With the CARN conference in Dublin and Jackie having three sessions accepted for presentation, we saw this as an opportunity to visit a country that we had visited for 4 days several years earlier but had not seen much of the area. With limited time, we decided that a coach tour would be a good way of seeing Ireland and then we would have 5 days to go on our own in a rental car. Paddywagon Tours seemed to fit the bill of seeing much of the country, going in a counter-clockwise direction starting in Dublin.
We had been to Dublin in 2007 with brother, Steve, and sister-in-law, Deirdre, for the wedding of De’s sister. We managed to see a few things in the 4 days that we were there including, The Book of Kells, a tour of the Guinness Brewery and a tour of New Grange outside of Dublin the morning of the wedding. We wanted to see the country outside of Dublin.
Sunday, October 16: Alicante to Dublin
We arrived in Dublin on Ryanair, took the Dublin Express bus from the airport downtown, walked to our hotel, Beresford, which we chose because it was around the block from the pickup point for the Paddywagon Tour. We dropped our bags and walked to the River Liffey, crossed over to Temple Bar and had lunch at the Quay Restaurant. We walked back checking out the location of the pickup spot which was not marked at the office of the tour company.
Monday, October 17: Dublin to Belfast
We were at the bus for 8:15 and headed off for Belfast. The driver, Vincent, was one of the highlights of the tour as he was what Bill called, ‘a pistol’. His colourful language and sense that he owned the road from all the ‘gobshites’, included a running dialogue of what was wrong with everyone on the road. This was our first experience with a coach tour and we were a little hesitant but on balance it was awesome. During the 6 days, people came and went (one woman and her daughter left after their first day not liking the accommodations) and came from various places: New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, UK. We made a point of getting to know as many as we could.
Our first stop was St Buite Monastery. It was a very blustery cold day so we didn’t spend too much time there. A repeated line was,”This is a stunning place when the sun is shining…”.
Once we arrived in Belfast, the first order of business was the Black Cab tour of ‘The Troubles’. We toured the various areas of Belfast where the violence had occurred and the taxi drivers shared their experiences and the situation as it was then and now. The first stop was the Protestant area with the image of William of Orange:
In the afternoon, we toured the Titanic Museum.
The museum was designed to immerse you in the building of the Titanic as if you were on site.
We stayed at a Crown Plaza on the outskirts of Belfast the first night: lovely hotel and good dinner in the restaurant.
Tuesday, October 18th: Belfast to Derry
A few more kilometers up the coast, we stopped at Portaneevey where the famed rope bridge is.
After a few hours of driving, we came to the famous Giant’s Causeway where we walked along the shore for a few kilometers and were grateful for a sunny day, much improved on the day before when the wind blew incessantly. We remarked that the Atlantic might have been too wild for the walk. Northern Ireland’s coastline is stunning. Standing on the hills that arc this place, you look down on thousands of basalt columns tumbling into the Atlantic. It’s an epic sight with 40,000 or so of these hexagonal-shaped stepping stones which date back to a volcanic age 60 million years ago.
Along the coastline are many deserted castles.
Next stop was Derry, not according to Vincent, the driver, Londonderry, although that’s what the signs said. The walls built around the city were built by the British troops to protect the people in the city from attack. Needless to say, there was much violence in Derry despite the walls.
That night we stayed in Derry at the Holiday Inn.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022: Derry to Galway
Next morning we were off to Letterkenney where someone on the bus wanted some souvenir from this town that featured in a Canadian sitcom. Or, Vincent needed a smoke!
It was a significant deluge because it had been and continued to be raining. A very pastoral setting, as well.
We arrived in Galway late afternoon on a cloudy rainy day although our walk downtown was fairly dry. We had a plate of mussels between us at as large hotel and chatted with an American from Boston visiting his brother. We walked down to the waterfront and through the Quay Street area with shops and bars. The complete sole came off one of Bill’s running shoes so we managed to get him new shoes just as the store was closing.
The Spanish Arch is 0ne of Galway’s most recognizable landmarks and testimony to its importance as a medieval seaport.
