August 16th. Nature's Playgrounds

This morning we had a great breakfast. The hostess had really outdone herself pampering us with freshly made Irish breakfast (that tasted much better than usual because of the very nice components), awesome coffee and warned up buns for Isabella and I. Her oldest son, the 8 year old (she has 4 children) lit up the fireplace in the living room for us. She also gave us some helpful tips for going to the Giant’s Causeway site: to park near the hotel on the property to avoid the unnecessary parking fee and to skip on visiting the visitor center and head over straight to the site. She also gave us the map. Staying at the hotel was great.

The Giant's Causeway site was incredible. In addition to having the usual beautiful coast line it also featured sections of the rock shaped like hexagonal columns pressed together. There are local legends explaining the phenomena and scientific explanation suggests that this was due to the unusual combination of factors during the volcanic activity. But the end result looks fantastic.

We were almost the first ones on the site and so enjoyed ourselves walking up and down those columns. It was like a giant playground. When people started to arrive brought over by a completely unnecessary bus from the visitor center 1km away we did a walk around the site encountering more of those fantastic rock formations along the way.

After that we moved over to Bushmills to grab another cup of coffee and visit the distillery.

The distillery looks like a big shop. And the selection is pretty much similar to what is in the store so it was not interesting. The town was interesting. Since it appears that most of the business was brought on by the distillery the town seems larger and more developed than others around it. However distilling business may be moving elsewhere because now and then they have abandoned shops in town that have very realistic looking photos of the shops that used to be there on the doors and windows.  This looks kind of creepy.

Here is the green grocer store, the shoe repairs shop, the court building. What are they going to do when the last shop tanks? However there is one shop I hope does not disappear. It is called Ground Expresso Bar and it is located in the old bank building that was redone in a modern way. In addition to having great coffee in appropriately sized containers, they also make nutritious confections by mixing molten chocolate with cereals. We had our coffees at the vault. I also had cornflakes with dark chocolate. So good! There is also a playroom for kids to enjoy themselves while parents are having a quiet moment. Only our kids were also enjoying healthy sweets :)

The next stop was White Rock beach nearby. It was drizzling a little but we are used to it. However we were not used to groups of families swimming in cold water or playing beach sports in full rain gear. I guess vacation is vacation and when you are on the beach you do what you are have to do. We picked some shells and kids and I ran up and down the giant sand dune. Some kids were sliding down it on the boogie board.

Then we headed North for Greencastle and stopped for lunch at Kealy’s Seafood Bar. It was recommended very highly in the guide and had signs around indicating how special it was. Other than the presentation we did not notice anything a typical restaurant in US won’t be able to beat.

So we headed down to the North most point on the Island: Malin Head. It is just a rocky outpost with abandoned cement viewing tower. There we saw the largest number of tourists we saw on any of the nature sites. The nature this far North seems less lush and more stern. However as we took the shortcut through the mountain bog we saw a wide selection of plants – just some really short ones. 

We took a walk down the path winding through the bogs to see the Hell Hole, a gap in the mountains where water hits the shore with particular violence. But the waves were quiet and there was nothing hellish about it. We walked back through the bog to save time. Interesting experience. Some places feel solid but have water underneath. Slate and quartz rocks mixed in in the middle as not very reliable as footholds.  

The next stop was at another playground. There is a beach nearby where one can find semiprecious stones like jasper. We headed there through some narrow gravel farm roads. The beach was filled with pebbles and those that were wet indeed resembled shiny richly veined green and red pieces one would see in the store. For the next 45 minutes we felt like we were inside the Alladin’s cave. Those beautiful pebbles were all around us. Could not stuff our pockets enough. Isabella helped us a bit, but then she got tired of it and picked some shells instead.

When we got to the car (for a while I actually doubted we would have it in us to part with this place) we had a fool’s gold moment. All the stones that dried up looked just like regular pebbles. Gray and uninteresting. I guess if we get a polishing machine we would be able to see which ones are indeed semiprecious but for now they are just a pile of rocks.

