Éirinn
For our spring break, my good friend here Catherine and I decided to venture to the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and London. Ireland was my favorite because of the people and the beauty and well the everything. We met my good friend from Grove City, Rachel, and a friend of hers, Lisa, in Galway, and spent the next day with them seeing the Cliffs of Moher, ancient monuments, and a Fairy Fort. Catherine and I then traveled down to Dingle before heading out Monday for Scotland.
When I think of Ireland, I think of green, green fields with stone fences. I think of a rugged, wild beauty that will never be completely tamable. I think of a magical landscape full of stories of faires and leprechauns and haunting Irish ballads. As our bus chased the sunset across Ireland, from Dublin to Galway, the countryside gradually began to swell into rolling green hillsides on the cusp of spring. The sun was an orange ball of flame bursting through the clouds, smearing the sky with pastels. My first glimpse of Irish countryside was breathtaking, and nothing to compare with what was to come.
I’m trying the pictures in a different format this time, so they’re all going to be big instead of in a gallery (but there are still captions!). I hope my pictures captured a little of the mysterious beauty of Ireland. If you’re interested in a little Irish music, check this out: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151580231484803
- This is what we left when we flew out of Nice. Why did we leave you ask? Valid question at the time. -photo props to Catherine
One of my first sights in Ireland
A little glimpse of Dublin
photo props to Catherine (PP to C)
We stepped off the plane and immediately found the bus to take us 3 hours across Ireland to Galway. We got confused about the which bus was which and the jovial bus driver kindly cleared things up for us (that wouldn’t happen in France), and then pointed us in the direction of coffee while we waited.
We chased daylight literally from one end of Ireland to the other.
Out on the town as soon as we found Rachel and Lisa. We were successful in our search for traditional Irish music.
All of the bars we went to had various international money hung up everywhere, and this one in Galway also had police badges. -PP to C
Kinlay Eyre Square Hostel – amazing hostel
Look at the labels on the cereal. Just another reason why this hostel was so great. PP to C
16th century Dunguaire Castle
Rachel in the background and me in the foreground – PP to C
Same thing, artsy style. Our Irish album will be coming out this month. PP to C
An ancient wedge tomb in the Burren. The Burren is the limestone landscape that makes up much of what we saw of Ireland during our day tour.
the Poulnabrone Dolmen – a monument created by Neolithic farmers about 5,800 years ago. Just as a reference, that means it is older than the pyramids.
If you want to know what the weather was like, closely observe my hair. There was sort of an unheard of amount of wind. – PP to C
This is the Ballyalban Fairy Fort – this used to be a ring-fort or ancient homestead that is now thought to be lived in by faires.
Hawthorne trees makes up the fairy ring inside the fairy fort.
There is a ditch around the outside of the fort to keep invaders out.
Lisdoonvarna in County Clare hosts a matchmaking festival every year. Read the details for yourself. Who knows, maybe your true love is waiting…
The Cliffs of Moher – a lot of movies have been filmed on these cliffs and they are a must-see in Ireland. Among the movies filmed here including the infamous Princess Bride.
Because part of Princess Bride was filmed here, and we were standing next to a small castle, Rachel and I thought this might be an appropriate time to fence with our umbrellas. PP to C
I’m not sure it gets much more epic than umbrella fencing, on the Cliffs of Moher, in front of a castle. PP to C
wind -PP to C
Behold, the Cliffs of Insanity! (insert dramatic music here) Although there is no marker, we’re 99.9% sure this is where the Cliffs of Insanity scene was filmed in Princess Bride.
L to R – me, Rachel, Lisa, PP to C
So we decided to reenact a little of the movie. I was assigned the part of Wesley because I was wearing all black. Lisa has “long flowing blond hair” so she’s Buttercup. -PP to C
Rachel was Inigo in our sword fight and Fezzik here.
Umbrella fencing on the Cliffs
Totally rocking the Cliffs of Moher right now. -PP to C
PP to E – Catherine gave me her camera to take some pics of her so I’m showing off a little
This is the “I don’t know what to do with myself in this picture” look. Like it?
Rachel and I – We’ve been planning to go to Ireland together since October or November of last year. We couldn’t believe it was actually happening.
PP to C
Our tour guide pointed out this Leprechaun to us. The picture is a little blurry but can you see the eyes and mouth?
A little big of Galway
A RAINBOW IN IRELAND! I couldn’t follow it because i was on a bus…
This is the button for the walk signal. Different.
We had to take 3 buses to get from Galway to Dingle. We had a moment of confusion and missed our stop in Limerick to do our first change. Fortunately the next stop was only about 2 miles away so we power walked back and made it in plenty of time. No trip is complete without at least 1 travel mis-hap.
We took a couple moments to document some of the Sunday morning quiet of Limerick.
On the way to Dingle…
A little glimpse of Tralee
Look at the yellow flowers. Those are called Furze (no matter how many people tell you they’re called Gorse). They’re everywhere right now and they’re beautiful.
The bus stop is simply a traditional fishing boat on top of some poles.
Our hostel – my favorite color.
PP to C
Ok what is up with this? I’ve never seen a single building painted my favorite color in the U.S. and there are 2 here. I must be fated to live in Ireland.
The harbor – Dingle is primarily a fishing village.
We arrived in Dingle and were literally blown over by the wind. PP to C
We went out for dinner and had delicious salmon and the BEST carrots I have ever had. They were cooked perfectly so that they were still crunchy and they had this amazing sweet flavor. Guess where they were grown? Locally.
We followed our ears to more traditional Irish music. One of my favorite moments of this trip was drinking cider listening to straight up Irish music surrounded by Irish people.
This is a Claddagh ring, a traditional Irish wedding band. The hands stand for loyalty, the crown stands for friendship and the heart stands for love.
Monday morning we decided to brave the crazy unpredictable Atlantic ocean weather in Dingle and see some of the Peninsula via bike ride with Rick Steves as our guide. I had been falling in love with Southwest Ireland from the moment we got on our third bus and I had been desperately begging God for clear weather for our only fullish day there. The weather forecast was all rain, rain, and more rain, but I believe God can do miracles and when I woke up Monday morning it was sunny. On a step of faith we decided to follow through with our plans for the bike ride and we were not rained on once. Thanks God 🙂
Catherine’s bike was a little defective at going up hills.
sheep!
yellow flower field! -PP to C
These are old, traditional Irish huts built on the steep hillside.
PP to C
I believe the technical term for these are beehive huts. Also known as Clochans, these were probably built in the Middles Ages.
PP to C
Catherine
PP to C
PP to C
We ate here for lunch. The inside is all decorated with Indian items and an eclectic mish-mash of other stuff. It’s really cute inside. The owner was a very nice Irish man who kept asking us if we were comfortable and happy.
This seemed like a good place to try some Chai. I was not disappointed. PP to C
In Ireland shepherds color code their sheep so they can tell who’s is who’s – PP to C
Walking Picture 