Ireland: 1999

ward Clifden, seeing Corrib Lake, with its drumlins, on the way. Connemara Bog, a wild wooly place, is full of sheep and peat. We find the sky road and drive above the bay in Clifden. There are beautiful views of craggy cliffs and blue water framed by green. The area is rather stark with few trees. The green is broken up by clumps of rock. We find a lovely B&B, Ardmore's, which has a path leading from the back door right to a craggy cliff. I find a perch and sketch for a while; Tony explores and takes pictures. Later we go into town. Clifden is tucked in between hills and overlooks the bay. The storefronts are colorfully painted, each door different, and the steeples of two big churches are the high points of the town. We dine on open crab sandwiches at Mannion's Bar. It is still light at 9:30 pm, so we walk the town.

Thursday, June 3 (Westport)

We start our day with another big Irish breakfast (toast, eggs, bacon, broiled tomato, juice, coffee. (Cereal, yogurt, fruit are also available). Fortified, we head to Connemara National Park where we can learn about peat. There is a video and a visitor's center display. Peat is the result of burning forests. The charcoal stopped drainage; the water collected and the organic matter rotted. Moss grew on top of that. It all built up over the years, and v

ies. The cliffs are gorgeous. On to the Ceide archaeological site, the largest 3000 B.C. stone age site in the world. The stones were found 1.5 meters beneath the peat. We take a guided tour. The site needs a lot more study. The visitor center has a good exhibit where one can learn even more about peat.

We drive over a lovely bridge on the way to Sligo and easily find a B&B. The Kamal Mahal Indian restaurant provides us very good Bhiryani vegetarian and lamb dishes.

Saturday, June 5 (Sligo)

Our B&B host is full of information so we talk over a leisurely big breakfast then drive out to Rosses Point to see some Yeats stuff -- ruined summer house of

This morning we do our wash which cost 8 punts ($11.20). I sketch at Market Square while waiting. We pack up and drive toward Giants' Causeway in the the North. First stop -- Griajan's Aileech, a big 1700 BC Ring Fort with beautiful vistas of the hills. It is a gorgeous day and the colors are exquisite. We drive to Giants' Causeway which reminds us of Devils' Postpile. We take a long walk on the piles downward. The story is that Finn McCool picked a fight with a Scottish giant who was bigger than expected. The wife dressed Finn as a baby. The scared giant retreated, tearing up the causeway behind him. There are 162 steps up. A cool wind is blowing, but it's sunny and colorful. We have great carrot and cheese cake at the coffee shop. Then we go on the long walk to the rope bridge, but the bridge is closed. Good thing the walk was beautiful with views of spectacular white cliffs.

On to the infamous Derry, site of a lot of violence during the "troubles." We park and walk the walls. There is lots of graffiti visible. People in the South encouraged us to come North, but it is obvious this is not the friendly open atmosphere of the South. The town appears to close up at night so we wind up eating at a fast food place outside the walls.

Wednesday, June 9 (Carrickmacross)

We have a fine breakfast chat with Mary and Stephen of Dublin. She's exploring Donegal because a character in her book grew up there.

At the tourist office we try to reserve a place in Dun Lougharej, but the tourist office wants a fee so we go back to ask Margaret at the B&B to get us a place. She finds one in Shankill, south of Dublin, for three days.

We go to Glenreah but go off the track for a while so we don't take the house tour. We watch a video then walk the castle grounds and look at exhibits. Then there is a personal tour of the mills where we learn all about making flax and milling grain.

Next stop -- Ulster --- the American Folk Park near Omagh. The first half is old world -- one room thatched cottages, standard fare for the poor, turf fire and all. 28 stops. Very good replica of emigrant ship. New World Switches to wood. Park funded by Mellon whose family came from this place. Later we stop at the Valley Lodge Pub in Carrickmacross where we watch football on pub tv.

Thursday, June 10 (Shankill, McNamee's B&B)

Our Carrickmacross pub was not as jolly as others. After leaving, our first stop is Monnsterboice, originally 5th century. Remaining pieces are from the 10th a

day begins with our usual breakfast and a nice chat with a South Carolina family who asked for touring tips. We walk to the DART circuitously. All the houses look alike, mostly big stucco duplexes like our B&B (McNamee's Place). The beginning of the DART ride is very scenic -- Kiliney, Dun Laoghaine. The rest of the ride is less scenic, but the DART is quick and efficient and soon we're in central Dublin.

We walk a few streets, see the post office and the O'Connell statue. Then we go to the Abbey theater which is a new (1960's) ugly yellow building. We get 2 tickets for Dancing at Loughnasa by Brian Friel, Ireland's playwright of the moment. Then we wend our way to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. We wait in line and then pay 9 punts to view the grand book, but the exhibit is very informative, and the book is indeed very beautiful. It is opened but inside a glass case so we see only the two pages opened today. We also go into the long room of the library which is full of very old books and a bust of Jonathan Swift, among others.

