Ireland Part 2 - Foolin' around in Doolin

Before we get too far into 2008, we have a little bit of catching up to do from last year. You may remember a post back in August entitled "Ireland Part 1 - Attack of the Leprechauns" - well, here's the long awaited follow up!

After our disastrous Ryanair flight delay, we enjoyed a much needed sleep-in on the Saturday. This we followed up with a hearty full Irish breakfast, cheerfully delivered by our hosts, and we were ready to face the day. A glorious warm sunshine awaited us, and we discovered that tiny, rural Doolin and the surrounding countryside has lots to recommend it.

We visited the Burren with its stony landscape and ancient megalithic tombs:













And marvelled at the sheer beauty of the Cliffs of Moher:

A short ferry ride out to Inisheer, the smallest of the Aran Islands, showed us just how many dry stone walls it's possible to cram into a relatively small space. The effect is very picturesque, and makes it an excellent place for rambling.


We even found time to squeeze in a game of golf, hopefully not disturbing the cows too much.

There were a few drawbacks to Doolin's remoteness, most notably discovering the nearest ATM was in a town 15 miles away... But this was easily forgiven as we found ourselves in a friendly pub enjoying the rousing traditional Irish music that Doolin is famous for.

This part of Ireland is incredibly peaceful and unspoilt, and the people are so genuinely warm and friendly. It really is how you imagine Ireland should be.

Ireland Part 2: Attack of the Leprechauns

After a slightly disappointing tour of Northern Ireland and erm, northern Ireland, we decided we'd have another craic at it ... this time the western coast around Shannon. RyanAir are almost entirely responsible for putting Shannon on the tourist map, offering return flights from Bristol in exchange for 2 pints of Guinness and a four-leaf clover. Well not quite that cheap, but close.

However you do get what you pay for, and with RyanAir that means the plane you sit in has been shuttling back-and-forth between Shannon and Bristol all day, spending no more than 25 minutes stationary at each end, and with no backup plane waiting to take over. So if there's ever a delay, every flight from then on suffers.

After a mad Friday-evening dash from Bath, everything went quite smoothly and we boarded our (on-time!) 1830 plane with high hopes of getting to our B&B in Doolin at around 10ish. With cabin doors locked (not cross-checked though - that would cost extra) we rumbled out towards our take-off runway while the flight crew went through the final checks. And then the trouble started. Apparently a warning light in the cabin refused to go out (and I'm assuming an important one, not AFT TOILET BLOCKAGE - SUGGEST MANUAL DE-CLOG). They tried power-cycling the plane a few times, but were unable to fix the gremlin (or should that be leprechaun?), and we were soon herded back onto buses and sent back to the terminal, being told "we'll get it sorted and let you know as soon as we can".

The monitors in the terminal building told a very different story though - next to our flight number was the ominous text NEXT ANNOUNCEMENT: 2200 - a three hour wait - and that was just for an announcement! We eventually found out the story - only one mechanic in the entire RyanAir organisation knew how to fix this fault - so he had to be flown out from Dublin to come and fix it, which he then did in 15 minutes. There's something very Irish about a company that operates aircraft with double- and triple-redundant systems, but only one human who knows how to fix them! What if he gets hit by a bus?

Finally, at about 10.30pm, we got shuttled out to where we'd abandoned our stranded A319. By this time, the obligatory Hen's Weekend group were all nicely trolleyed, and were singing up a storm in the bus. They weren't too bad either, and when they launched into the der-dat, der-dat, der-der-DAT-DAT bit of You're Just Too Good To Be True the entire bus spontaneously joined in! Awesome.

We hit the ground in Shannon with a ragged cheer at about quarter-to-midnight, and were relieved to find that our car hire place had stayed open for us (others weren't so lucky) - although they stung us an extra 50€ for the privilege - grrr...
We arrived at the B&B at 2am, with an incredibly warm welcome from our host - would things finally be turning up for us in Ireland? Well, the next day we discovered we had a nice neighbour too!

Ireland Hopping: Dublin

Our final stop was Dublin, the Republic's legendary capital. On our first evening in town, we caught the bus in to the Temple Bar region, which is stuffed with restaurants and pubs. Sadly it seemed that so many other tourists had done exactly the same thing that there was no room left for any real Irish people! So our search for some good Craic was pretty unsuccessful.

