Category Archives: Ireland

Ireland

June 21, 2013 · 9:27 pm

Dublin again

Reading cage in Marsh’s Library, Dublin

I saw more the next morning before I left Dublin than I did the whole day before; being a lovey day I walked to Marsh’s Library just behind St Particks cathedral. All their books are older than European settlement of Australia – how mind-boggling is that? It’s very much smaller and less well-known than the Long Room but a really interesting place. They keep the door locked and you have to ring a bell to be allowed in where the old gent gives you a little introduction and warns you not to lean over the ropes and touch the books! It’s all very quaint. They too have cabinets down the middle of the room with selected items on display; at the moment they are all science related and contain books by Galileo and Darwin. Apparently everything is quite unchanged since it was built three hundred years ago, even the three reading cages where you were locked to read any of the small books – obviously human nature hasn’t changed that much!!

I had a lovely time there and spent quite a while talking to a couple of the staff about all sorts, including their Facebook page; they are considering an adopt a book program to try to raise more funds, check them out.

Breakfast of coffee and warm apple pie at a cosy café just nearby went down well. Then I called in to a funky little shop called the Jam Art Factory and the guy in there was in for a huge chat too. Seems almost everyone you talk to over here has a family member in Australia; his sister has been over there for almost a year now. Anyhow he told me about a little church to go have a look at not far away, but off the beaten track, St Werburghs Church. I wasn’t sure I had the correct place, it really didn’t look like a church, but later I found out the towers had been demolished because of the security risk due to its proximity to Dublin Castle. Talk about a find, it was a great place and there was a guy there who once I asked him one question kept me entertained for almost an hour. It has such an interesting history and has only been open for visitors last summer and a couple of weeks this year.

I still had time spare so-called in to the Chester Beatty Library; I only looked at the Art of the Book section – what an awesome collection, but all behind glass cabinets in darkened temperature controlled rooms, so it did feel a tad sterile after being at Marsh’s library a few hours earlier where everything is so old and just there, with that old book smell all around you.

Anyhow, by now I had to hot-foot it back to collect my gear and get to the ferry port. At the train station I was asking the ticket guy why they had two names for the ferry port, Dublin and Dun Loaghaire – he looked at me strangely and said there’s two ferry ports!!! Well, f’n hell, I was all set to go a few stops on the train to Dun Loaghaire when in fact I had to find a cab and take a ten quid taxi ride to Dublin Ferry Port!! Almost had a major stuff-up there, thank goodness for all those questions I ask everyone.

The cabbie was one of those talkative ones so we had a great chat on the way and by the time we arrived my heart was back where it belonged and beating regularly again – not a million miles an hour like it was when told there were two different ferry ports. Oh well, it’s back to England now and looking forward to a week in the Lakes District.

Interesting plaque in St Wehburgh’s Church

John Mulgrave, the African boy rescued from a slave ship and buried at St Wehburgh’s Church, Dublin

Rather old fire engine at Werburgh’s Church, Dublin

Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

in Temple Bar, Dublin

Window of a clock shop in Dublin

Such elaborate parts to blocks of flats and interesting street names, Dublin

Frontage of the Olympia Theatre, Dublin

at the gardens of Dublin Castle

Dublin Castle

Stories on the walls of the Iveagh buildings in Dublin

Dublin

Buildings in Dublin

Queen of Tarts, Dublin

Streetlights in Dublin

Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society, Dublin

The orange and the green, Dublin

6 Comments

Filed under Ireland, Mid-life travel, Travel

Tagged as Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, female solo travel, Marsh's Library, solo travel, St Wehburgh's Church

June 17, 2013 · 10:01 pm

Two days in Dublin

Rosslare beach

Turns out Rosslare is more than just a ferry port – who knew? I had to wait around for the train this morning so took a drive down to the real town and beach. It’s quite cute and one of the nicest beaches I’ve seen in Ireland; and to think I’ve been here twice and wasn’t even going to look around – one of those hidden treasures people always talk about.

Ahhhh, bliss!!! Back on a train with nothing to do but sit back and relax while heading up to Dublin and a five or ten minute walk to my hostel.

Staying anywhere but Temple Bar was out of the question, Barnacles Temple House is where I ended up for 2 nights – in a single room though, I’m way to old to enjoy sharing.

The Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin

I’m also becoming a pro at ticking one thing off my to do list on the afternoon I arrive, so dumped my gear and headed off to find Trinity College and the Old Library. Got a bargain too, because there was only half an hour left until closing, the entry fee was half price – saved a whole £4.50!!. As I wasn’t that interested in the Book of Kells, I was happy with that. I don’t get tired of seeing the different architecture of these lovely old buildings, and the books – you can smell them, it’s divine! They have cabinets down the middle of the room with a selection of items from the library, the inks display really grabbed my attention but I had plenty of time to have a squiz at all of them. I was so tempted downstairs in the shop to buy something but managed to curb myself!!

Found a nice pub in Temple Bar for dinner and listened to the music for a while before heading back to the hostel where I joined the other nerds and caught up on blogging – well, not caught up, but put in some time writing!

