We started out heading south from Dublin, and made a stop in Glendaloch, a valley with an ancient ruined monastic settlement on the banks of two deep lakes. From there we headed towards the center of the island, and explored the mysterious, crow-infested castle ruins of Cashel. To complete the day's experience, we landed a room in a hotel that was a castle - a converted stone keep that (of course) had a great pub as well.
The next day - now well-seasoned Irish drivers - we struck out early towards the West coast. Our first taste of the Irish coastline was the Dingle peninsula (which was of course at the butt end of many a joke along the way) in Kerry. The drive around the peninsula was spectacular. The roads were extremely narrow and winding, with more than a few sheer treacherous drops off the side, but that just added to the experience. We got to take in some amazing vies of the coastline, eat lunch right on the beach and romp around some prehistoric "ring forts" and "beehive huts" (old stone ruins). We stood along the rocky shoreline that makes up the farthest Western point of Europe, and discovered a creepy set of monastic ruins just inland.
Dingle is known to be one of the most beautiful regions in all of Ireland, and it definitely didn't disappoint. Of course, I very nearly gave Skick a heart attack with some of my extreme driving, but deep down I'm sure she saw it as just pat of the whole experience.
We stayed as long as we could afford, and then struck out North towards our next stop, the Burren. After hopping a car-ferry (cool!) and a bit more driving, we pulled into the town of Doolin to spend the night. Doolin is more like a village than a town, but is well known for its world-class traditional Irish music sessions, or "trad sessions". The owner of our bed and breakfast summed up the town very well, by saying something like, "Ok, so to your left is the town. All you need to know about is that there are two pubs, McCann's and McDiermotts. Both are excellent, and both have great music."
Sure enough, we ate some excellent food (including local salmon) and spent a couple of hours listening to some fantastic Irish music over pints of Guinness. There isn't a more Irish experience to be had (outside of being conquered repeatedly by foreign invaders, I suppose).
The next day we set out to explore the Burren - a stretch of land just south of Galway on the West coast. Although it is not far at all from Dingle, this peninsula was a stark contrast in every way.
The Burren is a rocky, very sparsely wooded, windswept expanse that many consider to be the quintessential "real Ireland". It is an extremely difficult land and climate to live in, but various clans have been managing for thousands of years. It's still very sparsely populated, though, and much of it appears just as it was 3000 years ago. We experienced the Burren under perfect conditions - lashing wind and rain. The entire region is littered with ancient ruins - literally everywhere you look. We stopped at a handful of spots to explore old forts, graveyards, prehistoric stone monuments, cairns and winding rock walls. Some of them saw more tourists than others, so we were able to read up on ancient Irish history a bit as well, which this region is obviously full of given its age.
Right on cue, the rain stopped just as we were leaving the Burren, and we headed further North to Galway. A small but bustling city on the coast, Galway is also known for its music. So, again with the help of our bed and breakfast host, we found ourselves in a local pub listening to a more informal trad session. Instead of any sort of stage setup, this type just starts up right in the middle of the pub, wherever there is room for a few musicians to sit. They sit in a circle and take turns picking the song. Whoever knows the selected song (or at least what key it's in) joins in. It's a great tradition that should definitely be picked up in America.
The next day we headed out in the direction of Belfast - pretty much all the way across the country in the Northeast. We stopped along the way at a couple of neolithic sites - one of them especially was extremely interesting - a 1.5 acre massive stone and earth tomb from thousands of years ago. You could walk inside part of it as well as on top of it, and around the 17 scattered tombs - the whole thing was pretty amazing. Right around there we also almost ran out of gas - this time it was Skick's turn to convince me that it was all just part of the experience...
More to come soon!
9.03.2009
Road Trippin'
Neither of us had ever driven in another country with the exception of short jaunts into Vancouver, and we definitely hadn't ever tried our luck on the other side of the car/street. Needless to say, we didn't know what to expect in the slightest.
I made a cautious and white-knuckled turn out of the rental car lot in our Nissan Micra, and madness ensued. We were thrust into a crazed mass of roundabouts and construction around the Dublin airport that didn't calm down until we were well outside the city limits.
The next five days were an exhilarating, fast-paced road tour of the island country, complete with extremely narrow country roads, pot holes the size of sheep, hairpin turns atop ocean-facing bluffs and more than our fair share of close calls. All with speed limits of 80-120 kilometer/hour. It was awesome.
