On Saturday we slept in (mainly they slept in) and then we headed to St. Georges Market to look around at the booths and have some delicious lunch. After lunch we went had a Black Taxi Tour, which showed us some of the murals and talked about the history of the Troubles. We viewed murals on both the Protestant and Catholic sides of the peace wall, which show their version of events that happened throughout history. Our cabbie was the Louckses first splash of Belfast culture.
Ana, Cindy and Lucy in the back of the cab
Houses that back the peace wall with enclosed backyards
Ana signing the peace wall
Sunday we headed to church in the morning before a picnic in Botanic Park. The afternoon was spent in the Ulster Museum learning more about the history of Ireland and seeing some artwork. Then we had a real Irish experience...we watched Toy Story III in 3-D!!! I bet no one in any other country can do that! The evening was spent at Cafe Naz, an Indian restaurant, and playing games at the Ark.
Botanic Park
Botanic Park
Randall squatting to get the perfect picture
On Monday we all along with Maria went to Ian’s Bakery for delicious pastries before the team meeting. After the team meeting we set out to see a few more sights around Belfast such as the Big Fish, the Lady of Thanksgiving, and Albert’s Clock. Finally we made our way up to the allotment where Cindy (Micah’s mom) picked berries to her heart’s content. We stopped on the way back for some honeycomb ice cream, a true Irish treat. That night Micah and Randall (Micah’s dad) went to pick up the car for the road trip ahead. Randall got his first experience driving on the “wrong side” of the road with many more to come.
Albert clock tower
The big fish
Lady of Thanksgiving
Cindy picking berries at the allotment
Tuesday was the beginning of our road trip around the Emerald Isle. We left in the morning to head up the coastal route toward the Giant’s Causeway. Little did we know the fun would begin before we even took our first picture. Micah pulled over at on outlook point on the side of the road for some pictures and Lucy heard a strange hissing sound so she called Micah over and Micah a bit upset realized we had a flat tire about 40 miles into our trip. After changing the tire on a slight slope, we continued, slowly, on our way to the next town where we left the tire and dropped the rest of the family off at Carrick-a-rede rope bridge to do some sightseeing while we went back to pick up a new tire (and ice cream). After enjoying the ice cream we headed onto Giant’s Causeway and benefited from better weather than last time, but encountered a LOT more people! From there we made our way onto Londonderry to see the “walled city”. We walked on the wall and then saw the Bloody Sunday memorial. We found a sweet pub to eat dinner in where a steak, drink, chip and salad were £5.49. Not bad!! After all this, we tried to find out way to our hostel just outside of Londonderry, which ended up being yet another adventure. The directions were unclear, such as “head to the end of the road”. We missed signs. We ended up far away from where the hostel was! But after asking directions a few times, calling the hostel a few times, we arrived safe and sound (and tired!).
Fixing the tire.
Carrick-a-rede from afar since the two of us were heading back to town to get the tire fixed.
Randall and Cindy at the Giant's Causeway.
A bit of the "walled city" of Londonderry. A view from on top of the walls.
Wednesday was a day of driving with our final destination Doolin, an hour south of Galway. Our day was unplanned and we stopped as we saw interesting sights. Our first stop was a castle in the distance. It was a private picturesque castle positioned on a cliff along the shore. Next, we stopped at a beach in Galway where Cindy enjoyed hunting for shells and finding a ring (too bad it wasn’t an expensive one). On our way to Doolin, we drove through the Burren, which is an area of Ireland composed of limestone with little plant growth. It is quite different in appearance than the green rolling hills in much of Ireland. Finally we ended up in Doolin, a quaint little village with the Allie River Hostel and lots of pubs with music which delighted Ana (Micah’s sister) a lot!
The castle
Cindy searching for sea shells
The Burren
Thursday we headed to the Aran Islands more specifically to Inis Mór. After an hour and a half ferry ride (where Lucy was a bit nauseas) through gloomy weather, but with beautiful views of the Cliffs of Mohr we arrived on the island as the sun broke through. Randall, Ana, Micah and Lucy rented bikes to explore the island, while Cindy took a van tour of the island. The weather was perfect: no wind, no rain, lots of sun! The four of us on bikes ended up with quite the sun burn! We enjoyed seeing seals, some of the 7,000 miles of stone walls to fence in livestock, beautiful coasts, an old fort, and gorgeous cliffs. After an exhausting day of biking we were all ready for a hearty meal that night!
A few of the 7,000 miles of stone walls
Cliffs on Inis Mór
Cliffs of Mohr from the boat
Cliffs of Mohr
On Friday we attempted to go to the Cliffs of Mohr, but due to rain and fog, Randall was the only one to brave the weather to try to see a puffin (a type of bird) and didn’t see any or any of the cliffs. So we drove to Ennis, a town known for shopping. We walked around a bit and enjoyed their farmers market where we got delicious cheese and bread for lunch before heading onto Dingle. Dingle is a little town situated on the bay so our B&B provided beautiful views over the harbour. We did a bit more shopping in Dingle, ate dinner and enjoyed playing some games in the B&B.