   

 Next was the most challenging time in our journey today. We did not book a hotel hoping to catch something on the way. The problem is that today is Friday and there is a music festival at the nearby Derry. Big enough festival to completely close the hotel and B&B market on the perimeter between Malin Head and Donegal. A pretty damn big perimeter. We were really starting to worry having checked everything and not having found anything on our route from 6pm through 9pm. Finally we got lucky – there was a cancellation in Steeple View B&B and we were able to get in. It is not as fine as the one yesterday and there is no Internet but it was so great to finally check in, put kids to sleep, and take a shower and get down to wring the blog!! The bad thing about B&Bs is that for security reasons they would not let one in after 9pm so we really got lucky with this one.    

Some logistical things. Should have brought the rain boots for everyone. It would be fitting for when we have to go through wet muddy places. Also I find myself doing laundry every day. I had been hoping to keep our luggage small by wearing some things twice but we are moving so much that clothing does get dirty very fast. Then, when I wash it it does not have the time to dry and we have to have it spread out in the car and in the trunk during the day to dry.

Speaking of the B&Bs.. even though they bring great benefits to the owners – they are able to rack in about 100 euros for every room they have available every night, but it is kind of weird to let absolute strangers stay in your house every day. 

August 15th. The Northeast Circuit

 Last night I could not go to sleep for a long while. As I sat in bed writing the blog I suddenly smelled warmed up pillow - it smelled of old pee. Maybe it was in my head, but Dan and kids had nodded off I could not get myself to lie down. Finished my blog, responded to all work and outside emails, and finally researched and booked hotel for tomorrow. It is called the Knock Hotel. It was the only one available and they were so new that there were no reviews for them. And hopefully no one peed on their pillows yet. So much for the spontaneity. Good old fastidious me. And then I could sleep somewhat.

In the morning the breakfast was served by a really sweet middle aged woman. She was very nice as was the rest of the staff and I felt guilty for some reason.

We did a walking tour of the city suggested by guide book we were using. It completely focused on exploring the bitter war between Protestants who wanted to unite with the UK and Catholics who wanted to split, a war that lasted for 40 years.
It was kind of strange to be reading about it. I still have to learn more but this kind of war seems typical for the Middle Ages but to have this in our times just sounds crazy and barbaric.

The tour consisted of the long walks across the town to see respective neighborhoods and their murals. Murals were interesting at first but got old after a while. We also saw 6 meter wall that divided the town for 40 years. What seemed clear was that each side was equally poor and for whatever reason, driven by whatever leaders those people just went on killing each other.

The tour did not cover any of the interesting areas of town, including the churches with some really fascinating architecture. The largest city hall I've ever seen. Luscious Art Nouveau Harlem coffee was so inviting. It seemed that the town froze in time a long one ago and is only beginning to recover now. But after the murals those other things not seem that interesting.



With a sigh of relief we picked up on our journey and got out of the city. The first stop was Glenariff forest. It is a beautiful location in the mountains overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The most scenic Red Fountain trail was closed so we just walked several km downhill to the horseshoe waterfall. On the way we saw lots of raspberry bushes and helped ourselves. There were other people on the trail too and they too ate the berries. Isabella managed the whole trip without any complaints. She is starting to sport some serious calves.

Next we headed to Cushendum. Spent some time on the beach collecting colored wave beaten glass. There are beautiful caves on the beach that were formed by erosion of volcanic rock. One of the caves functions as a private driveway to the villa on the beach. The gate on the other side of the cave was locked so we could not see where it goes. We got ice-cream from the convenience store. If you get a pack of four, it is one pound for the whole thing.  If you get just one, it is 1.50-2 pounds of just one. Don't know how this works.

Next we drove for a number of miles on the serpentine road that ran along the coast enjoying the incredible views. Every time we think - this is it - the most amazing view in the world, ... only to see the next one even better a few miles down the road. The grass in so many  different shades, dark waters, and bleating sheep that resembled mini maggots from afar looked out of this world. It was very fortunate that hardly any cars were on the road at this height of the tourist season and we were able to negotiate narrow one lane paths with a great degree of comfort.

