From 2 km of quiet beach, to the busyness of Dublin

I am doing laundry at Trinity College in Dublin after having checked into the student residences for my last night in Ireland. It is always nice to revisit a place – familiarity breeding a sense of comfort and belonging – though when I first stepped off the train upon in arrival in Dublin an hour ago, after travelling south from the quiet northern coast, I felt a bit like a deer from a meadow that had accidentally wandered into the city! Busy, busy! But, the wind quickly blew away my cobwebs, I recognized where I was, and I was soon striding along, jaywalking across busy streets like many a Dubliner.

Yesterday was my last long walk in beautiful Ireland. Early in the morning, I took the local bus to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in order to get there before all of the tour buses started arriving. The bridge is a suspension bridge, 60 feet long and 100 feet above the sea, operated by the National Trust. The origins of the bridge are that, for over 350 years, since 1755, fishmen have strung a rope bridge from the mainland to a small off-shore islet to allow them to access the best places to catch migrating salmon.

It was a very blustery, rainy morning. Usually, they allow 8 persons on the bridge at one time, but today they only let us pass one or two or three at a time, with no dawdling! I took pictures on the approach to the bridge, looking towards the islet.

And looking back along the chalk cliffs of the coast.

Here’s the bridge! The photo does not really give you a sense of how high up it is.

And now looking back after I had crossed. I only spent a small while on the islet as it was very very windy and wet! I felt like I could have almost been blow over!

I was able to take a quick photo before crossing back over to the mainland.

Here’s one last view of the bridge from another viewpoint.

After leaving the bridge, I was already quite wet and I started thinking that maybe instead of a 7 km coastal walk in the rain, I could just take the bus back to my bed and breakfast and read a book, or maybe go into town and find something to do indoors. But, I pushed myself to start off on the trail, and I am so glad I did!

Within a few minutes of walking along this grassy path, with fields to the left and the sea to the right, I felt very calm and happy and I remembered that this was going to be my last big walk in the Irish countryside.

The grassy path led to a church at Ballintoy…

and then turned right towards the sea and down into Ballintoy harbour which is apparently a shooting location for Game of Thrones. I will show just a few shots here, but if you’re a fan, I have more! Some of the shots are blurred as the wind was blowing rain onto my camera lens, but I kind of like the effect!

Here are some more shots from Ballintoy harbour.

There is a small restaurant at the harbour, Roark’s Kitchen, and I read the signs outside advertising dishes like seafood chowder, mackerel, and Irish stew. I was wishing I had an appetite, as I was very wet, but I was still quite full from my breakfast. I walked in anyways and this is what I saw. Heaven on earth!

And this is what I ordered. A freshly-made, sugared donut cut in half, with whipped cream spread in the middle and a strawberry on top. So happy, and not an ounce of guilt!

After my little feast, but with not quite enough time to dry out, I headed back outside and continued along the trail. There were caves in the chalk cliffs, and a collection of rocky islets along the shore.

I met an elderly couple, who regularly sample the cakes at Roukes and then walk along the path for a bit, and they kindly took my photo.

The path continued along the interesting shoreline, until I arrived at a gate.

Shortly after passing the gate (this view is looking back), and rounding a chalky, bouldery headland, the way continued along beautiful Whitepark Strand, a 2 km long white sand beach backed by dunes.

I walked a ways down the beach and, by that time, the rain had stopped and there was now just a warm breeze. I found a nice spot by some rocks to have my lunch and dry out my socks and boots a bit. As I was looking out at the blue-green water, I saw the black curving backs of porpoises quite close to shore, possibly feeding. It was so exciting to see them, but I didn’t get a picture !

Here’s a picture of me on the beach (I asked four different groups of people today to take my picture (!), I guess because it was my last day).

I walked further to about mid way along the beach, and took this picture looking forward. The headland you can see ahead was part of my hike the day before to the Giant’s Causeway.

And this view back, from where I’ve come. I didn’t want to leave!

But, I continued on down the beach, towards another little harbour, Port Braddon.

