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Published: December 15th 2008
Kilkea Castle
This is where the reception was heldJust as a foreword, this is a 2nd draft, as my first contained too much info on expenses. Megan pointed out to me that it is a travel blog - not a column in the economics section. So I have reworded it all as best as I could. And I also want to point out now that Terravision is the worst bus company in the world. Pass the word.
Earlier in the year we accepted an invitation to Hilary’s and David’s Wedding in Ireland, so we used this as an opportunity to visit Catriona and her family in the North, and to let Megan see some of the Southern Irish country side.
We scored a cheap flight from Bratislava to Dublin and then drove up from Dublin in a hire car. We spent two nights with Catriona in Magherafelt and had another welcoming experience that was difficult and sad to farewell. We popped a champagne bottle and Catriona put up another engagement party for us, which was absolutely splendid. For our last day in the North, we all drove to the W5 in Belfast which is a kid’s science adventure centre
and received non-stop entertainment from my two nieces, Emer and Cara. I can’t remember what science we learned, but we played air-guitar and danced to some 80’s disco music in a miniature studio. This was followed by pizza and ice-cream and a spontaneous finale dance from the girls - I think Tina Turner has another generation of fans! Saying goodbye to them all was sad, but it was good to know we would be seeing them at our wedding next year. I think it was harder for my mum to leave them, as the grand mum she will be missing them a lot. Mum had spent three months with Catriona and Co, but would be flying back to Perth after coming to Hilary’s Wedding with us. I know I sound like a broken record (or maybe like my dad) but Catriona, use that gift of your Australian Passport!*
The drive to Dublin was a surprise for me - contrary to conditions over 10 years ago, the roads in the North were slow and in bad condition, and once in the South, we sped comfortably down to Dublin on the new motorway. Not that the North ever had great roads,
but they were much better than the South. The other flips were that fuel was now less expensive in the North, and since the pound is doing worse than the Euro, the Irish were driving into the North to get cheaper shopping. What’s going on?
The wedding reception was being held at Kilkea Castle in Co Kildare. We booked ourselves into a local B&B for the three nights, and enjoyed fantastic Breakfasts from the owners/chefs - Aurora House in Athy is very highly recommended. On the morning of the wedding, we dressed ourselves up and headed over to the church of St Ita’s. It was a lovely place and everyone fitted snugly in to witness the ceremony. Once outside, we got our first real taste of the harsh Irish weather. A piercing wind blew through the gathering outside the church, and we all promptly headed to the reception at the castle to be warmed up by a punch - just perfect.
The evening was fantastic: a five course meal of the finest food we have had in a long time, the castle setting, the cutting of the cake with a claymore, the flowing wine and the great craic
all made a memorable night. Hilary looked beautiful and David made an excellent speech - and Megan and I studiously took note of everything for some ideas. The night went on to become an audio and visual spectacular (disco) and eventually the lights got turned up. Getting a taxi wasn’t too tough. And it was fun waiting with Mark, Hilary’s brother, who didn’t even need a taxi as he was staying at the castle. Since it was drizzling, he offered us one of his three umbrellas for shelter (I’m sure he had more) - in fact he insisted that we keep them as they cost only 1 Euro and they offered as much shelter as a hat. Then when the taxi arrived, Mark offered to get into the taxi to navigate for the driver. We thought it would be hilarious for a touring Aussie to direct a local Irish taxi driver in his own territory. Anyway, Thanks all for an excellent night - hope to see you again soon!
Surprisingly we didn’t have sore heads the next day, and drove to New Grange to check out the oldest building in the world. Whilst a fascinating tour, the wind was
still bloody freezing and I couldn’t help wonder why the hell anyone would have come here 5500 years ago to build it. That’s the real mystery. It was an exceptionally good trip for my Mum, as even though she first heard about the Neolithic burial site 50 yrs ago, this was her first visit, and she knows all about these cairns in the north.
We took Mum to Dublin Airport the following day and farewelled her for her trip back to Perth. We were envious as the cold weather we were having reinforced how good the weather is in Aus. Anyway, we will be back in a few months and we will be seeing mum soon after we get back. Keep saving up those Frequent Flyer points!
In hindsight we should have revised our plan for the afternoon. Pelting hailstones was not the best weather for taking a walk - but we gave it a go. We paid the hefty entry to see Powerscourt Waterfall, and got severely soaked. We must have been the only people to visit that day, but at least we saw it in its fullest force.
