Ring of Kerry

A few days before our trip home, we went for a long bus ride. Part of this was the Ring of Kerry that we were taken on. The scenery is beautiful, but we had been travelling for six days, with stops at various tourist places. Mind you, we did appreciate seeing what Ireland is like and what their history entailed, but, I think that we were almost at the point of information overload, or scenery overload. I, personally, was definitely at that point as I don’t usually do tours. I usually determine where I want to visit, go there, maybe do a day tour or two, but I usually get to know a little about the place before continuing on. I do have a tendency to take a lot of pictures. Some people think that about a hundred pictures is a lot. I usually take in the neighbourhood of one to two thousand pictures so that I can go home, get rid of the blurry ones, choose the ones that show what I am trying to say when I do any sort of presentation.

Substitute driver so that Austin could have a day off.

Anyway, I don’t remember much about what we were told about the Ring of Kerry. I found that the Wikipedia tells it in a good way and I am finding it hard to paraphrase it. So, here goes:

“The Ring of Kerry (Irish: Mórchuaird Chiarraí) is a 179-km-long circular tourist route in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. Clockwise from Killarney it follows the N71 to Kenmare, then the N70 around the Iveragh Peninsula to Killorglin – passing through Sneem, Waterville,Cahersiveen, and Glenbeigh – before returning to Killarney via the N72.

Popular points include Muckross House (near Killarney), Staigue stone fort and Derrynane House, home of Daniel O'Connell. Just south of Killarney, Ross Castle, Lough Leane, and Ladies View (a panoramic viewpoint), all located within Killarney National Park, are major attractions located along the Ring. A more complete list of major attractions along the Ring of Kerry includes: Gap of Dunloe, Bog Village,Kerry Woollen Mills, Rossbeigh Beach, Cahersiveen Heritage Centre, Derrynane House, Skellig Experience, Staigue Fort, Kenmare Lace,Moll's Gap, Ladies View, Torc Waterfall, Muckross House, The Blue Pool, Ross Castle, Ogham Stones, St Mary’s Cathedral, Muckross Abbey, Franciscan Friary, Kellegy Church, O’Connell Memorial Church, Sneem Church and Cemetery, Skellig Michael, Beehive Cells and the Stone Pillars marking an important grave.^[1]

There is also an established walking path named The Kerry Way, which takes its own route, and a signposted Ring of Kerry cycling path which uses older quieter roads where possible. The Kerry Way roughly follows the scenic driving route of the Ring of Kerry.

There are numerous variations to the route taking in St. Finian's Bay and Valentia Island which the official driving ring misses (the official cycling route takes in Valentia Island). As well as beaches, it also offers the Gap of Dunloe, Bog Village, Derrynane House, the Skellig Experience Valentia Island, Molls Gap, Torc Waterfall, Muckross House, and Ross Castle.

"The Ring" is a popular day trip and numerous bus companies offer circuits during the summer months. As the narrow roads make it difficult for tour coaches to pass, all tour buses run in an anti-clockwise (or counter-clockwise) direction, traveling via Killorglin first. Some recommend that car owners travel in the opposite direction, going first to Kenmare to avoid delays caused by tour buses. Others advise traveling counter-clockwise to avoid having to pass the buses. In 2008 satellite navigation systems were blamed for directing bus drivers in a clockwise direction around the route.”

Ring of Kerry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Kerry

Here are a couple of pictures that I took at Ladies View.

Galway City

One of the western ports in Ireland is at Galway City and is quite an old one. The French and the Spanish trade came mostly through Galway due to its location and the fact that the temperatures are rarely extreme. The wind can be quite strong although the city is sheltered as it is located near the eastern end of Galway Bay on the north side of the bay.

When visiting Galway, a walking tour can be arranged. You should let the company or the tour guide know the major interests of the group as they can adjust the route accordingly. Once our tour guide realized that he had mostly family historians in the group, he took us to see a couple of spots that we would otherwise not have seen.

I found that Galway was a colourful city, with bright colours for shops and, where there was stone, doors. Several times throughout our tour of Ireland, we saw houses and buildings all with different colours. We didn’t really question it, but the tour guides gave us the explanation anyway. In the past, when men went to the local pub and imbibed too much alcohol, they could stumble home by themselves as they knew the colour of their door and the approximation of the location of their homes. When Queen Victoria made it law that all the doors had to be black in mourning for Prince Albert, many men stumbled into the wrong house. It didn’t take long for the coloured doors to come back.

