A couple of months ago I made my first real trip to Ireland. Years ago on a cruise ship tour we stopped in an Irish port for a day, but I don’t think that counts. This was a 2 week trip that I took with my wife and we visited a large part of the island.
My wife, Sandra, had been telling me for the last two years about trips to Ireland, one of her favorite places in the world. Now, she had always been on my list as a place to visit and spend time, maybe a little to do with Celtic roots, but a lot to do with the fact that Ireland was the birthplace of the Titanic. I have a direct connection to history and am intrigued by the idea of finding out a bit more about the birthplace of this fascinating ship.
When we arrived in Dublin we were a bit surprised by its size, it was bigger than expected. The city and its surroundings have a population of over 1 million people; it was more of a multicultural center than I imagined.
Originally a Viking town, where those boys surely hung out, Dublin has become a lively multi-cultural city. We were in Dublin at the end of March; there were exceptionally large crowds on Grafton Street, one of its main shopping areas.
I have visited several big cities during my travels, but Dublin has its own unique features, for example the gates of Dublin. Many houses were designed in the same way and the only factor that could make them unique is the doors, so the variety of doors is fascinating.
I like the fact that there is a pub on every corner, many with live music. Dublin is also the birthplace of Guinness beer. We took a tour of the brewery located at St. James Gate, it’s a distinctly modern exhibit and there is no shortage of tourists including us.
We visited the Jameson Distillery. I have been fortunate over the years to see many distilleries pleasantly surprised by this tour. It’s well laid out, extremely enthusiastic guides, and an intriguing twist on a later tasting. I like whiskey, neat or with a little water, but how about cranberry juice? I was surprised! you will be too.
We leave for Belfast; Sandra had never been there so we didn’t know what to expect. The city’s tourism has only started to develop in recent years, due to recent problems. We arrived in the early afternoon, and after an hour of walking around Sandra, we both commented on how amazed we were at the city. The first thing that struck us was how friendly everyone was.
We spoke to a gentleman who worked for a local tour company and told him how friendly we found Belfast. He told us that he had lived in other big European cities in the past and said: “In many cases, if someone walks from when you knock down, they keep going without turning back; here in Belfast, if someone bumps into you, they hit you.” They’ll knock you down, not only help you up, they’ll dust you off, take you to a pub for a drink, and then take you home for the night.”
I don’t think there was much exaggeration.
We visited the Titanic Quarter to see where it all began. As I listened to the stories, I could discern the joy and pride that pervaded the construction of the Titanic and her sister ship Olympic and then the deep sadness that pervaded the city after the ship sank.
We spoke to many people who still had direct connections to the tragedy, which is not surprising; there were thousands of workers from Belfast and surrounding areas who worked on it.
We drove along the coast visiting the Carrick a Rede rope bridge and then on to the Giant’s Causeway, home to some 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. This is a natural phenomenon that has to be seen at least once in a lifetime.
We traveled to Galway; a city sometimes referred to as bilingual has over 10% of the inhabitants still speaking Irish as their first language. This is a fun city, the city center is extremely easy to get around and there is music everywhere. From here it is very easy to take a tour of Connemara.
We travel to the Cliffs of Moher; currently in competition to be named one of the new seven natural wonders of the world. As we stood on the edge of the cliff, the sheer end of Ireland looking out over the North Atlantic, we couldn’t help but be amazed at what the forces of nature had wrought.
We then headed to the Poulnabrone Dolmen (Irish for “hole of sorrows”) which is a portal tomb probably dating from 4200 B.C. C. and 2900 a. c.
We traveled to Dingle, for me one of the highlights of its beautiful island. I don’t like to use the word picturesque because I think it’s the best description I can think of for this little community. I have heard that musical lineage for Ireland, if this is the case, the area in and around Dingle must be the heart.
We drove around Slea’s Head Drive and saw more ancient ruins, amazing scenery, stone walls, and sheep.
Our next day was in Killarney, also a remarkably easy community to get around and no shortage of exceptionally hospitable people who are interested in chatting.
We stayed in Cork and visited Blarney Castle. Now he knew the Blarney Stone story; where according to legend, kissing the stone gives the kisser the gift of eloquence. I don’t know why, but Sandra told me that was the last thing she had to do.
I was excited to see the castle but didn’t know how wonderful the grounds were, it was so easy to get lost for a couple of hours wandering around the estate. A beautiful visit and a place that you will have to give yourself time to enjoy.
We also visited another community on the outskirts of Cork called Cobh (pronounced Cove). In 1912, this community, then known as Queenstown, was the Titanic’s last port of call before sailing to the North Atlantic and her final resting place.
That story is powerful and well worth a look, but after spending time reading about other Irish immigrants who had to leave home to seek a better life during and then for years after the great potato famine, I felt a tightness in my heart.
It took us two weeks to make the trip, and the feeling I had on our last day in Ireland was that I couldn’t wait to go back.
If you have been to Ireland, you can understand my excitement in describing this trip.
If you haven’t been, it’s time to save your beautiful island on your list and make plans sooner rather than later for your visit.
Now, if incredible scenery, amazing stories, funny people, great music and lots of laughs aren’t high on your list of priorities; then don’t bother visiting Ireland.
If the opposite is true, you may want to check out Rhapsody Tours. Click on our Ireland Tour, the birthplace of the Titanic to see them, this could be of interest to you.
We have planned a wonderful and quality tour visiting all the places I mentioned and much more. If you have any further questions, feel free to email me directly.
If you have any stories about Ireland that you would like to share or any travel related topics that you would like to discuss or any other travel stories that you would like to share; send them to us. Let’s read everything and post our favorites.
Leave me a note, I’d like to know what you think.
Until next time, travel safe and have fun!
Gerry