Blake Bell needs to Blog
Just an addendum to Michelle's post (which incidentally has pictures attached to it if you scroll down) - if Blake doesn't comment on our blog by the time we get home, he will have to eat Pita Pit for a week.
- Morgan
Somewhere in Offaly
We're not sure where we are right now, we know it starts with an M but we can't remember the rest; it is in Co. Offaly, though, as we're on our way to Kells, Co. Meath for the night. We're spending the night close to Newgrange so hopefully we can be one of the lucky few who get into see it each day.
We spent last night in Clifden in Connemara, which, if you look on a map, is the furthest west you can pretty much go in Ireland. Today we're driving almost as far east as you can go. Fortunately Ireland is small and it's only taking about 4-5 hours.
We stayed in another B&B last night; man, these Irish breakfasts are going to kill us, I think I feel a heart-attack setting in right now. You walk into the dining room and there's muesli, wheatabix and cornflakes and some fruit and some yogurt, juice and tea. Then your hostess brings you toast and a plate with eggs, sausages, rashers (like wide bacon) and for some reason, a piece or two of tomato. It's really good but really a lot, too. Morgan's thinking about becoming vegetarian for a week or two after this trip; he's all meat-ed out. All you can really buy here (as far as meals in establishments go, without paying €20) is meat-based things: shepherd's pie, fish and chips, meat sandwiches, meat salads, chowders. And chips come with everything; a salad is basically some lettuce that you're supposed to eat on top of your meat. I'm ok with it, I was seriously interested in trying the battered sausage at the pizza place we went to the other day but I'm definitely looking forward to not eating out for a while once we get home.
I guess that's the toss-up between hostels and B&B's - we've stayed at some really nice hostels with ensuite bathrooms, double rooms, for like €20 each and then you can cook for yourself and everything but we've stayed at some nasty ones, too, but the B&B's are nice, they're just all the same and you have to eat out for dinner every night, hence the meat overload.
So anyway, onto Kells, Newgrange and the Hill of Tara. Tomorrow night we're in some swanky airport hotel and we fly out of Dublin in the morning on Tuesday. We will see as much of London as possible in a few hours and then we're in a hotel near Gatwick Tuesday night because we have to be at the airport at 3:30 am (we'll have a review of Zoom later) for our 5:55 am flight back to Vancouver.
I'm tired just thinking about it; plus we have to turn in our sweet little car, which sucks as then we'll be packing all the crap we've managed to load ourselves up with.
Here are some pictures for your perusing enjoyment. One is the portal dolmen from the Burren area, another is of me as we try to follow the Burren Code and not squash any flowers on a hike up one of the Burren hills, there's one of a kiteboarder in Dog Bay and then some donkeys outside of our hostel in Dublin, the Aille River, a home away from home.
Enjoy and see you all soon!
Rain is dumb
So, usually May in Ireland is pretty dry, but this year they've blown by the 150 year rainfall record. They've never had so much rain since they've started keeping track. While it doesn't
really bother us too much, it would be nice to not have to wear 4 layers every single day. We've bailed on going out to the Aran Islands just because there has been so much rain it just wouldn't be nice to walk around out there. Instead we went inland a bit and saw the museum of the Irish Famine in Roscommon - very interesting - and today we're cruising around the coast of Connemara.
Anyway, internet on the west coast is pretty non-existant. This is the first internet connection we've seen in 4 days, so hence the lack of updates. It seems that you really have to be in the big cities to get any decent internet access. Actually, there is a wireless broadband service in Dublin/Cork/Killarney that only costs 18 euro a month. It's weird how a large part of the country seems so far behind technologically, but the big cities seem further ahead than North America.
Anyway, so no pictures again. Sorry. We'll probably get to post some the night before we leave, since we'll be back near Dublin. That's only 3 nights from now actually...
-Morgan
The Burren
We're still using the free internet at the hostel in Doolin which has a hidden tower so no pictures again, sorry!
Last night we went to McGann's and had seafood chowder and Guinness and Irish music. It was great, better than our pub experience in Dingle which was basically all Americans drinking Miller. This was definitely more authentic and they did this Irish-pub-music-rendition of U2's 'Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' - gorgeous!
Today we went to the next biggest town closest to here (last night we went to buy groceries in Doolin and they didn't even have a Spar! Or a bank machine so we had about 24 euro to our name, which will still buy 2 seafood chowders and a pint and a half of Guinness) Listoodervin or something close to that, but they didn't have an ATM (although they did have a grocery store) so we had to head to Ennistymon where there was an ATM (happy days!) and a Spar.
Then we were off to the Burren which is a national park that is basically all limestone. The ground is rock with tufts of grass and the limestone has worn in lines and things so some of the limestone sticks up and there's these deep lines in the rock (like 2-3 feet deep). It's like nothing I've ever seen although if I lived here I would rename it the Brrrrren because it is still so cold. The wind blew a hole in my ear, I'm sure of it.