And just before arriving there, and then climbing up a road back to my bed and breakfast, Ireland gave me one last little gift, beach cows!

So, now my blog is done (and my laundry is done too), so I’m going to go for a short stroll in Dublin and have dinner at O’Neal’s, a pretty pub very near the university that I intended to eat at last time I was here, after having taken its picture. Only one more blog to go on this marvelous holiday that I’ve had. Hopefully St. John’s decides to show me its sunnier side, or at least something gentler than that deluge of rain from before! So, I’m off for a pint of cider and a meal, feeling both happy to go home, and sad to leave Ireland. Goodnight from Dublin.

Newgrange and the Hill of Tara, and my golden last day in Dublin

Well, it’s only 3 p.m. but I’m pretty much done in so I have succumbed to a lovely treat of almond croissant and a coffee. Mind you, its the inexpensive version of a Tesco croissant (only 95 cents) and a free instant coffee from my residence kitchen (it’s not half bad!). I was bound to succumb, being tired and having passed multiple lovely cafes and bakeries today, some with windows like this. Who can resist?

After writing this blog, I’ll venture out again to do my laundry and then begin to organize my backpack for the start of my Wicklow Way hike tomorrow morning. I’m very nervous about carrying my backpack over long distances, and with some decent elevation gain and loss. It’s something I haven’t done since my twenties! So, I may have to resort to calling a baggage carrier for some of the days (the third day is 21 km!), which, as my dear friend Gaetane reminds me, is a perfectly legitimate and o.k., and perhaps even smart, thing to do.

Because of my fatigue this morning , I cut short my day’s itinerary, taking out St. Patrick’s Cathedral and shortening my visit at the amazing Chester Beatty Library. That means I will just have to come back again another time! Then, I will also visit the National Gallery, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of Country Life, the zoological museum at Trinity College, the National Library, etc., etc., etc., spending a proper amount of time in each. Perhaps in two years I will come again and stay a month in Dublin, let’s say in May when it’s less busy, followed by the whole of June in the countryside. That sounds wonderful! Ah, dreams… But, as Brent has reminded me, it’s not what you don’t see, it’s what you do see.

And today I saw more gold than I will ever see again in my life! The National Museum of Archaeology which I visited this morning has mounted a special exhibit called, “Or – Ireland’s Gold” which features gold jewelery and other ornamentation from prehistoric Ireland, from 2200 BC to 500 BC. Just look at the treasures!

And there was more! Cases and cases filled with beautiful golden objects. My two favourite gold objects were in the Treasury, a permanent exhibit. First is a little purse-like case, and next an exquisite and stunning little boat dating from the 1st century, complete with seats, oars, rudder and mast, that is thought to have been an offering to a river god.

Also stunning in the Treasury were a silver and gold chalice, and silver brooches from the 8th and 9th centuries. The final image is of 9 golden balls, from an original find of 11, but two went missing before their acquisition by the museum. Amazingly, many of these golden objects, and many other metal objects in bronze, silver and iron have been found in hoards – buried treasure often found by farmers tilling a field or by peat cutters at their daily work. Can you imagine!

I greatly enjoyed my visit to the archaeology museum, and it was also exciting to view more common and practical objects from the prehistoric, early Christian, Viking, and medieval ages – objects in stone, metal, wood, bone, leather, wool, glass and ceramics. Every item, I think, is exceedingly valuable for the stories it tells.

After my visit to the museum, I walked to St. Patrick’s, decided against a visit there, then walked to the Chester Beatty Museum. Chester Beatty was an American mining engineer who became wealthy mining gold in Colorado, Utah, the Sierra Nevadas of Mexico, and the Klondike (in partnership there with the Guggenheims), and he also mined diamonds in Africa. He suffered some ill health later in life and moved to London. He was a friend of Truman and of Churchill, and he secretly helped to organize provisions for the British Army during World War II. As well, during his life he travelled extensively in the middle east and the far east and began a collection of rare and precious books. He gifted his enormous and valuable collection to the city of Dublin, and there is a purpose-built library, as well as a beautiful and restful circular lawn and garden, on the grounds of Dublin Castle.

