Ireland

Poulnabrone Dolmen – The Burren County Clare, Ireland

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The Burren is an unusual and vast landscape on the west coast of Ireland in County Clare.  At first blush it looks like a green and grey desert with nothing to be seen.  But, like most things, when you look closer you see detail and creativity only mother nature could concoct.  The Burren is primarily cracked limestone whose deeps cracks collect water and are filled with nutrient rich soil which wildflowers and grasses flourish in. The Burren National Park has been created to assist in protecting its multiple dolmens, stone circles/ring forts, caves, and megalithic tombs.

Some time between 4200-2900 BC Neolithic people created the masterpiece Poulnabrone Dolmen.  Dolmens dot the landscape in Ireland but this one is special primarily due to its size subverting the vastness that is the Burren. It is about twelve feet long and about six feet tall.  It is made of stone that is the same color as its surroundings so one could pass right by it without noticing it.  The remains of multiple people have been excavated from beneath the tomb which is typical of them throughout the country.

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A closeup of the stone


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Meet my nephew Michael enjoying the rain in the way only a kid can!

If you would like this dolmen check out another post on the dramatically large Brownshill Dolmen by clicking here!

Kylemore Abbey – Connemara Mountains Ireland

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Welcome to Kylemore Abbey.  The nuns here know how to pick a location!  If money were no option for me I would have picked the exact same location nestled in to the west of Ireland at the base of a magnificent mountain range on the edge of a peaceful lake.  The windy road that leads to the abbey is one of those roads that looks like it should take you about 20-30 minutes to get there on a map and it realistically takes you 3-4 hours of winding and turning and slowing for sheep.  But the drive is worth it.

The abbey, which the Benedictine nuns purchased after fleeing Belgium in WWI, is partially open for tours.  The castle-turned-abbey was originally built in 1867 by a wealthy doctor with seventy rooms and 40,000 square feet.  It can be followed by a nice nature walk along the lake, a visit to the Gothic Cathedral (which had live gospel singing while we happen to be there), the original family mausoleum, a lovely waterfall, and a modern art installation.  A short bus ride will take you to the victorian walled gardens and should not be missed!  When you are good and tired visit the store for something to eat and to purchase some Kylemore Abbey Benedictine Nun made ceramics or other local art in support of the abbey.

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Unusual Irish Sheep

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Sweet Art Installation

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Walled Gardens

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One of the original buildings

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Peat!

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View of the abbey from the lake

For more Irish ramblings click here…

Ireland’s National Museum – Dublin’s Top Attraction in the Guidebook in My Mind

/ Bulldog Travels / 33 Comments

When recently taking my parents to Ireland my intention was to take them to the National Archaeology Museum of Ireland on our first day in Dublin, Ireland.  We ran out of time and ended up going on our last day.  I think this was an auspicious turning of events because we were able to view artifacts of many of the places we had seen during the prior two weeks motoring through the Isle.

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Three Faced Corleck Head

The Archaeology museum houses relics from many of the castles, monasteries, carved stones from burial mounds, etc throughout the Isles.  Highlights for us were the display of Celtic Gold dug up from hundreds of years of exploration through Ireland.

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The Museum has a wonderful Bog Man display showing multiple bog people along with their stories, location, circumstances of their exhumation, and more.  It has a large medieval Viking display honoring Dublin’s long “connection” with the Vikings. There is a small Egyptian Collection.  The treasury houses the Cross of Cong and the The Faddan More Psalter, a book of Psalms recovered from a bog which was written around AD 800!  Prehistoric Ireland is on display as well as sacrifice and Kingship.

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Clonmacnoise Crozier

Plan at least three hours to explore this FREE museum and be sure to stop for a cup of coffee at their lovely café. And did I mention it was Free?

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To explore more of my Irish musings please click here…

Tour of a Lifetime – Belfast Political Black Cab Tour

/ Bulldog Travels / 57 Comments

I last visited Belfast in 1999.  Things were different then.  I remember pipe bombs going off making a young me a little nervous while I was there for the day.  Since then the Good Friday agreement and several other actions have taken place to ensure peace in Northern Ireland.  Or so I thought.

While in Belfast recently for the day we decided to do something a little different by skipping the standard city tour instead taking a Paddy Campbell’s Black Cab “Political Tour.”  Danny was our guide, a local who grew up in the 70’s right smack dab in the middle of the troubles.

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Danny’s Cab in front of the Peace Wall

To be honest I don’t know where to start.  I don’t want to put anyone off of Belfast and certainly not Northern Ireland because I sincerely cannot recommend them highly enough.  But along with the good I believe one must understand the history of the location they are traveling to if they want to better understand it.