I mentioned earlier that the Spanish came to Ireland for trade. During this time period, Galway was a walled city as were many cities in Great Britain and Europe. And, as time goes on, if walls are not necessary, they don’t usually get any upkeep done on them. When this happens, the walls usually grow weak and disintegrate. This happened with the London Wall in the area where some of my ancestors live (yes, I did have an ancestor who lived in the Wall of London). It also happened in Galway. However, there are remnants of the wall still standing. The remaining parts of the wall are the most famous remembrance of the time when the Spanish sailed to Ireland and is now called the Spanish Arch and was built in 1519 to 1520.

Galway was also one of the western ports that emigrants came through to travel to Canada and the United States during colonial times and since. I believe that some of my ancestors came through here. They were a family and could have been travelling with other family members or friends. They left Ireland and was in Quebec City in 1830 according to a notice in a newspaper posted by William Sanderson, the brother of John Robert Sanderson. William was looking for his brother in the 1840s because he had heard nothing from him since 1830. The wealthy merchants of Galway suffered a severe loss during the Great Famine. Many people made the decision to leave Ireland to build a new life elsewhere. Otherwise, these people were facing death by starvation. The economic loss was so great that it was felt by the city, and, I believe, the country, until the economic bubble at the end of the twentieth century.

As you can see with the photographs, the majority of the streets are narrow. There is also an archaeological excavation in process. We were there at a time that the workers were taking a break.

I enjoyed our time in Galway. As with other places, I could have spent more time there for both research and for wandering, getting to know the place better. A tour is a good idea for the first trip to a new area, but you need to go back so that you can learn more about the community and the environment that your ancestors lived in.

Eddies Bar

When the bookings were done for our tour, the tour company did one of our hotel bookings in the wrong location in error. When they tried to correct the mistake, they were unable to because of the hotel being full because of a concert in the area. To make up for this error, they offered to pay for one of our lunches. Because our bus driver knew the route and the businesses along it, the company agreed to let him choose the restaurant. He chose Eddies Bar.

Eddies Bar is in Clonbur, Galway, which is in the middle of Joyce country. Clonbur is a village that is surrounded by mountains and lakes. Lough Corrib and Lough Mask are on either side of Clonbur and are famous for their fishing. Mount Gable is only three kilometers away from the village.

The village does have a history that goes back to the 13^th century, but, unfortunately, I was not able to do some quick research on it. It will entail more time than what I currently have to dig it all out.

I found it interesting that it is in the middle of Joyce country. When I found this out, it made me think of an acquaintance of mine from the mid 1970s. It reminded me that he was of Irish descent. I only had contact with him for about one and a half years.

Eddies Bar is located in the Fairhill House Hotel. It seems to be one of the local gathering areas and is appreciated by those in the transportation sector who have need of travelling through Clonbur.

When we arrived, they had actually put together two areas for us as they don’t usually get such a large group as what we were. Our driver had actually contacted them and had them suggest two or three choices on the menu. He then passed a sheet around and had us choose from these choices. He had highly recommended the fish and chips.

My choice was the fish and chips. I enjoyed the meal immensely. I think that everyone appreciated their choices and the atmosphere that surrounded us while we were there.

Would I go back to Eddies Bar? By all means, yes, I would. I would have like to stay longer to get to know some of the people, but, when you are on a tour, there is a schedule that must be kept.

If you are in the neighbourhood of Clonbur, you should try Eddies Bar at least once. I bet that you will go back a second time if you have the chance.

This final picture is the bridge that leads to the accommodations that were used for the cast and crew of "The Quiet Man". There are stories about John Wayne and others that I will leave you to remember and discover.

The Quiet Man Tour

In 1952, John Ford directed a movie called “The Quiet Man”. The stars were John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Most of the indoor scenes were filmed in the United States, but all of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Ireland. There were a number of places used for filming in County Galway and County Mayo. However, the outdoor scenes of the village were filmed in the Village of Cong in County Mayo.

The village thrives on the income from the tourists who go to visit where the legendary John Wayne starred in a movie that won two Oscars. There is a building that has a museum dedicated to the movie with a number of artefacts that were left behind when the movie cast and crew moved out. They even have a bronze statue of John Wayne carrying Maureen O’Hara in a prominent spot in the village.

Some of the villagers earns their incomes from conducting walking tours of the village. This tour was different from other walking tours that we had while in Ireland. Every stop was the place of one of the scenes of the movie. The guide would choose one of the members of our tour to play a part in the “movie” or story.

