Thursday, March 24, 2005
Brian picked us up in the now-so-familiar Finnegan Bray coach at 8:30 a.m. and we headed from Greystones to the Southwest. On the way, we stopped at the Rock of Cashel, an outcropping of limestone in CO Tipperary where a castle/monastery was built. The weather definitely did not cooperate and our tour guide was terribly boring. It’s an impressive structure, though, and in its time it served as a point of great importance for the people of Ireland, particularly the people of Munster (not North’s debate arch-enemies but the ancient southwestern province of Ireland).
We ate lunch on the bus as the rain poured down and then we headed for Killarney in CO Kerry. Killarney is basically a tourist town that would serve as our base of operation for the rest of the trip. It’s the Gatlinburg, TN of Ireland. We stayed at the McSweeney Arms Hotel and I shared a rather large room with Natalie and Mia.
Wednesday, March 25, 2005
At 9 a.m., we set out from Killarney for the Dingle Peninsula, the most western point in “Continental” Europe. Our first stop was Inch Strand, a wide, long, flat beach on Dingle Bay. Although some people took a swim or at least got their feet wet, I decided to stay dry considering we still had the whole day ahead of us in the bus. Brian brought a rugby ball and taught us how to play (sort of). I definitely like the game better than American football.
Next we stopped at a scenic overlook of the Blasket Islands. The water was probably the most blue I’ve ever seen. We ate lunch at the overlook and then headed a little further down the road to another bay where one of the Spanish Armada ships got wrecked. Here’s a photo of the little bay:
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Our last stop was Gallarus Oratory, one of the oldest churches in Ireland (about 1300-years-old). Check it out:
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Since it was Good Friday, we had a special service inside the church. We sang “The Wonderful Cross,” “In Christ Alone,” and “Angus Dei.” Then Dr. Harbin read from Our Daily Bread and we sang “The Doxology.”
Saturday, March 26, 2005
This morning we hiked the Gap of Dunloe, a seven-mile path meandering through the “mountains.” It was a pretty easy walk, almost entirely paved.
We ended up at Lord Brandon’s Cottage where we ate lunch and then took a boat ride over the three lakes. We landed at Ross Castle, a tower house right outside of Killarney. The first tour was completely booked so we sat outside in the sun for an hour until the next tour started. I was so tired I could hardly stand up to listen to the guide, but fortunately she was fairly efficient and the tour only took about an hour.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Happy Easter!
This was the first Easter I’ve ever spent away from family (I think), so it didn’t really seem very Easter-y. I went to a service at Killarney’s Methodist Church. It was an odd service, considering our group doubled the congregation and packed out the little building. Screaming children were everywhere. Toward the end of the service, right after communion, the fire alarm went off and everyone just ignored it and went on with the service. Fortunately, we were soon excused.
After lunch, we went to Muckross House, a plantation home that once belonged to the Herbert family. When Queen Victoria came to Ireland, she stayed in Muckross House. They spent about eight years preparing for her visit and she only stayed two nights. After the Herberts went bankrupt, they sold Muckross House to the Guinnesses. It passed through a few more hands before winding up in the custody of the State.
Muckross House is comparable to Powerscourt, although it’s not nearly as large. It’s also surrounded by gardens and an arboretum. We walked around the gardens for a while and it started to rain. Brian took us nearby to Torc Waterfall and we hiked up the trail to the top of the falls. We couldn’t really see anything from the top, so we hiked back down, soaked and ready to go back to the hotel.
Monday, March 28, 2005
This morning we drove the Ring of Kerry. We started out at Lady’s View, an overlook that Queen Victoria’s ladies in waiting enjoyed. It’s a good view of the three lakes in Killarney. Next we stopped in the town of Sneem for a restroom break. It was a cute little town—all of the houses were very brightly painted. Then we went to some beach for lunch.
