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Category Archives: Ireland

12 hours of madness, and incidentally, New Grange

05 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Ireland, Lyra, Peggy

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Archaeological sites

(Things got a bit out of order and this should have appeared before the previous)

We left Bundoran on Aug. 30 and embarked on 12 hours of madness as we tried to get me in and out of the outpatient unit at University Hospital, Sligo for a shot in my eye to treat my macular degeneration and on to the destination we actually had planned, New Grange. We sat for what seemed like forever in the waiting area at the hospital, yet were able to cross Ireland and make it to New Grange in time to get on the second to last tour of the day. New Grange is an amazingly impressive site and sight. Its sheer size outdoes anything else in Europe. Purists may balk at the reconstruction, but the unreconstructed interior brings all kinds of images of past religious activities to mind (Photography is no longer allowed inside). The 93 or so huge stones encircling the mound at New Grange, as well as those on the inside, have been pecked with spirals, circles, undulating lines, cup marks and other symbols. I admit I did not enter the annual lottery–winners get 2 tickets to see the light of the winter solstice come in the upper window of New Grange on one of 5 days that this occurs each year.

8.30.17 New Grange-021
8.30.17 New Grange-008
8.30.17 New Grange-023
Lyra rolling down the hill at New Grange. It was that kind of day.
Lyra rolling down the hill at New Grange. It was that kind of day.

As if that weren’t enough, we had decided to return our rental car and stay overnight in the city of Dublin. Leaving New Grange around 6 pm, the thought of driving into the city, disgorging the luggage of four travelers at the hotel and returning to the airport gave us visions of the 9th circle of hell. Around that moment, we discovered that the Dublin airport is on the route from New Grange into the city, so we stopped in, dropped the car, picked up a big taxi and arrived at our hotel for less than the cost of four bus tickets from the airport into town. Not only that but our 6’5″ retired army medic taxi driver told us his best stories of taxi driving. (Unfortunately, the one where the guy pulled a gun on him took place in Chicago….uh oh.) By 8 pm we were seated at dinner, having triumphed over all hurdles, visited a truly world class attraction, and were ready for our last day in Ireland. I am grateful for the patience of my traveling companions that allowed us to make this all happen.

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Last stop Dublin, and what’s Good to Know about Ireland

04 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Ireland, Lyra, Peggy

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Museums, Travel preparation

Our last day in Dublin was spent inside the National Museum of Ireland. Lyra was wonderful in agreeing to stay with her crazy parents in the museum all day when all of Dublin was beckoning.

Ancient Goldsmith's tools
Ancient Goldsmith’s tools
(R) Gold bracelet from Donegal
(R) Gold bracelet from Donegal

After visiting many archaeological sites around Ireland we had often read reference to finds made at a site followed by “now at the National Museum of Ireland.” I was most intrigued by reference to a purse-shaped reliquary of St. Patrick’s Tooth from the church of Killaspugbrone, now at the end of the Sligo airport runway. The church was first built by Bishop Bron, a contemporary of St. Patrick in the early 500s (!). When St. Patrick visited his friend, he either tripped and knocked out a tooth or it fell out and he gave it to his good friend who treasured it.

8.31.17 National Museum of Ireland-187
Patricks_tooth_anaglyph_w800

Much later, the relic case was made for the tooth, and after a trail of owners is now in the National Museum of Ireland. The relic case has images of Sts. Patrick, Brigid (missing), Brendan and Columcille on it as well as one of the earliest depictions of a harp in ireland.

8.31.17 National Museum of Ireland-050
8.31.17 National Museum of Ireland-045

Great jewelry of Ancient Ireland. Chains and amber, what’s not to like?

We went through with an eye for anything from our travels and found carvings and artifacts from all over. It was a pleasure to match some of the objects with their places of origin.

We saw the two most recent finds of people preserved in bogs (2003). Clonycavan man is an example of (possibly) the first man bun, held together by hair gel that originated in France or Spain.

The other find, Old Croghan Man, had very long arms and big hands, suggesting he had been 6’5″ tall (missing his head and lower body, it was difficult to be sure). His well-manicured nails suggested he was not a laborer, but of high status.

 

There was a leather scabbard recovered from a bog with an axe still inside. Leather preservation is impressive–single shoes from all over Ireland.

