Ireland Part 1
Although I have never done a DNA test, my blood is mostly Irish-I know this from stories my grandmother used to tell me. And the longing has always been there to see this emerald isle. My favorite being the story of my great great grandfather finding an ill mermaid in his barn-was she sleeping off some whiskey? Was he? Who knows, but the story goes that he returned her to the sea, and she promised that none of his descendants would ever drown, and my daughter and I believe this story with all our heart-keeps us safe!
After a lifetime of longing Dan and I went to explore this land that was calling and we chose to head to the western coast of Ireland, the region of Connemara-beautiful sea coasts, fishing villages, gorgeous friendly ponies and of course Fairies.
Sleep deprived and forgetting about the length of the flight and the time change, I had ordered the car rental for yesterday, the day we got on the plane, so my little car with the standard transmission I had reserved was long gone! Lucky for us they had another-so off we set in our, sadly, automatic transmission, little blue car, driving on the side of the road I had not driven on in ages. Why does Ireland have so many roundabouts? Waiting to see who merged where, and having Chevy Chase’s movie European Vacation play in my head we managed to get us to our destination, even stopping for lunch! We had booked a lovely room at the Buttermilk Lodge Guesthouse, a lovely little b n b in Clifden. We fell in love with Clifden, a small town, with beautiful little shops, and pubs-all of which we could walk to from the Buttermilk. Our days began with amazing breakfasts-smoked salmon that was out of this world and so fresh, black and white pudding, eggs, roasted tomato….there is something about an Irish breakfast (or an Aussie or British one too). We explored the area by foot and by car. And spent the evenings in local pubs, our favorite being Mullarky’s located in Foley’s hotel. We were lucky enough to spend Halloween at their party.
Hungover, the next day we headed to Delphi Resort to kayak in the Killary Fjord-muddy, wet-suited and cold we had an fantastic time, the fjord was beautiful, and I was grateful I was wearing a helmet when I slipped down the hill and lost my footing. We ended that day at their spa, taking seaweed baths before our massages. If you get the chance to have a sea weed bath, I can not recommend it enough. It is like your mermaid fantasy has come true, and you feel amazing-people in the area have been practicing this bathing ritual for hundreds of years, and you see signs advertising it all over the coast. There are so many minerals and trace elements in there, you can’t beat it.
We also were able to book the last boat tour on the Fjord the next day and learned a bit about the fishing industry and the potato famine. This Fjord is Ireland’s only Fjord and extends 10 miles from the Atlantic and is the border between county Mayo and Galway. It is just stunningly beautiful.
Along your drive you will see the Connemara Ponies which are reportedly extremely friendly, I did not have any personal experience with this, but they are beautiful. As are the sheep. Which are everywhere, and have adorable black faces-hardy little guys, adorable, agile climbers they literally are everywhere, which made my day each and every day, not to mention that they are marked with paint to show who owns them and it almost looks like tie die as it streaks from the rain.
Of course we visited castles too-Kylemore Abbey , Bunratty Village and Ashford Castle. Kylemore abbey was built as a gift for the original owner/builders daughter for her wedding, and later lost in a game of cards (how mad would that make you if your husband lost your home and CASTLE ???), it later became a school and an abbey. It is so beautiful and had innovations at the time working with gravity to have running water. It also has a rebuilt Victorian garden, we were there in late October/early November so we didn’t get to enjoy the splendor of the garden, but the whole site should not be missed.
Bunratty has a very long history being built in the 15th century and now is surrounded by a folk park that shows off more of Irish history and has souvenirs. They also do a medieval banquet, which trust me is worth it. Singers, mead, food, and a dungeon. This castle really struck me tho, that it was such a hard life, the remnants of fighting that went on, murder holes (hot oil would be poured on people trying to get into the castle), the dungeon, the spots along the stairs where you could shoot arrows from-just struck me. The building itself is amazing as all castles are, and in Ireland it seems less crowded than some of the large castles in England were, which I did love. We were also lucky enough to be seated by an amazing couple that we went out with afterwards to Durty Nelly’s, the bar right out side the folk park, here we sat by the peat fire, listened to two men play Irish music and danced with everyone! We have stayed in touch, and we are lucky to call them friends to this day!
Ashford Castle is now a five star hotel, and home to Ireland’s School of Falconry, where we did their Hawk walk which allowed us to learn about hawks and the other birds of prey that they care for and were able to handle and fly the hawks which I would love to do again-beautiful creatures, so smart and amenable to our inexperienced hands. The gardens and woodlands around the castle are idyllic, actually the whole trip was.
On one of our drives we came across Brigit’s garden, a little sanctuary of Celtic Heritage and Mythology, and just so beautiful. You can explore the seasons, and a fairy fort in these 11 acres of native woodlands and wildflower meadows. They also have the largest Sundial in Ireland-very cool.
I love Irish and Women’s history and made sure to visit some things that called to my heart-one of my favorite heroines is Grace O’Malley, I had read about her years ago in the book They went Whistling: Women Wayfarers,Warriors, Runaways and Renegades ( you can read more about her and other women who did their thing in this amazing book). She was a leader, when women were not, she ruled the seas and her lands- she was a powerful woman. We found her home, and her statue, but sadly the visitor center and home were closed. Queen Mab is also fascinating, reading about her she is the queen of fairies, her name means intoxication, and is the goddess of dreams-often nightmares. Some say she took human form as Ruler of Connaught and is a central character in the Irish epic Tain Bo Cuillaigne. Some say she could run faster than horses! There are two legends as to her burial, she may be in Rathcroghan, or on the summit of Knocknarea in a large cairn. The latter is the area we hiked, and it was amazing, and lush. We did meet some folks hiking and when I asked of fairies I got a very different answer than we all grew up with: a little fear, answers of well we haven’t seen her or we wouldn’t be here. Perhaps we need to respect the wee folk more that we realize.
We ended our trip in Limerick, the city that most folks left from after the famine. It seemed a sad place to me, the energy of so much leaving, and a history of crime-it used to be called stab city. And some of this sadness might have been from me, knowing that I too had to leave soon, I already missed the smell of the peat fires in Connemara. We did get back to Ireland a few years later, and I am certain will return again.
