Ireland, Dublin and the Cliffs of Moher, 2015

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May 4 - I arrived in Dublin at 10:50 am local time, 3:50 am Alberta time. The first thing I did was look to see if the sky was clear. I was happy to see blue sky and fluffy white clouds. I decided to take a taxi to the hotel even though it is not cheap. The driver was very friendly, pointing out sites along the way and pointing out stores that the locals use for cheaper prices. When we reached the hotel he gave me a map and we stood by the car while he circled out sites close by. The hotel, Stauntons on the Green, is a wonderful old Georgian home on the south side of St Stephen's Green. The bad news is it's a walk-up and my room is on the top floor! After checking in, I climbed up to the 4th floor. Luckily my luggage was delivered for me. It's a single room so kind of small but room for a small desk, wardrobe, and a table for a little tv. I also have my own bathroom with a shower that's a good size. The narrow rectangle didn't allow for a good photo. I did not stay in the room long; instead I headed out to find Grafton street. This is a main street with lots of shops, buskers, and pavement artists. At times there are huge displays of fresh flowers for sale and occasionally hip hop dancers show up to do a 15 minute show. I wanted to explore this street because it leads to the Tourist Information Office where I will catch the buses for day tours. It's about a 20 minute walk from the hotel to the Tourist Info Office on Suffolk Street, just off of Grafton. At the bus pickup spot is an old church that was the former home of the Tourist Information. In front of the church is the statue of Molly Malone, known locally as the "tart with the cart" or the "dish with the fish". A few minutes after my arrival, a tour guide showed up with a small group and explained the real woman sold seafood during the day and was thought to sell her body in the evening. I was not too keen about men & women posing with their hand on her breast(s). In the photo, they are shiny from so many hands! Anyway, the guide had the group sing a traditional Irish song in a circle around the statue. The guide had a very nice voice and they all sounded great. It was very entertaining. The song was the Sweet Molly Malone song: "alive, alive-o, alive, alive-o, crying cockels and mussels...." After they left, I carried on to Trinity College just around the corner. I signed up for the tour of the grounds and the library. The tour guide was a postgraduate student who wore a traditional robe for his area of study. He was very knowledgable, related many stories, and well practised as a guide. The college was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I and is on 40 acres. You can wander the grounds for free. There are a number of different buildings on the grounds. The Dining Hall never had any doors or fireplaces when first booked so had a reputation of being the coldest building in Europe when the winds were blowing through it. There is another building called the Examination Hall that is called the most disliked building for obvious reasons. There is a statue of George Salmon, once a Provost, who claimed there would be female students only over his dead body! Eight months after he died, the 1st female student registered. The Museum building has flowers carved around it - each plant is native to Ireland and no 2 petals are the same. The oldest building is the Rubrics Residence and it supposedly has a ghost. In the 18th century there was a very strict senior living there named Edward Ford. One night there were a couple of mildly drunk students making too much noise. Ford's rooms were on the ground floor so when he told them to keep it down, they began heckling him. He grabbed his gun and took a shot at them. They went back to their rooms, had more to drink, gathered up 2 more men and their weapons. A "shootout" commenced and Ford was killed. No one knew who shot the fatal shot so all 4 were expelled. They were all acquitted of murder so it is said that Ford's ghost shows up on occasion. The tour ended at the library that houses the Book of Kells. It is called the Long Room and is 210 ft (64m) long. There are 3/4 million books, antiquarian texts, and marble busts of scholars. It also houses the oldest harp in Ireland. Surprisingly, there wasn't much of a line-up to see the Book of Kells. The guidebook said the lines could be horrendous. A large group of tourists was arriving as I left so I guess my timing was good plus it's the beginning of tourist season. At one time, the Book of Kells was stolen. It was found about two months later and all the gold had been removed. It is still a beautiful book. I bought some postcards depicting different pages. After I was finished at Trinity College, I retraced my steps to Grafton St. I was surprised to see a number of American stores. There's Ecco and Clarke's Shoes as well as H&M and others. I have a bus tour tomorrow so I stopped at a grocery and bought some fruit. I will be leaving before the hotel breakfast room opens. I cut through one corner of St Stephen's Green, north to south. It is a lovely large park, very green, lots of trees, bushes, daffodils, tulips, and other early flowers. The trees are much further along in leaf than those at home. While on the Trinity tour, the sky became quite dark and the wind really picked up but it didn't rain. I was watching the skies because I had not unpacked my umbrella. By 7:15 pm local time, I could barely keep my eyes open. I only slept for about 3 hours on the plane so an early night is ok. I also have an early wake up call in the morning.

