The West Coast of Ireland

Scenery, scenery and more scenery
We saw the Ring of Kerry- one of the most visited tourist site in Ireland –and the tour buses abound- all traveling counter-clockwise.
The 650 foot high Cliffs of Moher

The Aran Islands

Time for the group experience. We headed to Galway where we were staying at a huge hotel and golf complex in Galway, Glenlo Abbey.

Our first day, we made a trip to the Aran Islands. A ferry took us to the Aran Island of Inis Mor (one of the 3 Aran Islands). There are only 2 roads on the island and not many tourists. We saw Dun Aengus, a prehistoric fortress dating back to 1000 BC, which is perched on the edge of a cliff plunging straight into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Peat Bogs of Shannonbridge

We had heard of the Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway Bog Tour in Shannonbridge. So, we made a detour and took the tour. A train takes you 6 miles through an active peat bog, where they are millling peat for the Shannonbridge Power Station. They singled John out to try his hand at cutting turf.

Our encounter with an Irish cow...

From Dublin to the Southern Coast

On our way to the southern coast, we had to make a pilgrimage to the replica of the Lourdes Shrine at Inchicore. A Catholic priest built the shrine in 1924 for those who couldn’t make the pilgrimage to Lourdes in France.

Waterford -- We took a tour of the Waterford factory- amazing to see the skill and complexity of creating this gorgeous glassware.

We stopped in Cork, (third largest city in Ireland) and had to see Beamish and Crawford brewery.

Dublin!

Dublin was wonderful—what an amazing city!

Dublin Castle

Church of the Holy Trinity

And the Pubs!

The Boyne Valley and Newgrange

The Boyne Valley has been described as "the largest and most important expression of prehistoric megalithic art in Europe". These sites were built over 5000 years ago between 3800 and 3200 BC, built before both Stonehenge in England and the pyramids in Egypt. Neolithic communities built these sites over earlier sacred spots and it is suspected that they were used for burial tombs, sacred temples and astronomical observatories.

The 5000 year old megalithic tomb (a passage-tomb) at Newgrange is the most impressive. Every winter solstice, the sun climbs over the horizon and illuminates the inner chamber for 17 minutes. The tomb was built with 200,000 tons of material with the top surface of the roof stones grooved to keep the passage water proof.

Derry (Londonderry)

We found the most amazing guide to show us the town of Derry. He gave us the history of Derry (also known as Londonderrry). It’s the second largest city in Northern Ireland and its history dates back over 1,450 years.

The city is split into two main areas by the River Foyle - The east side of the river -Waterside and west side of the Foyle- The City Side. The east side is traditionally the home of the unionist (read Protestant) population. The west side the home of the nationalist (read Catholic). The city walls were built in the reign of King James I and have been a major part of the turbulent history of the city. In 1668, the city was attacked by the Earl of Antrim and the forces of the Catholic, James II (who had been deposed in favor the William of Orange (a Protestant). The citizens of Londonderry- Protestants – barricaded themselves inside the walls, starting the Great Siege of Derry. The siege lasted 105 days and a third of the population died from disease and starvation. In recent years, British soldiers shot 14 Catholics in the Bogside area on a day known as Bloody Sunday.

The Giant's Causeway

We drove to the coast to the Antrim Coast to see The Giants Causeway, 40,000 basalt columns formed by volcanic action rising out of the sea.

The story goes that the Causeway was created by an Irish giant named Finn MacCoul. He and his rival, Benandonner, who lived in Scotland, would shout across the sea to each other. To prove his superior strength, Finn decided to fight his rival. He built a pathway of stepping stones from Ireland to Scotland, but was so exhausted by the work that he fell asleep on the causeway. When Benadonner came over to fight, his wife saw how large he was and placed a blanket over her sleeping husband. When Benadonner demanded to see Finn, she pointed to Finn sleeping under the blanket and said, “Be quiet or you’ll wake my baby”. Seeing how large Finn’s “baby” was, he had second thoughts about meeting his giant father and fled back to Scotland tearing up the causeway as he fled.

Boston to Belfast

We decided to leave a bit early for Ireland and explore the country on our own before John’s Club Trip. We landed at Shannon Airport, got our rental car and headed to Northern Ireland. The border check was a bit stressful, but not as difficult as we expected. We made our way into Belfast and found a gorgeous B&B in a row of brick row houses.

We had a wonderful walking tour of the city with a lovely Protestant woman who assured us that “The Troubles” were over. There was something nagging at us, so we took a drive to Belfast Castle.

The gardens were so lovely and as we enjoyed a glass of wine, we talked about what we had seen and heard that day. On one hand, this middle aged woman had given us the most wonderful view of her city- but we had been told that we needed to retrieve our car from the car park before 6 PM and saw a number of armored vehicles driving through the downtown streets. Asking a few more questions of the locals, we were directed to the Black Taxi parking area where we were told we might be able to get a tour of the Catholic part of town. (After experiencing our “white walking tour” in Charleston, SC – and then taking the “black bus” tour – we knew that this could be enlightening).
We found a charming taxi driver who gladly offered his services and we began our drive through the Catholic section of town on Falls Road.

The buildings were covered in murals with slogans like “Irish Soldiers of Freedom”. As we drove on, we saw the burnt remnants of a city bus—still smoldering. And, we heard the other side of the Belfast story.

Ireland Route