Carrick-a-Rede, a rope bridge above the  30 meter precipice between the main island and tiny uninhabited tiny one was the highlight of the trip. It is tortuous to those afraid of heights but the views are some of the best here.

After a brief stop at Dunsany castle, we arrived to our hotel at Portstewart. Contrary to my worries today it was everything we had hoped for. Now that we are done with dinner at the nearby uninspiring York, and kids a asleep in a large comfortable room upstairs, we are sitting in a living rooms downstairs enjoying the coffee and burning fireplace set up by hospitable owners. This was a good day!! I am about to collapse in the armchair. Good night!

August 14th. Scenic Route to Belfast

Dan brought us fresh morning pastries and coffee and we got on our way. The first stop was Trim castle. We thought it opened at 9:30 and so to pass the time followed the signs to Kileen castle. Irish signs for places of interest differ from those in the UK. Great Britain probably has so many sites that it starts warning you about a mile from the actual site. Kileen castle signs went up about 15km before the sit and then stopped suddenly. We drove on for 10km, passed the gates for Dunsany castle, and started to look for a suitable driveway to make the u-turn before turning into Kileen castle driveway by accident.

The castle looked locked up and picture perfect. It is not defensive but rather appears like a very large castle-like house. It is located on the golf course and other than some expensive looking cars driving through to the club house there were no signs of life. After walking around and glancing inside walled  garden also in pristine condition we got back on the road and went into the service driveway of Dunsany castle on account of the main gate being accidentally closed. They probably did not know we were coming.

We passed some old stone service buildings that looked like they were still in use and parked by the similar lookjing castle that was equally "indefensible" but much larger. There was a Ford SUV parked next to the castle and another one driving around a herd of sheep on the nearby field. We walked around taking pictures as well and before leaving stopped by at the ruined church in the overgrown meadow next door. There we wandered around the cemetery trying to spot the oldest grave. Then we spotted the newest, with a simple cross and still without a gravestone. It said "Edward C. Plunkett 20th Lord Dunsany 1939-2011. Check out the link above and also Wikipedia. It is pretty amazing to accidentally run into an ancient dynasty. As we were pulling out of the driveway someone else had come in. We are glad we did not have to explain ourselves to the descendants, 21st must be the Lord now.

Trim castle looked more like ruins than what the guide would have us believe. They must have rebuilt it quite a bit for Braveheart. We walked around taking pictures again and as we sighted several people walking up the castle roadway we had joined them as well. However it was the castle staff. And a very mean staff member Brenda had shut the gates in our face stating that the castle does not open until 10am. I've tried to tell her that it was not very nice to do but she said that shut gates means the site is closed and we should have known.

We had another 15 minutes and we walked around town before turning back in. As we were deciding whether to get the tour to get to tower, Brenda appeared again. Dan had tried to explain to her that she was unprofessional but she was interrupting and continuing to be rude. Another woman Susan has joined her and together they refused to give us the book of complaints. We got their names and the name of organization and overall this power trip probably did not end to their satisfaction but we lost interest in staying there longer and got on our way. In their defense I can say that spending their life in a dimly lit cell and communicating with the world namely the tourists through a tiny barred window can bring one down sometimes.

Next we went to the hill of Tara. A place of some Neolithic burials, pagan king crownings, and an entry point to the world of fairies. It looked like a large field filled with mounds, stone protrusion for the crownings, and some crosses for the even measure. We liked it. It was peaceful. Georgia ran around barefoot.
The highlight of today's trip Bru Na Boinne was next. It is a huge Megalithic complex 500 years older than the Stonehedge and 1000 years older than pyramids. They do an amazing job preserving and presenting the place. This alone is worth the trip to Ireland.

There is excellent visitor center that presents very good overview of the place and even recreates one of the passage tombs in its entirety. There are separate bus trips and guided tours to and within Knowth and Newgrange sites. Those places are awe inspiring. For the planning purposes, to explore these sites, given the limited number of busses it would make sense to arrange the trip in advance or get here the first thing in the morning and book suitable tours and then explore the surrounding areas.