Thursday, October, 20, 2022: Galway to Dingle
Because of all the rain interspersed with moments of sunshine, we did see rainbows:
After lunch, we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher on another blustery, cool day. I had to go back to add another layer. The extraordinary Cliffs of Moher, undoubtedly Ireland’s top visitor attraction, tower high over West Clare’s wild Atlantic coastline. Standing 214 metres above the raging ocean at their highest point, the cliffs stretch for 8 jagged kilometres along the Clare coastline. And from them, you can see astonishing vistas. To the north and west are the Aran Islands, Galway Bay, the Twelve Bens Mountains, and the Maam Turk Mountain Range. And to the south there is beautiful impressive Loop Head with the Kerry coast lurking in the mist beyond it. And atop the iconic Cliffs of Moher sits O’Brien’s Tower, yet another of Ireland’s most photographed landmarks, and it holds steadfast against the winds and the relentless Atlantic onslaught to guard the coast from Spanish galleons and warring tribes.
We walked to the top of the hill with a view of the cliffs in all their glory.
Tower at the top.
In lieu of driving all around the bay, we took a short ferry from Killimer to Talbert.
Friday, October 21,2022: Dingle to Killarney
We started into the Dingle Peninsula and arrived at Inch Beach under cloud and as we started to walk the beach and watch the surfers, the sun came out.
Ireland is called the Emerald Isle for good reason: it rains so everything is green and there is much farmland with sheep and cattle and grain crops in the north and east. The west and south tends to be more rocky.
Hard to imagine living in these buildings but that was life in the Early Christian Period using what was available.
Continuing our tour of Dingle Peninsula, we stopped at the cliffs across from Blaskett Island that was inhabited until the 1950’s. the only connection was via the peer and walkway up the cliffs, available only when the Atlantic was calm and cut off for months at a time.
That night we stayed in Inspiration Lodge, very nice but no light in the bathroom!
Saturday, October 22, 2022: Anascaul, Co. Kerry, Ireland to Dublin
In Killarney, we had a choice of taking a buggy ride through Killarney National Park or visiting Ross Castle and we chose the latter. Ross Castle, built for the O’Donoghue Chieftains during the first half of the 15th Century, has a typical tower house layout. It was battlemented in the Irish fashion and was surrounded by a bawn wall with flanking towers at each corner, two of which remain.
Next stop is Blarney Castle. the third structure to have been erected on this site. In the 10th century there was a wooden hunting lodge here. Around 1210 this was replaced by a stone structure which was subsequently demolished for the foundations of a third castle by Dermot MacCarthy in 1446. For over 200 years, pilgrims have come to kiss the Blarney Stone and gain the gift of eloquence.
The Stone from Scotland was split and sent to Cormac MacCarthy by Robert Bruce for supporting him in his defeat of the British in 1314. Here is Bill kissing the Blarney Stone.
Blarney Castle sits on an 8 metre cliff of rock which formed the quarry for building the castle.
From the top of the Castle you can take in the wonderful views of over 60 acres of sprawling parkland, avenues, arboretums and waterways.
From the Rock of Cashel, it was a long run into Dublin where Vincent let us off on the taxi stand on the south side of the river in the rain. We took the taxi to Harcourt Suites which the driver could find in the dark as it turned out there was no office for the room, only an office serving several accommodations. The room was very Victorian and dark. We had a hard time finding a place for dinner as the pubs were full of partying young people on Saturday night.
Sunday, October 23, 2022: Dublin to Salthills
By this time, both of us were feeling sick, with coughs and headaches. There was no way we could visit Mairin and Red Glenn. We found our rental car not far from the hotel and headed for the west coast deciding on the way to go to a place that Mairin Glenn had recommended. Salthills Hotel had a room on the waterfront. We arrived in time to go for a walk and have dinner in the hotel.
Monday, October 24, 2022: Salthills
In the morning, we walked the waterfront promenade.
We then drove to Spidall, a nearby town where Mairin said they had a very good Craft Village which we visited. We also stopped at a pharmacy to buy some relief for our coughs. When we walked to the waterfront, the tide was out.
We had dinner in the hotel and met a couple from Australia. They suggested a stop in Cong on our travels so the next day we stopped there.
Tuesday, October 25: Salthills to Westport
We had just arrived when Bill realized that he had left our KLM bag full of our stuff on the floor of the hotel garage. Fortunately, we were less than an hour away and the bag was where he left it! Hallowe’en is a big event here for adults. Many houses and yards are decorated and the last week of October, many adults are dressed up. Here is a house in Cong.
The Monastery of Cong, founded in the early 7th century, was destroyed by fire in the early 12th century. Turlough O’Connor, the High-King of Ireland, re founded the abbey around 1135, and his son, Rory, constructed new buildings. In 1203, the Norman Knight William de Burgo attacked the town and the monastery had to be rebuilt. Little remains but two fine windows.
