Ireland - beautiful, friendly, and rainy

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Twenty years ago, I spent a summer traveling through Europe with a Eurail pass. One of the highlights of that trip was the 10 days or so I spent in Ireland. Taking a ferry from northern France, I arrived in Cork and toured the island. The country was beautiful, but what stood out most in my mind was the friendliness of the people. In contrast with so much of Europe, people were genuinely friendly and welcoming. Add to this the lovely quaint towns, the beautiful green landscape, and the many sights and activities, and I have wanted to come back ever since that first trip.

I've heard that Ireland has changed in the time since I visited in 1992. The country went through a huge economic boom, and becoming known as the "Celtic Tiger", with the highest economic growth rate in the EU. This was followed by a bust in the last few years, requiring a bailout from the European Union. During the boom years, there were many immigrants, and the society has become multicultural. When I was there in 1992, I hardly met anyone who wasn't ethnically Irish.

I wanted to visit the country, and see if it was still more or less the same beautiful and friendly country I rememebered when I traveled there as a young man.

We flew into Dublin, but decided to leave the capital city for the end of our trip, and to start in Galway. There was a mixup at the car rental agency, but the introduction to Irish hospitality began there - at the car rental counter at the airport, as the older woman who worked there sorted everything out, sprinkling her conversation with terms of endearment like "darling" and "love", something I commonly heard in Ireland. Finally, we were off, remembering to drive on the left side of the road, and sit on the right side of the car, and deal with roundabouts and so on.

Irish highways are as modern as anywhere, and owing to the country not being very populous (only 4 million people in a country that's not very small), we didn't encounter much traffic outside of Dublin itself. A couple hours later, we arrived in Galway. This being my first time back in Europe in a few years, Galway was a reminder of everything I loved about Europe in general, and Ireland in particular. An ancient town with cobblestone streets, small specialty stores, and street markets, pubs and old cathedrals, Galway is charming and vibrant. We had our lunch in a 1000 year old pub, and walked around the lovely town. Not long afterwards, I was reminded of the less charming aspect of Ireland - the weather - as a downpour began. Ireland is rainy, all year and every season. It's probably the rainiest country I have ever been to, or it certainly seems that way. We were there a week, and I don't think there was a single day when it didn't rain. This was in July. Rain stood out as a prominent feature back in July 1992 as well.

The next day, we headed from Galway to the town of Killarney, gateway to the "Ring of Kerry", the southwestern corner of Ireland known for its scenic beauty. This town is also very quaint and charming, with a small downtown area filled with many different restaurants and stores. We found the food in Ireland to be much better than expected. Everything was very fresh - dairy, meats, fruits and vegetables, bread, etc. In town, there was a very large wool sweater shop, and we bought several sweaters. This is a well known Irish speciality.

Just outside of town, in Killarney National Park, we visited Muckross House. This is a grand estate which belonged to a wealthy family that hosted Queen Victoria there in 1861 (at the time, all of Ireland was a British territory). The grounds of the estate were so extensive, that they now make up the bulk of the national park. We took a horse carriage ride, locally known as a "jaunting car", and went around a small section of the park and to a nice waterfall. Our carriage driver was a colorful character in his late 60's. He told us he wanted to immigrate to the US as a young man, but his parents disapproved, asking "Where did you get that brainwave?". He had most of his teeth kicked out by a horse, but he clearly loved his horses. We planned to do a little bicycling the next day, and drive around the Ring of Kerry, and maybe do some hiking, but of course, the rain once again forced us to change our plans.

