomodations, we walk through town and along an arm of Galway Bay to Dunguaire Castle. We took some photos but it is now closed to visitation. We have dinner on the pier facing it. The weather is starting to clear up and we can see some blue sky.

July 19, 2024

July 19, 2024

From Dingle Town, we set out to explore the Slea Head Loop of the Dingle Peninsula. It is an easier drive than Kerry, because of the lack of big tour buses. Yet we are finding the sites not as compelling. The first stop at an Iron Age Stone Fort was disappointing. Half of the cliff-side fort has washed into the sea and the rest was behind steel fencing for safety. We totally skipped some Beehive Huts. Yet the coastal scenery was nice.

The wind is almost gale-force so we ducked indoor and spent some time going through the Great Blasket Centre about a group of hardy Irish that lived a tough existence for centuries on the nearby island. It became famous because many of the residents turned to writing to describe their life to the outside world. Aimee was shocked to see her family name among the small number of residents.

Our last stop was at the Gallarus Oratory, a small early Christian stone rubble church. It is so small it is hard to believe it could hold very many people.

After circling back to Dingle Town, we left the Peninsula climbing over Conor Pass. From the top we see several glacier lakes below. It is a long descent down to the valley. We stop at a small waterfall fed by one of the lakes, Lough Doon. We scramble up the rock embankment to the hanging lake perched into the cliff. Very Cool.

We spend the next two hours driving north, past the town of Tralee, till we hit the Shannon River Estuary. Twelve miles east we visit the Foynes Flying Boat Museum. A few years ago I watched a series of documentaries on Pan Am Airlines and their development of transoceanic passenger service using Yankee Clipper Flying Boats. None of these airplanes have survived but a full-size replica sits in this museum because the Shannon Estuary was the landing spot for Clipper flights to Europe. The museum sits inside the original terminal building. Clipper service to Europe only lasted a few years from 1937-1945.

We start our visit touring the Boeing 314 Clipper. Because the airplane was slow the flight time from NYC to Shannon was an excruciating 25 hours. It was luxurious service only for the rich. Seating was spacious, and turned into beds. There was a full restaurant aboard. I am sure it had its downside. It was probably very noisy and bumpy.

We quickly toured the rest of the museum. There is a large section on Irish actress Maureen O’Hara. She was married to a Clipper pilot, supported the museum, and donated her memorabilia to it. Besides her dresses, shoes, and honorary Oscar, it has the Jaunting Car used in the local movie The Quiet Man with John Wayne.

From Foynes we head west along the Shannon till we reach the Tarbert Ferry. We are just in time to board and cross to County Clare on the north shore. Six miles later we are looking for our accommodation in the cute town of Kilrush. I am thinking I didn't do my normal due diligence as we have trouble finding parking. We have a long conversation with the Polish owner of the hotel about politics and living in Ireland.

For dinner we have an excellent meal of Curried Monkfish. The Thai flavoring was outstanding. We stayed for the ganache dessert.

July 18, 2024

July 18, 2024

Since Ireland gets lots of rain, flowers grow everywhere, in gardens, and wild on the side of the road. Aimee loves all the Hydrangeas of every color. We have been intrigued by this hedgerow bush with a red teardrop bud that opens into an umbrella or ballerina-shaped flower. Aimee identified it online last night as Fuschia. It is native to Chile but has spread throughout the West of Ireland.

This morning we finished our Ring of Kerry drive. Our first stop was twenty minutes north at Ballycarbery Castle. This is a ruined tower house. It was mostly uninteresting. Very close by are two ancient Stone Ringforts from the Iron Age. Each one is a little bit of walk to reach. The first is called Cahergill. We are the only tourists and we have the place to ourselves finally. It sits atop a hill surrounded by farms. Interestingly it has a smaller structure inside.

In the distance we can see the second fort called Leacanabuaile. The interior of this ringfort has lots of structures as if it was a permanent home for some clan. It is interesting how intricately placed all the stones are without any mortar. Not surprisingly the ancient Irish, whoever they were, were masters with rock. They had an infinite supply to work with. These ringforts were likely taller but much of the stone has been repurposed over the years to build fencing.

We continued our drive of the Ring at Kate Kearney’s Cottage, famous for being the start of the Gap of Dunloe, a narrow mountain pass. Unfortunately, it is drizzling and foggy, so the view is almost non-existent. We have found the Irish weather to change quickly, so we decided to wait it out and have an early lunch. The soup was delicious. Afterwards, we head out on foot up the pass road. The weather has not improved. In good weather, there are lots of Irish Jaunting Cars making the journey, so the road is wet with horse droppings. We don't go very far. The rain is in our face on the way back.

At the bottom we stop again and have a Pear Tart and Cappuccino. Yummy! Maybe I need to embrace Aimee’s idea of a vacation more often.