The next day we headed to Trinity College - a very pretty campus once we found our way inside!
We checked out the Book of Kells - an amazing illuminated Bible manuscript - although again most of Ireland's tourist population seemed to be in there with us! All very interesting, but really just a warmup for another obligatory Dublin tourist-trap: the Guinness Storehouse.
Although initially it seemed to be another doomed-to-fail experiment - Bec is not an enormous beer fan at the best of times, and Johnny, not previously a fan of the Black Stuff, was feeling a bit unwell with a headache - the place was awesome.


After walking though the former distillery buildings and smelling the beautiful aroma of roasting barley, there was a "teaser" - literally just a shot of the locally-made Guinness. Perhaps it was reading all the old-time "it's-good-for-what-ails-you" advertising, but Johnny's headache evaporated almost instantly, and Bec announced it to be "not bad" - high praise from Miss Sauv Blanc!

Finally we got to the main attraction - The Gravity Bar, seven stories above Dublin with a 360-degree view and the freshest, most perfectly-poured pint of Guinness in the world. And what a pint! Johnny's literally disappeared before Bec's astonished eyes - it was truly a life-changing experience. This pint was so far removed from the thick, bready, tar-like stuff punters choke down back in Melbourne, it was like liquid silk. Not black; a deep red, with beautiful smoothness and complexity, instead of tasting like a 9-day old wholemeal crust. Magic.
Bec "savoured" hers for much longer, a pint being quite a tall order for a non-beerist, but even her untrained stout-palate appreciated the fine flavour and texture. She even felt a bit drunk afterwards - bonus! As we wandered around, filling in our last few hours before heading to the airport, we both noted that Dublin has a very similar feel to Melbourne - both in architecture and culture. So save yourself a trip - just go to your local Bridie O'Reilly's. Just kidding!!

Ireland Hopping: Derry & Galway

Derry (or Londonderry) is another fascinating city, steeped in history. Like Belfast, it has seen its share of conflicts over the years, most of them motivated by religious differences and power struggles. Today there remain two distinct sides to Derry: the Loyalist side, with British flags and colours adorning the streets; and the Republican side which is decked out in the orange, green and white of Ireland. And again, the murals tell a powerful story:


The "Free Derry" wall was one Johnny could clearly remember from his childhood - in England in the Eighties, the evening news frequently began with footage of riots at this very spot.


While wandering around the city walls, we were lucky enough to tag onto the end of a tour group that was being led around by a Derry local. In true Irish tradition he told some terrifically entertaining yarns as we walked around the town. And at the end, he thanked everyone for helping grow tourism in Northern Ireland - it's true that it's definitely not on everyone's must-see list, but it is a very interesting place! Unfortunately, time was short, so we had to crack on to Galway - but not before taking in Slieve League, the highest cliffs in Europe:


After a truly exhausting drive (Irish roads are, as you might guess, neither quick nor direct), we rolled into Galway, and pretty much crashed for the night. The next day, we spent the morning in town:


Galway is famous for its buskers, and we were lucky enough to come across the best piano-playing busker we've ever heard, the guy was truly amazing. But before long, we yet again had to get going in order to reach our next (and final) destination - Dublin.

Ireland Hopping: Northern Ireland

For the Easter long weekend (yes I know we're waaaaay behind in our blogging!) we made the very short trip across the Irish sea to the land of the leprechauns. A new country for both of us, there was heaps we wanted to see so we really covered a lot of ground - quite literally - over the four days.

Arriving at Dublin airport, we picked up our Fiat Punto (or as Johnny called it, our Feeble Italian Attempt at Transportation) and headed north. Our ultimate destination was The Giant's Causeway, a popular spot on the northern coastline with mysterious, unique rock formations, but our first stop along the way was Belfast. It was quite interesting to note the differences as we moved from Southern to Northern Ireland; the road signs became entirely English, losing any trace of the Gaelic translations, and the speed limits switched from kilometers to miles which was rather confusing - especially since our little Fiat showed only miles on its speedo.

Belfast is an interesting place, showing clear signs of the "Troubles" it has endured over the years. In particular the west part of Belfast, with its series of impressive murals depicting the conflicts, was quite an eye-opener. You really did get a sense though that they've turned the corner, and are now focussed on rebuilding the city into a place people will want to visit for positive reasons.
The Giant's Causeway was, as expected, a highlight of our trip. Not only is it one of the most fascinating natural phenomena we've seen, we also had a perfect, sunny day in which to enjoy it.

The Giant's Boot (apparently left behind by the Giant who built the Causeway):

Seagull's-eye view of the Causeway: