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Published: September 16th 2013
Abu Dhabi airport
This growing airport appears like an oasis in vast desertI've just arrived in Scotland after a week in Ireland where I have enjoyed a nice combination of relaxing and sightseeing.
With my brother living here, and being lucky to have seen a good part of Ireland before, I haven't needed to rush so there has been lots of time to enjoy with the family as well as recover from the jetlag. I booked with Etihad airways to travel here, mainly due to an early evening arrival time in Melbourne when I get back home. Any flight to Europe is always long and this flight was no exception but I am still always interested in the journey of any international flight.
Etihad is the national airline of the UAE, with its central hub being Abu Dhabi International airport. The pride in the arabic culture and language on the flight was evident with good service and nice food to match. We landed at 6:30am local time with the temperature already at 34c....a hot day ahead for sure! The interesting thing about Abu Dhabi airport was this rapidly growing airport was completely surrounded by desert. Terminal 3 was new and for exclusive use by Etihad but there also seemed to be
King John's castle Limerick
The entrance mural is a glittering salmon. Salmon are common in the local waters of the River Shannon and nearby Atlantic coast a lot more new construction beginning around much of the airport.
It reminded me of my visit to Dubai 6 years earlier which at that time was also in the middle of a construction frenzy growing into the desert. Dubai had been positioning itself to be an ideal place for tourists or business investment, building on the success of Dubai based Emirates airlines. I could see Abu Dhabi was also aiming for the same. When I next come to Ireland I would be interested to stop in the UAE and see the changes in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, although perhaps not in the high temperatures of an Arab summer!
One last thing on transit via Abu Dhabi. With the current tensions around Syria, I was interested in our flight path to Dublin from the UAE. Flying the direction of Turkey and Northern Europe we where probably never going to be that close to Syria, but instead we flew over Iraq and almost directly over Baghdad, something that most likely would not have been happening a decade ago or even less. How times change..
The flight to Dublin was much quicker than the first leg thankfully but
Recreating history?
I think not! This tunnel within King John's castle shows part of the strategy during the battles for control of the castle/Limerick medieval town. I don't think I fit the soldier mould.. upon arrival in Dublin I realised it was not possible to escape the Australian news of the day completely. The news off the day happened to be the federal election and its hype which I thought I had escaped by flying out of Melbourne the day before. All I could do though was roll my eyes and laugh when I walked into the arrivals hall In Dublin around 2:30pm local time and saw TV footage of Tony Abbot and Kevin Rudd giving their late evening speeches at home. The OZ election got quite a bit of news coverage in Ireland that weekend...
Going back to my family though, I enjoyed relaxing those first few days with my family, catching up with all their news and spending the time with my fun loving nieces who are now nine and almost four. It's great to see them growing up and the things that interest them. I've gotten used to the tune of Peppa pig now in my head. That is one children's tv tune I at least should know as my young niece in Melbourne is a big fan of Peppa Pig too. My older niece likes One Direction, so I
should get with the times and learn some of their music before I head home.
That first weekend in Ireland we all visited the newly refurbished King John's castle in Limerick. I had been before but a great job had been done of the redevelopment with lots of interactive displays to help children to get to know history of the castle and the role it played in the history of Limerick as a medieval town as well as the surrounding areas.
Later in the first week, I hired a car and drove down to stay in Cork for 2 nights, which is about an hour away from where my brother lives in Limerick.
I spent the night in Cork many years ago when I was touring the Irish south west coast but I had not seen much of this city back then. Cork is the third largest city in Ireland and with so much to see.
Upon my arrival at the B&B in Cork I walked down to the city centre and quick become ensconced in the number and variety of shops on offer. I did have to show some restraint but I did get some
early Christmas shopping done . There might have been a few small treats for myself along the way in the end as well!
Later that night I drove down to the pretty seaside town of Kinsale about 30 mins drive from Cork. Kinsale dates back to at least the 1300s and is known for its colourful streets, boating and golf courses. I enjoyed dinner here before heading back to Cork.
Day 2 was a clear day ahead of predicted rain the next day so I spent much of the day exploring the sights of Cork. I started with St Anne's church and the Shandon bells which all date back to 1722. There was a chance to climb the church tower and ring the bells along the way. A few music sheets were available to ring the bells to and by coincidence the sheet for Waltzing Maltilda was already open for me. I had a go at this of course and I did detect a tune in there somewhere. After that there was the final scramble up past the large church bell and up a very narrow stairway but the climb was worth it as there were some great
Making music with the Church Bells
Being able to ring the church bells to a tune is popular with all visitors..but I wonder how the local residents feel about it.. views to be had across the city of Cork from the church tower.
After St Anne's I dropped in on the Butter museum to learn the history of the dairy industry around Cork and across Ireland in general. With our dairy farming roots, it was interesting to hear of and compare the development of the industry here with that of Australia and New Zealand.
Next was a scenic walk across town along the banks of the River Lee enroute to the University College of Cork. UCC Cork is part of the wider National University of Ireland and sits on a lovely site to the west of Cork City Centre. It was established in the 1800s and is very similar to Melbourne Uni with all its historic buildings and is surrounded by beautiful gardens.
I'd been walking for a few hours at this point so I began to head back in the direction of the city centre via the impressive and gothic Saint Finbarr's cathedral. After a quick photo stop I found my way to the English market where after checking out the local produce and delis, I enjoyed a yummy goats cheese bruschetta for a late lunch.
I'd seen so much by then, that after lunch I was not tempted by any shops this time so I walked back to my B&B instead. After resting for a while I took advantage of the nice afternoon and drove down to Cobh to check out the town and nice waterfront.
I returned to Cork just in time for peak hour traffic! I did get back to my B&B eventually and then it was time to walk back down to Cork for dinner and to enjoy an Irish show called Pulses of Tradition that I had discovered on Tripadvisor. The show lived up to the rave reviews I had read online. It was an excellent show of Irish music song and dance by some local Cork musicians. The show apparently runs each year and focuses on music that is linked with the history of the city of Cork and its surrounds. It has come so popular the show has its own Youtube channel. The show was worth seeing for sure.
The predicted drizzling rain had appeared the next morning and it was an ideal time to retreat to indoor activities for the morning at least.
First stop
At the tower of St Anne's
Getting to the tower of St Anne's church meant climbing past the huge church bell. Visitors were provided with headphones for OSS...fortunately I did not climb past a ringing bell.. after leaving Cork was the Jameson distillery in Midleton where we learned about the difference between Irish, Scottish and American whiskey. A modern distillery has placed the original from the 1800s but the tour took place in the well restored original distillery. Following the tour we were able to enjoy a complimentary class of whiskey but with me driving unfortunately i could not fully sample the various whiskeys and taste the difference between Scottish, Irish and US whiskey. With a bit of luck there may be that opportunity here in Scotland!
After Jameson it was back to Cobh where I took in the Queenstown story exhibit. Queenstown was the alternative name for Cobh for a time and was a central point for Irish convicts or other emigrants leaving Ireland for various locations across the globe. In those early days the only exit point from Ireland was by ship, often a risky journey with with some ships coming to grief not too far from the Irish coast. The exhibit also showed links with the Irish convicts in Australia and then there was the Cobh link to the Titanic. Cobh was the last port of call for the Titanic before its
The final steps up to the tower
St Anne's church dates back to 1722 and despite being very narrow, these final steps as well as the church are in very solid condition fatal cruise across the Atlantic towards New York. It was sobering to see a number of pictures of the ship docked off Cobh before it set sail for the final time.
After Cobh it was time to head back to Limerick to drop off the car and head home with my brother. The weather began to fine up on the way back so I decided to drop by a Donkey Sanctuary I had been reading about. Apparently Horses and Donkeys can be quite cheap to purchase in Ireland but many don't realise the work needed to look after a Donkey, many whom can live up to 50 years. A wealthy retiree set up the sanctuary many years ago and today, with the help of donors and Irish locals willing to adopt a pair of donkeys, the farm plays a big part in treating neglected donkeys or helping to find others a new home. I enjoyed my short visit to this farm, which is in a beautiful valley location, and making a fuss of a few friendly donkeys.
After arriving back with the family and a good nights rest, they decided that last Saturday was an ideal day to
visit Galway, with nice weather predicted. This was a nice surprise for me as I did not expect to go near Galway on this visit to Ireland. We had a lovely start to our day with a picnic in a park with great views of Galway bay. Then it was off to the city centre where we enjoyed walking along the festive Shop street mall, a beautiful street with cobblestones and surrounded by historic buidlings then down to the historic Claddagh area by the River Corrib. Like Cork, I realised that I had had seen little of Galway on my previous journeys through this city when we where heading north. I have a week or so in Ireland before I head home and may just go back to Galway city for a day trip. We continued the nice day with a meetup with former neighbours of the family and all the kids enjoying playing in an impressive playground nearby the beach. Later we walked along the beach looking at and catching small crabs before releasing them and heading back to a beachside suburb for dinner then quick games at a local children's game arcade. This location is well known to
my family as they come to Galway each summer, so I was very lucky that they know this city well and that we could see and do all that we did in one day.
i had an excellent first week in Ireland and I know that my blog of this first week has been a long one. I have found it worth it it to put as much detail as possible into each travel blog, as they bring back memories of each trip many years afterward. If you have read through this blog all the way thank you and I hope you enjoyed the story.
I arrived in Scotland earlier this afternoon. I had an enjoyable ride into town in a London style black cab with a driver who pointed out a few sights along the way. I learned that JK Rowling lives here in Edinburgh and that Soccer/rugby union are the sports of choice in Scotland rather than cricket. With those titbits of local info and after a quick look around the old town near my hotel, I am very much looking forward to seeing more of Edinburgh as well as my Railway tour of Scotland in
Pulses of Tradition
A brilliant show of Irish music and dance put on by Cork City Council the next 10 days.
Bye for now..
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Mum
non-member comment
Good to hear you are seeing lots more of Ireland. Love Mum