We saw a stone fort, Caherconnel (gaelic lesson: 'caher' is 'rock' and 'rath' is 'earth') and a dolmen, a stone burial monument thing. Both date back to 500-1300 BC. It is such a strange feeling to actually contemplate the fact that 3000 years ago, human hands touched these stones, walked on this ground. This trip has been very humbling in many ways and the history is definitely one of them.
Anyway, we stay in a hostel in the middle of the Burren tomorrow, Clare's Rock. Should be good for pics.
Hopefully we'll be able to post some more pictures soon!
I got dirt in my mouth at the Cliffs of Moher
We left Dingle today and drove toward the sun. I feel like I've been cold since we've been here but I know there's been at least 2 days when my face got a bit sunburnt. Right now the sun is shining in Doolin, where we're staying tonight, but the wind is pretty frigid. We are at a very cute hostel, Aille River, I think.
We went to Bunratty Winery today and tasted mead, which is very good, no wonder it's the drink of the High Kings of Ireland (or was). We also tasted an Irish moonshine, Potooch? Something like that, it's pretty strong but it's been illegal from the 1600's to the early 90's and is only now allowed to be brewed by approved places. That doesn't stop people, though, so I hear.
We also went to the Cliffs of Moher which is a huge gong show - there's basically construction everywhere so that if you go back there next year at this time you'll get the 'Cliffs of Moher' experience which will be a visitor's centre and restaurant and more fences to keep you away from the cliffs themselves. Oh, and it'll probably cost you 8 euro or something. They were beautiful but the devleopment is kind of sad. The wind was fearsome and I could see how a small child could be swept off the cliffs. Very thrilling, though, too.
Anyway, we're here for the next two nights and have internet access. Yay! More to come soon, wish you could all be here :)
-Michelle
Another pic
Stupid blogger only lets you put up 5 at a time.
Dingle (ha ha)!
Ugh - lost my big post! Stupid IE.... now I'm gonna have to cut this short. Anyway, last night we stayed in a hostel along the Ring of Kerry owned by the smartest Irishman in Ireland - he had five busloads of tourists this morning paying him for the privelige of watching him round up his sheep. He also owned a pub, a quarry and was somehow connected with the post office.
So the weather finally broke today as we finished the Ring of Kerry and got onto the Dingle peninsula. We stopped at some amazing beaches - the Inch sand spit is 5km long and is a giant dune field with amazing surf... and after that we found a tiny beach off the beaten path with a castle and a quarry at it. The quarry just happened to be full of quartz crystals - which brought out a silver lining to all the rain we've had. Without any tools, we could only forage for the crystals, and the rain had exposed them in the dirt. Michelle found an amazing aggregate of scepters, and the whole ground was gleaming with tiny ones. And did I mention the castle? And the beach?
The answer to the last post, btw, is Dr. Pepper. It is the sparkling fruit flavored soda here. ??? Seriously.
Here's some pictures of the last few days. This takes forever on Blogger but we'll try to get some more up soon.
Quick update
We're in Kenmare now and heading to the Ring of Kerry today. The weather has been complete crap for the last couple of days but it's supposed to be a bit nicer today and supposedly a bunch nicer tomorrow. We've had no internet access since we left Cork, and are now in a tiny library with 10 minutes of internet time. So, see if you can guess what North American product is described by "Sparkling fruit flavored soda" here in Europe.
-Morgan
Toast Toppers
The only problem with Michelle's post is she's leaving out the coolest stuff. We took all the back roads from Rathdrum to Waterford and we found tons of crazy stuff - old Monastic sites with round towers, random ruins, old country pubs with Irish farmers in them, etc.
The cave that we visited had a history of being attacked by Vikings and there was a cache of coins and human bones and stuff found in it. Vikings! Also, I'm pretty sure we found where the Banshee lives at, luckily it was daylight. There might be zombies there at night too, some of the crypts were cracked open, probably by zombie hands.
So, to recap - zombies, banshees, vikings, caves, cool Irish guys, monks, ruins and beer.
And Michelle's not kidding about the rain. It is not just raining, everything is made out of rain. Also, we stayed at a hostel last night in Dungvargan, and I'm pretty sure that that's where the movie "Hostel" was filmed. It was pretty sketchy. The town was pretty cool though, it was our first south seaside town - the ocean is quite different here than it is in BC. It's icy blue-ish coloured and quite clear.
Okay, to finish off, I will leave you with a list of foodstuffs we have seen, and you can try to guess what they are.
Easy: "Toast Toppers", "Fruit Pastilles", "Nobby's Crisps", "Brown Sauce"
Medium: "Black Pudding", "Biopot"
I'll add more later.