 

We moved to our hotel by the airport, readying for our 7 am flight to Naples and the next chapter of Llywinda Travels.

Good to Know About Ireland

♣ It rains. It may rain some portion of every day you are in Ireland, so be prepared. Bright sun can shift to a brief downpour in a few minutes. Carry an umbrella, wear a raincoat or be ready to run for cover. Forget about cute shoes. There are sunny days–appreciate every one of them!

♣ It is never hot. Ireland is a great place to go to escape the heat. July-August temperatures along the west coast were in the 60s, rarely breaking 70º F. Beachgoers of all ages wear heavy gauge wetsuits. You rarely see parents sitting on the beach staring at their phone while kids call to them from the sand—the rain would ruin their phone. We saw more families together on the beach here than in other countries.

♣ Driving on the left is always a challenge. Roads are narrow in some places and you have to be ready to pull over or back up to let an oncoming car pass.

♣ We found almost everyone to be friendly and helpful. We shared a table at the potato festival and enjoyed chatting with people from Dingle. We chatted with people on buses and at the store. It was easy to get directions. (That’s handy, because not all streets are marked.)

Some wonderful things about Ireland.

♣ Nature–The west coast is full of beaches and cliffs to walk on. The Burren, Benbulben, Bunglass cliffs are all in amazing landscapes, too. Archaeological sites are everywhere amid gorgeous views.

♣ There are some stunning gardens. Some are tiny house fronts, others are extensive yards. The mild weather keeps blooms fresh for a long time. These are the pinkest hydrangeas I’ve ever seen. Fuschia may be non-native, but forms high hedges along many roads. So do blackberries–we made jam and pie.

♣ We saw puffins, and possibly a whale or dolphin.

♣ The friendliness and good will of people we met was a real pleasure.

♣ Boxty, Irish whiskey, cheeses, butter.

♣ An appreciation of whimsy. Though fewer people today may believe in fairies, places where people saw fairies in the past are still marked, like the fairy bridges in Bundoran, or holy wells. There are decorative fairy houses, too. On a larger scale, you occasionally see a facade decorated with shells and broken pottery in seaside towns.

A couple of things to keep in mind.

♣ You can visit archaeological ruins all over Ireland. Many are marked on maps and listed in guidebooks, while others are not. Guidebooks don’t always list how long a walk it is to the site from the car park, and the walks can be very muddy. Sometimes only a vehicle with high clearance can drive to the end of the road, making the walk to a site a half hour each way. Be prepared.

Cliffs of Bunglass, Slieve Lieg

♣ Weather can get in the way of your views. We visited the Slieve Lieg, also called the Cliffs of Bunglass, some of the highest cliffs in Europe, but the top was in fog. The top of these cliffs is usually in fog, though they are still worth visiting. This is also true of Benbulben, a distinctive feature of the landscape between Sligo and Bundoran. Still worth visiting.

♣ There is a peculiar toll in Dublin, the M50. There are signs along the road that indicate it is an automatic toll. If you rent a car, ask your agency whether they cover the toll. If they do not, you have to go online and pay it (not much). If you do not, there are all kinds of threats of huge fines. Apparently rental cars are not fined as promptly but you are still expected to go to the eflow.ie webpage and pay. Our car rental company did not mention this until I called a couple of times in a panic.

♣ As in every country, the most highly publicized sights and attractions can be very crowded. We were in big crowds at the Cliffs of Moher and at the Giant’s Causeway. We skipped the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge when we found out that even with timed tickets the wait was often 90 minutes to walk across. We did not kiss the Blarney Stone. There can be 20 tour buses parked at such places. Brace yourself or don’t go. In Dublin, the Book of Kells had a long line. The National Museum of Ireland was full of wonderful things and had no line at all. Go there.

♣ If you are returning to the US from Ireland, you may be required to pass US customs in Ireland. This saves time when you arrive in the US, but takes at least an extra hour. Fine, except your airline may not mention that this takes place. Thus, everyone needs an extra hour at the airport but doesn’t know it. Lyra went through all this process at 6 am, including loading the plane an hour early (!). After that, they all sat for 45 minutes waiting for latecomers who didn’t know about customs and weren’t chronically early to the airport.

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Irish Houses

03 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Ireland

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Architecture

As you drive around the Republic of Ireland, you notice only variations on a single house type.