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King William is alive and well in Northern Ireland

Where the troubles started could be argued.  Did it start in the 60’s when Catholics weren’t allowed the same housing and voting rights as the Protestants?  Did it start with the Protestant William of Orange defeating the Papist James II at the Battle of the Boyne?  Who knows?  And it certainly isn’t for me to say.  But, what I can tell you is that dissension is alive and well.  It isn’t making the national news any more.  Perhaps, because Northern Ireland is censoring the news?  Or, Perhaps because the Irish want to be perceived as successful at their negotiating peace while others in the world are struggling?  Again, I don’t know and I wouldn’t even begin to take a guess since I am only a visitor.

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Mural near Shankhill Road Protestant area

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Danny took us around in his black cab to the Protestant Shankhill Road and the Catholic Falls Road area which are still divided by a military style locked gate.  It was “marching season” just after July 12th where the Protestants take to the streets marching through the Catholic areas with anti-nationalism and anti-Catholic sentiment.  Violence had ensued just days before we visited so many of the gates were still locked much to the frustration of the pedestrian and motoring public.

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One of the Gates that was locked post July 12 Marches…

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In the Shankhill area we were driven by and walked through the housing areas to view magnificent murals created to memorialize William of Orange, historical events that had taken place, and in many cases those who terrorized Catholics since the 70s. For example, one mural sensationalized Stevie “Top Gun” McKeag, a violent murderer, for brutally killing a large number of Catholics.  Protestant “Top Gun” was responsible for murdering numerous people including a young Catholic female pharmacy student who walked only feet from her store on the Catholic side to the Protestant side to deliver medicine to an elderly Protestant man.

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Mural Memorializing Stevie Top Gun McKeag

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Remnants of a bon fire the night before. Bon fires dot the landscape during marching season.

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Conversely on the Catholic side an equal number of murals exist rather the subject matter is not of those who were successful in violence against the other side but they highlight those who were killed or martyred during the conflicts.  Bobby Sands is likely the most famous of those Catholics who died as a result of a hunger strike taken, while in prison, which brought a lot of recruitment and notoriety to the efforts.  Instead of bon fires meant to intimidate they choose to erect Peace Gardens in each of the neighborhoods depicting each person killed as part of the conflict.

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Bobby Sands/ Poet, Irish Speaker, Revolutionary, and IRA Volunteer

Today, I am told it is less about Catholic and Protestant and more about British rule versus Irish independence.  Since 1949, the majority twenty-six southern counties fall within the independent country of Ireland and six Ulster counties remain in Northern Ireland as part of the Queen’s empire.  Some of the Loyalists view the Republic as traitors while those in the Republic have fought merely for their freedom and Independence.  It was against the law only until recently to fly an Irish flag in Northern Ireland.  And even today I never saw a single Irish flag in Northern Ireland only scores and scores of British Flags.  Where traffic signs are duplicated in both English and Irish in the south many in the north see speaking Irish as treasonous.  Many welcome both Protestants and Catholics in to their homes while those who hold fast to the Orange Order are not allowed to marry or fraternize with Catholics.

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Danny drove us to the famous peace wall, a starkly long and artistically graffiti’d wall that’s mere presence is an oxymoron.  The very wall where millions of people have signed their names and sentiments of peace and love, even President Obama on his recent visit, is actually affixed to the very wall that to this day separates Protestants from Catholics.  The wall is higher than twenty feat with razor wire at the top.  It butts up mere feet from the back of Catholic houses.  It is a daily reminder for those who travel back and forth and in between that peace is possible.

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Peace Wall that is immediately adjacent to houses behind it

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When the tour was over, I felt enlightened and frustrated all at the same time.  I couldn’t believe this was still happening to this level and it wasn’t making the national news.  Mind you these sentiments are particularly high in these areas of Belfast and LondonDerry and not as heightened elsewhere in the North.  But, as we were walking back to the car together I made the statement to my dad that I knew one thing for sure…I knew where our driver was from.  The driver Danny had never told us if he was Catholic or Protestant.  My Dad agreed with me and said he was confident he knew as well.  My mother asked us which side, Protestant or Catholic?  We replied at the same time…one Protestant and one Catholic.  Neither of us agreed!

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Clonard Monastary known for its desire for peaceful mediation of the situation that immediately surrounds it.

“There was never a good war or a bad peace.”

“The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war.”