The 1951 movie, The Quiet Man, was filmed in Cong starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.
We drove north and arrived at Knockranny House Hotel in Westport, County Mayo. Mairin recommended the hotel as a favourite of hers and we could immediately see why. A truly beautiful facility and grounds.
We could see Mt (Croagh) Patrick as we came nearer. Apparently St Patrick spent 40 days of Lent in 441 praying that the Irish people would convert to Christianity. St Patrick is the patron saint responsible for banishing snakes from Ireland! Droves of people climb Croagh Patrick every year as a pilgrimage.
Knockranny House Hotel is the nicest (and most expensive) place we stayed in Ireland.
Our bathroom was bigger than most of the rooms we stayed in!
The meals and gardens were excellent as was the view from our bedroom.
We walked around the grounds but it was very windy and cold.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022: Westport to Athlone
On order to break up the trip back to Dublin, we stopped half way in Athlone, County Westmeath. We stayed at the 4-star Radisson Blu which offers unobstructed views of Ireland’s longest river.
We walked along the River Shannon through the heart of the charming town with Athlone Castle in the background. The history of the area dates back to the Bronze Age.
With the distinct honour for holding the title of the “Oldest Pub in Ireland”, the pub traces its history back to 900 AD when it acted as an Inn. Historical artifacts and building materials found on site cemented Sean’s Bar in the Guinness Book of Record.
Thursday, October 26, 2022: Athlone to Dublin
We drove to Dublin, returned the rental car and walked to Jury’s Inn, Parnell. With the high cost of hotels in Dublin, this is a basic hotel: small room but clean.
Friday, October 27, 2022: CARN Conference
I presented my individual paper session which can be found at
Saturday, October 28, 2022: CARN Conference
I had two presentations on Saturday. The first was the symposium with Jack Whitehead and Michelle Vaughan in person (the first time we had seen each other in real time for 3 years) and Tara Ratnam and Parbati Dhungana virtually:
Click to access CARN2022sympproppres151022.pdf
It was a busy two days but we all felt that it was productive in sharing our knowledge and making a contribution to the Living Educational Theory social movement and to the flourishing of humanity in a small way.
Saturday night, Michelle and Brian and Bill and I joined the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl. First stop was The Duke Pub where the actors began with a scene from Waiting For Godot. Then we walked around the Temple Bar area with them enacting various scenes and poetry.
Sunday, October 29, 2022: Dublin
We spent our last day walking around Dublin. Jury’s Inn was just off O’Connoll Street which is the main street that took us down to the river. This is the famous Spire or as Vincent called it ‘the Stiffy on the Liffy’.
Following the bombing of Nelson’s Pillar by former IRA members in 1966, and subsequent controlled demolition six days later of what was left, the site remained vacant for years as no decision could be reached on a suitable replacement. Eventually, the Anna Livia monument was installed on the site to celebrate the 1988 Dublin Millennium Celebrations.
In 1998, as part of a planned multi-million euro re-development of O’Connell Street (as well as a memorial to the upcoming millenium and the aspirations of Ireland in the midst of its Celtic Tiger economic boom), a competition was launched to find a replacement for Nelson’s Pillar. O’Connell Street had been in decline for a number of years due to the proliferation of fast-food restaurants, the opening of bargain shops using cheap plastic shop fronts, and proliferation of derelict sites along both sides of the road. The re-development plan, which was aimed for completion by 2004, hoped to move the street “away from the image of fast-food restaurants, to a family place to go”.
At dusk, the base of the monument is lit and the top 10 m (33 ft) is illuminated through 11,884 holes through which light-emitting diodes shine. Some opposition initially greeted the monument. Supporters compare it to other initially unpopular urban structures such as the Eiffel Tower, while detractors complain that the Spire has little architectural or cultural connection to the city.
We toured the EPIC Museum which was a beautiful facility built on an old building along the river. Rooms were dedicated to the stories of those who emigrated from Ireland because of the potato famine, the ‘troubles’ or in lieu of jail to Australia. Others demonstrated the Irish influence in the development of other countries like USA.
Our last event was a tour of the Jameson Distillery. This is the original site of the distillery but now is just a showcase for the history and tasting as the distillery is in Cork.
We were advised to hold the whiskey in our mouths for up to 10 seconds to really appreciate it: the older the whiskey, the longer to hold.
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