Donegal countryside

8.17.17 ruins along R231 N of BallySh-001
8.18.17 houses along the road Rossbeg

Abandoned Cottage                                              Occupied cottage

Architecture in Ireland appears to take a simple cottage as the basic model for all housing. There are hundreds of abandoned cottages (L), and there are many restored, rebuilt, or new cottages (R). Some are drawn out longerwhile others built upward to two stories.Or both.Almost all houses (all freestanding houses) are variations of this shape, give or take a bunch of gables.

The Ulster Tourist House, currently abandoned
The Ulster Tourist House, currently abandoned
8.18.17 near Rossbeg-001

The counties we’ve lived in here (Donegal, Kerry) are both places that even today have a population that is about half of the population they had in 1841, the first year of the historic famines. Still, I am fascinated by the number of abandoned stone houses that we have seen. Some have interesting details like the decorative ironwork on the peak of this roof:Many appear to be very near to habitable, and I wonder why they are empty, though I don’t know any of the details–they could have weak foundations, they may be damp, and most are small.

Here and there, we see old cottages being restored. Some even get a new thatch roof. Older cottages often had a slate roof. Newly restored cottages tend to have contemporary alternatives to slate for the roof. Thatch is more common in Donegal than Kerry (by my observation).

I like this stone barn. Though the lower floor is open to the elements, the external stairs are in good shape and the interior is barred and presumably dry. All it needs is a few windows.

Near Rossbeg
Near Rossbeg
8.18.17 houses along the road Rossbeg-005

Here are a few other ruined stone houses we saw.

N. of Ballyshannon along R231
N. of Ballyshannon along R231
near Rossbeg
near Rossbeg
Ghost village of Port
Ghost village of Port
Donegal stone barn
Donegal stone barn
Tullaghan
Tullaghan

When you get back from looking at houses, you might want something tasty and warm for dinner. Try boxty, a traditional potato pancake made with both raw and cooked potatoes. It’s delicious.

http://Irish Boxty – potato pancake

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Archaeology of Ireland–Northwest

02 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by winifredcreamer in Ireland, Lyra, Peggy

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Archaeological sites

The archaeology slide show continues in northwest Ireland. This includes all kinds of historic and ruined structures. If I posted about each one separately, there would be a lot of photos of rocky structures. You may enjoy browsing these. We had a great time finding and visiting all of them.

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These are the places in the slideshow.

KIllaghtee Church and Cross Slab, St. Johns Point; Carrowmore Megalithic site; unknown site near Manorhamilton; Wardstown House in Ballymacaward S of Rossnowlagh; Ghost village of Port; Dunluce Castle, Raghly, Cashel Baun, Asseroe Abbey and Mills, Kilbarron Church, Catsby Cave, Grainan of Aileach, Carrowkeel Passage tombs, Cloghanmore court tomb, Donegal Castle, Creevykeel court tomb.

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Archaeology in Ireland–Southwest

01 Friday Sep 2017

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Archaeological sites

We visited many, many archaeological sites and objects, from the stone lying by the sidewalk in Dingle to the ruins of Ardfert Cathedral. Partly as a way to remember what they all were, I’m creating a slideshow that include each site we saw in the Dingle region (Co. Kerry). Some of these I’ve already mentioned in a post, but here I’m showing more of my pictures. A list of the places included is below the slideshow.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Places in the slideshow: Brandon Point; Kilmalkedar Church; cathair near Kilmalkedar Church; Kilmalkedar Church; Ardfert Cathedral; Grange stone circle, Lough Gur; Hussey’s Folley (Dingle); St. Senan’s churchyard; Fothrach an tSeansaileara; Minard Castle; Great Blasket Island; Cathair Deargann; Cathair na BhFionnurach; Ballycarbery Castle; Blennerville Windmill; Cahergall stone fort; Feonagh cross slab outside church; Slea Head Drive; Fahan group behive huts; Gallarus Oratory; Cloonduane ruins, Smerwick Bay; Leacanabulle stone fort; Dunbeg Promontory Fort; Slea Head Drive ring fort, Bullaun along the sidewalk in Dingle town.

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All things green and beautiful…

25 Friday Aug 2017

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Cemeteries, History

I’ve been doing so many things that the space between posts has gotten longer. Most of our activities involve walking on beaches or visiting ruins that date between the twentieth century and 3000 BC. A real highlight was the cemetery that includes ruins of Asseroe Abbey in Ballyshannon.

