Galway, Ireland: Connemara Peninsula

Todays FLTT took us to the area of Ireland known as Cannamarra.  This is on the western fringe of Ireland and full of stone circles, bouncy peat bogs and a famous pub owned by a member of the Chieftains.  We drove all the way to Clifden, the small town at the end of the peninsula. This is the furthest point west in Europe.  The locals say the next parish over is Boston.  There we spent some time walking through the charming streets and visiting the town's cathedral, St. Joseph's.  Before leaving town we found a very good bakery for a crumpet and some hot chocolate before continuing our trip.  

These two pilots were the first to fly nonstop over the Atlantic.  They started in Newfoundland and ended by crash landing into the bog outside of Clifden 

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church

We drove to the Connemara Cultural Center where we learned about the bog.  We saw first hand how the peat was harvested and burnt as the sole energy source.  We were also offered a wee bit of moonshine for our troubles.  It was also during this trip that we drove through the Connemara National Park and the Connemara Mountains.  (It was from theses mountains, Crouch Patrick to the north, that St. Patrick is said to have banished the snakes from Ireland).  This is also the central area of the remarkable story of the potato, the blight, the famine, and the great Irish Diaspora that was so instrumental in populating the United States.

Digging peat

Ready for burning after drying

We were entertained by some Irish songs and moonshine here

We finished the evening with another perfectly prepared meal and an intimate concert with the Folk Legacy Trio.  To be in a room with these guys performing in a concert like setting to our small group was a privilege.  Songs we knew, sound so well.  Part of the fun was that most of the others in our group also know the songs and have good voices.  When the trio asked for the audience to sing along, there was not the hint of hesitation.

Enjoying sorbet for dessert

Jerry

Rick, Jerry and Carroll

  

Galway, Ireland: Clonmacnoise; Oysters and Pub Music

I was up early enough to walk around the town this morning.  It was a pleasant walk, with few other people and the beautiful Irish views.

I got back to the hotel in time to set our bags outside the door and then go down to the full Irish Breakfast which seems always to be toast, eggs, bacon which is more like ham, black and white pudding (black pudding is sausage made with the inclusion of blood, white pudding forgets the blood, I have found I enjoy them both, at least while I am in Ireland), and sautéd mushrooms.  I have been apprehensive about this bus tour, but so far it has been quite pleasant.

Clonmacnoise is one of the most famous monastic sites in Ireland – it is an ancient ruins of a monastic order. Located along the River Shannon near the village of Shannonbridge, Clonmacnoise was founded by Saint Ciaran in the mid-sixth century (544) where it became a great center of religion and learning.  This monastery, at its peak of prestige was visited by scholars and pilgrims from all over the world. 

Many historical manuscripts, including the 11th-century Annals of Tighernach, which is the oldest document written in the Irish form of Gaelic, and the 12th-century Book of the Dun Cow, were written here. Pope John Paul visited here in 1979, showing that the ruins and the land around the ruins are still venerated.  

Today Sandy and I, along with the Folk Legacy Trio Tour (FLTT) stopped at these ruins.  While viewing the three high crosses, a cathedral, seven churches, and two round towers we could not help but feel a deeper sense of Irish history and the role Christianity played in it.

The original monastic chapel and the final destination of masses of pilgrims

When on a group tour ....

An Irish High Cross

We stopped in the equivalent of a truck stop for lunch.  Rick Dougherty of the FLT sat down with us.  I became even more impressed with him.  He said that he doesn't like to trade on his fame as part of the Limelighters,  then the Kingston Trio and now the Folk Legacy Trio.  He said that he believes that he is a very good tenor and a good guitarist, but he knows that there are lots of people with those qualities and the reason he has been successful is luck.  Being in the right place at the right time.  For that reason when he joins a jam session in some small bar he prefers that he is not introduced with his credentials.  He takes far more satisfaction from people appreciating what he plays than appreciating him because of his credentials.  

In the evening Sandy and I had the evening to ourselves.  From our hotel, the Park House, we walked about fifteen minutes to Oscars, a seafood restaurant.  This is one of those restaurants that is elevating the bar for Irish food.  I had a seafood paella prepared entirely from the local catch.  Sandy had prawns.  Afterwords we walked down the street to the Crane Pub.  Timing and luck is everything.  As we walked in they had just opened up the section of the bar that the Trad Musicians were going to be playing in.  Sandy and I picked our seats and before long the musicians sat right next to us.  Throughout the night, between pieces, the musicians carried on conversations with us.  They seemed as interested in us and our travels as we were interested in them and their talent.  It was a very good evening.