At the end of the tour, we were gathered into the museum where the final scene of the movie was re-enacted. The tour members previously chosen for parts continued in their part in this scene along with additional members. My brother was chosen for one of the parts, originally as the husband of a couple. This was hilarious as he is not married. When the guide was told that he was not married, the guide looked at him, then looked at me several times. Each time the guide looked at me, my comment was, “He’s my brother.” So my brother then became the Catholic priest and another couple were chosen. There was also a part for a Church of Ireland minister which was given to the bus driver. I found it quite amusing as my brother is Anglican and the bus driver is Catholic.

The final scene was played out and time was then devoted to purchasing souvenirs. This was followed by a walk up the street to the bus and a trip back to the hotel in Westport for the night.

When I heard that we would be visiting Cong because of its relationship to the movie, I wondered why and I didn’t think that I would enjoy the stop. Because it was done differently from other walking tours, it became more interesting to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

You can get a lot out of a walking tour if you are interested in the area and subject matter. You can also learn a lot about an area if the tour is done in such a way that everyone has fun while doing it. I personally am interested in history and visiting a site just because a movie was made there doesn’t make sense to me. The way the presentation was done made it more interesting to me. Yes, I am a fan of John Wayne, but, no, I am not interested in visiting places just because he was there. Now, if you were to invite me to a place where the next Star Wars movie is being filmed while they are there, then yes, I am interested in going because I want to learn how they make things work.

I can fully commend that you should visit the Village of Cong in County Mayo and enjoy “The Quiet Man” walking tour.

Mourne’s Seafood Restaurant

On our first night in Belfast, we were taken to Mourne’s Seafood Restaurant for dinner. Later in the trip, we began to realize that on the first night in a new town or city, we would be taken out to dinner by the tour company. Some of the members of the group discussed it for a bit and came to the conclusion that, because it was the first night in town, we didn’t know where the pubs were as we hadn’t really had a chance to look around. If we had more than one night in a city, the remainder of the nights were our responsibility to find a place to eat. Usually, there were some choices of restaurants and pubs in the area of the hotels that we stayed in.

When we arrived at Mourne’s, we were taken upstairs to a private room where we had a dedicated staff of waiters and waitresses and cooks to look after us. The cooks also did some of the meals for the room downstairs but we were their priority.

The menu gave us an excellent range of choices of food, both seafood and non-seafood. I can’t remember exactly what I had, but I think that I tried their chowder. I wasn’t feeling the best at that time and needed to have something to eat that I knew wouldn’t upset my stomach. It was served with bread and gave me exactly what I needed.

For my main course, I had the ribeye steak as I didn’t want to take the chance of having deep-fried fish. I had it earlier in the week and I can only tolerate it in small amounts. I was questioned about it, but that is what I felt that do me the best good. It was done almost to perfection and I enjoyed every bite of it.

I finished the meal with apple and rhubarb crumble with ice cream. It was very filling, almost too much so. But it was good. I think that everyone enjoyed their meal.

As we headed back to the hotel, plans were made for the evening. My plan every night was to complete the blog entry, and most nights, relax and try to go to bed by 10 p.m. It doesn’t always work, though.

All in all, I can say that Mourne’s Seafood Restaurant has excellent food and is worth the trip to have some when you are in Ireland. I think that almost everyone on our tour enjoyed the food as well.

By the way, I didn't take my camera with me that evening, so I had to download pictures from the advertisement for the restaurant.

The Titanic Quarter

One of the first places that our tour visited in Belfast was the Titanic Quarter. In particular, we visited the museum that focuses totally on the Titanic. We arrived after having a bus tour with a tour guide from the city on our first day in Belfast.

Once we went into the museum, one of the first things that is usually done is the watching of a video regarding the building of the Titanic. There were displays that were interesting, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the ride through the “dockyard”. It was like a roller coaster ride that takes you through various parts of the “dockyard” in which there were displays that described the building of the Titanic and the conditions that the dockyard workers functioned in.

On the ground floor of the museum is a gift shop. I was interested in seeing what they had. I was looking for souvenir spoons in particular, but I found that the prices in the gift shop were steep. I did find souvenir spoons, but it was going to cost me in the neighbourhood of £25. I was not that impressed with them that I was going to pay that much. After all, I don’t have a lot of money and I look for things that are not that expensive. I left the gift shop after that.

The Titanic Quarter actually consists of more than just the museum. The museum is only one venue that resides there. Just up the street from the museum is the Public Records Office for Northern Ireland, otherwise known as PRONI. If you need to do any sort of research involving Northern Ireland, that is the place to start with. After that, there are other places that I will talk about in the future.

