Killarney

We stayed in Killarney for two nights and ventured out from there to Cobh, Cork, Blarney Castle, The Ring of Kerry and the Bog Village. Killarney was small, but lovely. The hotel was within walking distance to the castle along with a few pubs that had amazing food and of course, live music every night. We saw the band Voodoo at one of the local pubs.

Cobh
Cobh (pronounced Cove) is a quaint village on the coast, full of color and steep, narrow streets. They had just had a huge celebration on the 100th anniversary for the Titanic. The Heritage Centre, above, had a beautiful exhibition to mark the anniversary. The last 123 passengers boarded at Cobh.

Cobh was also the departing point for large numbers of Irish immigrants during the years of the famine. Outside of the Heritage Center is a sculpture of Annie Moore and her brothers, the first woman to enter through Ellis Island when it opened in 1892. This statue is also installed at Ellis Island. Also departing from Cobh were 30,000 male convicts  and 9,000 female convicts headed to Australia during the years of 1791 and 1853.

Cobh, previously known as Queenstown, is also known for the care of passengers rescued when the Lusitania was sunk off the coast of Ireland in May 1915 by a German torpedo. Survivors were brought into Queenstown and cared for and 150 victims were buried in mass graves 1 mile north of town, with 80 of them never being identified.

The Navigator (or Brendan, The Navigator), by M. Gregoiry, is a public sculpture facing the shoreline in Cobh.

It was commissioned for the Millenium Celebration in Cobh and refers to St. Brendan, one of the early monastic saints of Ireland (c.484 - c.577). According to legend St. Brendan sets out with other pilgrims on a 7 year journey to find Paradise and during the journey God protects them from a sea monster by shifting the seas.

I will follow up later with the beautiful cathedral that we discovered in Cobh! Later...

Food Research I Should Not Have Done!

This is the traditional Irish breakfast. Warmed tomatoes are served with eggs, potatoes, toast or biscuit, baked beans - yes, baked beans, breakfast sausages, rashers (Irish bacon, but what we would call ham) and the two small round "puddings" - I'll elaborate on those later. The sausage had a strange texture that I didn't care for, but otherwise the breakfast was very good. My fears went unrealized as the food was overall very good ( I do miss the coffee!) - or I was very good at avoiding the questionable, unidentifiable eats! I would classify the food as hearty - stews, shepherd's pie, a lot of vegetables like potatoes, leeks, carrots, turnips and cabbage. An FYI for everyone - the Irish do not eat corned beef and cabbage and they pointed out that they eat ham and cabbage!


My worst fears:

Black pudding or blood pudding is made
with blood, barley and seasonings.

White pudding does not include blood, but contains
pork, pork fat, suet, oatmeal and bread. In the past
it would also include sheep's brain as a binder.

Crubeens, also known as pig trotters, are still eaten today.
They are traditionally boiled and can be greasy and
gelatinous. They are rumored to be a good hangover cure
and are making a comeback.

and this takes the cake - haggis. Traditionally a Scottish
dish, but I can't get it out my mind! Another "pudding"
made with sheep's liver, heart and lungs along with onion
and spices and it is placed in the sheep's stomach and boiled.
 

 Ok, so you probably figured out that I have some issues with certain types of food. I make no apologies for passing on all organ meat, pate, lamb, veal and anything I cannot identify. As long as I am not in a position where I will insult the person offering such food I will pass, thank you.

More Food!

Left: Tom, our amazing tour guide and right: Charlie, our amazing bus driver!

All of us at dinner at The Blarney Woolen Mills,
Cork. I highly recommend this place for the hotel,
but not necessarily for food, if you find yourselves
in Cork! There are pubs nearby for food and a pint!

The first Irish Stew that we had - I was
not impressed. Rice? I wasn't expecting rice!
It was made with beef, so all was good. I wish I
had a photo of the next Irish Stew that we had -
it was stew, with potatoes and was delish!

This brown bread was amazing and served breakfast, lunch
and dinner. I liked it so much I brought back a loaf!
I am going to have to find a recipe - and I will
share it when I do!

One delicious dinner at our hotel in Killarney!

Beautiful desserts!

We got into a huge discussion at dinner on what this fruit was! Turns out it is a Japanese Lantern fruit - I had no idea.... Someone finally googled it!

Fish and chips at Shanahan's Pub in Dublin - and of course, mushy peas! It was sooo good! The Irish call restaurants that serve fish and chips "chippers".

Pining For Ireland

Gorse Bush, taken at The Bog Village, May 2012


This morning I found myself thinking about Ireland as I was walking Mirabelle. It was about 6:00 and very quiet, except for the birds. It rained during the night and was still misty with green bursting all around me. The first three or four days of the trip were like this - light rain, cool and green - so green. Our time in Dublin, which was the last leg of the trip, was sunny and warm but I really didn't mind the rainy start to the trip.

Everywhere we went the people were so friendly. Maybe it was the same curiosity about us that we felt about them. Tourism is a boon to the economy, but like the US the Irish economy has suffered in the past few years and many locals say the the Irish are leaving the country.


Here are some interesting facts about Ireland that I have discovered, along with some that our amazing tour guide, Tom Quinn, passed on during our travels:

- Ireland, as a whole, is smaller than the state of Maine
- 99% of the country is literate (that has got to be higher than our own!)
- Total population is 4.5 million (about 1/2 of NYC, right?)
- Two languages are spoken - English and Irish (or Gaelic, but they say they speak Irish)
- Gaelic is still taught in schools, but only 6% of the population speak it daily
- Meadows and pastures cover 77% of the landscape
- Billboards are not allowed in any part of the country (yay!)
- Guinness Beer is English, not Irish - but was adopted by the Irish
- Ireland's National Poet is WB Yates
- There are 6 World Literature centers and Dublin is one of them
- Scientific studies state that because the red hair gene is a recessive gene by 2060 red hair will be extinct - sad!
- The Celts (who worshipped the sun) saw someone having red hair as having special powers and moved them into the priesthood
- The government is offering money to those with red hair if they procreate!! the program is called GTBWR - "go to bed with red"! I searched the internet and couldn't find anything on this, but if you have red hair.....
- ALL MUSEUMS ARE FREE! (I really can't get over this, but a wonderful way to encourage people to visit - the States should do the same!)
- THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER IS FREE!
- In Ireland "Convenience" stores do not open until 7:30am - not good if you get up early and need coffee!
- Not allowed until 1982 - take note of the year: birth control, abortion or divorce! Prior to 1982 to get condoms you had to be married and get a prescription from your doctor!!!!
- There is no air conditioning, and I mean none - in hotels, restaurants or stores, which I understand is the norm for Europe also, so be prepared!
- If you have Verizon be prepared for bad internet coverage - my advice would be to disconnect and not even bother
- The Wicklow Mountains are the center of filmmaking in Ireland - some films that you may have seen: Braveheart,
Excalibur, the Tudors.....


When we traveled through Limerick Tom challenged the tour to write some limericks, so here were my attempts! As a rule they should be a little raunchier, but we tried to keep them clean!

There once a tour guide named Tom
Who, as part of EF, was the bomb
He knew where to go
Information he did know
Maybe he'll be my date for the prom!

and I wrote this one for Cammy:
There once was a tour leader from NCCC
who liked her coffee and whiskey
Ireland she did love
and thanked the stars above
that she could be joined by Tom and Charlie!




The Gorse Bush, above, is all over Ireland and adds beautiful contrast to the green. It smells of coconut and is even stronger if you rub the flowers between your fingers.


The information below was taken from the website:
http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/plant_detail.php?id_flower=109&Wildflower=Gorse
From our folklore: 'Get a few handfuls of the yellow blossoms of the furze and boil them in water. Give the water as a dose to the horse and this will cure worms'.  
From the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin. NFC 782:356 From Co Kerry.

There's also a well-know country saying :"When gorse is out of blossom, kissing's out of fashion".








I miss you, Ireland.

Adare

Adare

Adare was definitely one of my favorite places. Quaint, quiet, unique shops and pubs and friendly locals. Adare had the most concentrated amount of thatched roof cottages that I remember seeing the entire trip. I so wanted to see what they were like inside. Reminded me of the movie with Jude Law, Cameron Diaz and  Kate Winslet - The Holiday - when Cameron and Kate switch homes to escape relationship issues. Cameron ended up in a sweet little cottage.

Holy Trinity Abbey

What a find! Was right next to the Heritage Center where we stopped, and is the only recorded Trinitarian monastery in Ireland, but today is used as the local Roman Catholic Church. It was originally built by the Fitzgerald Clan for the Trinitarian order of monks in the early 13th century (1230). It was repaired and enlarged in the mid 19th century and today is called the "Holy Trinity Abbey". If you make it to Adare you must visit - beautiful stone and dark wood!

The Irish High Cross or Celtic Cross

One of my favorites - hence the tattoo that came a few days later! These crosses are found throughout old monastic sites in Ireland. Some were used to mark religious ceremonies and others were used to mark boundaries. Their designs were based on earlier wood and metal crosses that were much smaller. The crosses come in all sizes and the designs vary widely. 

 

From here we went to Killarney National Park, which I will put on a separate page. Below is dinner at the end of the night!

I am probably one of the few that do not like dark beers and am not a big fan of Guinness (is English, not Irish, by the way!), so Tom, our tour director, suggested I try this one instead. Smithwicks - pronounced "Smiticks". I'll just say it was the best beer I have had and drank it for the rest of the tour!

Sausage and potatoes - tasted much better than it looks, I promise!





Below is something we Americans found odd, but it was offered with most dinners - "mushy peas"! Not bad.