Saturday was our trip around the Dingle Peninsula. It provided stunning views of the coast line, islands, and cliffs, as well as visits to bee hive huts, which date back to 2000 B.C., and the Gallarus Oratory, a Christian church believed to have been built between the 6th and 9th century. We stopped in a local potters shop and found beautiful pieces of artwork done locally. It was a really neat shop! After touring around, we headed to our next bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere near the Ring of Kerry. For dinner we headed to Kate Kearney’s Cottage, at the base of the Gap of Dunloe. Kate was a local legend, famous for her hospitality and distilling her rewound ‘mountain dew’. After dinner and chatting with a local to get directions to the nearest ATM we began to walk the path towards the Gap of Dunloe. The gap is known for its beautiful scenery and serene environment, due to the fact that cars are strongly discouraged from travelling up the road. The main ways to access the gap are by walking, pony-cart and bicycle. So we set out on the path. Quickly the man we had talked to in the restaurant was chasing us down offering a pony-cart ride up the 3 mile path to the top. After Micah’s dad tried his luck at bartering we agreed to take him up on his offer. His cart is only big enough for four people to sit so Ana happily agreed to ride a horse behind the cart. It turned out that Tim O’Conner (our guide) grew up along the path and farmed a good portion of the land. He provided us with a good portion of local colour! The ride up and back was filled with absolutely stunning scenery and great commentary from Tim. It was a great way to finish up the day.
Bee hive hut
Dingle Peninsula
Dingle Peninsula
Gallarus Oratory
Looking towards the gap
Gap of Dunloe
Ana with Tim
On Sunday we headed out to travel around the Ring of Kerry with our final destination Cork. The day was quite gray and rainy so we missed out on much of the Ring of Kerry had to offer, but enjoyed a walk out to cliffs that offered magnificent views as well as a visit to an old fort, which led to questioning of how many building are we building today will last thousands of years? Another highlight of the day was the fact that we used the runner up in the Ireland’s top toilet competition! Can a day get much better than that? We also stopped off of the road and found a walk down to a river which provided great views of the river with mountains in the distance as well as another shell collecting location. After the Ring of Kerry we headed to Cork where we had dinner at a jazzy pizzeria before heading to a pub for bannofi pie (a delightful combination of toffee and banana!). Another night of games was followed by an early night to bed.
The Cliffs.
Old Fort.
View from our walk down to the river.
Monday, we headed off to Waterford Crystal Factory, which recently (about one month ago) reopened in Waterford. We saw how Waterford Crystal is made and has been being made for years. It is amazing how many hours go into each piece and to hear how many years each person has to train to learn their trade. From the people who blow the glass to the people who hold the pieces to cut them by hand, it is an incredible process. It was also crazy to see the replicas of the trophies that Waterford Crystal has made over the years. To think how much money and time has gone into those trophies is simply unbelievable! After Waterford we headed onto Kilkenny to visit the Kilkenny Castle. It has been restored to the Victorian Era. It was a fun change of pace from the other nature-oriented days that we had experienced before to see the “castle” side of Ireland. We finally made our way to our hostel called Farran Farm Hostel and it was truly on the farm. It was a great experience to be out in the country or as Micah put it many times...“in rural Ireland”.
Blowing the hot crystal into shape.
Cutting the Waterford Crystal all free-hand.
Cinderella's Carriage.
Kilkenny Castle.
On Tuesday, we spent the morning at Powerscourt Gardens, south of Dublin. We were able to see a variety of gardens from Japanese to Italian to more wooded areas. After the gardens we went onto Dublin to visit the Guinness Storehouse, but upon arrival decided that it was not what we wanted to do so we used the toilet there and continued onto Newgrange to check-in to the lodge. In the evening we walked on the famous battle sight of Battle of the Boyne fought in 1690, where Protestant King Williams conquered Catholic King James. This is one of the reasons the 12th of July is celebrated by Protestants. In the evening we had a delicious and unique meal. We went to a restaurant where we had the option to cook our meal on a hot lava stone so the food cook in front of you and stayed really warm the whole meal.
Powerscourt Gardens
Powerscourt Estate in background
Lovely gardens!
Wednesday was the last day of the road trip. We began the day with a tour of the Newgrange burial site. It is a passage tomb built around 3,000 B.C. The materials were gathered from miles away and it took three generations to build. The inside is constructed in the form of a cross on winter solstice the chamber is lit by the sunrise. Amazing how in touch with the Earth’s changes the builders were! After Newgrange we drove toward Belfast and stopped at Monasterboice, the sight of two early Christian churches as well as two amazing stone-carved crosses that tell the story of the Bible. Our tour guide explained that the crosses were used to tell the stories when the majority of the population could not read. We finally made our way back to Belfast and had a traditional meal at a chippie aka fish and chips. Micah and Randall took back the car, perhaps a little worse for wear, and Cindy packed their suitcases up to prepare for the EARLY morning departure.
Newgrange Tomb
Entrance to Newgrange Tomb.
Monasterboice. The tallest stone cross in Ireland.
The clan was left at the bus station at 6 in the morning on Thursday to catch a bus back to Dublin in order to catch their flight home. We heard they arrived safe and sound, one bag missing, but that should have arrived soon after them. We saw so much of Ireland in the past week that it is hard to realize how much we did experience. It will take awhile for it all to soak in. Highlights for us were the trip to the Aran Islands, Dingle Peninsula and Gap of Dunloe. It was such a blessing to have the Loucks family here in Belfast and Ireland with us!
No comments:
Post a Comment