In Dublin's fair city ...

Cliffs of Slieve League

 The blog has been on hiatus for a few days as we concluded our self guided part of Ireland and then linked up with the tour in Dublin. Since the last post we have explored the wild north west around Donegal and then headed across the country.

'Turf' drying around Slieve League.
You can even buy a turf insense
burner to get that smell!

The wild Atlantic way of the north west coast proved spectacular and as equally wild as we expected. The views were breathtaking both from the jaw dropping beauty of the high cliffs of Slieve League and the bitterly cold wind coming straight off a bleak, grey Atlantic Ocean. Tough people and tough sheep obviously inhabit the Donegal region of Ireland. As we reached the the cliffs of Slieve League and poked our heads out of the car to investigate we came across some mad cyclists from Scotland who were on their fourth day of riding across the top of Ireland after leaving from Scotland. We did say that they would be used to the weather but they were wanting to go home because it was too cold for them! That made us feel a little better.

As we headed back to Donegal (Duneegawl) don't forget to stretch out the last syllable, we continued to see signs in support of the Donegal lads as well as green and gold banners everywhere. Radio was also talking up the important match against Tyrone so we figured it must be coming towards the business end of the season. We had also heard comments about semi-finals and then low and behold we found ourselves travelling through downtown Balleybofey with thousands pouring to the footy ground. Not a parking spot in sight in the whole town and people decked out in their colours and traipsing in the pouring rain to the ground. The sign of true dedication to support their team in an all-important final - but no we then found out that it was actually the first round of the season. Obviously take their Gaelic football seriously in Ireland - and the people of Donegal must have thought it was a very long winter waiting for the Gaelic football to start again. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Donegal lost the final of the All-Ireland last season beaten by the folks from County Kerry. Now wearing the Wallabies jersey during the time in Killarney and Donegal was a safe bet because both counties wear Green and Gold!

After again making sure we dried out by the fire in Bryan’s delightful little cottage, we headed to Dublin so that we could meet up with the Globus tour. Telstra again let us know that we ventured into Northern Ireland on the drive. Given that in years not too long past the border would be fiercely patrolled it was very uneventful – indeed if Telstra had not let us know we probably would have been unaware for some time. It eventually did become evident when the speed limit went to 30 in the town – the realisation did dawn that this was in mph rather than kmph.

Altar of St Patrick's - easy to see
the church is moving and not square.

St Patrick's stained glass window

Dublin saw us tour the Guinness Storehouse in the afternoon and sample a pint (well Stephen did). The tour was very well done although not as personal as the Jameson tour. The Guinness tour would obviously cater to much larger numbers so has to rely on technology. We figured that as Guinness apparently uses two thirds of the Irish Barley crop each year; the other third must go to Jamesons and the other whiskey distillers so bad luck if you need some for stock. By the way it is true – Guinness tastes better in Dublin (perhaps it is just the atmosphere?)

Joining the Legacy of St Patrick tour we headed to St Patrick’s Cathedral which was very different to the other cathedrals we have visited during our time. Not sure if it was the fact it was a Church of Ireland (Protestant) cathedral or just the way it was presented but it really felt more like a museum than a place of worship. All the statues of prominent people and the display of the flags of the Irish regiments didn’t seem to fit a church.

Door of reconciliation St Patrick's. 

Well stone from St Patrick's Dublin

Exploring Dublin we wandered around the streets (and saw Molly Malone’s statue) and took a boat trip down the Liffey avoiding showers, hail stones and thunder which is apparently extremely rare in Dublin (they don’t really get storms – our comment would be no wonder it would never get warm enough to generate any thunder and lightning), before we headed to the National Gallery and the Museum and managed to see the missing Caravaggio (The Taking of Christ) which had been sitting in the Jesuits dining room covered in grime before they loaned it permanently to the National Gallery. Can’t believe that the Jesuits did not realise it was there – unlike them to miss the importance and value of the painting! We also looked at the fascinating ancient gold jewellery that has been found in bogs in Ireland as well as some of the ‘bogmen’. Obviously the Romans did not know about the gold of the Irish kings otherwise they may have been more interested in invading the place. None of the bogmen in the displays died of old age so BC Ireland was not a place for the faint hearted.

St Patrick's grave in Downpatrick

We have now made our way to Northern Ireland for a couple of days staying in Belfast. Our accommodation is the Europa hotel which has the distinction of being the only hotel in Belfast which continued to operate right through ‘The Troubles’ and apparently then also has the record of being the most ‘bombed’ hotel in the world. We travelled to Belfast via Downpatrick and the St Patrick’s Interpretive centre which was excellent. Again on entry to Northern Ireland the only indication that you move from one country to another is that the road markings change from yellow to white – a far cry from the old border crossing on the road according to our guide. The armed soldiers, barbed wire, barricades and searches have all gone. A tour around Belfast to see the ‘peace lines’ (i.e. bloody big fences three times the height of the Berlin wall between neighbourhoods) and some of the street art really brought home some sense of the tragic history of ‘The Troubles’. Only the English and obviously the Irish have some part in it as well could call the 30 years of terrorism, attacks and brutal law enforcement by the euphemistic title of ‘The Troubles’. It is all the more poignant as Prince Charles is currently in the west of Ireland visiting Galway and Mullaghmore where Lord Mountbatten was killed by a member of the IRA some 35 years ago. While the majority of the country has embraced the trip – police arrested 2 republican activists last week with explosive materials. Old wounds ......

Love to all
S&E