Ireland
Ireland was quite the dash-in dash-out type of vacation. Not a planned photography trip, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t take our share of pictures, if not photographs. It was a tourist vacation. Long story short, a good time was had by all. Most of the time I guess (there was the occasional “EEEK” or “Oh my god” from the passengers in the car on some of the roadways, and a not so stomach relaxing ferry ride). All I have to say is I’m glad John and Judy rented a Peugeot 5008 - basically the 3008 we have, except a bit longer. Since I was the driver, I was pretty confident where the other side of the car was, even if it was on the wrong side of me! Let’s say that driving there was . . . fun.
We met up with John and Judy in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. They landed from Dallas about an hour before we arrived and we met them for a quick bite before the short hop to Dublin. Since they are carry-on only/backpack travelers (we decided to comply, which meant going light with the cameras as well), we didn’t have to wait for luggage and we quickly headed out to get the car. A short drive and several wrong turns (it appears that Google Maps is no better in Ireland than it is in the Netherlands, Portugal or the US) later, we were in our AirBNB and taking the short walk to . . . you guessed it.
I wish I could be more complimentary about the tour (I can’t be more complimentary about the beverage at the end - magnificent!), but it was crowded and way too commercial for all of our tastes. But of course, there was a pint waiting each of us at the end of it, so it wasn’t a bad way to start a vacation.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the tour (ok, the old tools were pretty cool too) was this waterfall display they had. See the pints?
We were off after breakfast the next morning heading to the other side of Ireland. I told John and Judy that I wasn’t going to do any planning - I’m just the hired driver. Judy did a great job of having a list places we could go to (or not) and we took our time driving through the countryside and making an intended stop at a monastery about halfway to our AirBNB destination.
As I said, I didn’t do the planning, so I don’t know half the names of the sights, but they were pretty cool to see. Let’s just say ruins became a common theme on the trip.
As was the weather. Lots of it, as they warn you about. And yes, sometimes you get a bit of sun too.
Unsurprisingly, there are fairy rings in Ireland. Though we didn’t see any leprechauns.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I had my usual “go light” kit - the Q2MR and the new Baby Leica point and shoot (which really is a nice upgrade from it’s Panasonic previous generation cousin). So, yes, I had real cameras and once in awhile I had to stop and try (I use that term loosely) and make a photograph. Even if it was an abstract of lichen on a tombstone.
Our home for the next few nights was a small cottage house in Ballyvaughan, a nice small harbor town south of Galway. Pubs, dinner and shopping was a short walk away from home.
John and Judy’s daughter Sammi had been to Ballyvaughan a while back and said we had to try O’Loclainn’s Irish Whiskey Bar because, “They have the best Irish coffee in Ireland.” (Yes, it has won that award, so it’s official). And it is official - home made cream (apparently the owner Margaret has a cow in the back for that purpose), good coffee and good Irish whiskey make for a superb combination.
The Irish coffees were Judy and Ann’s. While John and I sipped from theirs, we wound up with Irish whiskeys. John had a Yellow Spot (12-year, multiple casks) and I had a Green Spot (finished in a Pinot Noir wine cask) from Spot Whiskeys. Everything, including the atmosphere and everyone there, was excellent.
The next day was, well, quite the adventure. We got up early and I drove to Galway so we could take a ferry to the Aran Islands and spend a few hours on Inishmore. By the time we got there, it was noon, so we had a bite to eat, and I had a local red amber ale. Very good.
Then we took off on bikes.
We saw a couple of sights, to include an old fort, but to be honest, we should have taken one of the bus tours.
It was windy, very windy. And as the weather started to change, we opted for wisdom over valor and headed back for some coffee and a trip on the ferry to check out some cliffs on the way back to Galway. Did I mention the weather started changing? Well, the ferry ride became more of a roller coaster ride (“The rough open seas water should last only about 15 minutes.” It lasted closer to 45). John and Judy went up top to see the cliffs (the reason Judy wanted to do the ferry ride). They came back down soaked and, well, Judy was ready to hurl. Ann and I had watched the cliffs through the window and . . . well, my stomach was feeling fine. I’ll leave it at that. Back at Galway we had a nice Italian dinner and a pleasant (ok, maybe not so pleasant for some of the passengers given some of the roads) drive home in the dark.
The weather the next morning was still a bit . . . rough. Our AirBNB landlord had recommended a drive southwards when Judy told him our plans, and we took his advice given the unpredictable weather forecast that day (and nicer forecast the next).