The next morning, it was raining heavily. We left the town of Killarney and drove to the town of Kenmare, also in County Kerry. In Ireland, county names are important geographic boundaries, and the word "County" precedes the name - County Cork, County Kerry, County Mayo, etc. Kenmare was yet another cute little town. From there, we drove to Cork. We had read about the "English Market", a farmer's market in Ireland's second biggest city, Cork, and wanted to see it. We arrived in Cork, and it was our first, and only, disappointing experience in Ireland. The town was grey, and looked like an industrial city down on its luck. Drivers were aggressive, and people less friendly than elsewhere in Ireland. And then there was the market. To find it, I asked a drunk old man where it was, and he replied: "Oh, you've gone far astray, lad. You've gone far astray" and walked away. The market was just around the corner. We rushed to get there before they closed. What a letdown! There were a couple dozen stalls and there was nothing special or interesting about them. The place wasn't lively, and there was little energy or excitement. What a contrast from the Granville Island market, which we had visited in Vancouver a couple months before. THAT was a real market, with a lot going on, many interesting things to see, and a lot of people. This one felt very boring. Originally, we had planned to spend the night in Cork, but we quickly changed our plan. We didn't like this town at all.

We ended up staying that night in a hotel by the river in Waterford, the oldest town in Ireland and once a major commercial center. In the morning, we toured the Waterford Crystal factory, where the famous crystal is made. We had a pleasant tour and saw how the custom crystal pieces are produced, and bought a few souvenirs. The town itself seemed very pleasant, but as usual, we didn't have much time to linger. We needed to be in Dublin that night, and had two more stops to make. The first of these was at Hook Lighthouse. Built in the 12th century, it is one of the oldest still operating lighthouses in the world. Our next stop was at the Rock of Cashel.

The Rock of Cashel is an ancient fortress and cathedral, which was previously the home of the Kings of Munster, as southern Ireland is known. We took a tour of this photogenic place, and listened to its fascinating history, including the 16th Century Archbishop of Cashel Miler Magrath, who played both sides of the fence, being appointed a Catholic Archbishop by the Pope, and being appointed Protestant Archbishop by Queen Elizabeth (the first). He was a colorful character, and in a time when few people lived past their 40's, he lived to be 100.

We proceeded to Dublin, the only real city in Ireland (even Cork is more of a large town than a city). Driving around, we got lost and were getting stressed out. We also had no hotel reservation. The guidebook wasn't much help, as we arrived in what was supposed to be a hotel and it was a narrow, one way alleyway with no hotel or anything in sight. Finally, we found a place to stay. We decided we would park the car, and for the next two days just walk around and take cabs before heading back to the airport. This proved to be a wise choice, and lowered the stress level significantly. In general on this trip to Europe, we enjoyed having a rental car but not driving in cities.

Dublin was a lot of fun. We had tea at the Shelbourne Hotel (recommended), went to the Leprechaun Museum (lame and boring; skip it), did a river cruise (recommended), and rented bikes and rode around Phoenix Park, at 1750 acres, the largest urban park in Europe, more than twice the size of Central Park in New York. We saw the wild herd of deer that lives there and rode up to the American Ambassador's residence. We also went to a greyhound race in Dublin, and went to see the historic Book of Kells, an ancient text of the Bible handwritten and painted by monks in the 8th Century and kept at Trinity College. We walked along Grafton Street, the pedestrian walkway where the world famous band U2 got their start as street performers. The city had a lot of beauty and vitality, and we could have stayed there for days longer.

Has Ireland changed? In some ways, yes. In Dublin we ate great Lebanese food. Of our 4 taxi drivers, only one was Irish. Two others were African and one Pakistani. Our tea server was Polish, and so were some of the cashiers in the shops. In Galway, a South American band was playing the flutes on the main street. So the country has certainly become more cosmopolitan. But it has remained the beautiful and friendly country I visited 20 years earlier. And these immigrants, whatever their home culture may be, seem to have adapted the Irish friendliness. Economic ups and downs don't seem to phase the Irish much. They've had a long and difficult history, and they keep it all in stride. I have been to so many countries in the world, over 70 now. The only ones I can think of that may be "friendlier" than Ireland are Third World countries where they usually end up wanting to sell you something or get a handout. In Ireland, it is genuine and there is no hidden agenda. Although the country itself has much to see and do, there may be others with more "sights" or even nicer towns and buildings and more impressive museums. But it is the people above all that make Ireland such a treat.

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