I cannot recommend this tour highly enough.  It was not glamorous and at times it was unsettling.  But, I feel enlightened and better for the knowing of it.

For more on my Ireland trips please click here!

Titanic Museum – Belfast Northern Ireland

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While planning our Ireland trip with my parents I knew I wanted to take them to Northern Ireland.  I hadn’t been to the North since I visited with my brother approximately fourteen years ago.  I had a few must see items on the list but The Titanic Museum kept creeping up in my travel books and online.  It’s a reasonably new museum one, to be honest, I didn’t have much interest in seeing.  I figured I had seen all I needed to see of it from watching the Leonardo DiCaprio movie and a few documentaries on TV over the years.

Andrew Petcher from Have Bag, Will Travel recommended it SO highly that I gave it another thought.  I knew we would be passing through Belfast on our way to the far North and figured it might be a nice place to stop one my parents might also enjoy.  Thanks Andrew for the recommendation because all three of us really enjoyed it!

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The museum is located on the grounds of the actual shipbuilding yard the Titanic was created on.  The museum building is an architectural masterpiece mimicking the lines of the ill-fated ship.  It is surrounded by a pool that mirrors the beautiful lines and bright silver exterior.  The front of the building has a very cool and very large Titanic sign framing a stunning feminine sculpture.

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Once one is done admiring the outside of the building and enters the museum they are treated first to a history of Belfast and what made her a great city during the time of the Titanic.  Shipbuilders decided to build the infrastructure to build large ships before even having any contracts.  Kudos to them for having the guts!  Later in the museum visitors can better understand exactly how the ships were actually built.  They can even take a short amusement park style ride that explains each step.  (Sounds cheesy and maybe it is but it was fun!)

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The museum describes throughout each exhibit people associated with the Titanic from those who built the ship, to those who worked on the ship, those that purchased tickets, and those who helped rescue passengers.  This small and unassuming sequence of displays really makes the visitor connect with the human aspect of the tragedy in a way that is easy to ignore when we see or hear about the ship now.

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Next, visitors can see the interiors of all of the rooms of the Titanic with recreations of the actual furniture, ceramics, silverware, textiles, clothing, etc.  It was enjoyable to see the difference in the large staterooms versus the smaller rooms shared by lowers class passengers and employees.

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Later the museum moves in to the accident and its response.  It highlights the heroes and rescuers who saved many lives and those who were cowards and saved themselves while they let women and children die.

“…as the smart ship grew in stature, grace, and hue

In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.” – Thomas Hardy

The museum had another section on the discovery of the Titanic ship wreck and the technology required to find it.  It even simulates, via video in the floor, the actual shipwreck as it looks today if you were floating over it in a glass bottomed submarine.

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Finally, the museum focuses on the pop culture of the Titanic and its music, literature, theater, and movie history.  You can be certain Celine Dion is belting out her tune probably much to the dismay of the staff who works there and listens to it over and over to the point of insanity.

This top rate museum does a fantastic job of exploring every single aspect of the Titanic from before it was built all the way to today.  They do it in an interactive and interesting way where the visitor’s interest never wanes for a moment.  I couldn’t recommend this museum more.  As my mother put it, “This is the best museum I have ever been to!”  Take it from my Mom because that is big talk.

To read about some of my other Irish shenanigans please click here…

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral – Dublin Ireland

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In honor of the Pope’s visit to the United States I thought I would take the opportunity to share some photos of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.  Dublin is full of churches.  No church is more important or impressive than the historic Saint Patrick’s.

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The church was founded in 1191.  1191!  It has seen a lot of history including King James and his Jacobites before losing in the Battle of the Boyne, Church Dean Jonathan Swift and his Gulliver’s Travels, and a choir school founded in 1432 which is still in operation.

A “door of reconciliation” is on display where it is said the 8th Earl of Kildare during a Butler/Fitzgerald dispute, where one of the group sought refuge in the church,  cut a hole in the door so the rivals could “chance their arm” by shaking on a truce.

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Be sure to visit the west end of the nave, the choir isles, the ladies chapel, the Saint Patrick’s statue, the Huguenot Bell, the staircase to the organ loft, the celtic grave slab, and the Swift Memorial and graves.  Do be sure to take a moment to enjoy the garden while overlooking the architecture.

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To read about some of my other Irish shenanigans please click here…

Dark Hedges – Ballycastle Northern Ireland

/ Bulldog Travels / 41 Comments

While motoring through a place I often find myself looking for interesting places to “stop along the way.”  I scheduled a lot of driving in our most recent Ireland trip and needed a break to get out and stretch.  Andrew with Have Bag, Will Travel suggested visiting Dark Hedges if I happen to be in the area.  It seems this location is one of many Game of Thrones filming locations in the area.

Well, with a slight detour, we traveled through Ballycastle, Northern Ireland and took a stop at the Hedges.  Gracehill House is a Georgian Mansion built by the Stuart family in the 18th century.  Beech Trees were planted along the approach to the house as a way to impress visitors.

The trees are mesmerizing and stunning in a simplistic sort of way.  No grand gardens were required here.  Just magical and seriously impressive trees growing over one another begging people to walk down their path.

I have always been drawn to tree lines driveways in Ireland, the American South, and anywhere the home owners have the patience and forethought to plant something they may not have the lifespan to fully enjoy.  I am grateful for the Stuarts to think of me, who might, two hundred years later still enjoy the spoils of their efforts.

I’m not kidding when I say I was so taken by this place we barely noticed the actual Georgian Mansion the trees led visitors to.

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The Dark Hedges are located along Bregagh Road, near Gracehill Golf Club, off the A147, approximately 2.5 miles from the village of Stranocum heading north.
*I also submit this entry to Cee’s Which Way Challenge!

Hop on Hop off bus tours – Love ‘em or leave ‘em?

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Sometimes when I only have a short time in a city and no transportation I have bought tickets to the local hop on hop off bus tour, often the double decker type but never the Viking or duck tour.  (I refuse to wear silly hats people!  The line must be drawn somewhere.)  I feel like these tours can sometimes give visitor’s the quick lay of the land with the option to stop and visit sites along the way.  It has always seemed like a good value as compared to multiple taxi rides with ill-tempered drivers.  Part of me dies inside a little bit at the thought of such a “touristy” thing to do.  But, the other part of me cannot deny how fun and convenient these tours are.  My parents really enjoyed doing this in Dublin recently…

What are your thoughts intrepid friends?  Swear by the hop on hop off bus tour or scoff at the idea?  I promise not to judge you!  😉

For more Irish ramblings click here…

Dublin’s Temple Bar – Not for everyone

/ Bulldog Travels / 55 Comments

All of the buses stop here.  All Dublin roads lead here.  Every guide book tells you it is a must see.  It seems even the river Liffey flanks it attempting to keep you from leaving easily if you try.  Every young person makes plans to meet here late at night.  The history of the place is palpable.

Prepare for blasphemy here.

I don’t really like Temple Bar.  It pains me to say it because I love everything about Dublin and Ireland in general.  I love the energy and the color and the music of the Temple Bar district.  (There is live music here every night in most of the pubs.)  But, I can’t stand the crowds and I don’t like the mood of the people after dark.  If your wallet is going to get lifted it will be here.  If you are looking to get in to a fight with some drunk American college students this is your place.  I much prefer the dark pubs with local people to talk and laugh with, great hot food, traditional live music where you can actually hear it, and bars where I can actually order a pint without getting elbowed by a co-ed on their 18th birthday drinking for the first time.

I’m sorry Dublin. I am glad it is a tourist draw and I want people to keep coming and I want them to spend all their money in your city.  Maybe I am just getting old… Slante.

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THE Temple Bar both a bar and a district. The place to come and have fun and drink and get crazy. Or the place to avoid if you want the real Ireland.

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With energy and drinking in Dublin comes live music on the street everywhere one walks…

For more of my Ireland musings please click here

Irish Peat & Bog Men – Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge

/ Bulldog Travels / 14 Comments

As part of Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge for this week I am taking the opportunity to show you what Irish Peat or turf from their bogs looks like.  I took these photos at the Hill View House Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast in Tulla, County Clare Ireland.  The owners of the Farmhouse enjoyed spending the day with their neighbors and their children cutting peat which is decayed organic matter used to fuel fires.  She mentioned that originally it was done out of necessity due to the expense of gas and wood to heat their home.  But, now she says they do it for community and to teach their children of their history.  I hope this Irish Peat/Turf will warm your in box on a hot California afternoon.

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Irish Peat/Turf

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Irish Peat/Turf

At the Irish Museum of Archaeology in Dublin visitors can view Bog men that have been recovered from various Peat Bog locations throughout Ireland.  They are remarkably maintained considering their age, 400-200 BC due to the natural mummification process culminating from a lack of oxygen and a combination of specific chemicals found in the bogs.  The bog people are in various states of condition considering how they were found with heavy equipment or by hand in the bogs.

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Clonycavan Man

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Old Croghan Man

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To read more about my shenanigans in Ireland please click here…