As I was tired, I only browsed through two exhibits – “The Art of the Book” (wonderful!) and “Lapis and Gold – The Story of the Ruzbihan Qur’an”. Wow! Ruzbihan was a 16th century calligrapher, from Shiraz in modern day Iran, credited with the creation, along with his team of illustrators, of several amazing Qur’ans. For this exhibit, the library has unbound one book to display many of its pages so that the viewer can get a more complete picture of the beautifully, amazingly, intricately decorated text and illustrations, with gold on each page perfectly adding to the beauty. The craftsmanship, artistry, and discipline are truly astounding – rivalling and surpassing, in my estimation, the Book of Kells which I saw earlier this week. They will rebind the book after the exhibit ends in August. How lucky I was to see it!

Yesterday, I took a guided bus trip to Newgrange and the Hill of Tara. It was nice to rest my feet and body on the drive about 50 km north of Dublin in beautiful, green, pastoral county Meath, but my mind did not get a rest! It was a “Mary Gibbons Archaeology” tour and our guide, a Mr. F. Gibbons who is a medieval historian, was incessant, in a very good and challenging way, in providing us with facts and stories and current academic theories of a historical, literary, mythological, cultural, sociological, political, archaeological, geographic and even linguistic nature. It was wonderful to hear someone speak so expertly, eloquently, and passionately about his homeland and its long and complex history.

Here are a few photos of Newgrange and the surrounding countryside. Newgrange is a large circular passage tomb built around 3000-2500 years B.C. and is thus older than the pyramids and Stonehenge. The white quartz rock facing on the monument is a reconstruction from the 19th century, created from rock found at the site which was interpreted by the principal archaeologist as having once been the facing for the monument.

Exterior curbstones, as well as interior stones are carved with swirling, inter-woven spirals, diamond shapes, and chevrons.

We were allowed to enter as a group of 20 to travel about 9 metres along a narrow and low rock passageway to where the tomb opens up to a circular room, bounded on three sides by small circular alcoves with basin-like rocks lining their floors. The passage thus makes a cruciform shape. The guide spoke of the construction of the site, what is known of its creators, and their use of the site for ritual burial and probably worship of the sun. First putting us in complete darkness, and then using artifical light to simulate the sunrise on the winter solstice, the guide showed how the light would have travelled in a straight line from a hole just above the entrance, down the passageway, to illuminate the basin in the room at the top of the cruciform. It was very atmospheric and quite a special feeling.

We had a lovely midday break at nearby Newgrange Farm, where I ate my picnic lunch in the warm sun, kept company by one of Comet’s cat cousins.

Next, we travelled to the Hill of Tara, famous throughout Ireland as a place where for 800 years the High Kings of Ireland were crowned, and special long before that as a place where prehistoric people (before 3000 BC) created many monuments and earthworks including passage tombs, barrows, enclosures, a ceremonial avenue, and a ring fort. The site was important as a burial ground and as a place for ceremony and ritual for more than 1500 years. The hill is also associated with Saint Patrick in the 5th century, with a decisive battle of the Rebellion of 1798 where the United Irishmen fought and were defeated by British Troops, and with Irish MP Daniel O’Connell who hosted a political demonstration on the hill in 1843 attended by an estimated 600,000 people. So much history!

On the day I visited, Tara was a special hill on a warm, peaceful, sunny day, with beautiful views, and much enjoyed by children who ran and rolled up and down the dips and rises and hills of the monuments.

Goodbye from atop the Hill of Tara.

One or two days for Dublin? I don’t think so!

When first planning my trip, I googled “how many days to visit Dublin?” several times and was very surprised that most comments said that one or two days, maybe three at the most, was enough to “do Dublin”. I doubted that, and I initially planned for five days in Dublin. Later in my planning, when I was being drawn to visit so many other beautiful and historic places all over Ireland, I googled the question again. Yes, the answer was still “one or two, or maybe three days”, so I shaved one day off of my Dublin time in order to spend a third day on the Dingle Peninsula later in my trip. I don’t regret that choice, given that the length of my trip in Ireland is 21 days, but I do regret not having more time overall!

