Ireland: Belfast to Bru na Boinne and Home

Our last couple of days in Ireland, we really slowed down our pace. I think we were all pretty road weary and worn out.

 

We drove through the city of Belfast to see some of the murals there. Since the 1970s, people in Northern Ireland have taken to painting political murals to express their points of view. They are arguably some of the most famous murals in Europe.

  

Although Protestants and Catholics co-exist peacefully in Belfast these days. That has most certainly not always been the case.  And, we did not love the vibe of city.  Things felt tense and we did not spend much time there at all.

 

The Red Hand of Ulster is a symbol used by both ends of the spectrum. The pro-British prefer the proud hand on a Union Jack background, while the IRA faction prefer the defiant fist on a yellow background. This symbol has roots in another Irish legend...

The kingdom of Ulster had at one time no rightful heir. Because of this, it was agreed that a boat race should take place and that "whosoever's hand is the first to touch the shore of Ireland, so shall he be made the king". One potential king so desired the kingship that, upon seeing that he was losing the race, he cut off his hand and threw it to the shore—thus winning the kingship. The hand is most likely red to represent the fact that it would have been covered in blood. The moral of the story?  The Irish will do whatever it takes.

  

We spent the rest of the morning at the Ulster Folk Museum. This is very similar to Colonial Williamsburg, in that you walk around a town and explore homes and businesses from the early 20th century.  These are actual buildings from around Ireland that were taken apart and reassembled here for visitors to explore. There are also people in period costume working, baking, and strolling around that will tell you the stories of the homes and the people that lived in them and even share some of the bread they are baking over the smoky peat fire. 

We also enjoyed a silent Charlie Chaplin film in the theater, scones at the tea shop, and picking out some penny candy for the road in the sweets shop.  In other words, it was a great place for the kids.

  

We spent our last night in Ireland at a guesthouse on a farm in Nobber. The Corballys welcomed us at tea time with punch, more scones, muffins, and chocolate.  We enjoyed their company, and the kids really enjoyed playing ball with their dog, Lucky.

 

Mr. Corbally walked us up through the pasture to see the sheep, alpacas, and llamas there. 

 

At the top of the field is an ancient ring fort (before year 1000.)  Over 40,000 of these sites have been identified in Ireland and just look like perfectly round flat circles on hilltops. It is illegal to disturb the ground there, but Mr. Corbally explained to the kids that this is also to protect people from disturbing the fairies who live in these circles. This is the view from the ring fort.

 

The next morning we drove over to Bru na Boinne on our way to the airport.  This area (a UNESCO world heritage site, of course) is home to several chamber tombs, henges, and other prehistoric enclosures. Some from as early as the 35th century BC.  That is not a typo.  We chose to visit this Neolithic passage tomb at Newgrange, from 3200 BC. 

 

The structure is built on a base of hundreds of these massive stones quarried 20 km away and decorated with megalithic artwork.

 

It was fun to come up with different theories of what the symbols might represent... the sun, wind, waves? A map? Religious ideas of rebirth?

 

The entrance was a little tight, and the passage actually became more narrow farther in, but we all went in and observed a reenactment of the sun shining through the roof box on the winter solstice.  At this time each year, a beam of light reaches all the way back into the burial chamber where the ashes of the deceased were laid and who knows what rituals were performed.

 

 

We left Newgrange, enjoyed one more pub style lunch, and headed to the airport.  We returned our rental car and trekked to our gate.  Where our 5 pm flight was delayed. We finally arrived in Frankfurt just before 9 pm. After passport control, luggage claim, and trekking to the train station, then 9:45 pm train was delayed. When it arrived we rode it one stop, and got off to transfer to our final train only to learn that we had missed it by 3 minutes. We had to wait until 11 pm for the next train. This photo is of the kids, waiting at the train station in the dark, waaaaay past bed time. When we reached our town we still had about a mile walk home, but thankfully, Rob ran it and came back for us and the luggage with the van. We won't be taking the train to the airport again anytime soon.

Despite the challenging end to our trip, we really liked Ireland.  I am super glad that we went and that we got to see as much as we did.  We consciously chose to unplug from technology for this trip and had a great time reading, hiking, singing (Irish radio turned out to be utterly disappointing,) and playing games. We tried to balance grown-up fun with family fun, and grown-up restaurants with kid friendly ones. It was a huge undertaking, but left me feeling confident that we can actually travel overseas with four children and come out the other side feeling like doing it again.  We are looking forward to our next adventure! 

Ireland: Glenveagh Castle and the Giant's Causeway

Having explored the west coast of Ireland, we next headed to the north.

 

We made a quick stop to visit the grave of W. B. Yeats.

 

The kids were just happy to stretch their legs and get some wiggles out, but I loved reading this poem to them: 

The Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light;
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

We arrived in Donegal county at Glenveagh Castle.  Built in  the 1870s, it isn't really that old, and it is more of a mansion than a castle.  The location is super remote, and then you arrive at this beautiful lake.

 

We took a shuttle to the castle, and were given a time for a tour.

 

In the meantime, we explored the grounds and gardens.

 

Ohhhh, I just love these gardens!

 

The flowers and vegetables planted together and it was all just beautiful. The interior of the castle was very richly appointed as well and we were glad we made the trip to see it. After a good night's sleep, our next place to see was the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The entry to Northern Ireland was uneventful, with the main differences being that the roads were suddenly much, much nicer, and the currency changed from Euros to British Pounds.

 

The Giant's Causeway is another UNESCO World Heritage Site.  (We like those a lot, can you tell?) The unique hexagonal rocks were formed when the lava from a volcanic eruption cooled.  Then over time, sections of the rock were pushed up or eroded down creating this awesome place to climb around.

 

We bought two storybooks early in our trip- one with short stories about leprechauns and the other with Irish legends.  I read them to the kiddos a bit each day on our drives. The legend of the Giant's Causeway goes like this: 

The Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), from the Fenian Cycle of Gaelic mythology, was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Fionn defeats Benandonner. In another, Fionn hides from Benandonner when he realises that his foe is much bigger than he. Fionn's wife, Oonagh, disguises Fionn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When Benandonner sees the size of the 'baby', he reckons that its father, Fionn, must be a giant among giants. He flees back to Scotland in fright, destroying the causeway behind him so that Fionn could not follow. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns (a part of the same ancient lava flow) at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa, and it is possible that the story was influenced by this. (This version is from Wikipedia.)

 

"The Pipe Organ"

 

We spent a lot of time enjoying the causeway down by the ocean and then hiked up the nearby hill to take in the view from above.

 

It was a long walk, but the kids enjoyed this place a lot.

 

SO cool!

 

I took a lot of pictures of rocks, y'all.

 

Just a few more... I promise.

 

The kids really loved hopping from stone to stone.

 

And so did the Daddy-o.

 

We really like taking family photos on the edge of cliffs.

 

After some lunch and shopping at the visitor's center (Irish stew, scones, yumminess,) we drove to the Glens of Antrim.

 

 We got out and walked around a bit, but it was buggy and we were tired, so we decided to call it a day and head back to our lodgings.

 

This is where we stayed in Northern Ireland.  It is a hostel called the Slemish Barn in Ballymena. We had a private family room with bathroom and the shared spaces were very comfy. The second evening we were here, the local fiddlers association was being recorded in the living room by the BBC for a program about Irish music and stories.  We weren't able to be in where they were recording, but it was a neat opportunity to sit in the lobby with the kids, in their jammies, and listen to some great music.

Ireland: Ennis, Cliffs of Moher, and the Burren

We left Dingle to head for the Cliffs of Moher, but on the way stopped for lunch in Ennis and saw the Friary there.

 

Constructed in 1242, the church is partially in ruins, but houses some beautiful carvings that depict scenes from the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

 

I found these beautiful sculptures in the garden as well. And then we had lunch at a sandwich place called O'Brien's.  It is a chain, similar to Panera kinda.

 

Then on to the Cliffs of Moher! 

These are the Cliffs of Insanity in the Princess Bride movie. If you are wondering why everyone is squinting or covering their eyes in this photo it is because it was VERY windy up there. The path is dirt, which meant that dust was flying into our faces whenever we were facing into the wind. So, our children were walking along a cliff edge, in the wind, with their eyes closed.  No bueno. Thankfully, there was a low wall that we could keep the kids behind most of the walk, and we just brought them closer to the edge for photos and views a few times, and as you can see, we held onto them tightly.

 

It is fantastically beautiful there though.

 

We walked out along this side to about the third point you can see and then decided to turn back toward the car to continue on our way.