May 5 - Up at 5:00 am! Today is my 1st bus tour and I have to be at the Molly Malone meeting point at 6:40 am. It was raining heavily so I dug out my umbrella. When I arrived at the meeting point I was surprised at how many other people were waiting there. It seems a couple of other tour companies meet there as well. However, 2 coaches were required for the trip to Cliffs of Moher. I got onto the smaller coach. The driver/guide's name is Kaw-ell. That's the phonetic pronunciation, it's an Irish name so I have no idea on the spelling. As we were leaving Dublin, there was a lot of traffic headed into the city. Hedges divide the highway. There is a lot of greenery and sheep along the route. All the trees, bushes, and hedges help to soak up all the rain water. The Trinity guide mentioned that yesterday. He was talking about a couple of the big, old trees on the grounds. We went past the Curragh Racecourse, referred to as The Curragh (in County Kildare). It's Ireland's most important thoroughbred race track. It also has a large training area. Some of the movie "Braveheart" was filmed here. I noticed up ahead there was a huge very black cloud. It poured so hard that the wipers couldn't keep up but the driver didn't seem concerned. Slowly the sky began to lighten and some patches of blue sky appeared. Herds of cattle began to appear. At first, small herds, then larger and larger. Hills started to rise in the distance. The view became superb: very green trees and grass with misty hills in the background. I couldn't stop staring at it. No wonder there are tales of myth and magic. We stopped at a place called Barak Obama Plaza so named because a man works there who is Obama's cousin 8 times removed. Ha! There was a self-service Tim Horton's stand inside the shop. That was unexpected.

Once on the road again, the guide was regaling us with facts about Ireland. He said that the most common DNA marker in Ireland is Basque! I found that quite surprising. The Romans never did invade Ireland. The ancients went to war naked with their bodies painted blue & their hair spiked high in mohawks by using lime. I cannot imagine what that did to their hair! Anyway, the guide said anyone seeing naked blue men charging toward them would probably avoid invading and run the other way. The ring in the centre of the Celtic cross symbolizes the sun - a pagan symbol. Most of the cities in southern Ireland were originally settled by the Vikings.

By the time we reached Limerick, the rain had stopped. We had a short stop by King John's Castle; anglo-norman, built from 1195-1210 on the Shannon River. The river was running extremely fast. Back on the bus, we drove past many "tower houses", most in ruin and partially covered with vines. Some have been renovated by wealthy people. Michael Flatley has one as does Jeremy Irons. There were 3 or 4 sculptures that suddenly appeared in the countryside. I am not sure why.

As we got closer to the Cliffs of Moher (in County Clare), the weather improved and the roads became narrower and winding. The site was not too crowded. Possibly because the previous day was a bank holiday. By now it was quite sunny and warm. I counted 151 stairs up to the highest point and O'Brien's Tower. The tower was built in 1835 as an observation tower by local landlord Sir Cornelius O'Brien for the hundreds of Victorian tourists that frequented the cliffs at the time. Another version says it built it to impress women he was courting. The breathtaking, entirely vertical cliffs are along the coast. At one time they were sacred. The cliffs provide sheltered ledges where seabirds nest including puffins. I could see the birds flying but there wasn't any way to get close. A long lens would be needed to photograph them properly. I walked around for quite awhile. Along the way I noticed a garbage bin with a large slot on the front. A rook (looks like a small crow) went right in and came out with a morsel of food. Very clever. The visitor's centre and stores are built into the hillside. From there we drove a short distance to the town of Doolin, a village famous for traditional Irish music, and had lunch at a pub. At first I thought lunch was on the expensive side, 10.95 Euros (15.00 cad) for a chicken & broccoli casserole but it came with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cooked cabbage. I ate until I was stuffed and barely made it through half of the plate.

The next stop was The Burren. It's an area that is both desolate and beautiful along the coast. The name is the Anglicization of the Irish word Bhoireann (a rocky place). It is slabs of limestone with deep cracks. In the spring, it becomes a rock garden with wildflowers blooming in the cracks. The guide said some of the wildflowers/plants are rare and studied by scientists. I was amazed that anything could grow there. The sky was cloudy and the wind was quite strong and cold. The cattle I saw along here are still shaggy with winter coats.

There are a number of roofless stone houses scattered along the route. They are partially overgrown with vines, trees, and bushes. They are leftover from and a testament to the potato famine. Approximately 1 million people died during the famine while another 1 million emigrated to other countries. Further along the Galway coast the sun was shining and the Atlantic became calm. We past by Lahinch which is a famous beach area. I guess there is a lot of surfing competitions there. We stopped by a monastery ruin called Corcomroe Abbey. There were not only very old tombstones but some recent ones as well. Down the narrow road leaving the ruins was a large ring - it appeared on either side of the road, a line of earth raised about 2 ft high. These are called a ring fort or fairy ring. I looked for leprechauns and fairies but must have missed them. It is supposed to be unlucky to interfere with them so the majority of landowners leave them alone. The last stop was in a town called Kinvara. It's a fishing village of no particular interest but I guess the tour operator felt a rest stop was needed. There is a type of sailboat there called a Galway Hooker! It's common along the Galway coast. The name is supposed to have something to do with the way the bottom is finished. There are 250,000 miles of stone walls in the Galway region and I saw quite a few of them. It makes you wonder just how many stones were used and how many were leftover. On the way home we passed a huge bog identifiable by the very dark soil. The guide said the government is trying to preserve the bogs now. We arrived back in Dublin about 7:00 pm. A long day but a good one.

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Photos

Statue of Oliver Goldsmith, Trinity College
Goldsmith was a novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for the novel The Vicar of Wakefield

Campanile
The 30m (98 ft) bell tower, 1853

Rubrics - residence
scene of Edward Ford's murder and the oldest building on the grounds

Sculpture called "Sphere Within Sphere"
Given to the college in 1982

Long Room, 1732
The Book of Kells is found in this building as well as other illuminated manuscripts