Artist drawing beautiful Celtic
 designs @ Bru Na Boinne

After that site we could just barely cover Monasterboice, a site of an old Cisterian monastery but currently a cemetery featuring the most striking examples of Celtic crosses, and the round tower, but also, disturbingly, a large number of child and infant graves some of them fairly recent. Perhaps burying children in such a place gives more comfort to their parents?

The last stop before Belfast was a pleasant town Carlingford. It features several attractive ruins, including one of an old mint. We walked down the boardwalk to John's castle and walked through the pretty and tiny historical center before getting in the car one last time. Oh, and we also checked the pricing and availability of a local hotel - they had triple available for 100€. Made us feel better about the rest of our journey after tonight since we do not have any hotels reserved moving forward.

We noticed that we are in Northern Ireland now only by the change in speed limit units back to miles like in the UK.

Our B&B, Botanic Rest, seems to be close to the university area in Belfast. When we arrived the staff seemed to be in emergency operations mode. It looks like Booking.com did not provide updates to them about bookings and they had double booked the hotel to local inquiries. And there is rock concert in town tonight. Despite the panic mode, they offered kids apple juice, freed up a great spot next to the hotel, and kept making sure that the stack of hotel business cards on the counter is absolutely perfect, a little bit of company-related OCD I found enjoyable. They ultimately gave us a room the second floor. It does not have a bathroom or shower - those are in the hallway downstairs. But the room is very clean, all furniture is new and Internet is working. What else can you ask for for $200 per night. The kids were asleep in 5 minutes after talking to their cousin Sasha on Skype.

Tomorrow we will explore Belfast and then will head out to the Northeast. Isabella said a few funny things:
M - Isabella there is a bathroom here, lets all go
I - I don't want to go
M - We don't know when we will find another one
I - If I have to, I am going first!!

And another one:

M - I found 7 cents, I gave them to Georgia but if I find another 7 I will give them to you
I - That's not enough for me. I want 5. 

August 13th. The Southern Circuit

First off a disclaimer. Pictures take time to upload, process, and add to the we may not do it every day. But I promise to do it when we are back. Secondly, I am realizing the challenge of writing the blog after a day of traveling followed by the last final pint of the day. But as far as that is concerned, you really cannot compromise on research. So Dan and I conclude in that regard that O'Hara is really the best beer in the last three data. Finally late Steve must have been on the exploration trip of his kind because iPad, when it feels any hesitation just takes over and then you cannot recognize paragraphs of text at a time. So if anything does not make sense, direct all the questions to him.

For our day trips we are using absolutely amazing Ireland's Best Trips from Lonely Planet. We have to get one for the UK. It has excellent and interesting routes planned out - just get in and drive. Today we did the combination of 3 and 8 - Wicklow mountains and Dublin surroundings.

The first stop was Sandycove - pleasant retreat by the sea. We undershot it a bit and did a walk to the lighthouse at Dun Laoghaire instead first. It was very pleasant. We enjoyed watching smiling jiggers and dog walkers. Next we covered Sandycove in about 10 minutes.

Gorgeous Enniskerry and Powercourt estate were next. I'll have to look up their online references later but they were great. We felt bad not to be able to share it with anyone. We went to see the nearby 130m waterfall and that was great as well.

Then we headed to Glencree to see the beautiful view of the mountains. The area was completely secluded and lovely. We got out and walked up one of the mountains picking wild blueberries. I tried to go up to see more views and so kept going until my ears popped but still did not get to the top. The feeling is amazing - richness of colors of the surrounding mountains, purple wild flowers (heather?) mixed in with bushes that looked like hedgehogs with bright green needles ending in yellow tips. Don't know the names of the bushes.

On the way we passed a beautiful lake down in the valley and pulled over and walked crossing a few streams on the way downhill to get to it. It was one of those places you could probably spot a fairy if you slow down enough and wait patiently. But we are a different type of crowd.

Next we went to see another waterfall at Glenmacnass Valley. The guide describes this area as somber and desolate. Well I guess too many people were reading this guide because while it was somber on account of a person dying by slipping in that waterfall a while a go, but desolate it definitely was not. Waterfall was OK, not as impressive as the first one. 

Glendalough was next. It is one of the top sites in Ireland - not to miss, top 10, etc, etc.. Its key sites feature the ruins of a monastery complete with a pretty round top tower set amidst the giant cemetery. All that set in the valley with the lakes surrounded by the picturesque mountains. Not a bad concept, but way too many people come to the place. As opposed to everything we visited earlier, here we were walking among huge crowds looking at the sites not that much better than what we saw earlier today. So it was a bit of a letdown. We drove off and stopped on the way at another site with some ruins from the same time period. This time there was hardly anyone around and the view of the alley below was awesome. Kids have had it and attached themselves to the iPad while we snapped a few pictures of the ruins. 

Rural Georgia, anyone?

At Glencree

Next we drove past Blessington (the gallery was closed) and into Celbridge to see fantastically ugly mansion with the longest driveway in the world. I bet you could do a 5k run in the driveway alone.

It was time to return to Dublin. We went to Hophouse Kimchi for dinner. Highly highly recommend this place. The food was awesome. Kids were barely awake to even watch cartoons. 

One more pic of Powercourt

Tomorrow we are doing a few Neolithic sites on the way to Belfast.

August 12th. More Dublin

We did a lot of walking around the city today. Don’t want to get into too much detail. In sum, Dublin is a place to go to. Perhaps we can get to stay here one of the summers. It has so much to be discovered. It is a bit far from everything though.

Some of the highlights from today are St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Christ’s Church crypt, views along the canal and its many bridges, Temple Bar again, and the street of Antiques with its lovely Zozimus Gallery. For a city this size a lot of government infrastructures are somewhat exposed and we got to walk around the backyard of Irish FDA. They got themselves a very interesting looking property. Department of Education and Skills has a sculpture in its courtyard chosen with a good sense of humor – opened up hand. We went inside a few smaller churches. Liked St. Nicolas Church.

We wanted to see the Riverdance but they did not have any performances today and tomorrow’s does not have any good seats left. There are a few other dancing venues but they all require dinner to be bought and run somewhat later. So we had skipped on the cultural life from that standpoint.

On the eating side of things. As we walked around we saw four Polish deli shops. Apparently the area is very popular. The entire staff on the ferry that we interacted with was Polish. Bad Ass bar we went to for dinner is run by the Polish owner as well.

For lunch we went to the Mongolian BBQ. Conceptually it was pretty interesting. A large metal cooking surface where a chef stir-fries your selection of tired and anti-sanitary looking veggies and meat. One has to spice it themselves when they bring it for the grill, which is a bit of an iffy idea. You really have to know what you are doing to pick the right spice combinations and not to overdo on the spice side. Dan was a bit put off by that and the first thing. Just like yesterday, Isabella surprised us by eating a few new things. 

A major highlight was Murphy’s ice-cream made from milk that comes from Kerry cows, supposedly even rarer than great pandas. It was awesome. I had caramelized brown bread flavor. Kids had raspberry and black currant and those flavores tasted like the real thing.

The people seem warmer and more approachable on one hand. But on the other, they are cautious of the many panhandlers in the area. Many of those are young and capable looking. There is plenty of mullets and fashion seems to be in all directions.

In retrospect we should have covered museums more but after counting our steps we did about 30k+, most likely much more for the little feet who did not complain. So we took it easy towards the end of the day and gave them the time to enjoy themselves at the playground until the rain had started.

Going to explore the countryside tomorrow.

August 11th. Dublin

We left at 6am to drive up to Holyhead and then take Swift ferry to Dublin. It is about 4:45 hour ride covering 300 miles. Kids were very good. They kept busy consuming all the perishables we packed and looking at a could of new things on iPad. The road kept pretty monotonous for a while until we passed Warwick castle.