Rosslare could be a tad windy I think

Rosslare

Old Guinness ad

Who’d want to be a spinner? Found in a pub in Dublin

And the organ grinders had to sleep in the wash house!

Great food and music

The Long Room at the Old Library, Dublin

The Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin

Inks display at the Old Library

At Trinity College Dublin

Another skylight, Barnacles Tempe House, Dublin

16th May 2013

Guinness vat

I really didn’t feel like sightseeing today, but couldn’t bring myself to not see as much as I could in my short stay, so braved the cold and rain to find the nearest hop on hop off bus stop. Everywhere and everyone rates the Guinness Storehouse tour as one of the top attractions here so that’s where I spent the next couple of hours. It was interesting, looks like they’ve essentially gutted the inside of the building but left interesting features and machinery intact. The circular seventh floor is pretty neat with a round bar in the centre of the room with 6 big Guinness taps and glass windows all around for a great view of the city. Your entry fee gives you access to the whole place and a pint of Guinness. It’s not that popular a drink at home and I was absolutely amazed at the number of people lining up for their free pint – my ticket still has the free drink stub attached!

It really was a miserable day so I stayed on the bus until we arrived back in the city and then just wandered back to the hostel for an early night – put earplugs in and slept like a log.

The 7th floor bar at the Guiness Storehouse, Dublin

Guinness Storehouse

At the Storehouse in Dublin

Vintage at Guinness Storehouse

Now that’s a lot of barley

Water, 8 million litres a day from the Wicklow Mountains

Bottle display at the Storehouse

And miles of merchandise at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin

The 7th floor bar at the Guinness Storehouse, Dublin

River Liffey in Dublin

Music in the Temple Bar, Dublin

Iconic Temple Bar, Dublin

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Filed under Ireland, Mid-life travel, Northern Ireland, Travel

Tagged as Dublin, Guinness Storehouse, Rosslare, Temple Bar, Trinity College

June 8, 2013 · 9:36 pm

Galway

11th May 2013

Market stall in Galway

I was up and at ’em early today, Galway was almost deserted when I started walking around the town – very unusual for me to beat anyone out the door. Even some of the market stalls were still setting up as I walked through. There was a stall with big wooden tubs full of different types of olives and peppers, and a shop with more cheeses than I’ve seen in one place before – very tempting, even early in the morning.

After running out of sights around the town centre I headed over for a look at the Spanish Arch and then spent some quality time in the museum – although not large, it’s a mine of Irish information.

One of the saddest stories I came across was about the execution, for mutiny, of a soldier by the name of James Joseph Daly in 1920. Long story short, Irish soldiers serving in the British Army in India started receiving news of the savage treatment being handed out to supporters of Irish freedom by a special troop of British soldiers, called the Black and Tans, back in Ireland; at first they just refused to carry out orders in protest, but one thing led to another, and in the end, fourteen of them were sentenced to death and many more received long prison sentences. Only one of these death sentences was actually carried out, JJ Daly was shot in November 1920 as a result of his belief in the fight for Irish Freedom. No matter what your beliefs are about the Irish struggles it’s a sad, thought provoking story, well worth reading the link above.

Corrib River, Galway, Ireland

I’d seen a tiny café just outside the museum that overlooked the river, it looked a good spot for a hot chocolate and some quiet time to maybe try my hand at a sketch. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I walked inside. It was full to bursting with tables tucked in every nook and people standing waiting for tables; but the staff were lovely and soon had me ensconced at a table with hot chocolate and piece of cake – you need to keep your strength up with all this travelling, don’t you?

As the weather was positively horrid I decided to take a drive to a place over on the coast that someone had recommended; apparently it’s where the locals go – Clifden. I drove through another very special part of Ireland on the way, the Connemara; all gorgeous grasslands, rivers and round hills. While walking off my lunch, I found an art gallery with some unusual mixed media pieces and asked the guy there whether they were a local artist’s work; turns out they were his and he owned the gallery. He was such a nice guy and in for a huge chat about all sorts of things, from scrapbooking to the state of Irelands welfare system; it seems no matter where we live we all have a moan about the same topics. He was showing me his stash of bits and pieces he has cut from books and magazines and I said he must be an excellent “fussy cutter” – a term some scrap-bookers I know use for cutting out around intricate shapes. He was rather impressed with the term, so, there you go, Lisa Kamphuis, the queen of fussy cutting, there’s a quite successful Irish artist using fussy cutting in his pieces. This is a link to his website, Gavin Lavelle, but this is a good site for him too.

Galway in the morning

I wasn’t quite brave enough to take any different roads back but the scenery is all so different that I wasn’t bored with it at all – and I managed to stop at a deserted cottage for some photos. I took a few outside then walked up to a partly boarded up window to have a look inside; I’m not sure who got the biggest fright, me or the sheep inside – but I did get a shot of them so it was all good. I also called in at a little pub I’d remembered seeing that overlooked the ocean just out of Galway for a very healthy dinner of a plate of chips and glass of red wine. Don’t you love not having to cook for other people and being able to have something totally inappropriate for dinner?

