Ireland 2013

 

Basic Tips:

–Whether or not you have Irish roots, you get a lot of mileage out of being from Boston

–Many sites in the Republic are operating by Heritage Ireland, and many site in the North are operating by the National Trust.  Depending on the length of your trip and how many sites you plan to visit it might be worthwhile to become a member.

–All over Ireland are terrific Tourist Offices, in cities large and small.  They have many free maps and brochures (sometimes with discount offers), and the staff is very helpful and knowledgeable.

–Throughout Ireland it is more expensive to eat badly than in the U.S., but it is cheaper to eat well.  Most mid price and fine restaurants offer early bird (usually from 5-7) prix fixe meals for roughly $30-40 USD per head (without drinks).  We took great advantage of this.

–For $10 we bought a GPS card for UK and Ireland, which was better than nothing but frequently let us down.  We also used the spiral bound Ordnance Survey paper map book of Ireland, which is really indispensable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

23 November 2013

Headed out along M1 toward Belfast 1st stop is a beautiful old tower and graveyard at Monasterboice. We had 20 minutes to ourselves before tour bus of Spaniards showed up.  Like most Irish graveyards there is a mix of recent burials and ancient graves.  Sadly we saw the fresh grave of a young soccer fan (Shane Whelan), and researching him later saw he’d been killed while walking (hit and run) in the exact same spot where his grandfather had been killed 20 years earlier.  Friends and family had left touching tributes.

Stepped in dog mess, so 4 countries and counting so far.  Next stop was 2 miles down the road, Mellifont Abbey, run by Heritage Ireland.  The visitor center is closed off-season, but the site is otherwise open and free.  Old abbey, stone buildings and foundations and we have the place completely to ourselves but suspect it’s busy in summer.

Drove back the way we came.  M1 transitioned to A1 as we cross into the UK.  GPS could not find a few mid-sized towns like Newry and Dundalk.   We drove through Drogheda, but it wasn’t 10 a.m. yet and everything was closed.  Next stop in  Dramore town and at Rath House Antiques and mentioned to the owner, PJ, that we had purchased tiles in 2003.  He brought out a box of old tiles and we bought our 10 favorites.  PJ mentioned that the shop had once been featured on the British show “Antiques Road Trip.”

Walked to small town center and stopped at a bakery for a large plate of Irish stew for £4 each.  Basically a huge plate of boiled potatoes, carrots, beef, some dill.  This blog entry is is dedicated to Steig Larson: drank a takeaway Marshaccino (Cappacino with marshmallows) and Annabella left to go shopping at the charity shop.  Hope-Dream and purchased brown wool sweater.  One stop to the bank machine and not happy with £ notes labeled Ulster Bank  supposed to be interchangeable with other UK currency, but might be a problem back in England (as our Scottish notes were in past trips).  So we have to use these notes first or try to exchange them.

Stop for Saintfield, a popular antique and tea shop town not far from Belfast.  Room at Tara Lodge, in the University Quarter, is large by UK standards and clean and modern and free Wifi.  Walked into the centre for the Christmas market and to see the city lights.  Walked home and stop a convenience store for picnic dinner.  1 KG of pears, Dormour cheese chunk, salad, turkey tiki-masala sample and Magner’s Pear cider. Dinner was better than a restaurant.

 

24 November

 

Opulent dining room and delicious Ulster fry breakfast along with Scott’s Oats porridge.  We asked why porridge so good, waiter said all Americans ask the same question (answer:  the milk makes it creamy).

Drive to the Titanic Museum.  Easy, inexpensive underground parking.  The museum chronicles all aspects of the ship, from the start of Belfast as ship building port to  how the ship was built, rope makers, the fateful night, other shipwrecks, stories of the passengers, to present day of current Harlan & Wolf designers.  One of the best parts was the carnival style, 3 story gondola ride through the building of a ship.  Lunch at The Galley, soup served in vintage steerage style mug.

Drive to Carrickfergus because we have a bargain room booked at Premier Inn (for £29 prepaid) right on the quay across from the Castle (walking distance).  Photos at ancestral home of President Andrew Jackson (closed in off season but you can peer in the windows).  Approximately 1/3 of all U.S. Presidents have Ulster-Scot roots from Northern Ireland.

Climbed around the massive Carrickfergus Castle,  where we saw the prison quarters, banquet room, cannons, spiral staircase, chapel and “murder room” where they drop hot oil, arrow or rocks through the roof onto people trapped below.  Got my photos of car magazines in front of castle and staute of King William III.

