Ireland: Just Like The Pictures

Last Christmas my daughter Merridy and granddaughter Megan talked about their upcoming trip to Ireland. I became interested as Ireland is a country I have wanted to visit. As time went on, I was encouraged to go along. The first item of business was to update my passport. Megan investigated tours and dates, and it was decided to go with C.I.E. International Tours the first week of September. All flight and tour arrangements were made by Megan and Merridy. I went along for the ride, and what a ride it turned out to be. I left Dayton on August 29, flew from Spokane to Washington, D.C., on August 30, and on the 31st took a night flight from D.C. to Dublin via Air Canada, with a stop in Toronto. We arrived in Dublin at about 8:30 a.m., Dublin time. After checking in at our hotel, the tour began. Our tour was to follow the highway south along the coastline, all the way around the island. We covered at least 1,000 miles, with many stops to see the sights, shop and take lunch breaks. Ireland is a beautiful, green country just like the pictures. The hedgerows are of stones that were cleared from the land for farming. The highways are narrow, two-lane roads. Many times our driver had to stop for oncoming cars.

I highly recommend C.I.E. Tours. Our guide, whose name was Dermit, proved himself an excellent commentator and driver.

Houses are built close to the highways with small or no front lawns. Few have thatched roofs as they are expensive and must be replaced every few years. We got started seeing the sights right away. The first stop was a walking tour of Trinity College. We viewed the Book of Kells and the vast library, housing some 3 million copies of old books currently being restored. A long hall with shelves reaching many feet high housed the books.

We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was taken over by Henry VIII and is now a Protestant church. That evening it was lights out early since we'd had little sleep for about 36 hours. The tour provided lodging, breakfast and dinner each day, so it was not a concern for us.

The next morning our luggage had to be in the hallway by 7 a.m. We visited Glendalough and Waterford, where we saw the 6th century ruins of St. Kevin's monastery and a graveyard featuring Celtic crosses. The stone monastery walls were intact but had no roof. The round tower remains standing, overlooking the grounds. In Waterford we sampled a pint of Guinness, a dark, stout ale that's a favorite in Ireland. Next our guide took us to the Dunbrody pier where we boarded a reconstructed ship to taste the hardships Irish immigrants had endured during the potato famine of 1849. The highlight of the next day was a walking tour of Cobh to view the last port of call for the Titanic. Part of the pier is still standing, and some of the buildings have been restored and are in use. It was pointed out that the love affair in the Titanic movie could not have happened since the two lovers were different classes of passengers and would have had no contact with each other. Some of those on the tour visited the famous Blarney Stone while others went to the Blarney Woolen Mills to shop.

We spent two nights in Killarney and toured the Ring of Kerry and the Skellig Islands. We boarded "jaunties," or horse-drawn carriages, to travel through the park to visit Blarney Castle. It is a beautiful green park, and the jauntie ride was a good way to see it.

The Skellig Islands are rocky islands off the coast. Monks lived there in early Christian times. How they survived is a mystery. They had to carve steps out of the rocks, and no green vegetation grows there. They built stone huts to live in and had fish and birds to eat, but no vegetables could be grown. The islands are now protected bird sanctuaries.

A drive through the mountains of Macgillycuddy's Reeks took us into to Killorglin to cross the bridge to Valencia Island, then on to the village of Sneem and Moll's Gap to view the Three Lakes of Killarney. We attended mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in Killarney, a mostly stone structure of Romanesque architecture that took over 30 years to build. Sunday we were in Foynes and toured the Flying Boat Museum, the home of the Pan American clippers built and used during the 1930s and '40s. The road down to Galway Bay is narrow and crooked. In County Claire we toured the Cliffs of Moher. This was the one day we had rain, and access to O'Brien's Tower at the top of the cliffs is by way of a long, long line of steps. It was a long climb, but I made it - even in the rain!

Our guide instructed us not to climb over the fence for a better view as it was a 700-foot drop to the water, and he didn't think any of us would survive. The cliffs are sheer rock rising out of the ocean and are awesome to see.

On this night, we attended a professional show of Irish singing and River dancing. How the dancers can move their feet so fast is beyond belief. It was a well-done show and very entertaining. The following day took us to Knock, where villagers claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary in 1879. Then we were on to County Sligo to view W.B. Yeats' grave at Drumcliffe churchyard.

We traveled around Donnegal Bay to Derry, a walled city dating from 1613. This is where the uprising between the north and south of Ireland took place. The local guide told us that tempers have cooled somewhat, and life is better, but all is not a bed of roses to this day.

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the tour was the Giant's Causeway at the tip of North Ireland. It is made of hexagon-shaped stones, which were formed by volcanic activity over 60 million years ago. Not only are the stones along the beach but columns that look like organ pipes rise 30 to 40 feet into the sky.

Also, in our pass through Belfast, we saw the shipyards where the Titanic was built. This was our last night in Ireland. We had dinner at Abbey's Tavern, enjoying typical Irish fun and music. We were off the next day for the U.S. I arrived home on September 13. It was a wonderful tour, and I was so fortunate to have such great travel companions. A wonderful two weeks.