We left the Ring of Kerry and crossed over onto the Dingle Peninsula. It is a fairly easy drive and there are no tour buses to dodge. The scenery is also nice.

Halfway down we made a detour to another Tower House called Minard Castle. While also in ruins, I like the scenic setting on the bay much better.

We finished the day in Dingle town. After checking into our Bed and Breakfast, we walked around the town center. The weather has turned sunny and warm again. Like Kinsale, Dingle has lots of brightly painted and decorated pubs, restaurants and stores. Ireland has an annual Tidy Town contest. It seems each village is trying to make their own town more colorful to win this award.

Next to St Mary’s Church, we make a stop at Deseart Visitor Center. This is a former Convent that is now a tourist attraction showing the wonderful art that decorates the interior spaces. Who knew this kind of stuff was hidden inside a nunnery. The most famous are the stained glass panels in the chapel. They were done by Harry Clarke, renowned for leading the Irish Stained Glass Revival. He was inspired by the Art Deco movement.

The convent also has two more decorated rooms. One is a modern Last Supper in the dining hall. But I like the Nano Nagle room better. She was the founder of this order. Her family had sent her to Paris for schooling because it was illegal to educate Catholics in Ireland at the time. On her return she dedicated her life to teaching the poor of this country.

For dinner we had Fried Prawns caught in Dingle Bay, with a Caesar Salad. I washed it down with a draught cider. Surprisingly good.

July 17, 2024

July 17, 2024

Yesterday evening we visited the Skellig Experience Visitor Centre to learn about medieval monks who used to live on an isolated barren rock off the Irish coast called Skellig Michael. Aimee and I signed up for a boat ride to this World Heritage site six months ago. Since ocean swells make landing on the islet dangerous, we didn’t know if the trip would be a go until this morning. There are rangers who camp there all summer. They gave the thumbs up for landings at this star attraction of Kerry Seas National Park at 7:30 am this morning.

Our little boat with twelve passengers left the Portmagee dock at 9:30 am. The weather is back to cloudy and cold. Once the boat leaves the protected harbor we bounce mightily in the waves. Thankfully I remembered to bring Dramamine for this trip. It takes an hour for us to reach this pyramid-shaped islet jutting out of the ocean. It is hard to believe that people could reach the islet in little wooden boats covered with animal skins. It is even harder to believe they willingly agreed to live here. There are almost no resources except for birds and rocks. Somehow it made these hermit monks feel closer to God.

There is a tiny rock cove that lets us safely disembark. We have to listen to a safety briefing before we can climb the rock. The monks carved a steep rock "Stairway to Heaven" up the side of the mountain. There are no safety railings and the rocks are slippery. The scenery is breathtaking. No wonder it also played the role of Luke Skywalker's "most unfindable" sanctuary in Star Wars VIII.

What is most notable though is the thousands of Atlantic Puffins covering the islet. They are so numerous and so unafraid, I need to shoo them off the stairs so I can pass by. This is nesting season and they have dug little burrows into every hillside and in between steps. I absolutely love these birds. It seems each one is sitting there posing for me. A ranger commented that they were nowhere to be seen yesterday.

We have limited time on the rock so we make our way up the 600 steps to the top. There we encounter the Monastery where up to a dozen monks may have lived in little beehive-shaped rock shelters. A ranger gives us a talk about the settlement and how they eked out an existence. Living here is so diametrically opposed to our modern lifestyle.

Going downhill is harder for Aimee, so I let her go ahead and take her time. I lingered watching the Puffins and taking way too many photos and videos. Puffins are such comical-looking birds with their over-sized colorful beaks and stubby wings.

Back on the boat we circle Skellig Michael and then motor by its sister island Little Skellig. This island is completely covered in Gannets. It is supposed to be the home of the second largest Gannet colony in the world. There are so many birds, the island is almost white from guano deposits. They are noisy, smelly and swarming overhead.

Back in Portmagee, we are cold and windblown. Aimee takes a nap while I download photos. We have dinner again in town, indoors this time. We have Beef and Guinness Stew. I wash it down with a pint of Smithwicks Irish Red Ale. Good filling Irish comfort food after a day of Irish adventure.

July 16, 2024

July 16, 2024

From Kenmare, Ireland, we started our drive of the famous Ring of Kerry. This is a circular route following the coastline around the Iveragh Peninsula, the largest of several that extend out southwest from County Kerry. The photographer in me wants to make frequent stops to take a photograph. That is near impossible as there are few easy pullouts along this narrow winding road. I just have to relax and let Aimee enjoy the scenery while I navigate the torturous road.

Our first stop is at Staigue Stone Fort. It turns out to be 2.5 miles up a tight one-lane road. A few days ago I would be panicking. Now I take it in stride and have little problem finding a good spot to pull over so oncoming cars can pass.