Sainsbury’s right across the street and pick up another picnic dinner of shrimp, rocket (arugula), chocolate muesli, egg salad and crest sandwich and some Sunday papers and Hello! Magazine.  Discount store brand dark chocolate was great as well, who knew?

 

25 November

 

Drive North along the Causeway toward Ballycastle.  First stop is Larne, stopped at Tourist Info. nice people, got a free canvas bag to hold our many free brochures and maps.  Poked around the coastal town of Glenarm, saw the outside of its privately owned castle, peaked into an old church that has a cemetery next to it and little school house.

Cushendall – walked around the town.  Walked up a public pathway / park trying to find an old church ruins, but could not find and then realized we needed to drive up to the Layde Church ruins.  Beautiful view of ocean and again we have the place to ourselves.  Memorable things here are circle stone where couples hold hands and get married (symbolizing the eternity of a ring, like a wedding ring).  Also 2 Celtic crosses.

 

Drive to town where Game Thrones cave where Melisandra gave birth to the evil spirit, in the town of Cushendun.

Lunch in Ballycastle at Sugar Bean, owned by a Scottish lady.  Cottage pie (minced beef, peas, carrots, topped with browned mashed potatoes) and potato and Leek soup with wheaten (brown soda bread).

Double espresso latte to go.  3 Charity shops in town.

Game of Thrones film location stop at Ballintoy Harbor (the Iron Islands on the show).  Passed Dunseverick Castle in the distance.  Night at J & J’s B&B.  Large and comfortable room.

Dinner at Diamond Bar in the town centre, which has a fireplace:  Fish and Chips, pint of Guiness.  Walk into St. Patricks church to observe an advent all night prayer vigil.  Shop at local Co-0perative store.  Crazy limited edition chocolates (pop rocks in jelly beans in Cadbury bar) and Cola flavored honeycomb crackles  and pretzels in Cadbury bar.

A little lost driving back since it’s very dark, no street lights, GPS not working.

 

26 November

 

Nice Irish breakfast and then onwards to funky trees, Dark Hedges (where Arya made her escape after leaving King’s Landing).  On to 2nd town, Dunloy,  which has some neolithic structures and one of oldest tombs in Ireland.  Cremains found, stone axe, etc.  We got our feet wet because in middle of a field.  Had to stop in a local shop for directions.

 

On to Ballymoney and visit the small civic museum attached to the helpful tourist info center.  The town is known for its motorcycle races.  Lunch in Coleraine and then on to Dunluce Castle, which has a paid entry so we just took photos from the outside.  Castle’s claim was back in the 1600s, the kitchen fell into the sea taking along with people.  Scenic drive through coastal towns an on to Derry.  Cheap stay at Premier Inn outside the city centre.

 

 

27 November

Visitors to Derry should note that if you park in the garages in the very center of town you will pay an hourly fee.  If you go just a little farther (just outside the walls and still walking distance).  We parked next to the small, and free, Foyle River Railway Museum and have a chat with the staff who declare, “The Irish will with fight anyone to be sociable”.

Inside the walls we stepped inside the foyer of the Cathedral, which houses stone cannon ball with hole inside for surrender documents.

Went to grand building call The Guildhall, which was rebuilt after a fire and the bombed in 1972 by IRA.  Impressive renovations were completed in 2013 year.  All stone and oak, with terrific stained glass windows, and they were setting up the main room for a conference.  Everyone is super friendly, and being from Boston we are minor celebrities.  They recommended lunch at a pub called Bentley’s, where we at steak and garlic potatoes, soup and Guinness.

Back to excellent Tower Museum, which chronicles the city and Ulster history with many excellent short films and interactive displays, including a fascinating exhibit on the discovery of a Spanish galleon sunken off the coast of Derry.  An employee from the the Guildhall recognizes us while walking around and asks if we enjoyed our lunch at Bentley’s.  Later at the electronics shop where we stop to buy a cord the local guys mark places of interest for us on our map.

For just £4 per person we take a McCrossans’ Guided Tour of the city (which leaves several times a day all year round from right outside the mall, and your price includes a tea or coffee at the end).

We are the only customers for our twilight walking tour along the city walls filled with history, learning about the Jacobite siege, about when 60 U-boats surrendered here during WWII, and explanations of the Bogside (Catholic area) murals and of the Protestant neighborhood.  Dinner in the café at Marks and Spencers.