After that it got very pretty. North Wales has plenty of scenic hills with yellow or bright green grass, featuring grazing black and white cows or sheep or both. Every now and then we saw a castle on those hills. A few are Unesco sites. We may have to come back here as well :)

Approach to ferry was very organized. Similar to Eurotunnel we got routed to our lanes to wait for our ship. About 150-170 cars seem to fit on the ship. After we parked, we went to the waiting deck on the fourth floor where lots of diversions, in addition to the view kept us busy for the next two hours.

The approach to the hotel from ferry was somewhat rundown. There were huge crowds of soccer fans predominantly dressed in red and white coming from the city center that horrified us with the thought of how we will look for parking and seemed to have explained by hotel availability was so scarce.  But surprisingly we were able to park right in front of our Beldevere hotel. They gave us quintuple room.

Hotel is located possibly 15 minutes from the center. As we walked passing even more more fans going in the opposite direction the area seemed to have improved only marginally. We also passed a guy who was playing "Million Red Roses" the old Russian song from the eighties. Kids excited to be able to finally stretch their feet were running in all directions.

After we crossed the river, the city got much nicer. It did not have the manicured scrubbed look of some of the other Western European cities. But it had some interesting and distinctive character that is hard to explain.

We headed straight for the library and see the book of Kells. They do a good warm up where in the series of rooms they show enlarged reproductions of various sections of it with explanations. And, finally, showing the books under the glass somewhat is not as impressive because you obviously cannot see all those interesting other pages. And the crowd seemed to permanently glued to it. It is amazing that the book is a thousand years old and the colors are as vibrant. Quoting the Greek tour guide last year "ancient people were not stupid."

The enormous library impressed me more than the one in Coimbra. It is not as lavishly decorated, and it does not look like they would be able to save all 200k volumes stored there but the sheer size of it, and very well presented exhibits of organic and mineral coloring materials used in decorating the Book of Kells, and also the oldest harp in Ireland (that will turn 1000 years old next year) were really memorable. The university buildings, a combination of classical and cement seventies styles, had faded to a point of stained gray and have pleasant comfortable look.

Next we walked over to Temple bar area. Originally there was William Temple Barr who was associated with St Patrick's cathedral who got this land. Over the years the land had expanded and one of the r-s was lost. So now it is a beautiful area filled with atmospheric Irish Bars. There was music coming from bars son either side of the road. We hopped in and watched live performers and cheering crowds. We eventually came down to Fitzsimmons and sat down. Isabella went dancing. Dan and I had some beers and snacks.

Musicians stopped playing and came down to say thank you to Isabella :).

We relaxed and continued our walk stopping by the castle to see the incredible sand structures, Cathedral to feed doves, and the Queen of Tarts to replenish our carb levels. There was a billboard at one of the area theaters, Olympia, stating that Regina Spector was performing on the 19th of August. Not only are we in a very nice place, it is very happening too :) At the theater there was a crowd of college students dressed predominantly in black waiting for the theater doors to open to see the Lambs of God. There were some kneelings when the doors opened.

As we got to Stephen's Green past the lovely shopping street that resembled the one in Seville, we saw a group of musicians with some serious equipment and a puppet theater finish setting up. The area, for Sunday night, was already somewhat deserted so we stayed to see what will happen. First there was a fun puppet number and a small crowd had built up. And then one of the musicians made a little speech saying the CDs that are given out are free, and she is not religious, but she will now sing a few songs for our lord Jesus Christ. The last two statements did not jive together so we got on our way disappointing Georgia who was ready for a good show.

By then the kids were tired so we headed back. Parking was expiring early tomorrow morning so we drove around looking for a place to park. There were plenty of parking spots around but all had the same issue. We tried nearby Qpark but it was 25 euro per 24 hours. So we just left it downstairs and went to our hotel. Dan found out that if you reserve spot online on Qpark website it is 12 euro. So we made a reservation for tomorrow.