We have green pea soup at Bewley's which was once quite lovely, but the linoleum is worn and the velvet is holey so it's a bit on the seedy side now. Dublin, in general, is a hodgepodge of buildings. The sidewalks are too narrow for all the people and double-decker buses are everywhere, spewing emissions. People walk and smoke or talk on their little phones and some seem to want to walk right into you. After soup we go up to the National Gallery and see the Yeats room -- mostly Jack, but stuff from all the artistic Yeats, including William Butler. Quite impressive.

We stop for cappuccino and chocolate and then saunter around the Temple Bar area. We eat at SuperMacs and go to the play where we have great center seats. The play is told by a narrator about his life growing up with his unmarried mother and four aunts. Pretty good. The language is very nice. We wish they had another Irish dancing scene. After the play we walk to the DART, get off in Shankill, walk across the field and around the neighborhood to our B&B.

Saturday, June 12 (Shankill, McNamee's)

We start our day with a breakfast chat with three young German bikers. They've been all over, speak excellent English, have had multiple trips to the States. They say they did not like Cork.

During our second Dublin day we walk our feet off. First to the DART. The train comes immediately. It's a beautiful sunny day and everything looks brighter than yesterday. There are again lots of people on sidewalks, mostly young, bustling, smoking, cellphone talking. Walking is a kind of game of chicken. You have to hold your place; people don't look like they'll get out of the way. The dress code is mostly American sloppy. There's lots of deconstruction and construction going on. In general the tone is lively disorder.

We start our tour at the Hughey Lane Gallery of Modern Art, a nice museum with a kind of mishmash collection. The most modern stuff, such as "Breathing Boy," is in the front. There is lots of Roderick O'Connor, Ireland's impressionist, and a lot of well-known artists such as Corot, and Manet.

Then to St. Mary's Abbey, stuck in between ugly stuff and open only on Wednesdays and Sundays. Luckily we're near Dublin Castle. We take the excellent tour. The castle which was built on top of a Viking castle on Black Pool, started in Norman times as part of a small walled city that held 11,000 people. When the castle moat area was excavated, they found 3000 human skulls, probably guys who tried to impregnate the walls and their heads were put on spikes to warn others not to try it. We see the later parts of the castle which are still being used for official functions. The bedrooms have recently welcomed Hillary Clinton and Nelson among others. The interiors are very beautiful. We learn that Ireland had to turn their harp around to use it as a national symbol since the Guinness people had first dibs.

Next stop St. Patrick's Cathedral, mostly famous for Jonathan Swift who was dean there for over thirty years and who is buried next to his best friend, Stella. Then to Temple Bar and Fitzsimons to hear local music and see Irish dancing. The pub is crammed. We sit on cold radiators and hold our glasses as we breathe in smoke, but the dancing is great.

Out on the street, we buy long sausage-filled baguettes and eat them in the square. Lots of people on pub crawls, local youth and tourists, very lively, semi-bohemian. Dublin's attraction is its pubs they say. It is also notable for its statuary such as the statue of the Nymph of Liffey, or as the Irish call her "the whore of the sewer," Molley Malone, the tart with the cart, Daniel O'Connell, the liberator, and James Joyce and other writers. One comes upon statues unexpectedly sometimes. They seem very much a part of the place.

We walk to St. Stephen's Green and see the fashionable part of Ireland. We pop into the Shelbourne Hotel for a rest and watch the well-to-do. We walk among the stately Georgian houses, past the parliament building and back through the Trinity College area. As usual, we exhaust ourselves and are grateful to sit, on the DART ride back.

Sunday, June 13 (Waterford)

We have another spirited conversation with the German bikers at breakfast. They all work for multinational companies. One biker hit a pothole and it cost 700 pounds to fix his bike.

We leave at about 11 A.M. but the allergy strikes Tony so we stop and he buys Clarityn over the counter. Then on to Glendalough

--"Between two lakes" -- where St. Kevin had his monastery. We watch the video which is about monasteries, in general, and go on a large guided tour, mostly bus people, to see the major sites of the old monastery city. The guide is only adequate, and it is grey and misting so things do not sparkle. I do a nice sketch of an old church with a tower. Tony goes in the visitor center. I later find him sitting, trying to quiet his allergy. We leave Glendalough about 3:45, stopping along the way in a run-down town for bad coffee and good apple tart. We continue driving toward the waterfront, passing through a few towns. The most scenic part of the drive is the Valley of Avoca and the Valley of Clara. Both have a tall tree shading the road. People are out walking or biking. This is the most forested part of Ireland that we have seen, and we enjoy the drive through the Wicklow mountains.

We find our B&B near the Waterford factory. We have dinner at the Sizzler's Restaurant facing the Quay. We'll do the Waterford tour first thing in the morning tomorrow and then on to Cork.

We're getting a sense of the history of Ireland from prehistoric 3000 BC neolithic which was agricultural and used wool. Then came the Christian monastic era, then the Vikings. The Vikings and the Irish mix up; then the Normans come in the 1160's. The Irish become dominated for 700 years till 1922, and they are still working on making a nation.