-Morgan
Corkholio
Hi everyone, we're posting from Cork. We're here to do some shopping, that is if we don't get swept away by the rain. There really are multiple types of rain here in Ireland. Today is a combination of sheeting and pouring.
We've had our car for a couple of days now. It's this cute Ford Fiesta that looks nothing like a N. American Ford Fiesta. It smells all nice and new and has like 2500 km on it or something. The roads here are a bit scary. Basically, the national motorways are the equivalent of West Saanich Road/Grandview Bench road (for those of you who know either of those roads). Narrow, winding but with a speed limit of 80 km/hr. Dirt tracks have posted speed limits of 80 km/hr but Morgan's getting to be an old pro and the roundabouts are no big deal now.
We spent the night in Rathdrum, about an hour south of Dublin the night before last. Then we headed to Kilkenny to see the Dunmore caves and then stopped in Kells to see this old priory. It was fabulous and we'd post pictures except that the camera is in the car while we swim around Cork.
Yesterday's fun also took us to Waterford to see the crystal. It was very shiny and pretty and expensive.
Today we have managed to get to Cork and we're planning on heading to Kinsale next, maybe for the night. Tomorrow night we're in Kenmare and the beginning of the Ring of Kerry.
There really are old men here wearing newsboy hats (or whatever they're called), argyle sweater vests and carrying canes while smoking pipes. As we get further south-west, some of the accents are harder to understand but we're doing ok.
K, I'm off and Morgan wants to make his own post - the good news is we are still getting along swimmingly :) That's really just for Treava who said this would be a test of sorts.
Hopefully we'll be able to post some pics soon!
Michelle
Comment away
Oops, just realised only 'registered users' could comment so I changed that setting for all of you we know and love who may not have an id to comment.
So anyone can comment now, hopefully we don't get spammed but it will be worth it if we hear from some of you :)
-Michelle
Norn Iron
We survived our 3-day whirlwind tour of Northern Ireland! The Paddywagon tour was pretty good, the only thing we have to complain about really was the hostels. Especially in Belfast - "J.J from New York", the hostel owner, was pretty psychotic. He stomped around swearing his head off for about 3 hours straight last night, and when I finally stuck my head out and asked him to keep it down, he swore at me and "reckoned he could do what he wanted". It was pretty sketchy.
So our tour started in Dublin and headed north with a couple neat stops at Drogheda, where we saw a 300 year old decapitated head in a glass box. Oh yeah, this was in a church, right next to the altar. Poor Oliver Plunkett has to suffer thousands of tourists peering at his noggin now, but I feel more sorry for the people trying to worship in the church. Kind of a weird attraction if you ask me.
After that we stopped in a beautiful graveyard that is built at the site of an old monastery ("Monistaire Boies" in Gaelic), and the site of the largest Celtic Cross in Ireland, and one of the round towers that the monks used to hide in when the Vikings came plundering.
We spent the night in Derry ("Ireland's most historic city"), which is a pretty fascinating place. It's where Bloody Sunday occurred, and is still the site of much conflict. The river divides the Catholics and the Protestants, but the conflict is less about religion than it is about ousting the British rule. Oh, and Seamus Heaney was born there....
Next day we went to the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-reed rope bridge. Despite the complete lack of any giants, the Causeway is probably the biggest highlight of the tour for me. Rocks in cool shapes? Sign me up! Some pics are below.
After that we spent our last day in Belfast, which wasn't too enjoyable, but we did an interesting tour of the murals and the "Peace Wall". The Peace wall is essentially Belfast's very own Berlin wall - again, Catholics on one side, Protestants on the other. We saw them building massive piles of wood for the Orangeman Marches in the summer (where the Protestants burn effigies of the pope) and the headquarters of Sinn Fein, and stood in the heart of the neighborhoods controlled by the UFF & UDA. Pretty crazy stuff.
Okay, some pictures - first one is me at the giant's causeway, second one is a mural in belfast, third one is the coast of ireland near the Carrick-a-reed bridge, fourth is our tour group and the fifth is michelle at the Giant's Causeway.
We're Here
Hey we made it and things are fabulous. We're in Derry for the evening but we're not supposed to be using the hostel 'puter for anything but email. We're rule-breakers, though, so at least you know we're alive.
More soon!
-M
Up and Running...or Walking...or Whatever
So here is our soon-to-be-delightful travel blog where we will dazzle you with our sometimes moving, sometimes touching stories of travelling the Emerald Isle.
We are leaving Vancouver at 3:35 pm on Wednesday May 10 and will be arriving in London at 10:55 am May 11. We will then run to the RyanAir checkin for our 1:30 flight to Dublin. We arrive in Dublin at 3:00 or something like that and will stumble to our hostel to get a bit o' shuteye before our tour leaves the next morning at 8 am. Whew, makes me tired just writing it.
Stay tuned :)