Across the street from PRONI is the hotel that we would have preferred to stay in. It is the other Premier Inn that is in Belfast and has much more room for buses and groups. However, there was a concert that week and the hotel was booked when the error had been pointed out to the tour company. There aren’t many trees in the area, so shade is at a premium.

There are other businesses within walking distance of the hotel. Many North American companies are locating the European headquarters of their companies in Ireland, both in Dublin and in Belfast. We drove down one of the streets and there is still a lot of development that has to happen before it will look like the plans that they have made for the area.

There are also plans to have some residential areas as well. Hopefully, Belfast can continue with the development of this area as it does have potential. Some of the pictures included with this blog were downloaded using Google to find them.

Guinness Storehouse

As many people know, Ireland is the home of Guinness beer. Guinness makes it possible for you to visit the Guinness Storehouse to learn about the beer, how it is made, and the history behind it. I did not visit the Storehouse, but my brother and some of the other people on the tour did. Personally, I have no desire to learn about it. I am including this article as the Storehouse was part of the tour and most people who visit Ireland include it in their itinerary.

The founder of the company was Arthur Guinness who was born in either late 1724 or early 1725 and quite likely in County Down. There has yet to be found documentation on the exact date of his birth. His parents were Protestant and part of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy. His parents lived in Celbridge in 1725, with his father later becoming land steward for the Archbishop of Cashel, Dr Arthur Price. When Dr Price passed on, he left £100 to Arthur Guinness in 1752. Mr Guinness invested it and started a brewery in 1755. In 1756, he purchased a long lease (9,000 years) for four acres at St James Gate. He married, had a family, and passed on in 1803. He provided very well for his descendants.

Apparently, there is a replica glass seven stories high that you go through that gives you the story of the company, how it makes the beer, the way the advertising is done, and finishes at the Gravity Pub at the top of the glass. I may be wrong on this information but this is what I got from the website.

My suggestion is that when you go to Dublin, if you are interested, go to the Guinness Storehouse and see what they have. I don’t know of any other beer company doing any thing like this.

Day Sixteen – Field Trip, April 2016

We were back to an early morning schedule this morning but not the earliest that we have been. Tomorrow, we will be back to the earliest schedule. 0 dark thirty comes awfully early. But we are nearly finished our trip. Do I want to go home? I think so. Some mornings it has been hard to get up so early. But I have enjoyed the trip and will have good memories from it.

In Killarney, they have a road rally about three times a year. The first one for this year is this weekend. Our driver was able to get us out of Killarney before the rally started and we had a long drive ahead of us. Members of the group fell asleep because we have been very busy since we arrived in Ireland. I was in bed by 9:30 pm for the last couple of nights and was asleep by 10:30 last night.

Our first stop was at Blarney where we could go up into the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. We didn’t have to do this, and you could go up to the top of the castle just to take pictures if you wanted to. Some just wanted to wander the grounds for while. There was a number of us that did go up to the top of the castle including myself. I even kissed the Stone! Surprise! Surprise! My brother also did. I do have to say that on the way up, I did have to stop at one point and take a rest. I was going to go back down but when I found out that it was only one more flight of stairs, I decided that I might just as well complete what I set out to do. It was much easier going down than going up.

Before going back to the bus, I happened to see the sign for the “Poison Garden” and went to see what it was all about. It was much bigger than I had anticipated, but I’m pretty sure that I saw all of it. I then started to wander towards the path, taking pictures along the way. I didn’t push myself and got all of the pictures that I wanted.

While we were at Blarney Castle, our driver had taken the rest of the group over to Blarney Woollen Mills. They are within walking distance of the castle and we were to walk over to rejoin the group. When I arrived there, the bus was locked up, so I went into the restaurant for a smoothie. It was enjoyable. We had a total of approximately two hours in Blarney.

At our next stop, we visited the replica of a sailing vessel that was built in 1845 and transported emigrants from Ireland to North America. The original vessel was built in Quebec City. We had an opportunity to see what kind of conditions that these emigrants had to endure to leave Ireland during the potato famine. They had a couple of people act as emigrants, one as a steerage passenger and the other as a paying passenger. It was quite interesting.

After this, we travelled to our hotel and did a walking tour around the old part of the city. We learned interesting things about the history of the city and saw some interesting sites.

Many of you may question why I haven’t given names of some of the places that we have been over the last couple of weeks. I gave some of the names after we had left the place that we visited only as a precaution. I will be expanding on these posts and will be posting pictures after we return to our homes. I hope that you will continue to read these posts as I do my wandering, both in reality and in imagination.