As the day wore on, the weather became nicer, though the wind never settled down. John and Judy make for great traveling companions because they’re not in a real rush to get anywhere in particular, they like taking their time when they’re at a place to see or to eat, and they are always game for a “Hey, let’s stop here!” Which is where this shot came from. Given my various driving excursions through the narrow back roads of Portugal and Madeira, I’m always on the look-out for those narrow pull-outs and can stop in a heart beat, which is what we did on the uphill climb past this little tower.
Given I’ve made a few comments about the roads we drove on, I should show you one. The photograph below is typical of many of the roads. And yes, that is a two car road. And no, folks don’t always drive slowly on them. And remember, keep left!
Throughout the day we just drove around stopping whenever we wanted to. Occasionally, I’d pull out google maps, zoom in and find something along the way to check out. But sometimes we’d see, let’s say, a nice slate church and say, “Hey, wanna stop there?” And of course, behind the church would be some ruins and a cemetery, so we’d spend our time exploring until we were ready to head on down the road to discover what was down the road.
One of the places I found on the map was an old Celtic fort/encampment. It doesn’t really look like much, but it was fun to explore and realize that several families lived here for hundreds of years.
Best part about the ruins was the welcome center. When we arrived, they were about half way through a sheep dog exhibition and they let us watch the rest of it for free. If you’ve ever seen sheep dogs (3 in this case) herd sheep, they are amazing! It was a blast to see them. It was a nice surprise finding and a bit of fun before checking out the Celtic fort.
Afterwards we went to see a near-by dolmen. Believe me, it took a lot of work to keep the rope fence out of the photograph. My knees aren’t what they used to be.
The next day turned out to be much nicer and we did our planned northern loop. Our landlord again had suggested we take a particular route and his advice was solid. We got to see a bit of diversity from the car windows and were able to plan for a couple of intentional stops. One of the “Hey look at that!” stops was, you guessed it, another ruin.
This one was much larger than most of the others we’d seen, and had a cemetery with many more recent graves. But it was the old structures that were the most interesting.
Our goal for the day was to visit Connemara National Park and the route that Jack had recommended made the drive a lovely one. We passed through the town that John Wayne’s Quiet Man was filmed and along some lovely rivers and loughs. At one stop it seemed like we had three seasons in a 5-minute period. It was worth waiting for the conditions to change though.
Ann and I have decided that if we have to move to Ireland, Connemara is probably where we would head. We loved the landscape. Fortunately, we went out for a hike once we got to the park, and the weather cooperated.
The views were simply lovely.
At one point, Judy and John decided to take a loop that gained a bit more elevation than the lower loop, which we took (the highest loop took you to the top of the mountain and was quite the elevation gain with the last leg - no one was up for that).
Ann and I opted for the lower loop so we could take our time and think a bit about photography and this beautiful landscape. Fortunately, ours was the least busy loop so we had few interruptions in our image making and conversations. Though, it would have been nice to be on top of that foreground hill in the image below.
Still, Ann and I got what we wanted, which was a beautiful landscape and some time to make images and not feel like you’re holding folks back.
Our decision to take separate routes paid off. Judy and John arrived back at the welcome center about 5 minutes after we did. Like much of this trip, things just worked out.
After the hike we took the short trip to Kylemore Abbey with its Victorian Walled Garden. As you can see, the Abbey is a pretty fancy place.
Given it was later in the afternoon, we opted to check out the Victorian garden. It was as advertised, very formal, but a real working garden. Rows of ornamental plants hid the productive crops, and there was a variety of plants to suit anyone who has even the remotest interest in plants. As one might expect, there were several paths to take and plenty of places to stop, sit and enjoy the views.
The bus shuttle from the Abbey to the Victorian Garden was a hair-raising experience. I never knew Jacky Stewart was a bus driver. Either that, or he is a worse driver than even me. Anyway, we opted to walk back, which gave us a chance to experience the woods and the views along the way.
As I said, the Connemara landscape is beautiful.
We had a fairly long drive back, so we drove for about an hour and found town that had a few highly rated places to eat. I was set on having some lamb stew before I left Ireland and I was successful.
I also found some other pleasures too. That is an ale by the way.
The drive back to Ballyvaughn was uneventful. As was the drive back to Dublin to catch our plane, though it was a bit longer than we’d expected because, hey, I forgot to switch off the Google Maps “Avoid Toll Roads” switch. No wonder we took backroads for much of the way back to the airport. Still, we made it there in plenty of time and we got to see even more of Ireland’s beautiful landscape.
Stay tuned for the Dutch end of our vacation.