Monday, June 14 (Seamus, Cork, John & Barbara Sweney)

We call John and Barbara Sweney in Seamus, Cork, and arrange to meet them at the Hawthorn Pub near the lough (lake) between 5 and 6 P.M. We go to the Waterford factory and pay for the one hour tour on the factory floor. We see each stage of manufacture and are very impressed with the craftsmanship. We spend time in the showroom but do not buy anything. We have no passion for heavy crystal.

On to Kilkenny, Ireland's best preserved medieval city. We walk the town a bit, sign up for the tour but do not want to wait for it. We have a nice lunch in a bakery. I have apple tart with cream; Tony has soup.

We drive toward the rock of Cashel which is most impressive from a distance. It sits up like Mont St. Michel. Much of the ruin has been restored. We catch up with a good tour, but by now we know a lot of the background lore. There is an interesting secret passageway that goes all around the place. From it you could get to any room.

Tony's allergy kicks up a bit so we sit quietly in the parking lot for a while and then drive to Cork. The road gets bigger, but we go too far and have to come back. We ask a few people where the lough is. We find the pub but no John and Barbara so we get directions to their house and there they are. We have a nice reunion, very pleasant supper -- salmon spaghetti.

Tuesday, June 15 (Seamus,Cork, John & Barbara Sweney)

John goes out to the bakery early so we have fresh scones for breakfast along with a pleasant chat catching up on the last 25 years of our several lives. They call the O'Sullivans whom we know from PR and make a lunch date with them. John then goes his way and Barbara walks us toward town, first through a grey, rather poor townhouse area which gradually gets into more colorful storefronts and sneaky alleyways finally leading to the bustling and colorful city center. We spend time at the antique shop owned by Barbara's friend and then continue walking the streets, ending at the university where we meet John and Nancy and Mike and Emily. We all eat at the sandwich shop where we have a chance to catch up on Nancy and Mike's adventures.

After lunch John again goes his way and we walk back, stopping at the market to buy bread, tomatoes, olives, artichokes and cooked rolled chicken breast. Before returning to the Sweney place, we meet John at the Hawthorn Pub for a pint and some more chat. We have a nice dinner to end a lovely day.

Wednesday, June 16 (Seamus,Cork, John & Barbara Sweney)

f for Queen Maeve's cairn. It is brisk but clear with spells of sunshine. There is a nice 45 minute hike up with beautiful views. On top of the cairn the vistas are even more spectacular, but the winds are cold. The walk down is very pleasant with lovely colors and shadows. We decide to drive to Parke Castle. I sketch while Nicole and Miriam take the tour. We enjoy coffee and scones in the tea room and then drive on to Banada. While the weather is cold and variably sunny, the scenery looks beautiful. We find the house with the green garage door, right where we were two days ago. We meet Peggy and Sean Owens and then their son Siedna (the farmer). We look at lots of pictures. Miriam and Peggy discuss relationships. Tony talks with Sean and we view his projects. He has just retired from 45 years as an elementary teacher. We have tea with delicious rhubarb pie and cream. The rhubarb was grown on their farm.

Sean takes us in his car to see the farm across the street. They have 60 Charlevoix cows and gardens where they grow potatoes and lots of vegetables. Then we see the duck race on the River Moy, then the old people's village, and the church. We say goodbye to Sean, and Peggy takes us to see the homestead where the grandfathers were born -- Thomas and Michael. It's an old, no longer used, farmhouse. Peggy leads us back to the road and we go on to Westport. There is some confusion with B&B's, but we finally get to Marian O'Malley's place around 9:00. We go out to dinner at Sol Rio, a good Italian place, then back to Marians and to bed.

Monday, June 21 (Lahinch, Le Bord de Mer B&B)

We have the usual good breakfast and chat with Marian who tells us about her 4 children. We take off about 11:00.

The first stop Aisleigh Falls. The rhododendren are no longer in their prime, but it's a glorious crisp day, and the falls look grand. On to

Connemara National Park where I sketch Diamond Hill in the beautiful sun while Tony, Miriam, and Nicole do the Visitor Center. Then on to the Sky Road in Clifden which was one of our first sights when we arrived three weeks ago. They have since widened the road. We enjoy the gorgeous views. We park in Clifden and walk to Mannion's Pub for some good pub food. The waitress is dumb; my curry is good; Nicole watches guys.

We drive past Galway to Bally Vaughan where we stop at Monk's Pub for the third time. The turf fire is still burning, the coffee is fresh, and the guys are cute.

We have reserved two rooms in Lahinch and this B&B turns out to be our most picturesque. The dining room is all windows looking out on a beach. The owners' name is O'Brien, but Annie is very French. Desmond is a lawyer and a golfer. Our room has a loft with a double bed with sea view. We decide to stay a second night.

Tuesday, June 22 (Le Bord de Mer B&B, La Hinch)

My birthday dawns very soft and breezy (or wet and cold). Lovely breakfast -- smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, cereal, etc. We meet Desmond O'Brien's wife, Annie, who is French and charming. They met on the golf course in La Hinch, have two children, 8 and 18 and a dog named Max. Annie teaches crafts and French.

We take off for the C