The countryside itself is an absolute wonder - massive, sweeping bluffs, rocky, windswept barrens, rolling pastures a brighter green than I've ever seen, an endless supply of ancient ruins, winding cobblestone streets and villages tucked into deep valleys. It is a driver's paradise (although not for the faint of heart), and really is the only viable way to experience the country. The public transportation is infrequent and rarely will take you to the more interesting spots, so wheels are the only way to go.
More details to come...
I made a cautious and white-knuckled turn out of the rental car lot in our Nissan Micra, and madness ensued. We were thrust into a crazed mass of roundabouts and construction around the Dublin airport that didn't calm down until we were well outside the city limits.
The next five days were an exhilarating, fast-paced road tour of the island country, complete with extremely narrow country roads, pot holes the size of sheep, hairpin turns atop ocean-facing bluffs and more than our fair share of close calls. All with speed limits of 80-120 kilometer/hour. It was awesome.
The countryside itself is an absolute wonder - massive, sweeping bluffs, rocky, windswept barrens, rolling pastures a brighter green than I've ever seen, an endless supply of ancient ruins, winding cobblestone streets and villages tucked into deep valleys. It is a driver's paradise (although not for the faint of heart), and really is the only viable way to experience the country. The public transportation is infrequent and rarely will take you to the more interesting spots, so wheels are the only way to go.
More details to come...
Dublin at last
After finding our way through customs and immigration, grabbing a city map and catching a bus to our hotel, there wasn't much time left in the day for exploring. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a nearby pub (more on the food later) and crashed. The next morning, finally showered, rested and clean-shaven, we set out on our first adventure.
Dublin is an interesting city - exciting, international and cultural but at the same time quaint, cozy and intimate. All that aside, though, Dublin is really all about the beer. It is a challenge to find a full-sized city block without a pub in this town, and half of them double as historical landmarks of one sort or another.
The people - rarely met without a pint of Guinness in hand - are warm, witty and bright-eyed. We had plenty of opportunities to banter with the locals, and - as is the case with most everywhere else we ended up visiting in Ireland - they proved to be some of the most sociable people we've encountered.
Still, large swaths of the city have turned into tourist traps of an interesting nature. Many visitors come for the pub experience, so pubs have popped up everywhere with claims of "Traditional Irish Food & Music" that are as thin as the building walls. We quickly learnined that about 90% of the pubs in Dublin are basically worthless for food - bland soup, dry bread and watery stew. The food that is worthwhile - strictly found by recommendation - is fantastic, though. By and large, however, it wasn't until we reached the countryside that we wre able to experience real Irish food.
Historical sites are of course littered throughout the city as well; we explored old dusty libraries, historic book collections, high-arched cathedrals and sweeping stone Universities. All with a backdrop of steel-gray skies and flickering Guinness signs, Dublin was a pretty cool spectacle.
With one less day to explore than expected, we were packing our bags soon and preparing for perhaps the most anticipated part of the trip - the rental car. More on that to come...
Dublin is an interesting city - exciting, international and cultural but at the same time quaint, cozy and intimate. All that aside, though, Dublin is really all about the beer. It is a challenge to find a full-sized city block without a pub in this town, and half of them double as historical landmarks of one sort or another.
The people - rarely met without a pint of Guinness in hand - are warm, witty and bright-eyed. We had plenty of opportunities to banter with the locals, and - as is the case with most everywhere else we ended up visiting in Ireland - they proved to be some of the most sociable people we've encountered.
Still, large swaths of the city have turned into tourist traps of an interesting nature. Many visitors come for the pub experience, so pubs have popped up everywhere with claims of "Traditional Irish Food & Music" that are as thin as the building walls. We quickly learnined that about 90% of the pubs in Dublin are basically worthless for food - bland soup, dry bread and watery stew. The food that is worthwhile - strictly found by recommendation - is fantastic, though. By and large, however, it wasn't until we reached the countryside that we wre able to experience real Irish food.
Historical sites are of course littered throughout the city as well; we explored old dusty libraries, historic book collections, high-arched cathedrals and sweeping stone Universities. All with a backdrop of steel-gray skies and flickering Guinness signs, Dublin was a pretty cool spectacle.
With one less day to explore than expected, we were packing our bags soon and preparing for perhaps the most anticipated part of the trip - the rental car. More on that to come...
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