 

28 November

Stop at Woodrow Wilson’s ancestral homestead south of Derry (only open seasonally, but we look in the windows).  Drive through nearby Sion Mills, a huge mill town for over 150 years.  Mill is closed off, sort of abandoned.  From there we drive up a narrow road to Newtonstewart for Harry O’Neill’s Castle, which is in a field that is far too wet to risk our shoes but we take photos from afar.

Then on to Belleek to visit the porcelain factory and have lunch in the factory tea room (vegetable soup, mince meat pastie,  tea and rasberry / blueberry bread pudding).  We visited the small, but nice museum but did not take a factory tour.

On way back over Boa Island we stopped at site of ancient cemetery to view the 2 faced carved Janus Stone in the Calorough Graveyard, which is very near a stinky cow farm.

In Killadeas we stopped at the parish church to view the Bishop’s Stone.  We talked to a very nice husband and wife who are church caretakers who took us inside the church and talked to us about the village and the church.  The Church of Ireland (Protestant) is in the midst of a parish census, and just looking at a couple of cards filled out and left in the pews we see that the congregation is primarily elderly.

On to Cavan in the dark and drizzle.  Our B&B is very hard to find, but the people are friendly and our room is a hoot.  Kind of like an Italian in the late 80s / 90s went to Africa and decided to decorate a Graceland-style Jungle Room.  Hand painted safari animal art is framed and decorates the room along with some furry pillows and zebra print linens (the bed is huge and incredibly comfortable and we are thrilled and amused).  Walk one mile downhill to town to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Oak Room restaurant, which cost 29 euros for prix fix meal.  Had fish cakes and seafood fettucini for app, roast pheasant and duck for main, sticky toffee bread pudding for dessert.  Also had Irish coffee for 6 euros.  Our dinner show was the town drunk who we could see through the window as he talked to no one.

 

29 November

 

Breakfast in BB, fancy dining room. Superb Irish breakfast with fresh fruit and all kinds of goodies.  The other guests are an Irish and an American medical student.   He’s from Maine and a cross between a character from a Stephen King novel and the Ice Truck Killer from Dexter.  Luckily we made it through the night.

Drumlane Monastery is somewhat difficult to get to, and the GPS lets us down again, but it was worth the effort.  It took us on a detour down a very narrow road with sheep right by our side, saved from the wooly creatures by only by a barbed wire fence.

We drove a bit out of the way to the Arigna Coal Mine Experience.  The mine closed down in the early 1990s and now a museum.  A bona fide retired miner was our tour guide, and he really narrated a slice of life from another era.  We enjoyed a really nice homemade lunch of turnip, leek, and potato soup in the café (how we love British and Irish museum cafeterias!).

Long drive to Roscommon with a stop for soft serve ice cream and flake and to see the exterior of Roscommon Castle.

In Athlone we are at the Sheraton hotel near the River Shannon in huge room with wonderful, large bathroom (where you can turn on TV speakers0.  We scurried over the bridge to the castle and find that the tourist office has closed for the season, but other employees chatted with us and wrote down places to eat and drink and took us up on the castle wall to point out sites.

 

Pint in Sean’s Bar,  Ireland’s oldest bar in operation since 900 AD.  We are wedding crashers and sit in the back and enjoy the guitar player, with an eclectic mix of U2, and Kate Perry’s Teenage Dream and another 80s disco tune we never thought would sound good in acoustic.

Dinner at Thyme, top rated place on TripAdvisor.  Unbelievable 5 star dinner at this place.  Starter was goat cheese panna cotta, and potato cake with soft boiled egg encrusted in a crunchy shell.  Main was steak cooked just right with creamy garlic potatoes and polenta sticks and also baked pork belly and baked veggies.  Dessert was creamy almond creme with orange / chocolate on top and banana cake with pecans.  Best meal in Ireland.

Walking back we see a gaggle of young girls dressed really, really small clothes, like Daisy Dukes with no leggings, just raw flesh in the 40 degree night.

 

30 November

 

Stop at the somewhat plain (except for the stained glass) St Peter and Paul’s church, which was recently renovated. I said a few prayers and gave thanks.  Rarely sunny day with many boats on the river.   Purchased a loaf of wheaten bread from Dooley’s flower market, where the workers were very nice and chatty and pleased that we were off the beaten path.

