See many of the pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coreyheitzmd/collections/72157631665277151/
Monday, October 1, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Final Days - 7 and 8, Boyne, Trim and Dublin
Sorry for the delay in these updates! The iPad decided it needed a vacation as well, and stayed in Trim after we left. Luckily for me, it hitched a ride into Dublin with a friendly traveler and I picked it up before we got to the airport on Sunday morning.
In the meantime, I couldn't upload pictures and blog posts. Well, I could have done posts, but they would have been pictureless as I couldn't offload the ones from the camera!
Anyway.
We spent Friday in the Valley of the Boyne, a river north of Dublin. In the morning we left Trim and headed to Bru Na Boine, where we visited the 6000 year old "passage tombs" of Newgrange and Knowth. We put our name in the drawing to be one of the 50 people allowed into Newgrange for the winter soltice (Newgrange is lined up so that light shines down the passageway on 5 days out of the year, the winter solstice). Pretty impressive for 6000 years old!
That took a bit longer than we expected, as did getting slightly lost trying to get to a ruined monastery in the area (Monasterboice) where some of the biggest and most well-preserved Celtic crosses stand. From there we went back to Trim to tour the castle, built in about 1180 and at the time the second largest castle in Europe. FYI various angles of the castle were filmed to create the various castles in Braveheart.
We drove from Trim to Dublin and dropped off the car, took a taxi to the hotel, and then out to the city. We walked around a bit, through Temple Bar, a semi-pedestrian shopping/bar/restaurant area in town. Sleep was fitful...our hotel, while nice, bordered the street and there were drunken Irishmen (and women) outside all night.
Saturday we toured Dublin. Things opened fairly late, so we got a bit of wandering done prior to a historic walking tour of the city. After lunch, we took the "hop on hop off" bus to Kilmainheim(?) Gaol (jail). We thought that might be a nice way to see the city, and we did a little, but it was more waiting and poor visibility viewing than we expected.
The jail was interesting...it operated for about 200 years, and held both the political prisoners of the 1916 uprising as well as those from the Irish Civil War following the War of Independence.
Saturday night we sat with some Irish musicians and listened to music, talked about musical history, learned to play a flute-like instrument, and had a few pints.
Sunday saw an uneventful trip the airport (including a stop to get the iPad) and flights home.
In the meantime, I couldn't upload pictures and blog posts. Well, I could have done posts, but they would have been pictureless as I couldn't offload the ones from the camera!
Anyway.
We spent Friday in the Valley of the Boyne, a river north of Dublin. In the morning we left Trim and headed to Bru Na Boine, where we visited the 6000 year old "passage tombs" of Newgrange and Knowth. We put our name in the drawing to be one of the 50 people allowed into Newgrange for the winter soltice (Newgrange is lined up so that light shines down the passageway on 5 days out of the year, the winter solstice). Pretty impressive for 6000 years old!
That took a bit longer than we expected, as did getting slightly lost trying to get to a ruined monastery in the area (Monasterboice) where some of the biggest and most well-preserved Celtic crosses stand. From there we went back to Trim to tour the castle, built in about 1180 and at the time the second largest castle in Europe. FYI various angles of the castle were filmed to create the various castles in Braveheart.
We drove from Trim to Dublin and dropped off the car, took a taxi to the hotel, and then out to the city. We walked around a bit, through Temple Bar, a semi-pedestrian shopping/bar/restaurant area in town. Sleep was fitful...our hotel, while nice, bordered the street and there were drunken Irishmen (and women) outside all night.
Saturday we toured Dublin. Things opened fairly late, so we got a bit of wandering done prior to a historic walking tour of the city. After lunch, we took the "hop on hop off" bus to Kilmainheim(?) Gaol (jail). We thought that might be a nice way to see the city, and we did a little, but it was more waiting and poor visibility viewing than we expected.
The jail was interesting...it operated for about 200 years, and held both the political prisoners of the 1916 uprising as well as those from the Irish Civil War following the War of Independence.
Saturday night we sat with some Irish musicians and listened to music, talked about musical history, learned to play a flute-like instrument, and had a few pints.
Sunday saw an uneventful trip the airport (including a stop to get the iPad) and flights home.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Day 6: Inishmore
Thursday saw us wake up and drive out of Galway to the ferry at Rossaveel which took us to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. If Ireland is a land of green and stone, the Aran Islands are the epitome of what it means to be Ireland. The last remnant where Gaelic is the chosen tongue, Aran is the westernmost habituated part of Europe (a spot on the Dingle peninsula is farther, but not inhabited.) The land is dominated by row after row of piled stones which make up dividing lines between farms, pastures, etc. Windswept and barren, the island hosts about 700 people and a few thousand sheep, cattle, and horses.