Nothing is left of the Abbey but the back wall that is incorporated into a farmer’s stone barn, but there are fragments tucked in around the cemetery.

Nearby is a bridge that may be the oldest surviving stone bridge in Ireland. It has three arches and crosses the tiny Assaroe river.

The churchyard is the largest remnant of Assaroe Abbey with many old graves and headstones.

 

 

 

There is a stile that includes a fragment of trim from around an arched doorway. It’s the lowest stone in the group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the cemetery there are headstones from several centuries. The oldest have been incorporated into the walls. The headstone below has been reused by a later individual. You can see the elaborate carving on the upper portion, but the lower portion has been chiseled off. It was probably a dedication to a different person. It might even have begun, “Here lies…..”

Some pieces have broken and no one seems to know what to do with them.

 

 

 

 

There are pieces of ironwork that are merging with the stones they used to mark.

The cemetery is not large, but it is full of history and stories known and unknown. It is one of my favorite places of those we’ve visited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Benbulben, a walk in Irish Green

17 Thursday Aug 2017

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walks

8.15.16 Benbulben-031Benbulben is a striking feature on the Donegal landscape, or is it Sligo, or Leitrim? County boundaries are close together here and this mountain plateau can be seen for many miles. We followed the Benbulben Forest Walk to skirt the edge of the mountain, admiring the velvety moss green drape of its slopes. The tiny white flecks on its surface are sheep that graze all the way up to the rocks.  As you walk from one end to the other of its rocky face, Benbulben changes from a knob of rock to a wall of cliffs to a row of jagged teeth looming over the valley.

Our walk started in bright sun, then shifted to overcast and to rain. We stood among the pines of a forestry plantation to escape the gusts for five minutes and then the rain was past.

 

 

We stopped to look at the ruin of a medieval farmstead, Cashel Baun, that we found along the path, then continued on from the park to a place called Luke’s Bridge, around the side of Benbulben. Luke’s Bridge is a trailhead for hiking up onto the plateau at the top of Benbulben. We saw four hikers making their way down the final stretch after what surely had been a long morning. Anyone can climb the trail as long as they have the legs, boots, raingear, water, snacks and desire to do so.When you put your back to Benbulben you can see fields and pastures and the Atlantic in the distance.I have been reading about “overtourism” lately, the fact that popular places have become so full of tourists that there is no room for local residents. Tourist hotels and rental properties squeeze housing availability and raise prices. Streets are packed with people day and night–sometimes things get rowdy. Many people who travel are in favor of sustainable tourism but no one wants to give up seeing a famous sight. We all seem to want limits on visitors right AFTER we’ve been there.

Now that I’ve been to Benbulben, I think it was a better experience than visiting the Cliffs of Moher, which were full, full, full of other visitors. There were a few other cars in the parking lot at Benbulben and we passed two other groups of walkers. Would I have passed up visiting the Cliffs of Moher had I known about the crowds? I don’t know. After we visited the Giant’s Causeway and saw the number of people there we decided not to visit the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge nearby that most visitors stop and see. We understood there would be just as many people there and since the experience is to cross a long rope bridge between mainland and island, there isn’t anything to do but stand in line and wait your turn (timed tickets started this year). The line is said to be 90 minutes on most days. It didn’t sound like fun at that point. I’m glad we passed on it. There are lots of places to visit in Ireland that are still uncrowded and beautiful.

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The Wild Atlantic Way

14 Monday Aug 2017

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Coast

Promoting the tourist potential of the west coast of Ireland is the Wild Atlantic Way, an initiative started in 2014 that marks 2500 km of roads, from Cork on the south to Malin Head, the northern tip of the country. I, for one, am not convinced that the west coast of Ireland needed to be flogged as a destination. It has a substantial reputation already. The Wild Atlantic Way does have a memorable stylized wave logo (vvvv). The route includes many scenic roads like the Slea Head Drive outside Dingle, and Conor Pass.

Along Slea Head Drive
Along Slea Head Drive
Conor Pass
Conor Pass

There are also lots of beaches. Since we love beach combing, we visited every beach on the Dingle Peninsula. Then we started north. This is Fenit Beach, northwest of Tralee.

