Our introductory walking tour took us across the River Liffy and under the elevated tracks at the Dublin Pearse Station toward the home of Oscar Wilde and his statue in Merrion Square Park. Also in the Park was the Giants Garden and an impressive tall backed chair. After passing through St Stevens Green, and Saint Patrick's Church, we stopped at The Authors Wall celebrating Ireland's noted authors (James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, Charles Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Jonathon Swift for a few) in Saint Patrick's Park. We enjoyed the creative posts at the Francis street school.
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Dublin
Friday, August 9, 2024
Galway & KIlarney
We had reservations for dinner at Oscar's the first night in Galway. We had wild prawns, scallops, monkfish, carrots. The muscadet and warm chocolate pudding, with candied orange on top and vanilla ice cream on the side for dessert made a nice finish to the evening repast.
Galway is known as a foodie haven and we had food tour the next morning where we sampled everything from chocolates to raspberry swirled croissants, and fish stew to mussels and oysters. A fitting introduction to the Galway dining scene. And there was an opportunity to add some ice cream for dessert.
Wandering Galway on our way to Oscars, where we dined the first night, we noted several crafts along the waterfront and Galway's own Spanish Arch.
Add some very colorful flower arrangements with buildings decorated like frosted cakes and tapas bars with flamenco dancer decor and you get a sense of the city's ambiance.
The Cliffs of Moher are well worth the stop, two stops if you have the time for a cruise as well as the view from the top. Be prepared for photos on the outbound and inbound segments of the cruise. On the top left is the path to O'Brien's Tower (in the distance), bottom right is the view of the Cliffs of Moher from the path near the tower, and the other two were taken on the cruise. The amazing thing is there was a horde of visitors but this is such a massive site, it just swallowed them up.
Killarney is a central location for exploring the Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry. In Killarney you can visit the Killarney House and Gardens, take touristy horse drawn jaunting carts around the city and to Ross Castle.
Our Dingle Penninsula tour stopped near Killarney for a view of Lough Leane from near Parkavonear Castle. We had another break at Inch Beach.
We drove along a narrow road made all the narrower by the plants overtaking the road. In Anascaul we visited the Tom Crean Memorial. Tom was an Irish seaman and a member of three major expeditions to Antarctica.
We stopped at the Gallarus Oratory, a well preserved 1000 year old Christian Stone Church. The best preserved ancient church in Ireland.
In Dingle we visited the Díseart Institute of Education and Celtic Culture to see the noted six stained glass windows by Harry Clarke.
In Castlemaine there's a statue of Jack Duggan who is said to have emigrated to Australia in the 1800's and became a beloved Robin Hood style outlaw aka a bush ranger. (Researching this we saw a few variants on the story but it is the story of the statue, anyway.)
In Fungie, we checked out the Dingle Dolphin statue commemorating a dolphin that lived in Dingle Harbor from 1983 until his disappearance in 2020.
On our way to the Ring of Kerry, Pat snapped a photo of Derrycunihy Church.
There was a nice view of Killarney National Park and Moll's Gap including the "Ladies View" over the lakes.
In the picturesque town of Sneem Pat bought some lambs wool slipper's at Green Chair.
In Keel, where our guide grew up, we stopped at the Driftwood Surf Cafe for some Korean style chicken with a spicy kick, along with some fresh locally caught hake in a light beer batter accompanied with minted peas & tartare sauce & chips (fries). We also stopped at the Skellig Chocolate factory for some samples (we actually brought some home with us).
Starting in 1959 the Charlie Chapman family made Waterville their second home for many years and the town erected the statue as a remembrance.
We toured the house and gardens at Derrynane, the home of a beloved Irish politician and statesman, Daniel O'Connell.
Friday, August 2, 2024
Lough Eske Castle
Lough Eske Castle has fine grounds with excellent sculptures, spacious rooms, fine dining and a very interesting gallery with photos taken by Francis Browne.
Browne, a young Jesuit, was invited to sail on the Titanic. He took his camera along on the journey from Southampton, England. Due to his Superior's order to "GET OFF THAT SHIP" (did the Superior know something no one else did?) Browne debarked in Ireland before the Titanic sailed to disaster in the North Atlantic. From his short time on the Titanic he took dozens of photographs of life aboard the Titanic. And the Lough Eske now owns the collection. An interesting an unexpected view into the fateful voyage.
Below: Lough Eske Castle, sculptures on the grounds (dragon, geese flying), Bill's hand with some giant nasturtium leaves, photo of Boy with Hoop on the Titanic.
We had a day trip around Sligo and Slieve League. We really didn't know what to expect. Touring around Sligo town we visited the neolithic Creevykell Court Tomb (between 4000-2500BC), some more recent ruins (it's just a fixer-upper), impressive terrain (mountains, cliffs, valleys and water falls), barbed wire fence mended with rope, and sheep to keep the grass trimmed.Slieve League or Slieve Liag in SW Donegal, at almost 2000 ft high, is one of the highest sea cliffs in Europe. These impressive cliffs and nearby countryside make a nice day trip from Lough Eske.
Along the way we stopped in Killybegs, on Donegal Bay. It is the largest fishing port in the country. It has the most pristine fishing ships you can imagine. They are big and they are colorful, and they sit at home much of the time as they have already taken their quota as allowed under European rules.
