Dublin

We had been keen to get to either a game of Hurling or Gaelic Football. We had no luck with timing the football and had to go an hour out of our way to get to a Hurling game, but it was worth it and fun.

Leaving Belfast with Dublin as our ultimate destination, we passed on by to Kilkenny for a 2:30pm game. The local team was playing Offaly. Kilkenny won! It was quite interesting to watch. Sort of a cross between hockey and AFL. (Bede you would love it!)

What stood out the most though was the great sportsmanship and behaviour of the crowd and players. For starters there are no drinks sold at the field and only a few lollies for the kids for purchase during half time. So no drunken behaviour. Not once did we hear anyone from the audience screaming abuse at the ref or a player. No feigned theatrics by the players to try and get a penalty, no unnecessary pushing and shoving away from the play of the ball, if a coach brought on a bottle of water for a player to have a drink he would squirt some into him mouth then pass it to his opponent to have a drink too. It was refreshing to see!

They use a ball similar to a cricket ball but it has approx 5mm high ridges where the seams are. The stick/bat they use is called a Hurley. (my taxi driver cleared up this query we had Steve).

It is clearly a very popular game there. In the crowd boys and girls from as young as 4 were running around with their hurley's in one hand and often helmets in the other. At half time all the kids go on the field to hit to each other. They hold the Hurley in their right hand and catch the ball with their left. This ambidextrious skill takes some practise no doubt.

From Kilkenny it was an hours drive back to Dublin. We checked in and before long headed out with the hope of finding some 'diddly' - traditional Irish music. Before long we noted Dublin was certainly much more touristy.

We headed to Temple Bar which is a region of a few blocks with just pedestrian streets. Bingo! We hit gold.... nearly every bar/pub had live music and some traditional Irish dancing too. Some we tried were so packed we gave up trying.

We ended up in a great little place. It was also very busy but at least we could get a drink and find some standing room to watch the 3 piece band.



Squashed but happy to tap our feet to the music.

The next morning was my last day. I was happy to find many cafe's just in the block behind the hotel. Coffee, juice, a wholemeal berry scone and a read of the local paper I was set for the day.



There is a small river through the centre of Dublin. The road along each side goes one way and there are many pedestrian and traffic bridges crossing it. I thought this traffic bridge was pretty interesting.

On recommendation from Michelle I walked over to Trinity University to see the Book of Kells as well as their amazing 'long room' library. You will have to google these for images as there were no photos allowed. It was a bit of a queue to get in but worth the wait. From there I wandered through the gorgeous gardens of St Stephen's Green and back through the major pedestrian shoppng districts. These were extensive and very very busy.

After a light salad lunch it was back to the hotel by 2:30pm to get organised and off to the airport by 3:30pm.

My trip home was reasonably uneventful. I have mentally blocked the fact that the headset didnt work on the first half and the 3 galloping/ kicking children behind me for the 2nd half. With all this I still happily managed to grab an hour here and there.

So there it is... another holiday over and an end to blogging for some time. Thanks to all who joined us for Mark's birthday in Monaco. It was truly memorable for us both and we loved sharing it with you.

Lucas and Georgina it was fun to have many fab times together away from Qld and to now share some great memories.

Gianina & Christian, I loved my time with you and will certainly be back to see more of beautiful Switzerland.

Michelle and Steve it was just great to have shared Ireland with you and generous of you to have invited me along. Letting go of major plans and just letting it flow - it was relaxing and much fun. Thanks!

To readers and commenters, we do this for you!

Good-bye, Ma'a alsalama, arrivederci, au revoir, adios, slan

xD&M

One day in Belfast

As Belfast looked like it had lots to offer, another night here was planned. This meant I had time to do a little washing and hang it to dry before heading out.
I headed straight for the tourist office for information on the Belfast murals. Like the ones in Derry the Belfast murals are well known.

