Travels with Pat

After we ferried across the River Shannon estuary, we drove through bucolic countryside which turned into a stark and barren landscape until we reached our major destination, the Cliffs of Moher.
These spectacular cliffs which rise 700 feet above the pounding surf provide a home for 20,000 sea birds including puffins, kittiwakes and guillemots. The eco-friendly VIsitor Center opened in 2007 is set into the hillside.
Before we visited Rathbaun Farm for a sheep dog demo plus tea and scones with jam and clotted cream, our bus followed a coastal route through the Burren, a unique combination of flora and fauna which used to be under the ocean.
That night we stayed at a fancy hotel and ate our evening meal overlooking the stormy Atlantic Ocean.

We staarted the day with a bus ride around the Ring of Kerry, a peninsula ssticking into the Atlantic Ocean with Dingle Bay on one side. It is very picturesque and contains 3,000 foot high mountains in the middle.
There are over 12 million sheep in Ireland and bog which covers 30% of the land is cut up and used for fuel. Sto[[ed at a thatched roof cottage for a mid morning treat of rhubarb tart and hot chocolate; saw ancient standing stones (5,000 years older than the Egyptian Pyramids); viewed stone walls instead of hedges surrounding property and stopped for a potato quiche lunch before driving through Killarney Park.
Back at the Killarney hotel, Kathy and I took a horse and buggy ride in the “liquid sunshine” to a 5th century castle with a jarvey (driver) who was full of blarney. Kathy spotted a red deer which promises good luck.
We ended the day at a pub with food, music and dancing.

This AM skirted the Wicklow Mountains from Dublin to Kildare (kil=church and dare = a forest). At Blarney Castle I sat on a bench while Kathy walked up a narrow spiral staircase to kiss the Blarney stone. She had to lay on her back while someone held her feet and she tilted her head backwards to receive the gift of eloquence.
We continued through the countryside dotted with sheep, through picturesque towns with vine-covered castles and thatched roof houses as we ate home made fudge.

On our introductory tour of Dublin we learned that Ireland is the size of Maine and different colored doors distinguish the row of 4 story Georgian homes. After a photo op at a red foliage covered home, we stopped at St. Patrick’s Cathedral; drove by the “Sniffy Liffey (river)”; saw the statue of Molly Malone “The Tart with the Cart”; and stopped at Trinity College – 45 acre campus in the center of town – so we could view the Book of Kells, “Turning Darkness into Light” which was written on vellum about 800 AD by monks using quills for pens

After our black taxi tour, Kathy and I had tea t Marks & Spenser where we also used the 2007 award winning “Loo of the Year.”
Heavy rain followed us on our way back to Dublin. At our Monasterboise stop, a monastery founded by Systersian Monks, we marveled at all the huge Celtic crosses. The monks chose this peaceful valley to prevent looting and plundering by the Vikings.
In 432 AD St. Patrick arrived in Ireland and used the shamrock to teach people about “The Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”
Back in Dublin, we walked along the Liffey River to see a Sculpture of The Potato Famine People.

After taking the green Paddy Wagon from Dublin to Belfast and learning more Irish history, 18 of us squeezed into 3 of the famous Black Taxis for a tour of the murals in Protestant and Catholic parts of town.
Union Jacks were flying on the Protestant side which featured murals with Oliver Cromwell, Prince William, Ian Paisley and snipers always watching.
Before we passed through the Peace Wall – 42 ft. high and 3 1/2 miles long with gates closed at night – dividing the 2 religions, Kathy wrote “Give Peace a Chance” on it. The Irish murals honored Brendan Hughes who refused to wear the British prison uniform; Frederick Douglas, a U.S. abolitionist; Guernica; and showed empathy for Palestinians and Cubans.

On our drive to Derry, the oldest city in Ireland (6th Cent.), our guide told us about Easter Sunday and IRA Rebellion in 1916; the 1919 war between England and Ireland; and as recently as January 1972 – Bloody Sunday, the beginning of the “Troubles” which began with a Civil Rights march.
Finally, a treaty was signed in 1998 with the intervention of President Bill Clinton. The River Foyle divides the Protestants/Loyalists on one side and the Catholics/Irish on the other. It was renamed Londonderry by the British and referred to as the “Maiden City” since the walls from 1613 had never been breached.
While Kathy went on a walking tour of the walls in the rain, I visited a few museums and saw a replica of a 30 ft. barque with said used by St. Colmcille in 563 A.D. We ended our day by having Bailey’s cheesecake and tea.

After taking a “Paddy Wagon” (green 15 passenger bus) from Dublin to Belfast, we arrived in pouring rain at a rope bridge which was used by salmon fishermen in the North Atlantic.
The sun came out by the time we reached The Giant’s Causeway, a World Heritage Site. One story is that a giant made the causeway so he wouldn’t get his feet wet going from Ireland to Scotland. The other possibility is that the columns were formed over 60 million years ago by the cooling and shrinking of molten lava from a vast volcanic eruption
Since the wind was REALLY blowing, I decided not to walk down with Kathy. When I told a white-haired tourist from Australia that I didn’t have any British money to take the shuttle, she said, “Oh, love, you HAVE to see it since you’re here” and she paid my fare.

On our first day in Dublin,Ireland I checked with PR reps at t
he Dublin Theatre Festival for press tickets as well as several day tours to Northern Ireland.
I lined up Brian Friel’s adaptation of Hedda Gabler”, “Dodgem’s”
(about the plurality of Ireland’s population), “Delerium”(adaption of
Brothers Karamazov), and a South African production of “The Magic Flute.”

Today our land tour took us from the port of Limassol, Cyprus, through cypress lined boulevards and groves of citrus trees to Pafos and the Mosaics of Dionysus, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
This 3rd largest island in the Mediterranean Sea only has 850,000 inhabitants – 80% Greek Cypriots and 12% Turks and has seen empires wax and wane from Stone Age to Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Ottoman and British.
The House of Dionysus was a vast archeological site with beautiful mosaics being uncovered by students from Warsaw, Poland.
Another member of the tour took photos for me at the Tombs of the Kings – a large underground necropolis from the 3rd century B.C. before we passed through some carob plantations on our way back to the ship.