In Donegal we discovered a hat factory, a Frida, a phrase we can drink to, and how the local sheep tell you in which season the current rain is falling.
We were next on to Galway with a stop at Kylmore Abbey and Gardens.Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Northern Ireland
We flew to Belfast on EasyJet. First thing was lunch at EDO, a tapas restaurant. On weekends restaurants are often fully booked so for once, we had actually planned ahead. A short while later we had dinner at Ora, also a tapas bar and also scheduled in advance. We do like tapas but we didn't think that through very well. That said, we enjoyed both meals.
- Beacon of Hope/Harmony in Thanksgiving Square
- the Big Fish in CS Lewis Square
- The Titanic Museum (Belfast being the home of the Titanic) ...we didn't visit it, we saw a great exhibit in Florida years ago and didn't feel the need to do it again
- Sampson & Goliath gantry cranes in the shipyards
- Republicans/Nationalists/Green/mainly Catholic side ...wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland. Paramilitariy groups included the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Sinn Féin and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA)
- Unionists/Loyalists/Orange/mainly Protestant ...wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. Paramilitary groups included Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA). The police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), were overwhelmingly Protestant and known for sectarianism and police brutality.
Further alond were Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge (we chose not to stand in a long line in the rain to cross it) and the Giants Causeway (some 40,000 large, regularly shaped polygonal columns of basalt in perfect horizontal sections, forming a pavement.)
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Glasgow
Arriving in Glasgow we found our hotel (ApartHotel Adagio) to be a very fine apartment hotel. Compact but unimaginably efficient. Nice breakfasts. Very friendly and accommodating staff. Perfect for remote work. That's what we do, right?
Side note: On day 3 we took a breakfast table at the window (the only day we sat there.) At one point I saw someone seemingly wave at us. Who would know us? Well. it was the driver, James, who toured us (in a Tesla) around in Edinburg and to Inverness. What? Yep, he was there for the first time and was picking up new clients.
Upon arrival, we wandered the neighborhood looking for food supplies. There were at least 4 possible grocery stores in the vicinity, But Tesco, probably the smallest and definitely the most convenient also turned out to have the best products for our needs.
We had a morning walking tour for an Overview of Glasgow. We started with a visit to the The Willow Tea Rooms Building. Why visit a tea room if you are not a tea drinker? To experience Charles Rennie Mackintosh's work. Macintosh is an architect and artist of the late 19C/early 20C. He is noted for the stark simplicity of his designs which contrast starkly with the flamboyance and elaborate designs of the Victorian era. His contemporary designs really caught on in the late 20C. His work can be enjoyed at The Willow Tea Room and at the Hunterian Museum where his home was reconstructed with many of the materials from the original.
We continued on through the University of Glasgow appreciating some fine architecture, passing the Hunterian Museum, skirting a promising shopping district and on to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Luckily as entered the massive lobby in time to take in a portion of the performance on the huge pipe organ,
Among the Impression exhibit, = a Sunset by Paul Signac. With its reflections it looks a pretty Rorschach test.
- The detailed carving on an elephant's tusk (I know it is a terrible thing to take these tusks but I feel it is better to honor the beauty it still retains then to simply scorn the practice.)
- An unusual but very interesting collection of women's clothes from the 1800's called "robes á la transformation". These dresses were designed to evolve with time/fashion styles or with the nature of an event. Co-ordinating bodices and detachable parts enabled the wearer to easily adapt these dresses as needed.
- The uniform of a Scottish Groom: Rather than a suit, many grooms in Glasgow today choose formal Highland dress. This modern version has evolved over the last 300 years.
- An orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system. It shows the positions and movements of the Sun, planets and moons, as they were understood 180 years ago.
We spotted a Cafe Andaluz nearby and stopped there for lunch. It is a Spanish tapas place. We ate at a sister restaurant in Edinburg.
Then we went to the Hunterian Museum to visit the Mackintosh house. The odd thing about his work is that on their own, some pieces do not look at all comfortable. Yet combined they provide a soothing feel that is at least comforting.
One day we drove south to visit the birthplace of Rabbie (Robert) Burns who is known as the National Poet of Scotland. We had heard of Brig O'Doon but it had little meaning to us. Here we learned the story of Tam o' Shanter and crossed the Brig O'Doon, a 15C cobblestone bridge featured in its final verse. In the poem, Tam o' Shanter races across the bridge on horseback to escape witches and warlocks who are chasing him. The bridge's cobblestones are deliberately crooked, based on the belief that this would prevent witches from crossing.
We followed the Poet's Path (complete with ironwork characters celebrating scenes from Tam O’Shanter and visit the museum where we had fun identifying who's who in a mural of Rabbie with 12 famous "friends" and take in the open seascapes across the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa Craig.
Visit Culzean Castle estate, with its grand clifftop castle rising above the woods, beaches, secret follies and parks before enjoying the coastal route back to Glasgow with great views of the Clyde coast.
Monday, July 22, 2024
The Highlands
Our first stop in the Highlands was Inverness, 160ish miles NW of Edinburgh. On the way we stopped at Blair Castle, took a short hike at The Hermitage, dined at the Old Mill in Blair Athol and tasted whiskey at Robertsons of Pitlochry. We had had a lovely partially sunny day til then. When we left the Tasting Room however, it was pouring rain. 10 miles away we were back to the sun.