Staigue, sitting in an open hillside, is one of many Iron Age forts from almost 2000 years ago that litter Ireland. It turns out Ireland was a lawless place well before the Normans and the English arrived. Every local clan must have needed a place of refuge to stay alive. Staigue is a large circular ring of stones 90 feet in diameter and 20 feet high. There are step stones all around the interior to climb to the parapet. It is very cool and must have taken considerable effort to build.

Our next stop is at Derrynane National Historic Park. This mansion is the former home of Daniel O'Connell. He is known as The Liberator for his efforts in the early 1800’s for Catholic Emancipation securing basic rights for the majority of Ireland. He succeeded well enough that he got elected to the British Parliament. Independence from Britain would take much longer. Having witnessed France fall apart during their revolution he pressed for peaceful non-violent action through the legislature and the courts.

We made a brief stop in Waterville to see a roadside statue of Charlie Chaplin. Apparently he used to vacation in this town regularly. Shortly after we left the main road and travelled the Skellig Ring to see the Kerry Cliffs. It is a little bit of a hike uphill, but the view is spectacular.

We finish in nearby Portmagee where we check into our AirBnB. This is our first time using this room broker.

We have time before dinner so we drive across the bridge to Valentia Island. To our left is the spot where the first transatlantic telegraph cable to Newfoundland was laid in 1858. On the far side are several sets of Tetrapod Tracks on the flat rocks next to the sea. It takes a little imagination to believe these series of holes are footprints made by the earliest creatures to leave the sea some 400 million years ago. Despite that Aimee and I enjoy the little walk. The weather is sunny. Ireland is a glorious place when the clouds clear.

To celebrate the sun, we have a fish dinner outdoors next to the ocean. Aimee orders a Cronin's Cider. This could have been brewed by some of my long lost cousins.

July 15, 2024

July 15, 2024

From Kinsale, Ireland, we drove northwest back to the highway. Apple Maps may not be the best navigation app for Ireland. It is constantly finding the narrowest one lane roads so it can save me a half second of driving time.

A few miles short of the highway, we drove by the Michael Collins Ambush Memorial. I learned about this event three years ago watching the Liam Neesom movie named for him. Michael Collins was a leader of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence and helped to negotiate the treaty with Britain that allowed the formation of the Irish Free State. Unfortunately Ireland descended into a bitter civil war with those who thought the treaty wasn’t good enough. He was assassinated here in August 1922 by anti-treaty men.

Back on the highway we drove west into County Kerry arriving in Killarney. Our next stop is just south at Muckross House. This Victorian Mansion is one of the many estates enjoyed by the English aristocrats of that era. In 1932, the owner gifted the house and 11,000 acre estate to the Irish nation. The estate grounds became Killarney National Park, the first in the country.

We gave ourselves the self-guided house tour. It is finely appointed but not as lavish as TV makes Downton Abbey look. Perhaps because it was in the isolated West of Ireland. Or based on the abundance of mounted deer antlers, maybe it was more of a luxurious hunting cabin instead of societal nexus. It is clear looking at all the facilities that running a mansion is like operating a large hotel. This means a large kitchen, laundry and lots of servants. I liked seeing the extensive row of manual signal bells in the basement. When somebody “upstairs” wanted something, the servants downstaris had to see who was ringing them up.

We walked around the exterior of the house admiring the setting on a lake surrounded by green mountains. We had a soup lunch in their cafe.

We then drove to nearby Ross Castle for a guided tour. Ross is one of many Fortified Tower Houses that were abundant in medieval Ireland. Ireland was a pretty rough place for a Norman or English lord trying to live amongst a hostile indigenous population. They all had to build themselves an impregnable stone house to survive. Very few Tower Houses have survived intact. Ross is an example of one that was restored by the state and furnished with period antiques.

After gaining entry through two heavy oaken doors, you have access to several floors joined by a single spiral staircase. Compared to the peasants living in thatch huts it was luxurious, but it was still tough. Many people were crammed together in tight spaces. With only arrow-slit windows and candle light, the interiors were always dark. To enter a room, we crossed a raised threshold. It is called that because it held-in the thresh (straw) that covered the floor.

From Ross, we drove south through Killarney National Park. Killarney is heavily wooded and is supposed to be like Ireland was in the olden days. Shockingly, today Ireland has the least amount of forest of any European country. Our first stop was a short hike to Torc Waterfall. Not surprisingly the trees and rocks are covered in moss.

We continued on stopping at several viewpoints to admire the dramatic scenery. This park consists of a glacier-carved valley filled with a series of Loughs (lakes).