The guy in the tourist office was helpful and to my astonishment pointed out not only where the murals are but also where the wall is dividing the Catholics and the Protestants. He noted where there are gaps in the wall to get through and the section they plan to keep as a memorial when the remainder comes down. He also commented that should I be concerned, it is safe to walk through there during the day!

With this and other points of interest pencilled on my map I headed off on what was apparently a 20 min walk. Well the many good shops along the main road were very distracting and along with a wrong turn I finally got to the suburb an hour later.


I knew immediately I had reached the right place when I could see this very high fence behind this row of 2 storey houses.


It had to have been 4 storeys high!
Along the main roads were these mural walls dedicated not only to ‘The Troubles’ but also to other human rights issues around the world.

When I went through the opened section in the wall, it was interesting to see a ‘no man’s land’ area, which is not the case for the rest of the wall. Apparently this was opened during the day and then closed at night.
Once I passed through it was noticeably dirtier and like rubbish had just blown everywhere. There were some empty blocks of land where rubbish had been dumped and debris from some small fires.

Walking along this side the murals were more positive and about community involvement. There were also pieces of commissioned art like this face made of small metal parts.


I had enough and it was time to head back into town. Shame I was not about 5km out and by the time I got back to the city my feet were surely sore due to the rough road surfaces and me wearing inappropriate shoes. The tourist office did mention there were points you could get in a communal taxi the locals used. They have special points like bus stops and wait until it is full before heading off. Then one should apparently tap the window when you want to get out. The cost is a 1 pound. I would have taken this offer if I only knew where the bases were. This system was set up so people could get safely around when there were too many buses being bombed.


I happily walked around the city and went up to the dome which has one of the highest vantage points to view Belfast.


It really is a lovely city nestled below some green green hills, with a medieval castle in the distance and the port not far from town.


From there I could also see the yellow cranes which were used for building the Titanic and are being left as a memorial. It is soon to be the 100th (?) anniversary and as the locals say “she was fine when she left here”! They are also building a big memorial due to open soon.
The city was just buzzing all day. There were people of all ages, out shopping and just spending time together. Buskers played in malls (even Hip-hop Hare Krishna’s) and people randomly danced around them. At one point there was lots of screaming and I wondered what the heck was going on. Noticing a crowd of a couple of hundred people on a corner with some standing on the chairs of an outdoor cafe, I was then informed that some local celebrity was in a particular shop and everyone was excited. That said, ‘everyone’ seemed to be about 16 yrs old. Woohoo for them!

In Spain and now here I was approached by a representative for the local government saying they realised the value of tourism and wanted to gauge where I was from and what I thought was good or could be improved. Yesterday they ended with “would you recommend Northern Ireland and Belfast as destinations to family and friends” ... yes I would.

Giant’s Causeway to Belfast

Now - to be honest I have found the pubs here, which are mostly the only place to eat in smaller towns, to be lacking a bit in atmosphere. Ireland has well and truly grown past the traditional folk music scene that has become the cliché for Irish pubs worldwide.

Saying they have moved past traditional folk music one should not assume they have moved all the way to the 21st century. Turn on any radio station, in any cafe or restaurant, or any public place and you will hear music from 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and... if you are lucky... you will get the 90’s. I find myself reminiscing - from high school disco’s as Infant Saviour Hall through to watching Ashleigh at her dance concert when she was 5!



Pretty interesting rock formation on the north coast of Northern Ireland.



Alas it was raining and without good gripping shoes I wasn’t keen to climb over them too much.







Driving into Belfast we all noticed how vibrant it seemed to be. Maybe that it was a Friday night and around 6:30pm helped... but we checked in and were keen to get out and have a little look around.



A quick change, a glass of Prosecco at the hotel bar, and we were off to find somewhere for dinner. Within a couple of blocks we found a couple of laneways with lots of people, music and life. It was a touch of Melbourne for me and I was thrilled to admit that though I absolutely love to be in the country and rural scenery, I am a city girl at heart.



