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!
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