The main historic feature is a 4000 year old ring fort named Dun Aengus. (The island holds 3 of them, actually.) The fort sits at the highest point and on the edge of a sheer 300 foot cliff.
To get around the island, we took a highly entertaining minibus tour with a quite lively, often manic stream of consciousness verbal diarrhea.
Afterwards, we drove to Trim, north of Dublin, arriving after dark (better for viewing the well-lit Norman castle from 1180!
Happy Arthur's Day!
The main historic feature is a 4000 year old ring fort named Dun Aengus. (The island holds 3 of them, actually.) The fort sits at the highest point and on the edge of a sheer 300 foot cliff.
To get around the island, we took a highly entertaining minibus tour with a quite lively, often manic stream of consciousness verbal diarrhea.
Afterwards, we drove to Trim, north of Dublin, arriving after dark (better for viewing the well-lit Norman castle from 1180!
Happy Arthur's Day!
Day 5: Drive to Galway
Wednesday we got up and had a leisurely morning before heading off to Galway. We took the longer, more scenic route over the mountains and by way of ferry to the Cliffs of Moher, through The Burren, and into town. One of the coolest things we've seen on the trip was the tomb at Poulnabrone, a 6,000 year old slab tomb.
After finding out hotel (first time driving in an actual city!) we wandered around, found a good dinner spot, and then went to a pub for a pint and some more music. Great music, real pub atmosphere this time (more bar-like than combo bar/restaurant). One of the musicians played a really interesting instrument called a "bodhran" which is an upright drum. The right hand used a sort of two-headed drumstick that he'd use by rapidly rotating his wrist while his let hand moved up and down on the other side of the skin, changing the sound by damping the vibration in different ways.
A note on driving: it didn't take long to mostly adjust driving on the left side. The harder part was remembering, as cars rounded corners in front of me, that they weren't in my lane! It's so ingrained to look at that side of the road and react when someone's in "our lane" that very frequently occurred moments of brief panic. Otherwise, the challenge was navigation (our GPS unit is CRAP for signal) and overall road width!
After finding out hotel (first time driving in an actual city!) we wandered around, found a good dinner spot, and then went to a pub for a pint and some more music. Great music, real pub atmosphere this time (more bar-like than combo bar/restaurant). One of the musicians played a really interesting instrument called a "bodhran" which is an upright drum. The right hand used a sort of two-headed drumstick that he'd use by rapidly rotating his wrist while his let hand moved up and down on the other side of the skin, changing the sound by damping the vibration in different ways.
A note on driving: it didn't take long to mostly adjust driving on the left side. The harder part was remembering, as cars rounded corners in front of me, that they weren't in my lane! It's so ingrained to look at that side of the road and react when someone's in "our lane" that very frequently occurred moments of brief panic. Otherwise, the challenge was navigation (our GPS unit is CRAP for signal) and overall road width!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Day 2: Cashel, Cahir, Muckross to Ballingskellig
(sorry it's out of order! Thought this uploaded but didn't!)
We stayed at a cute B&B at the foot of the Rock and had our first "Irish breakfast" of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and a tomato. Not too dissimilar from home!
Sunday we took a short walk to the ruins of Hore Abbey, in the plain below the Rock, and then started the drive to Killarney. We stopped in Cahir and wandered around their castle before heading off.
Getting to Killarney was rough...not only did we avoid the "main" road but twice we had to choose an alternative route due to construction.And by "road" I meant "one paved lane between the hedgerows!"
We passed quickly through Killarney and spent some time at Muckross House, a huge Victorian Mansion in Killarney National Park with incredible views. In 1861 Queen Victoria stayed 2 nights...for which the entire house was overhauled during the prior 6 years! 38 years later, the family was bankrupt and the estate was sold. Hmm
We left Muckross and traveled via the Ring of Kerry to the village of Ballingskellig, on St. Finian's bay. We got there late due to multiple stops en route and then had a nice pub dinner before going to bed.
We stayed at a cute B&B at the foot of the Rock and had our first "Irish breakfast" of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and a tomato. Not too dissimilar from home!
Sunday we took a short walk to the ruins of Hore Abbey, in the plain below the Rock, and then started the drive to Killarney. We stopped in Cahir and wandered around their castle before heading off.
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| Hore Abbey |
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| Cahir Castle |
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| 'honey, there's a car ahead.' 'so...what would you like me to do about it?' |
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| Muckross House |
We left Muckross and traveled via the Ring of Kerry to the village of Ballingskellig, on St. Finian's bay. We got there late due to multiple stops en route and then had a nice pub dinner before going to bed.