Getting rapidly hungry it was challenging to choose where to eat as there seemed to be many many great choices. Menu's with the type of meals we are used to seeing at home and not just slabs of meat with potato, potato, potato.



Steve kindly choosing a wine for us.... well until us control freaks took it out of his hand and selected a French Boujalais.

Northern Ireland

Again there was endless beautiful scenery on our way to Derry.

I noticed these Celtic Rings within a pine plantation, planted in a different colour tree, on a hill across a valley.

We arrived in Londonderry/Derry late afternoon and finding a decent B&B proved trickier than we thought. We ended up booking at the Ramada and were very happy with nice clean rooms with decent beds.

Before getting into the car I went on an early morning walk along the river boardwalk. There was this sundial... and yes it actually worked. You may have to zoom in to read the instructions.


After an easy night in we headed off around 10am for a look around Derry.

We didn’t get 100m when we thought the road was either very damaged or we had a flat tyre. Steve pulled off the road and on stepping out Michelle noticed it proved the later. Saying ‘oh-no’ a man next to her said, well you couldn’t be in a better spot and pointed over his shoulder. Believe it or not, we were right next door to a tyre & repair shop. It was quite a large business with 6 bays.

We got them to check if they could repair it but alas the tyre was too damaged. They also pointed out that it, as well as 2 other of the other tyres, were illegally bald. What the heck!!! Thanks Thrifty Rent-a-Car!! So with a new tyre, the spare put on the front and another rotated we left with still one illegal tyre and crossed out fingers we survived the next few days and the winding roads to Dublin.

With this loss of time, we walked around town and in particular the Bogside area where there are some pretty amazing murals dedicated to and depicting events over time regarding ‘The Troubles’.

Western Ireland

We got away around 9am and headed north east towards Galway with the vague plan of getting to Clifden or around the Connemara region for the night.

We passed through Tipperary and Limerick passing through some amazing scenery and stopped in Ennis for lunch. Ennis was the first town we had been to that seemed like it was ‘alive’. There were people in the streets, most shops were filled and open, and people seemed to be happy. We left saying how much we liked Ennis.



Galway was even more vibrant that Ennis. A great and bustling town. From Galway we went west, the roads getting more winding and narrow and following the coast. We discussed the idea of visiting the Aran Islands. After a bit of inquiry Steve made the executive decision that we would take the late afternoon ferry over, stay overnight and then come back on the morning ferry. This turned out to be a great decision.

We had a couple of hours to kill before getting the ferry over. There was little around so headed to the pub for a drink and books in hand. It had about 8 locals and us. Listening to the locals chat we realised they were all speaking in Gaelic. To me it sounded a bit like the Swedish Chef off the Muppets but with your tongue drawn back into your throat all along. After one drink I was a little restless and decided for a stroll.

The few houses were robust against the cold and windy weather they surely get here. Last winter they had extremes of -15C which is quite rare for them. Their biggest disappointment is the hedges are all burned and dead as are some other plants. Spotting a little supermarket (like a 7-11) with an internet cafe we all headed there to catch up and post a blog.
The Aran islands are a group of 3. We were heading to the largest, Inis More and departing the mainland at 6:30pm. The ferry trip was a little bouncy and took around 40mins. As we approached the landscape could be noted as beautiful or bleak. I thought it beautiful and like a scene from a book or movie. The houses were solid little structures, the landscape had low lying plants and what few trees there was were low growing and hardy.


We prebooked a B&B at the ferry ticket office and were greeted by the owner in his van at the harbour. The B&B was basic but clean and there was not much choice given the population of the island is only 800. Our host pointed out a couple of options for dinner. There was NOT alot of choice. After a bit of a wander we chose one of the 2 pubs. It was a good atmosphere and after a good meal and a bottle of wine we headed back (5 mins walk) to our beds for an earlyish night.
There is a tour we could take and our host Martin kindly agreed to take us at 6:00am the next morning so we could get the 8:15 ferry back. FYI- he couldn’t do it at night even though it was light, as he goes to the pub every night. And tourist or no tourist... that’s what he does!!! I loved his conviction on this point and thought.... yep... you do it once... and you are stuck doing it again and again.