Yay, a deserted house I can explore

The story of James Daly, Galway Museum

Galway in the morning

Can’t remember why I took this but it looks kinda cool, the sigh points one way and the road is going the other

Spanish Arch and city walls in Galway, Ireland

Resting at the mouth of the Corrib River, Galway

the Connemara between Galway and the coast of Ireland

Market stall in Galway

On the way to Clifden, Ireland

just a tad overcast in Clifden, Ireland

Bits and pieces under the Spanish Arch, Galway, Ireland

Corrib River, Galway, Ireland

Cheese shop in Galway, Ireland

8 Comments

Filed under Ireland, Mid-life travel, Travel

Tagged as Clifden, Connemara, Galway, Gavin Lavelle, Irish Freedom, James Joseph Daly, Spanish Arch

June 5, 2013 · 8:49 pm

The Cliffs of Moher – or maybe less

10th May 2013

I got out of Ennis easily, yay for me – is it a wee bit sad when one of the highlights of my day is finding my way out of a town of only about 26,000 people? It probably is but I’ll take any victory I can when it comes to navigating at the moment. The things you don’t think about – oh yeah, I’ll get a car in Ireland, buy an ordinance map book and off we go. That’s alright for getting between places, it’s when I have to find a street address in the towns and get back out again that the trouble sets in – and you can bet your bottom dollar that’s when I won’t be able to get internet, grrrrr.

Visitor centre at Cliffs of Moher

According to google it was only about 45 minutes to The Cliffs of Moher visitor centre, however I took a couple of hours with my habit of being tempted to go the long way. It reminds me of the Twelve Apostles in Victoria, there’s a massive car park on one side of the road and visitor centre on the other with paths to the best viewing spots along the cliffs. Because I had to be in Doolin for my boat trip at 12, I sort of rushed around the visitor centre, and I have to admit, most times the geographical and scientific history is fairly low on the interest scale for me. Another reason I don’t spend much time in the visitor centres is that I can neither afford to buy, or have enough room to carry, souvenirs of everywhere I visit. Then I hot-footed it up to the cliffs – and almost got blown away – it was amazingly windy out in the open, you actually had to bend into the wind going up and got blown down on the way back.

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

The cliffs themselves reminded me of the cliffs along the Nullabor at home but there the land all around is dusty and mostly brown. Here, they really are a spectacular sight, and everything around is just so green; it’s just like you expect Ireland to be. So, acting like a real tourist, I took my photos, oohed and aahed, then rushed back to the car and took off for Doolin.

You are not going to believe this next bit, I kid you not. Using my exceptional navigational and time management skills, I arrived at the harbour with fifteen minutes to spare, (yay me again), waltzed over to the correct tour company office and presented myself for the 12 o’clock boat tour. The girl just looked at me blankly and said, “but, there’s no tide”. Mmmmm, sorry that doesn’t compute with me, what do you mean? She then told me that they need a certain height tide to be able to get the boats in and out – and today was NOT one of those days. I just stood there with my mouth open, I could not believe this was happening AGAIN. She said she was most amazed that I had been able to book online through their website for that time and that I could go on their 3 o’clock one, if the wind died down and they were able to go. Swear word, swear word, swear word – I was so looking forward to seeing the cliffs from the sea, and I haven’t kept count, but this must be about the fifth place I have gone to that hasn’t been open or running since I arrived in Ireland. She said the way the weather was she doubted if they would even go out later so I asked her to arrange a refund and left for Galway.

The Burren in County Clare, Ireland

Even though I missed out on my boat trip, I did have a good day. I always find something along the way to make up for the disappointing parts; some brightly painted doors, a ruin, nice people or just the amazing scenery. I drove through an area called the Burren, roughly meaning rocky place, which was quite spectacular too, although very different to the cliffs.

I was so confident about finding my way through Galway, had my directions all sorted, I’d find it no trouble – nah, not to be, I’m f’n positive there’s a f’n curse on me, fair dinkum, I’m positive!!! I did get to Galway and through the city okay, followed my directions to Salthills fine; it’s a suburb the other side of the city. Then do you think I could find a street called Ocean Wave, Salthills? It seemed it was off the esplanade somewhere, I drove along the esplanade and back through the high street three or four times, I stopped and tried searching google maps again, I drove around the correct area again – twice, and still couldn’t find this bloody Ocean Wave street. Then all of a sudden I saw The White House, the place I was trying to find; still no sign of a street sign saying Ocean Wave, but I had arrived!!!

My room is tiny but cute, with a big skylight over the bed; and you have to admire the ingenuousness of some people – the bathroom is no more than 2 foot wide and probably 6 foot long with a sloping roof over the toilet end. Sarah and I stayed in a place in Mykonos with the smallest shower I’ve even seen; where you wouldn’t be game to bend over if you dropped your soap for fear of ending up with a tap injury. Well this one doesn’t even have room for taps, being less than two of my feet square – it has a thing set into the wall with the controls. And tonight I get to sleep under the stars – except it’s still raining, but with the cover drawn back on the skylight I can always pretend the stars are out.