 

Along with the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We drove through and watched the scenery become more and more barren until it was almost all rocks, like this. There is a geological explanation for this, but it is beyond me to explain it.  The kids loved running around this natural maze on the ground.

  

We also took time to admire the Poulnabrone portal tomb located here in the Burren. It dates from the Neolithic period between 4000 and 3000 BC. This would have been a tough landscape to make a living in, for sure.

 

Then we finally arrived at one of our most unique lodgings- the CrannOg EcoFarm. I am our travel agent, and I do try to keep it interesting and look for different types of accommodations.  And this one was definitely different! We had a sort of cabin to ourselves and it was clean and cosy. The bathrooms were in the adjacent building and had composting toilets and solar heated showers which were shared with the other people living at and/or camping on the farm grounds.  The gardens, ponds, and grounds were really well cared for and it was quite educational for all of us actually.  There is a part of me that just LOVES places like this, though I confess we went to McDonald's for breakfast the next morning and all enjoyed flushing the toilets there!

 

That day was our only completely rainy day in Ireland.  We had originally planned to take a ferry to the island of Inishmoor and explore for the day.  But with the rain, and knowing that we would be out in it all day, we cancelled that plan and found a mall in Galway where we restocked our snack supply and took the kids to an indoor bounce house type place.  It was a welcome change of pace at the halfway point of our trip.

Ireland: Rock of Cashel and Dingle Peninsula

After we left Dublin, we headed west across the country toward Dingle.

 

We made a pit stop part way across the country to visit the Rock of Cashel. This is supposed to be the location where St. Patrick baptized the King of Munster in the 5th Century. The cathedral there is in ruins, but very beautiful.

 

Some day Rob will be able to take a selfie and smile at the same time.  :)

 

There are still a few spots available in the cemetery... but only for people who had their names put on a waiting list in 1930 and are still living. Craziness.

 

We then had planned to drive through Kilarney National Park and see some waterfalls, but due to a charity bike ride, we were diverted (detoured) through the Black Valley.  This place was crazy.  A one lane road with two way traffic, switch backs, blind hills, and sheer drop offs.  It was a nail biter. This was the last area in Ireland to get electricity... in the 1970s.

 

Rob did really well at driving on the left side of the road while sitting on the right side of the car and shifting with his left hand. I had trouble just remembering my left from my right all week.

  

The place we stayed in Dingle was actually in Ballyferitter at a B&B.  We basically had an apartment here with a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a sitting room.  Our host stocked the fridge before we arrived and left us a rhubarb pie for our tea time.

 

The house is old with wavy glass in the windows and some of the issues that are normal for old houses, (we couldn't open some of the windows, and the house felt damp,) but the views were wonderful, the black cat outside was very tolerant of Amelie's "affection," and our host was very accommodating.

 

We spent a day exploring the Dingle Peninsula.  First stop was the Great Blasket Center where we learned what life was like on those islands in the background.  They are no longer inhabited, though you can take a ferry over to explore.

 

We chose to stay on the mainland and go for a hike along the coast. 

 

I guess there used to be a stone pier here or something.  There were broken steps leading down to the water's edge. We held tightly to the kiddos a lot in Ireland. We even got to climb over some stills through the sheep pastures before eventually deciding that our only options were to take a much longer hike than we wanted, or to turn back the way we came.  We chose to turn back when we reached a field where the grass was up to my knees (or Jacob's waist.)

 

Then we had to take a break to build some stone cairns.

 

Excellent project for Little Bears.

 

After our hike we headed into Dingle town for lunch, but first stopped to see these Beehive huts. While they may date back to as early as the 8th century, most are believed to be from the 12th century or later.  But nobody knows for sure.

 

In Dingle we visited this statue of Fungi the Dolphin. (There is actually a dolphin that lives in the harbor and is the town mascot, but we did not catch sight of him.) We also ate lunch in a nice Pub while the Gaelic Football match between Kerry and Cork, or as the sign said, "Us vs. Them" was on the television and the place was packed. I think Kerry did win, though we left at the half. Also, as a side note, all of our kids like fish and chips.

 

Before returning to our B&B we took the kids to a beach called Ryan's Daughter.  I guess there is a movie by this name that was filmed here, but we haven't seen it.  It was only in the 60s out, but our kids managed to get soaking wet and sandy anyway so we went "home," got cleaned up, and then spent some time at a playground and grabbed some takeout to go with our Irish soda bread and rhubarb pie for dinner.