 

Trim, Ireland; Folk Legacy Trio; Trim Castle

 Today we hooked up with the Folk Legacy Trio tour.  We became aware of the Folk Legacy Trio in Bartlesville, Oklahoma while traveling "Route 66" (see our travelswithsandy.com post Oct 7, 2021).  Sandy signed up for their Facebook page, we became aware that they were going to sponsor a 9 day tour in Ireland, and Bingo, Bango, Bongo here we are climbing on a bus with a group of other aging folk music lovers and a number of musicians, plus the Folk Legend Trio.  Sort of, Jerry and Rick are with us, George had to stay home and heal a detached retina.  Nothing serious, he just can't fly for a while.  Fortunately the gentleman who organized this trip is also a professional musician and he is stepping in for George.  (by googling Folk Legacy Trio, their music can be heard - a number of youtube and facebook posts also) 

We stopped with our tour group of 26 for tea and scones at a converted manor house, now a resort and spa.  It was a good chance to meet and talk to other tour members.

the Manor House

The tour then went on to the small village of Trim and checked into the Trim Castle Hotel.  Most of the other tour group had just flown in from the U.S., so while they were working out their jet-lag issues, Sandy and I explored a little around the town.  Trim was once a center of power for the Anglo-Norman rule of Ireland.  And, the most obvious manifestation of that is the "Trim Castle Ruins", the largest Medieval Castle in Ireland.  The castle was lived in as a fortified home for just less than 100 years, however it was maintained as a significant military presence from its construction in 1174 until shortly after Cromwell's reign.  After-which it passed from hand to hand but no longer as a military stronghold.  

A magnificent structure and great tour 

We ate dinner with the group tonight, again more visiting and getting to know one another, and then many of us went to a pub where trad (traditional music) was the order of the night.  Jerry and Rick were joined by several of the amateurs.  We enjoyed their music throughout the evening.  

The Bounty (pub)

Rick and Jerry...I'd be hard put to name two finer musicians or two nicer men.  

 

We walked past the castle again, this time lit up for the night.

Dublin, Ireland; Titanic Museum; Brú na Bóinne

 Before driving to Dublin we took an Uber to Titanic Belfast, a museum that stands right next to the dry dock where the Titanic was originally built.  The museum has no artifacts from the ocean liner but it is full of information about the building, staffing, and sinking of the Titanic.  The ship was heralded as the largest movable man-made object ever made.  Belfast, at the time, the largest ship-building city in the world, was justly proud of the Titanic and equally devastated when she sank on her maiden voyage.  The museum is a creative multimedia affair that keeps the observer interested in information being presented.  At times we feel like we are a part of the workforce building the ship.  Then you feel like you are taking a tour of the finished ocean liner.  And, finally you feel as if you are there when the ship slips out of site. 

What the 1st class cabins looked like

The Captain

On our drive to Dublin, and once inside Ireland (the Republic) we stopped at one of Ireland's most significant Neolithic sites, Brú na Bóinne.  Here there are several burial mounds of un- imaginable size with openings aligned to allow the most inner chambers to be lit up on significant days of the year.  In recent years arial photographs have shown that this area was once covered by dozens of these structures.  There is no way that we can know conclusively how the mounds were used, however, it is clear that they were a place to place the dead, and then to later interact with those remains.

The completion of our time in Northern Ireland is significant in that it completes one of the goals of this trip - to completely encircle the North Sea.  We are going to visit Ireland for a few weeks, but, by automobile, by ferry, by small airplane, by boat and by train we have circled the Sea.  

Belfast, Northern Ireland; Kinbane Head: Antrim Coast Road Trip

 Our AirBnB was less than a mile away from Kinbane Castle (Whitehead Castle).  Finally, as we were driving away today I swung by to take a look.  I was so glad that we did.  This site was not mentioned in any of the travel guides that I consulted in planning the trip, nor did the AirBnB host mention it, even though it is literally in their backyard.  Identified on a sign only as Kinbade Head, I had presumed it was a rock formation jutting out into the North Sea.  It is that, plus a castle ruins, the was part of the chain of castles controlled by the MacDonnells.  It does not appear that this castle was ever a extravagant living quarters, but more a garrisoned defensive castle to protect the coast.  

View of the coast from Kinbane Castle

A sea cave

After the castle, we stopped at the town named Ballycastle.  This is a small village that has escaped the tourist trade.  It has a harbor front and a few seafront guesthouses but for the most part it is just grungy enough to feel real.  We found a small breakfast café, "Our Dolly's", coffee and grub hub.  We enjoyed having breakfast with work-a-day Irish.  

Streets of Ballycastle

Steering wheel on the wrong side, gear shift on wrong side, driving on the wrong side.  Perfectly parallel parked.  Am I a little too proud, I think not.

We spent the rest of the day road tripping though Northern Ireland.

McAlister's: A café and funeral service. 

Belfast from Hotel Window