A week or ten days in Dublin would be the minimum, I think, for a visitor to take in many of the important sights and to have time some time to reflect on what has been seen and learned, as well as to relax, revisit favourite places, and just see where the wind blows you. Several months or even a year here would be even better, and even then you would still only just begin to scratch the surface in learning about the 1,200-year history and culture of this vibrant city.

But, back to my own all too brief stay here as a tourist. Yesterday was a busy day, too busy in fact, but still wonderful. First, the Book of Kells and the Long Room at the Old Library at Trinity College in the morning, then a walking tour of Dublin, then Dublin Castle, and then Christchurch Cathedral. Whew! So much history!

At each place visited today, I took a guided tour, which I feel is well worth the additional cost because the guides really know their material and are passionate about their subjects. They relate important facts and complex history in an accessible way, and also tell fascinating stories and anecdotes that amuse or enthrall or astound the listener. Thank you guides!

First, I went to see the Book of Kells exhibit at Trinity College. The excellent graphic displays and audio guide tell the story of this beautiful illustrated manuscript of the Four Gospels, created by monks in the 8th century. Two volumes of the actual Book of Kells are there for viewing, one opened to a page of text and another page opened to a full illustration. Today’s illustrated page was a portrait of St. Mathew.

There are no photographs allowed in the Book of Kells gallery, but photos are allowed once you reach the Long Room of the Old Library which houses over 200,000 books, and which features a beautiful barrel-vaulted ceiling.

The photo at the lower left, located near the end of the Long Room is labelled “vw” and, try as I might, I could not find “xyz” neither on the left or right! Ranged the length of the library are a series of busts of famous scholarly figures. For Sophie, who is the only teenager I know (or actually, the only person I know) who read Plato, and for the chemists and physicists among us, here are photos of the busts of Plato, Boyle, and Newton.

Also in the Long Room is an original copy of the proclamation made by the leaders of the Easter uprising of 1916 which precipitated the events that finally led to the creation of an independent Irish state after more than 800 years of English rule.

After my visit to the Trinity Library, I took a 2-hour guided walking tour of the “Highlights and Hidden Corners of Dublin.” Interesting, informative, funny. I greatly enjoyed this walk.

Then I visited Dublin Castle, a symbol of English rule over the Irish. Built in the early 13th century by order of King John, the only remaining part of the original defensive castle is the round tower you see in the photo below. The castle was destroyed by a fire in 1673 and replaced by a sumptious palace which was occupied by the British monarch’s officially designated representatative of rule in Ireland.

The foundations of the tower are built partially upon a wall made by the Vikings in the 9th century.

The tour included a visit to a chapel attached to the round tower. Saint Peter holds the keys to the gates of Heaven above the doorway.

Then the tour visited the State Apartments. This is the entrance hall.

And a detail from one of the urns.

Next was the drawing room, with the central portrait being by Van Dyke.

My favourite part of the state apartments was the beautiful portraits of a young Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert.

We also saw the throne room, for when the reigning British monarch paid a visit, and then the dining hall.

Dublin Castle is now used to house government offices and host official functions. Irish elements have been added to the rooms, in particular the Waterford crystal chandeliers, and the beautiful carpets made in Donegal. The portraits and other symbols of British power and rule remain as part of the historical record.

The last stop of the day was Christchurch cathedral, first built in the 12th century but with a very long history of structural failures, reconfiguration, and reconstruction. The original north wall still remains, though it leans outward by more than half a metre near the top!

My favourite parts of the guided tour were listening to the incredibly fascinating history of the building, within the context of changes in religious and political power, the visit to the crypt below, and up to the belfry. We climbed up a narrow stone spiral staircase of some 90 plus steps where, in threes, we actually got to ring the quarter-tonne bells for all of Dublin to hear! Here is the view from half-way up to the belfry.