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| twilight, Ring of Kerry |
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| St. Finian's Bay, sunrise |
Day 3 and 4: Portamagee to Dingle and Dingle Peninsula
Monday we were supposed to tour Skellig Michael, site of a 1400 year old monastic outpost on an incredibly exposed, harsh rocky outcropping.
Unfortunately, the seas were too rough for boats to land so spent the morning checking out Valencia Island, with its incredible ocean views, and then continued the Ring of Kerry in the afternoon, ending up in Dingle that night.
On our way, we stopped off in Knightstown for lunch. Best beef stew I've ever eaten!
Dingle is described by Rick Steves as "quiet" and "less touristy". While its definitely a nice town and very cute, I think we saw very few non-Irish and there certainly were a lot of B&Bs, guest houses, hotels, etc for somewhere that's not touristy! We had a relaxing hour or so at the guesthouse (Heaton's) and then walked to an dinner. From dinner we walked to a pub to enjoy a pint and some "trad", or traditional music. Erica had Bailey's and coffee ;-)
Tuesday morning...cold and rainy. We hopped on a minibus to take a tour of the peninsula and go to see a few ancient artifacts and monastic ruins along with excellent views. Of note, "Ryan's Daughter" was 90% filmed here and "Far and Away" was set, and partially filmed, on the Dingle Peninsula.
Unfortunately, the seas were too rough for boats to land so spent the morning checking out Valencia Island, with its incredible ocean views, and then continued the Ring of Kerry in the afternoon, ending up in Dingle that night.
On our way, we stopped off in Knightstown for lunch. Best beef stew I've ever eaten!
Dingle is described by Rick Steves as "quiet" and "less touristy". While its definitely a nice town and very cute, I think we saw very few non-Irish and there certainly were a lot of B&Bs, guest houses, hotels, etc for somewhere that's not touristy! We had a relaxing hour or so at the guesthouse (Heaton's) and then walked to an dinner. From dinner we walked to a pub to enjoy a pint and some "trad", or traditional music. Erica had Bailey's and coffee ;-)
Tuesday morning...cold and rainy. We hopped on a minibus to take a tour of the peninsula and go to see a few ancient artifacts and monastic ruins along with excellent views. Of note, "Ryan's Daughter" was 90% filmed here and "Far and Away" was set, and partially filmed, on the Dingle Peninsula.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Hello from Ireland!
We thought it might be nice to inaugurate our travel blog with our first post-baby/baby-less trip!
Ireland
Day 1: Va to Dublin
Our trip started pretty uneventfully as Natalie and Gigi dropped us off at the airport. Saying goodbye was a little rough...first time we'd left her like this!
2pm out of Roanoke and 645 pm out of Atlanta, both on time and easy. We landed at about 7am Dublin time, neither of us having slept much at all. We grabbed coffee, our rental car, and off we went to Kilkenny.
An hour and a half drive from Dublin, Kilkenny is an old medieval town with a few tourist destinations. We toured the castle, originally 4-walled and built on the site of Richard "Strongbow"'s original Normal fort. Oliver Cromwell knocked down one wall in his rebellion from Charles I. We climbed the tower at St. Canice's Cathedral so we could view the entire town an countryside.
From Kilkenny we drove to Cashel, a quiet, quaint town dominated by a medieval castle/fort/cathedral called the Rock of Cashel. Unfortunately, renovations are being done, so a but of the cathedral is covered by scaffolding. It's quite impressive in any case. That night we ate an early dinner and promptly passed out for 11 hours.
Ireland
Day 1: Va to Dublin
Our trip started pretty uneventfully as Natalie and Gigi dropped us off at the airport. Saying goodbye was a little rough...first time we'd left her like this!
2pm out of Roanoke and 645 pm out of Atlanta, both on time and easy. We landed at about 7am Dublin time, neither of us having slept much at all. We grabbed coffee, our rental car, and off we went to Kilkenny.
An hour and a half drive from Dublin, Kilkenny is an old medieval town with a few tourist destinations. We toured the castle, originally 4-walled and built on the site of Richard "Strongbow"'s original Normal fort. Oliver Cromwell knocked down one wall in his rebellion from Charles I. We climbed the tower at St. Canice's Cathedral so we could view the entire town an countryside.
From Kilkenny we drove to Cashel, a quiet, quaint town dominated by a medieval castle/fort/cathedral called the Rock of Cashel. Unfortunately, renovations are being done, so a but of the cathedral is covered by scaffolding. It's quite impressive in any case. That night we ate an early dinner and promptly passed out for 11 hours.
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