It is believed the island was founded by North Africans approx 8000 yrs ago. Though I guess the Anglo’s came along at some point and booted them out. The Aran Islands have the most amazing rock walls everywhere. Martin pointed out a small area that showed how the island originally was. Basically a Big rock with small rocks all over it. In between the small rocks were some small ground plants. How anyone saw this and thought they could eke a living out of it amazed me.

Apparently they gathered up the rocks, built the walls with them and proceeded to fill the ‘field’ they had made with sand and seaweed. This eventually gave them a basis from which to grow stuff. They averaged one field a year. You can see by the close up, the stones are more vertical with gaps to allow the wind to pass through and not know them over. It was quite beautiful when you got at the right angle and could see the sun through them.



On this particular island there is one main attraction. It’s called Dun Aongus and is an old fort and possible meeting place. Well it was incredible. All the more as were 3 were the only ones there at this early hour.

Apparently there were full circles but now there are only half circles left. This is due to erosion and the collapse into the sea 300ft below. It was a little scary near the edge I can tell you.
BEEutiful self portrait standing in the inner of the 4 circles. This is a view of the island from Dun Aongus. Its only about 30 sq km.
Once off the island we headed straight to Derry/ Londonderry through Westport, Sligo and Omagh.
OK>>> call me ignorant but I didn’t know that Northern Ireland had a different currency to Ireland and that it is considered England NOT Ireland. I KNEW there are issues ... but clearly have not been paying enough attention to the details.

Sth East Ireland

Having the luxury of the car we are able to easily visit some smaller villages etc. We headed south through Clonmel (9 km sth of Tina & Jim’s) to Dungarvan. This was my first glimpse of the Irish coast at ground level.
The countryside reminded me a little of Gippsland in Victoria with the beautiful green hills dropping right into the North Atlantic ocean.

Stopped for a quick coffee and headed to the tourist info office for directions to Mahon Falls. We did ask a couple of men chatting on the street but our experience is that even though we mostly speak the same language (if you don’t count Gaelic) they don’t really understand us and much of what they say we are finding hard to understand.
We walked only a block and then a van pulled up with at least 12 guys in camouflage leaping out with rifles at ready and spread out around half a block and on corners. Our initial reaction was concern as we there has been some recent activity by a splinter group of the old IRA... and that a van with a 500lb bomb was found last week or so. (the exact details we don’t have not having kept up with the news each day). As it turned out, the army were there to protect the armed guards moving money into or out of the bank. Apparently this is a regular occurrence every time an armed van delivers at any bank.
By the time we walked a few doors up and got the info we wanted from the tourist office, they were gone. A bit freaky though!


We found Mahon Falls. It was quite different to any falls we are used to seeing. No lush green tropical forest around them... they were streaming lightly down the rocks of the raw mountains.

The lush green hills seem to finish in rock and heather once they reach a certain altitude. I guess the land was just not able to be farmed.

There was a walk from the car park to the falls, probably about 20mins. Well the wind was bitterly cold. We walked about half way and general consensus and self preservation was to turn and go back. We could see the falls from the distance and didn’t believe being closer meant the view would be better.

From there it was a quick stop in Carrick-on-Suir. We were finding the towns felt very quiet and like nothing had changed for about 40 yrs. Ireland is certainly feeling the grip of the Global Financial Crisis. From there it was back to Tina and Jim’s where we planned to spend another night.

Lausanne to Cork

It was an early start as expected but the trip went without a hitch.