Day Thirteen – Field Trip, April 2016

We had a very busy day today continued our way around Ireland. We had to have our suitcases ready to be loaded on the bus by 7:00 am and ourselves in seats on the bus at 8:00 am.

Our first stop was at Ballintubber Abbey which was only about an hour from the hotel that we were housed in Westport. Ballintubber Abbey is reputed to have been in continuous use for worship since 1216. In 1653, Cromwell burned it down, but the people continued worshipping on the grounds with lookouts posted. It has since been rebuilt except for some sections in the back of the Abbey.

While mass was being administered in the building, our guide took us on a tour of the exterior grounds which have been set up in three courses, the Stations of the Cross, the Way of the Rosette, and the Way of Patrick. We then explored the interior of the building, however, I wish that I could have had more time to explore.

Our next stop was in Galway City. This is a port city on Galway Bay and I believe that my 3^rd great-grandparents, John Robert and Margaret, left through this port to travel to Canada in 1832. Our guide had a certain route planned until he learned that we were mostly family historians. Then, he changed his route and gave us information that could help us fill in the gaps in our search for records.

After the tour, we were invited to have our lunch at various pubs near the end place of the tour. My brother and I chose to eat at GBC and had an enjoyable lunch. The wait staff was very quick taking our orders and delivering our meals. We were on a schedule and were able to meet our deadline for continuing our journey.

From there, we travelled around the shores of Galway Bay and up the Corkscrew to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are 700 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. I didn’t go right to the very top as I was starting to get tired and I realized that I was starting to get short on time. I did manage to take some pictures which I will post when I go into further depth on each of our stops after I return home.

We are now in our hotel, having a rest and doing small activities until we go for a medieval-style banquet later this evening. I will try to cover the highlights tomorrow. We will be leaving our hotel for the next day early and spend tomorrow evening in a different hotel.

Day Six – Field Trip, April 2016

Bright and early this morning (8:15), everyone had checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus and we started our day of travel. It was a long day. We left Dublin and travelled to the Boyne Valley Visitor Center. While there, it was planned that we would spend a bit of time in the Visitor Center and then visit the tomb of New Grange which dates back between 6,000 and 8,000 years. I was all set to visit the tomb but my body decided that it was not going to cooperate with me. One of my symptoms of fibromyalgia flared up and it was really not a good time for me to visit New Grange. I was disappointed about that but there was nothing that I could do about it. I sat and relaxed until the other members of the group came back for lunch. By that time, I was also able to eat some lunch with them. Later in the day, my brother showed me some of the pictures that he had taken.

We boarded back on the bus and continued on our way to Belfast. Once we were in Belfast, the driver took us to meet our tour guide for a bus tour of the city. We had the opportunity to see some of the Victorian and Edwardian architecture and some of the monuments that were erected in the past. We were given a brief history of Belfast and were given a good tour. We visited both the Protestant and Catholic sides of the area where all the trouble in the 60s to the 90s took place. We saw that wall where there were paintings portraying the conflict. We were taken to the Peace Wall separating the Catholics from the Protestants. I haven’t full digested all that I saw today with regards to this.

As our tour continued, we were take to the Titanic Quarter and the guide left us at Titanic Belfast to go through the display. I have never seen some of the elements that were used in any other display of history. There was a chance to “take a ride through the dockyard” where the Titanic was built. There were interactive displays describing how the ship was built and the furnishings of the various quarters of the different classes of passengers. Towards the end of the display was a video of a couple of mini submarines doing a “tour” of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t consider that the time we spent at Titanic Belfast was a waste of time. It gave me something to think about because my great-grandmother’s brother was a Master Mariner for the Cunard Lines at that time. He could have just as easily been working for White Star Shipping Lines and been on the Titanic.

Once we were finished at Titanic Belfast, we were taken to our hotel so that we could look after a couple of quick things and get ready to go out to dinner. We then had a group dinner (which was part of the package) at Mourne Seafood Restaurant, not far from our hotel. This time, the bus driver joined us for dinner. Because of my problems earlier in the day, I decided to take it easy and tried to go for more of the light choices. As an appetizer, I had goat cheese that had been made into balls, dipped in a thin batter, deep-fried, and served with greens, beets, and a couple of crackers similar to Melba Toast. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was followed by baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and spinach. Again, it was an excellent choice. For dessert, I had ice cream. I could have had a larger dessert, but I was thinking that I had pushed enough for today.

We had such a full day that once we were back to the hotel after dinner, I sorted out a couple of questions that I had, and then sat down to let you know how our day was. It’s time for me to say “Good Night”.