Finally, one of my favourite graphic elements from the day was the floor tiles at Christchurch cathedral. All of the 63 tile patterns were copied in the 1800s from 800-year old tiles that were found beneath several layers of flooring during one of the many periods of reconstruction. The first photo is of the original 800 year old tiles, followed by a collage of the replica tiles from the 1870s. So beautiful!

As I said, a very busy day! Dublin in one or two days? I don’t think so!

I know better than to fly at night…oh hello Dublin!

Hello from Dublin! Thank you very much to the friends and family who have responded to my new blog. I greatly appreciate your words of encouragement! I don’t think the blog would actually have come to life without that day of continuous rain in St. John’s!

It’s a four and a half hour flight from St. John’s to Dublin. The flight was delayed by fog which meant we left after midnight, arriving in Dublin at my body’s time of about 4:30 a.m., with only a few short, miserable, and deeply unsatisfying moments of quasi-sleep during the flight. I arrived at busy Trinity College by about 10 a.m., Dublin time, to find that my residence room was already available! Hourray, a nap! But my body did not want to nap, it wanted a full 8 hours! So, over the next few hours I fought several times with the alarm and myself, wanting to sleep but also wanting to get up and go…I know better than to fly at night!

I finally woke up at around 3 in the afternoon, still not really feeling rested, and with a massive headache. But, after stepping out for some fresh air, a good cup of coffee, and a toasted cheese sandwhich I perked up somewhat. I decided to splurge on a hop on hop off bus experience to get the lay of the land while my body and head continued to recover from the lack of sleep.

The “green bus”, as it is called (there are also competing yellow and red buses) is a double decker and it is so fun to sit up top and up front. My first impressions of central Dublin? Busy, crowded, old, new, busted up (there’s so much road work going on in the central core as they put in, or maybe replace, a tram line). Tourists are everywhere in singles, pairs, families, and large tour groups. Locals jaywalk like crazy, and bicycle riders weave bravely (or foolishly, depending on how you look at it) among the myriad big buses and cars, taxis and motorcycles.

The one stop I had time for was Dublinia, a pleasant and informative museum that profiles Dublin during the age of the Vikings and also during the Middle Ages. There was also had a third exhibit about the tools and techniques archaeologists use to piece together an understanding of over 1,000 years of history. A good first stop in Dublin.

Here’s a picture of the entrance hall to Dublinia, with the prow of a Viking ship and with Christchurch cathedral in the background. Also, from inside, is a medieval recipe for Sweet and Sour Spiced Rabbit, in case you’re looking for something new to make for dinner!

Once I reboarded the green bus, I was lucky enough to have a very jovial driver whose commentary was a bit out there (!) and very, very funny. And, of course, that accent! Relaxing, informative, and fun!

Here’s a photo looking to the back of the green bus, with Phoenix Park, one of the largest urban parks in Europe, and home to the Dublin Zoo, to the left of the shot. I like the lines in this photo.

My ride ended just after 7 pm near O’Connell Street, and beside the River Liffey which bisects Dublin and which is crossed by many bridges including the famous pedestrian “Ha’penny Bridge”, the decorative white bridge below, built in 1816, which used to require a toll of a half penny to cross.

A short stroll through tourist-busy Temple Bar had me thinking of a drink and dinner…

But, I settled on some inexpensive and healthy groceries after conveniently happening upon a Tesco. Only 11 euros and I was set up with a dinner, some midday snacks for tomorrow, and breakfast for the next four days in the form of eggs, bread, peanut butter and jam. Eating out is very hazardous to a travel budget!

I re-entered the main square of Trinity College to find it nearly deserted, compared to how busy it had been in the morning with huge groups of tourists taking guided tours and lining up to see the Book of Kells. Yes! Room to breathe, relax, and take a few photos. Tomorrow, Dublin, I’ll do more than just say hello. Goodnight to my friends and family back home.