In front of the castle we bought cheese from a cheese monger at a tiny farmer’s market:  Blue stilton, goat cheese and some other hard cheese, most unpasteurized.  Visited the small Museum Of Memories, staffed by two very nice and friendly women.  It’s essentially an old apartment filled with photos and some artifacts from the city and a wall of famous Athlonians.  We later learned they recently moved from a location that did not have electricity or heat.  At their recommendation we ate at the riverside Shannon Crafts and Coffee Dock, where we regrettably ate mediocre soups instead of what looked to be scrumptious desserts (one owner is German).

8 euros admission to the castle, which houses another great exhibition using audio / visual screens, movies, to tell story of history.  Across the river we visited the new Luan Gallery arts center (free admission and great views of the river).

At the mall, we saw crowds of children waiting for Santa Claus.  To M&S for milk and jam, then quickly to hotel for afternoon tea and cheese and jam and wheat.  .

Out to dinner at The Locke, an old church converted to a restaurant after 1990.  No reservations, but they were kind enough to accommodate us.  Beautifully decorated for Christmas.  Starter was fish chowder, light, but chocka-block full of lobster, fish, celery, and also a stilton blue cheese Caesar salad topped with shredded beetroot.

Main was pheasant on top of potatoes in a sauce of apricots and an Irish salmon on top of a kale and something risotto with butternut squash, a great combo.  Dessert was a superb apple and cherry crumble with roasted hazelnuts on top (which made the dish) with a side of homemade vanilla ice cream.  We thanked everyone and left for a pint at Sean’s Bar.  Place was crowded, playing Irish music on guitar, large wood flute and that open drum thingy.

Watching Christmas music videos on tele again – kooky British holiday programming.

 

1 December 2013

 

We arrive to Clonmacnoise monastic site (a Heritage Ireland property) and are the first visitors of the day.  On the way to this site, we sidetracked to a brown sign for some Clonfinlough Stone.  Down a windy road, up a long narrow grassy path, like 300 yards, we came to a cow pasture.  Dodging all the cow patties, I came across and photographed a flat stone with gouges and some carvings into it.

Clonmacnoise itself is a great example of why it’s nice to travel off season and have these gorgeous sites to yourselves (or sharing with only a few others).

Drive to Belvedere House  (half price reciprocal admission offer with Athlone Castle and also ½ price coupon in booklet from Tourist Board).  Very lovely and large complex consisting of walking paths, fields, one small mansion and one large “envy” wall built as a folly by a jealous brother to block the view of his brother’s larger house.  He was a nutter:  Basically, man marries 16 yr old girl, has 4 kids.  Younger brother says older brother had affair with wife.  And here is where jealous man goes crazy.  Jails wife for 30 years, causes brother to leave and pay fine of thousands of pounds.

Now there are lots of families, runners, some bicyclists here, and people enjoying Christmas special activities.  Inside the Walled Garden is a magical little Fairy Garden.

Sunday lunch at restaurant called Domenicks in Mullingar:  fried and skewered chicken and shrimp for appetizer, cod and burger, crumble dessert.

Overnight at the airport Premier Inn, great value (prepaid 39 Euros) with free parking and just a few minutes to the airport.

 

2 December

 

Missed rental car return twice, good to allow extra time since we didn’t realize ahead of time that even though pick up is in the terminal, drop off isn’t.

Additional Observations:

— We visited both Northern Ireland (UK) and the south, the Republic.  The only noticeable differences, really, are the money and the accents.  We visited Derry/Londonderry for the first time, which I had always been under the impression was more “troubled” than Belfast, but people there told us that things were worse in Belfast.  Happily, now there is peace.

–We’ve always heard that Kennedy was the “first Irish president,” but in truth about 1/3 of all U.S. presidents have Irish heritage, going all the way back to Andrew Jackson.  However, these men are of Ulster-Scot, Protestant descent, and many of these people don’t identify themselves as “Irish.”  Read more about our Ulster Scot presidents by clicking here.

–Let me describe driving and roads in Ireland:  First, mostly wet because of rain and moisture.  2nd, roads are wavy, up and down a lot.  Third, they are curvy.  4th, they can be narrow.  Put these all together and it is a challenging experience trying to go at speeds.  Speed limit in parts is 100 Kmph, and I couldn’t keep up the first few days.  I drove slow and let others pass me.  I got better as days went on, but still, some spots are higher speeds than they should be.  I was tail gated often and moved over to pass, and drivers flash their hazards in appreciation.  Some large highways are straight and wide and 120 KmPH.  These highways are fun.  Sometimes I scraped the sides of the car against the brush when oncoming traffic came flying down to far over in my lane.  But, I did okay, no problems but some stalled stops.