Travel Reading Escapism: Ireland
A global Pandemic that shutdown global travel for months, with everyone quarantined in their homes. I haven’t left my state in six months. Rather than dwell on the Pandemic, I offer some escapism from it. I went to Ireland twice a couple years back and this is what it was like. (If folks like this article, I’ll write some others on some other recent trips)
Ireland was greener than in the photos you see. The weather is this grey overcast with occasional rain, which causes all the plants to grow really well. If you travel in July, that’s the sunny month and the temp may almost get up to 80F degrees. Normally it’s like 60–70s in the summer. Dublin is small enough to walk around or take the bus here and there. It feels like Europe but without the language barrier. The people were friendly and in good spirits. Sometimes they talk a little fast but are quick with good information on where something is or which direction to head. There are lots of parks all over the city that you can walk through. The river down the center of the city has a number of pedestrian bridges over it that make for pretty views and photos.
The area around the Temple Bar has food and outdoor music playing. Ate in two or three different places in that area and each one had some creative or artsy charm to it. There’s a wonderful zoo next to this very large park. The National Art museum has some neat works in it and even the door frames on some of the rooms are wood carved in really creative ways. The Guiness tour is like an hour, interesting, and it ends in this bar at the top of the factory with a glass 360 degree view of the city. There are a number of cathedrals to walk through and see old artifacts. The Dublinian museum has natural history items from the Viking and Middle ages that were found in Dublin. The buildings all have their own charm to them depending on when they were built.
Just south of Dublin are the Wicklow Mountains and this glacially carved canyon with a double lake called Glendalough. You arrive and park in a field and there’s almost this tourist trap feeling I had about it. Then you walk over a bit and go over this hill and that all changes. There’s this cemetery, a stone tower, these stone homes there were built by vikings in the 800s. The lakes are small but beautiful. There are paths to walk along that go through the woods to get to the next lake. At that lake there are stone foundations left over from a village, with one of them a circle that was probably 30 feed across. Possible a great hall at one time. Then over and up this hill are the ruins of a small stone church. I think this was my favorite part of the whole trip because it was visually captivating, historic, and a total surprise.
About an hour south west of Dublin is Kilkenny. It’s a small medieval town with a defensive wall structure that still stands in some places. There’s a small market street with a couple alley ways. The streets are all narrow, lots of cobble stones. There’s a castle that has had a lot of restoration done to it that is in really good shape. Across the street from the castle is what use to be a stable, then some manicured gardens. There are some cool places to eat and some bars. It has a weekend getaway type feel to it.
Blarney castle actually sits in a large park of gardens and there’s also a manor behind it. You walk through the park and cross a stream and then up a hill to get to the castle. Then you go up what seems about four floors of tight circular stone stairway to get to the roof, where the Blarney stone is. There are great views from the top of the castle. Two of the floors are stone. Two of the floors were once wood but have rotted/burned away sometime in the past. In looking at the stone walls, you can see the holes where the support beams would have been braced in to support the wood floor. Funny thing about Ireland is you can be driving anywhere on any road and all of a sudden there is a medieval ruin of a tower or a castle wall just sitting there in a field of sheep or cows. They are all over the place. Remnants of another time and economic system that don’t exist anymore, abandoned.
The Dingle Peninsula is very scenic. You drive on this thin road, sometimes on the side of a cliff face and just go along. You hope that no one is coming the other way, LOL. Sometimes you’re driving by large sandy beaches. At one point, you’re out there and look out over the ocean, and there’s a mountain rising up out of the ocean just across the way, another finger of land jutting out. It’s really neat visually.
Ireland was friendly, charming, and a mix of cultural experiences and history. When the Pandemic is over, if you want a quick and simple visit, just fly into Dublin for four days and rent a hotel room somewhere near the city center and walk around. If you’re going to spend a week or more, rent a car and book bed n breakfast stays or castle stays.