Train from Lausanne at 7:17.
Arrived Geneva Airport 8:00
Flight to London (Gatwick) 9:30
Wonder how to kill 4 hrs at Gatwick. Go through immigration and soon found more than enough shops to kill time and swipe the credit card a couple of times!
Flight to Cork 3:30

I flew Ryanair (budget airline) which was an eye-opening experience. There is no seat allocation so there is a feeling of pressure to find a seat. I got a good window seat to watch the sights where possible. Getting out my book before putting my seatbelt on, I soon realised there was no pocket in the back of the seat in front of me to put it. Then I noticed the safety instructions which are normally on a card, were printed on the back of the headrest in front. Cost-cutting and a little clever I thought.

Next was the money making moves of Smokeless Cigarettes. The flight attendants wandered down the aisle waiving 3 packs of different types of cigarettes that guarantee to deliver the same nicotine as normal fags but without the smoke. Highlighting this meant one could 'smoke' on the flight if they bought them. Then followed the sales wander of 'Ryanair Lotto tickets'. Their own scratchy tickets. It was all enough to keep me entertained for the 1 hr flight.

Michelle and Steve kindly collected me from the airport in the car we have hired for the week. We spent the night at their friends Tina and Jim. They have a lovely comfortable home in Tipperary with views across to a smooth but rugged mountain.

It was a lovely fun night. Toward the end of dinner I noticed they had a didgeridoo. I asked if they could play it ... and being told no... soon gave them the basics of what I knew about playing.

An hour or so later we had all played a little and managed to get out some basic sounds.

2nd day of seeing Switzerland

We enjoyed breakfast of eggs / fruit / coffee / juice (it was so great to not have bread for just one meal).

After breakfast it was time for Gianina to make here regular call via Skype to Simon & Helen. It was good to be on the other end – hearing and seeing them on the computer. We didn’t chat as long as expected as they had guests but I did manage to get a quick update on the family from them. Good to hear you are all well. Dad your latest test results good again and Mum getting stronger after a few quiet days.

Then we were in the car for another great day out. We drove in a different direction this time and after about 40 mins arrived at a lake where Gianina mentioned they went ice-skating in winter. I was really surprised at the size of the lake (at least 6km long) and that a body of water that size could not only completely freeze but could look so warm and inviting (it was a beautiful sunny day) only a couple of months later.


We then headed about 15 mins away from the lake to walk through some caverns. It was incredible. The lake I had just seen drains literally through the mountain, out the other side, and then on to create Lake Neuchatel (?). Here is the water coming out of the base of the mountain.

The millions of years of this water through the mountain has created a massive cave system. We walked through comfortably. I was a bit concerned I may have been claustrophobic but no way... the size was huge. It was completely silent with pools of water below the walkways in some sections. As the water was so clear you could see huge round tunnels that had been routed by the water at the bottom of some of the pools. Incredible.

With each area we moved to the lights went on ahead of us by movement sensors. There were also buttons to light in ponds and up caves which created a great way to highlight different points. Finally we arrived at an area where the water was roaring through. It was very loud as it echoed. The air temp was about 10C and I guess the water about 5C.
After this we had lunch on a terrace by the original lake we saw. I was thrilled to have the white asparagus I had been looking out for. Having had them once before in Switzerland... this time they were poached in salted water and served with parma ham... which is not as salty as prosciutto....delicious!



We then drove up to a lookout. The final climb from the car park wasn’t far but it was steep and a bit of an effort for me but the view so spectacular... it was worth every step. If my memory serves me correctly ... Chris said the altitude was 1400m.

There is no way my pictures can do it justice but no doubt you will get the gist. If you look carefully you can see the alps in the top of this pic. There was quite a bit of haze due to wood fire heating etc.

We went home a different way stopping in a super quaint village for a stroll through a gorgeous cathedral and piazza and then tea with tart. Mine was rouge fruit and still warm. Hmmm...!!
Home to pack and a lovely relaxing night which included wedding discussions which was really nice to hear about. Earlier in the day we passed the church Chris and Gianina are to be married in. It’s all just like a fairy tale!
It was up early the next day and at the train station for me at 7:00am for the next leg, Ireland. What a lucky girl I am!