Our last stop was Portmagee, where we boarded boats for the Skelligs. The Skelligs are jagged islands 12 miles off the coast of Ireland where monks used to go for solitude. The ride out to the islands is pretty brutal. The weather and sea conditions have to be perfect in order to make the voyage. One ISP group never made it out to the Skelligs, so we were very fortunate to have had the chance. Our boat circled around Little Skellig which was never inhabited by humans, although it is still heavily populated by birds. Alfred Hitchcock would have been inspired. Here’s a view of Little Skellig from Michael Skellig. The little black dots (if they show up at this resolution) are birds.
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We docked at Michael Skellig and climbed up about 600 stairs (built by the monks in the 6th century) to the monastic city. The settlement consisted of a few bee-hive huts and carefully built rock walls. The buildings were constructed in the same manner as Gallarus Oratory so no mortar was used. Michael Skellig is covered in peat moss which makes it a prime mating ground for puffins. Here’s a photo of some of the funny little birds:
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Monday, March 29, 2005
After one last hearty Irish breakfast, we bid farewell to the McSweeney Arms Hotel and set out for home with a few stops in County Cork along the way. First was Blarney, famous for the Castle, the Stone, and the Woolen Mills. Blarney Castle is pretty tourist heavy, yet we had a decent time exploring the various rooms. We stood in line for the Blarney Stone for a good 15-minutes. I honestly don’t see what the big deal is. I expected there to be an actual stone or something protruding from the wall, but, no, they expect you to kiss the wall. I guess it’s fun because one is upside-down whilst kissing the wall. Think Spiderman. Anyway, we did get a good story out of the deal, because Brubs decided to lick the wall and got an F-bomb dropped on him by the guy that holds the tourists when they’re kissing the Stone. That was rather humorous. Here’s a photo of my rendezvous with the castle wall. I now supposedly have the “Gift of Eloquence.” Yeah right.
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Blarney Woolen Mills is kind of like Wall Drug in Wall, SD, but not nearly as cool. I did buy my first Irish t-shirt, but they wouldn’t give me a VAT form (if you’re a tourist, you get a tax refund on all your purchases if you have this special form) because the lady behind the counter claimed it was a kiddie size. I don’t think it was, but being a foreigner unaccustomed to the European size labels, I let it slide.
Our next stop was Cobh (pronounced “cove”), which was one of Ireland’s most important port towns back when port towns were important. It was once called Queenstown in honor of Queen Victoria, who first set foot on Irish soil upon its shores. Since England’s been out of the Republic, the town reverted to its Irish name. Anyway, it was the Titanic’s final port of call before it sank and the Lusitania (sp?) sank just off-shore. The reason we went to Cobh was for Queenstown Museum, a multi-media extravaganza of educational enrichment. Mostly, the museum chronicled emigration out of Ireland, but it also touched on the two famous shipwrecks I already mentioned.
Back on the bus, Brian decided to take a shortcut through Waterford and Wexford. All went well until we got stuck in standstill traffic in Waterford for almost two hours. By the time we crossed into Wexford, it was past dinnertime, so we stopped in New Ross for dinner. New Ross was basically a ghost town. We eventually found a little take away open and we persuaded them to let us eat in an adjoining dining room that had been closed for the night. It took a while to order, get our food and pay, so by the time we got back on the road, we were looking at a post-10 p.m. arrival in Greystones. We did eventually arrive, said goodbye to Brian, and settled back into the Y for our last stretch of the semester.
Tuesday, March 30, 2005
Aha! You thought my trip ended on Monday! Well, it did, but this morning we had another field trip into Dublin, this time to Vance’s favorite place… Kilmainham Gaol. It was actually an interesting tour (we had a good guide for a change). Kilmainham Gaol is the prison in which the leaders of Easter Rising were executed in 1916. We saw the prison cells of DeValera, Grace Plunkett and Robert Emmet as well as the yard where the 1916 executions took place (three of which occurred on May 3, my birthday). The East Wing is featured in several films, including The Italian Job (the old one) and Michael Collins.
It’s hard to believe that in one month, my semester will be over. For the next three weeks, I’ll need to buckle down and get projects out of the way, so there probably won’t be too much activity on here. We’ll see if I get inspired to post.
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