We finished our drive on the Kerry coast in the town of Kenmare. After checking-in to our accommodations we walked just outside town to see an ancient Stone Circle. These prehistoric rock assemblies are all over the British Isles.

July 14, 2024

July 14, 2024

I have been feeling less than 100%. I initially thought it was some allergy like mold because of the damp climate. Since Aimee is now feeling under the weather, it must be a mild cold. It doesn’t help that the temperature here is far below what us desert rats enjoy. We are both bundled up while the locals are in shorts. No wonder the Romans never invaded and referred to Ireland as Hibernia, Land of Winter. We slept-in this morning and had a late breakfast.

We wandered into ‘downtown’ Kinsale and met up with a local walking tour. In the age of sail, Kinsale was a major port of Ireland. The harbor eventually silted up, and trade moved to the deepwater port of Cobh. Much of the old port was landfilled and is now a brightly decorated tourist town.

The little port has a wooden mast decorating the entrance. It is a memorial to the epic Battle of Kinsale. In 1601 the Irish leaders of Ulster (northern Ireland) allied themselves with Catholic Spain against Protestant England. A Spanish armada landed in Kinsale while the Ulster army marched south. In the interim, the English rushed troops here and besieged Kinsale. With the Spanish trapped inside, the English won an easy victory against the Irish. With the defeat the Ulster Earls fled Ireland. The English seized the vacant land and settled Scottish Protestants in their place setting up the problem of Northern Ireland that continues to this day.

In mid-afternoon, we drove a few miles outside town to tour Charles Fort. It was built by the English after the Battle of Kinsale to avoid the harbor falling into foreign hands again. We joined a guided tour of this large star-shaped fort. I think the Irish make the best guides because they have a natural gift of storytelling. The fort was only attacked once during an English Civil War when Catholic King James II was trying to regain his throne from Protestant William and Mary. As happens often with coastal forts, it was breached easily from the land-side.

What was probably more interesting about the talk was learning about the life of an English soldier. A young man enlisted for life and was unlikely to ever marry. Despite the hardships, many willingly joined (even lots of Irish) because there was no better alternative.

July 13, 2024

July 13, 2024

We got a late start today to help our body clocks adjust and to enjoy our nice hotel. Midmorning we strolled across Waterford past some ruins of the old city walls. Next to the Cathedral we encountered a modernistic statue of Strongbow and Aoife. Strongbow was an Anglo-Norman knight who was invited here in 1170 by the Irish regional king for help to recover his throne. As a reward Strongbow married the king’s daughter and inherited the kingship of Leinster. Unfortunately he brought along his friends and soon Norman knights were ruling most of Ireland. On the plus side they were also Catholic, married the local women and assimilated. So much so that they famously became “More Irish than the Irish”. This also explains why my Irish DNA analysis has a lot of Scandinavian. I have one ancestor with the Norman name Lovett. I don't know if it is a compliment or hubris that the Brits most popular cider is named Strongbow.

We finished our walk at the House of Waterford where we signed up for the Waterford Glass factory tour. With an Irish mother-in-law, our house has a large inventory of glass from this production site. Since we are early we start by exploring the retail shop. General production has been moved to Slovenia, with this site now only producing specialty products like sport trophies.

Waterford glass is lead crystal that is blown, shaped, and polished. Then comes the tedious process of grinding the cut-glass decorations. We see examples of the entire process.

After the tour, we return to our hotel, check out and drive west on the motorway. So much better than the winding roads of yesterday. Just east of Cork we briefly stop to see a unique sculpture titled Kindred Spirits. This relatively new installation has nine large metal feathers because it was made to honor the Choctaw Indians who donated to Ireland during the Great Famine. The Irish have a soft spot for other people who feel they also have been overrun by stronger nations.

Our next stop is the island city of Cobh in the Cork Harbor estuary. Named over the years, Cove, Queenstown, and now Cobh, it has been a major naval and commercial port. After parking by Cobh Cathedral, the tallest in Ireland, we walked down the very steep streets to the shoreline. Uhoh, we see that Cobh is still a major cruise port! The presence of a large ocean liner means we have difficulty finding a spot for lunch.

Our hunger satisfied, we walked the port of this tiny but cute town. My ancestors probably left Ireland from here. There is a memorial to Annie Moore, an emigrant who was the first processed at Ellis Island. All Cobh emigrants weren’t so lucky. This was also the last port of call for the Titanic. The White Star Line office is still standing and now holds a museum. A few blocks away is the old Cunard office. Three years after Titanic, Cunard’s Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat just off-shore. Most of the recovered bodies were buried here in mass graves. We visited the old cemetery on our way into town. The Lusitania is of special interest because Aimee and I both recently read Dead Wake, a stirring book about this tragedy.

From Cobh we bypass the city of Cork and finish in the port of Kinsale. We have a delicious Indian curry for dinner.