It’s not all beaches. The arrows pointing down small country roads may encourage visitors to go just a bit further. We decided to find the ruins of Wardtown Castle. I later read that it’s the ruin of one of the first Palladian structures in Ireland.

Wardstown House
Wardstown House
8.8.17 Wild Atlantic Waysm

Sadly, it burned down and not much is left. It was a good ruin, in any case.We’ve followed the WAW around half of the Ring of Kerry, all around the Dingle Peninsula to Banna Beach in north Kerry. We went to Tarbert, on to Limerick, the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren, and into Galway. We haven’t driven every kilometer of the route, but now we are extending our reach north from Sligo to the Slieve Lieg and beyond. Sometimes we’ve visited an area for one of the sights and been captivated by the scenery instead. That’s what happened at the “Ghost Village of Port”. The ruins are nothing special but the views are wonderful. There is another beach and another cliff around every corner.

8.9.17 Ghost village of Port-052
8.9.17 Ghost village of Port-053

We’ve seen birds on land and seabirds on the rocks. We’ve watched ships sailing by, sailboats tacking back and forth. We’re on the lookout for whales, but haven’t seen any yet. (Whale Watch Ireland 2017 is this coming weekend. I hope the whales will come out for it.) We pass ruins everywhere, from a 20th century Coast Guard station to neolithic ring fort and dolmen (tombs).

For anyone traveling with children, there is a Wild Atlantic Way passport you can buy and then get a stamp in the local post office of every participating town. If you get 20 stamps, they will send you a prize. I can imagine kids watching the map like little hawks to avoid missing any stamps. It could be fun.

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Patterns of Nature

12 Saturday Aug 2017

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Attractions, Dunluce Castle, Giants Causeway

Here are some things I’ve seen that remind me that nature is amazing all on its own.

On the left are the vertical columns of basalt at the Giant’s Causeway. On the right are ridges in beach sand.

 

We visited Giant’s Causeway and the next day went to Dunluce Castle, not far away.

The Giant’s Causeway is made of basalt columns. The tops are visible here. On the right you see a wall at Dunluce Castle made with basalt quarried from Giant’s Causeway. They cut off the tops of the stone columns to use in the wall–the five and six-sided pieces. Notice that the man-made wall isn’t nearly as lovely as the natural formation.

Can you identify the source of these two patterns? They are from land and sea. See below for answer.

 

 

 

 

Photos above: Grazing sheep, fossil coral

 

 

 

 

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Off the beaten path at Lough Melvin

07 Monday Aug 2017

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Archaeological sites, beach combing, Landscape

We set out on a loop from Bundoran to Manorhamilton, on to Rosinver, then back to Bundoran. We started with the farmers market in Manorhamilton that turned out to be very, very small. After buying a few things, we went in search of a ring fort and we found a site, but it wasn’t the one we were looking for.  Having mostly struck out, we saw a small hand painted sign at the start of the last leg of the drive that said “Scenic Drive” and so we turned that way. The map showed a route between a bog and a lake, possibly a good spot for some birdwatching.The road turned out to be a narrow lane, where the plants brush against both sides of the car. The bog was either on the side of or over the top of the mountain and we were on a hiillside far above the lake, Lough Melvin. The sun was out and the view was gorgeous over blue water and islands, with Bundoran and the sea in the far distance. It could not have been lovelier. We picnicked and looked out over the lake with our binoculars and realized there was NO ONE on the lake from one end to the other. It’s a Friday afternoon of a national holiday weekend (August Bank Holiday) in a popular tourist area and not one single person was on Lough Melvin. We decided to go down to the edge of the Lough. We found a perfect place, a tiny rowboat harbor and boat launch ramp. No one was there, despite the boats. We strolled along the shore and were met by three horses and a pony checking to see whether they knew us. After they trotted off, we walked the edge of the lough, which is pebbly and rocky. You’d need water shoes, but the water is warmer than the ocean.  Perhaps with the ocean so near, no one bothers with the Lough except to fish. In the US, there would be a giant development somewhere along the lake. As we walked along the shore, we found fragments of glass and pottery that had been tumbled in the water. It was some of our best beach combing, and there was no beach.

After our long stroll marveling at the absence of people, the bright sunny day, great sights and finds, we headed for home, and saw an animal cross the road. Almost as dark as a black cat but with a weasel head. It may have been a pine marten. Another rarity capping a rare day.

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