20130525 In Dingle for the day. Cloudy, finally. Owen-Photos Dolores-Photos
I should mention that this part of Ireland is the stronghold of the Irish language, sometimes called Gaelic. Irish and Scottish are mostly the same but there are large differences in places, as in two dialects. We hear both Irish and English spoken here, often in the same conversation.
After a great breakfast in the beautiful dining room overlooking the bay and the town, we hiked away to do things. We found the St Mary's church and walked downhill to the harbor, stopping in little stores as we went.
We reached the waterfront where D bought something and I bought Bill the same tee-shirt I purchased yesterday. We bought another little thing. I purchased a CD of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, the Irish group I listened to in the 60's.
We went into Murphy's again. D did a Murphy's and blackcurrent mix she tried last night and liked; she liked it again. I had my pint of Smithwick's.
Then we strolled back across the town and up the hill to Greenmount House. We found our laundry waiting at the door so we put that away. Then D napped while I did a computer backup and other chores.
We loafed until 1730 then walked to dinner at the Bull Head restaurant. D had carrot and coriander soup then lamb steak. I had antipasti and spaghetti bolognese. A shiraz helped them. Service was good and the food well prepared. By the time we left, the place was nearly full.
Then we wandered down to St Mary's so D could make church. I took one look at the big stone building and knew I wouldn't hear much with all the echoes, so I left. D told me to be back in an hour. I walked around and wound up at O'Flaherty's (same place as last night). I nursed a pint then walked back to church to find scores of cars leaving and D standing curbside talking with Francis and Laurie, and a herd of others.
D started to tell me that the mass was extremely short. Then the hearse pulled up. Six big guys in black suits took the casket onto their shoulders and carried it into the church, apparently for viewing. Most of the waiting on-lookers went into the church after the casket. Looking at the notes for the service, the funeral mass for John Griffin will be tomorrow at 1130; his body will rest in the church attended by a relative until then, may God rest his soul.
D & I walked to Murphy's Ice Cream where she ordered a cone, very good per her. She tasted the brown bread ice cream but didn't take that, electing chocolate chip instead. They closed the doors as we left.
We hiked to O'Flaherty's and had a glass. We pulled up good seats for the music to come. The musicians were late as usual. The guitar/banjo/accordian player and singer from last night, who is O’Flaherty himself, led again. He’s a big, barrel-chested man, so he had great volume, and his singing of the old songs is terrific. Tonight he was accompanied by a lady on the flute. They did one duet on pennywhistles. Well worth staying to hear.
We hiked back to Greenmount House at 2300 and started packing for moving on in the morning. We're doing the computer chores, then bed.
20130526 Dingle to Ballyvaughn Clouds, misty Owen-Photos Dolores-Photos
Another cloudy day but we still can't complain after the four beautiful days at the start of the trip. I'm feeling a little off today but nothing serious.
We left Dingle by going over Connor Pass to the north side of the peninsula. On my map it is marked unsuitable for buses. Indeed at one point the road is one lane wide with a severe drop-off for a considerable distance. We were in clouds as we neared the top and could see nothing at the top. Partway down the north side we could see again, but the cloudy overcast prevented us seeing the beautiful greens and blues you see on sunny days.
On through Tralee while hearing Phil tell stories of Irish beauty contests, including the Rose of Tralee one. A short time later we reached Tarbert, the loading point for ferries crossing the Shannon River. It saves a lot of time if you're in the west of Ireland and need to cross the Shannon over going way inland.
The four-lane ferry Shannon Breeze handled the entire waiting line with no problem. I took pictures and bought a takeaway (to go) hot chocolate to share with D.
We went then to Ennistymon for lunch. D & I and the Murphys went to the Falls Hotel, very nice dining room, to partake of the Sunday carvery. D had beef, I had pork, with assorted potatoes and vegetables, all very good. Then we spotted Phil and Carolyn walking along the river so we decided we'd do that as well.
We did well along the river, and when we approached the falls noticed a man-made salmon run up to a pool toward the top, obviously to allow the salmon to get upstream to spawn. When we got back to street level we could see where the salmon run was continued under the original stream bed from that pool to river surface some distance upstream. Very clever.
We walked to the bus but no one was there. A small dog came along and approached us, particularly D, sniffing and then begging for food. At one point it did a little hop into the air. Cute thing, but we had nothing to give it, so it wandered off in disgust.
Onward then up the coast line to our stop at the Cliffs of Moher. Quite spectacular cliffs of limestone and sandstone layered. Of course, they erode, so paths are being relocated, but we took some nice pictures in the mist. There were lots of cars and quite a few buses parked there, as it's a real tourist attraction (one of the few we're doing in our off-the-track tour).
We did several more stops on our way to our lodging for the night. An old weathered castle and a covered water well were two of them.
We checked in at Logue's Lodge in Ballyvaughn for the night. Our room is smaller than the one in Dingle but perfectly comfortable. We opened up the radiator water valve to crank up the heat and went downstairs to the snug little bar. The dining room was fairly full so we stayed in the snug. Others of the group came along and we soon had 8 of our 10 there, having a pint and then dinner. There was a nice fire in the fireplace with two buckets next to it; one was coal for starting and one was peat for keeping it going.
Carolyn said there was music in some bar tonight, so we took off to find it. We checked the two most likely but they denied having music tonight so we came back and got comfortable for the night. The room was now hot, so we cranked the heat down some. Now we're doing computer chores and going to bed. Tomorrow we return to Dublin.
20130527 Ballyvaughn to Dublin Periods of sun, clouds, and misty rain. Owen-Photos Dolores-Photos
Overall, quite good weather again. When we stopped for something, the rain quit.
We had a really good breakfast in the large dining room and bar at Lough's. Some of the others enjoyed themselves at the music last night at O'Loughlin's. We had asked there about it, but the person knew nothing. It turned out the town was going to surprise her; there were a great many people and the musician. Oh, well, we rested.
And that was good because we felt better today. We no sooner started than stopped at Castle Dunguire for a quick set of pictures. Then off eastward to Shannonbridge where we crossed the Shannon again. We stopped to get coffee and pictures in Killeen's Bar and Grocery, which sells everything from fishing tackle to cokes to Guiness. A little dog named Oscar became D's friend when she scratched him. The cashier is coming to Orlando in October so we had a good conversation. I bought a baseball cap saying Killeen's Bar, Shannonbridge Ireland which ought to get some questions in Lynch's in Jax Beach.
The next stop was Clonmacnoise, c. 545 AD, which bills itself as the Lost City. At one time around 1,000AD the place had some 2,500 inhabitants and was the largest city for miles. This was due to the location at the intersection of the river and several roads. There are a whole bunch of old stone buildings including one church that is still active. Burials within the grounds have been halted for a few years, instead using the new cemetery adjacent. One old stone I saw was dated 1776. Later, the town of Athlone sprung up farther upriver and gradually everyone moved up there, abandoning the place. There's a good visitor's center and an average shlock-shop.
Up the road then to Athlone, where we were given an hour to get something to eat (if desired) or roam around. Most of us went into Sean's Bar, recognized by Guiness World Book of Records as the oldest pub in Ireland, dating back to 900 or somesuch. If that's true, it's probably the oldest pub in the world.
The bar in Sean's leans back toward the backbar and the whole place slopes downward toward the back and the river. There's sawdust on the floor, so it might be possible to slide to the door to the toilets. I had my pint and D her glass of red. Then I swiftly walked across the river (on the bridge, of course) to the ATM and withdrew some Euros. I returned to take some pictures of the place. One sign on the wall said that credit would be given to anyone over 90 with his parents. An advertisement for Player's Medium Navy Cut cigarettes reminded me of when I swapped packs with an English submariner; they were terrible.
Then the trip started ending. We got onto the motorway for Dublin and 90 minutes later we were being unpacked in front of Wynn's Hotel. Hugs and waves all round and then we checked in. We have a different room for our remaining three nights here (380) but it still overlooks Lower Abbey Street. It's about three rooms westward and one floor down from the last one.
So now we'll find a place for dinner and relax knowing we don't have to pack and take our suitcases down to the bus tomorrow.
We dined at The Winding Stair along the River Liffey. No reservation, so we had to promise to be out in an hour, as there was a reservation for the table. We enjoyed the food; a stirred feta cheese + tomato + a few thin pickled onion slices on leaves, then a steak for me, and potted crab in mayo with brown bread then a seafood platter of cockles and mussles and crab for D.
We wandered in Temple Bar for a bit along with zillions of tourists and students. Then back to the hotel to rest.