We settled for the night at Knockaree Youth
Hostel which is an isolated hostel at the edge of the Wicklow Mountains - again recommended. That night I proved my skills in scrabble by placing “Juicy” on a double word and triple letter using the “J”, followed by the 7 letter word “Fashion” - not bad for playing with a collection of 6 vowels for most of the game. Although it seemed like an early start, we left at sunrise the following morning to undertake one of the popular Glendalough walks. This is a must do, and it is FREE! The fantastic walk around the valley of two lakes and wandering through the very old churches and graveyards was fascinating. Megan was amazed at just how pretty everything was, and I was able to demonstrate that a rolling stone can gather moss.
That night we rested in Wexford at the very South East of Ireland. A nice town and an awesome Tesco shopping centre made for a cheapish self cooked dinner at the hostel. The next day we drove to the Waterford Crystal Factory and bought some pressies and undertook the factory tour. On the tour we learned that the factory had a peak employment of several thousand
(I think this was 30 years ago). Currently they employ 400 people and in the next few years they will be cutting back to just 40 people as they plan to only manufacture the speciality items and outsource everything else like stem ware to other European countries like Slovakia. Not that I think the quality will be sacrificed, but it can hardly be Waterford crystal if it is not made in Waterford.
We spent that night in Cork in a budget hostel that was quite good - Sheila’s. While taking advantage of the free internet, I discovered in one of my emails that I had been offered the job I was after at the University of Newcastle. This called for some celebration drinks, and what better place than in Cork. Maybe because this is the most southern city and the closest to main land Europe, it has a more typical European appearance. I’m not sure but it seemed similar to Italian towns - maybe it was the crazy drivers! We only spent one night here, but we would love to come back to check out the whole place. Unfortunately due to low funds and the 5 Euro (10 AUD)
drinks, we didn’t drink too much. Where do you get a cheap drink in Ireland these days? Anyway, I wanted to remain sober enough to call back my new boss to accept the job and negotiate the start date.
On our way to the Rock of Cashel the next day we called in to visit Lismore Castle. As it was closed for the season - we took the photo and enjoyed a walk in the small town. Again we couldn’t help but notice all the recently done up pretty boutique shops with no customers, and a whole heap of for sale signs. The “Castle of Kings” sits on the Rock of Cashel - the ruling site of Munster in pre-British ruled Ireland. This is an excellent spot to visit and check out the ruins dating back to 1000AD, and the display of relics from well before that.
After a stopover for the night in Kilkenny, we returned our hire car in Dublin, settled the e-toll bills (another rip off for travelling in the slowest motorway ever) and checked out Dublin city. We visited the display of the Book of Kells and the old library at Trinity College. We
New Grange
Built 3500BC. On 21 Dec, the rising winter sun shines thorugh the entry tunnel to illuminate the burial cavern inside. followed this up with the essential tour at the Guinness Store house. This was a fantastic 7 storey tour of the old store house, in which I attained my master brewers honorary apprentice certificate and enjoyed my complimentary pint at the top of the city.
So the next day we checked out of our comfy guest house (Egan’s House) and took the bus to the airport. Dublin was smothered in fog and thick frost covered everything. It was midday when we left but it felt like 7am. Although the flight out should have ended this journey, we need to mention the mess when we got to Bratislava. In summary, our pre booked Terrarvision bus changed their schedule without telling us (or anybody) and left a number of passengers abandoned at Bratislava airport. We had waited 2 hrs until the scheduled bus was due to leave, and then found out the news over a phone call I made. In the end we made our own way back via a public bus to the train station, and then back to Vienna from there. But never again will we use Terravision, and they operate in Rome, Dublin, Paris and London.
Summary
Braving the Wind
The best way to stay warm is to stand between people Ireland has definitely changed for the better over the last 10 years. More jobs, better pay and more motorways (the M50 is still crap though) has made touring around Ireland even more pleasurable. But it is so, so, SO expensive. Even if we had more time, we could not have afforded to stay longer. Being in a recession and seeing house prices dropping by hundreds of thousands of Euros, and their accelerated financial success leads me and many others to be concerned that Ireland is going to get heavily hit over the next few years. But still, Ireland must be one of the prettiest places on the planet, and I am certain now that they are the friendliest people out there. After learning to shoulder charge through the streets of Vienna, we were embarrassed by the sincere apologies from the locals that seldom bumped into us. The helpful and cheery service provided was an example for everywhere else we have been. Even the security officers at the airport loved to chat and joke -the queues backed up, but everybody was more than happy.
*PS - Old news!
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Lucy
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