Lover of Wine – Travel along on our adventures – DAVID & JANEEN

Tuesday we had made an appointment for Janeen to have her hair done so off we went. The shop was along a main shopping area but we didn’t spend much time (together) shopping but got the hair thing done and continued on our Dublin Adventure. I did do a bit of shopping while she was being cared for – a nice sweater and also looked at an watercolor painting of Poppies (295 euros) and had a lovely coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

Once we were back together we were off to explore. Our first stop was to pop into a pub called McDaids.

The building that houses McDaids can be traced back to the late 18th century and is reputed to have housed the City Morgue. It took on it’s more ecclesiastical features when it was taken over by the Moravian Brothers some time later. They developed the practice of standing their corpses in a vertical position and it’s suggested this may be the reason for the very high ceilings in the pub. It went through a litany of owners including John Nolan who had the pub at the turn of the 20th Century and it was known as William Daly’s Bar before John McDaid purchased the pub in 1936. There was no food so we had a pint and continued on our way.

The decorations, wall tile and stain glass, were really quite lovely and the sign behind the bar was beautiful.

From there we got on the Hop on bus and just took it around the City to see the sites. Once were close to our hotel we got off and got ready for our dinner at Chapter One.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter One is a Michelin star Restaurant that had been recommended by Darren at The Ledbury when we dined there in London the prior week.

 

 

 

Reservations for an early dinner, 6 or so, were made and off we went. This restaurant with understated and elegant dining rooms is clearly doing a good job of pushing the menu with new and different presentations of Irish dishes.

We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner and the wait staff was attentive and informative. When I mentioned we where heading to Kilkenny later in the week, the GM recommended a restaurant called Campagne. Turns out the Chef-Owner of Campagne had been the Executive Chef at Chapter One prior to moving to Kilkenny. Naturally we made reservations at Campagne, but more about that later.

Dublin – we returned to Dublin from our trip around Ireland and stayed at a nice hotel across the street from the major sports stadium called Croke Park. The Hotel wasn’t in a central place so we did some walking which is always a good idea when having such wonderful meals. Our first adventure was to walk to City Central and pick up a two-day hop-on-hop-off bus.

These tickets were part of our CIE Tour package. Once we picked up the tickets,

 

 

 

 

I realized we were basically around the corner from one of the restaurants recommended by Darren in London. This Irish restaurant in airy room overlooking the River Liffey with downstairs bookshop was a nice place to enjoy a meal and a good glass or two of wine (they had a nice wine selection for such a small place).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we walked across the River to find the Chester Beatty Library.

This world-famous library, in the grounds of Dublin Castle, houses the collection of mining engineer Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875–1968), bequeathed to the Irish State on his death. Spread over two floors, the breathtaking collection includes more than 20,000 manuscripts, rare books, miniature paintings, clay tablets, costumes and other objects of artistic, historical and aesthetic importance. Turns out Beatty, an American, fell in love with Ireland and became a naturalized British citizen in 1933. He died in 1968 in Dublin. 

 

While the Library is located on the grounds of the Dublin Castle, we didn’t venture in to it but looked around the grounds and buildings from the outside.  There is quite an interesting memorial to the police officers that have died while on duty near the Library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here, as it was starting to rain, we took a cab back to our hotel to rest up for the next days adventure.

Along the road towards the Giant’s Causeway we stopped and took a view pictures of this ruined Norman Castle.

Originally all the castles would have been White. This one, from the ocean, would have been very visible showing those heading that way the power of the owner and to stay away!

Further along we stopped at an overlook at a rope bridge that links an island to the coastline. Fisherman to get out to the island and catch fish used this rope bridge.

Now it is basically a tourist attraction allowing the brave to cross over to the island. We didn’t have the time to make the trip.Next up was the Titanic Belfast Experience.

This is a very large building that was built at the location where the Titanic was originally built and launched.

 

The building points directly towards the dock where the hull was constructed.

Inside the building are a number of different displays about the area around Belfast when it was built, various shipbuilding displays and other information. The doors opened on this place on March 31, 2012, marking the centenary year of the launching of the Titanic.

Of course there are depictions of various parts of the Titanic including various staterooms, dining areas and of course a listing of the passengers that either made it or didn’t. All in all it was a very well done display but kind of of depressing when you think about all the history we all know about this ship. At the final display is a video of

Bob Ballard who discovered the Titanic gravesite in the mid 1980’s after extensive research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop – a Pub for dinner, music and some lite entertainment. Once that was done we got back on the bus for our final stop in Dublin and the end of the tour.

Once upon a time in a faraway place called Ireland…there was an Irish giant called Finn McCool, also known as Fionn Mac Cumhaill, who got himself into a spot of trouble with an angry Scottish giant called Benandonner who made a claim for Finn’s island of Ireland.

Enraged, the giant called Finn starts throwing boulders into the sea just off the Antrim coastline in Northern Ireland. Inspired by the way they fell into the water, Finn decided to use his boulders to make a bridge – or a causeway – all the way to Scotland to challenge his rival to a duel.

In a mythical world where size dictates winners and losers, Finn realizes he has underestimated his enemy – Benandonner is Giant even for a giant! Brute force won’t work on him – so Finn quickly returns to Ireland via his causeway and decides the best way to beat Benandonner is to con him.

Leaving the Giant’s Causeway for Benandonner to find, Finn McCool’s wife disguises him as a baby. When his rival arrives, he finds Finn’s wife tending her enormous baby giant. Realizing that if Finn’s child son was this big, Finn himself must be huge! Benandonnar hurries away, tearing away bits of the causeway as he retreats to the Highlands, determined to leave Ireland and stay away from the giant Finn McCool, who regains undisputed control over Ireland once more.

Now for the reality, the UNESCO World Heritage site is the result of an ancient volcanic explosion some 60,000 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The burning and quick cooling of the lava left a series of impressive 40,000 interconnected basalt columns hugging the northern Irish coastline, forming the Giant’s Causeway, one of Ireland’s most iconic and impressive landscapes to date.

Wednesday, and we are leaving Galway heading towards Derry (an Anglicized version of the Gaelic for Oak), or Londonderry as it is officially known, with stops along the way. Our first stop was at the Knock Shrine. The Knock Shrine is a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site and a National Shrine in the village of Knock. Apparently, in 1879, some observers stated that there was an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saint John the Evangelist, angels and Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God).

This resulted in many pilgrims making the trek to the site resulting in more and more folks showing up. Inside the church there is an artistic mosaic of the apparition and other depictions. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the church was undergoing some renovation and there really wasn’t ANYTHING to see – therefore I have added some images I found on line to show what the place is all about.

 

Our next stop was The Grange sheep farm and a border collie sheep dog demonstration. Remember the Disney move Babe about a pig that is trained to herd sheep? Well it was just like that but real – and Jack is a working, award winning dog.

Martin Feeney is a well-known sheepdog handler, with over twenty years experience to his name. Having learned the skill of sheepdog handling from his father, Martin has travelled the world over; both competing in and judging sheepdog trials on an international stage. We joined Martin on his sheep farm where we watched him and his trusty sheepdog, Jack, guide sheep around the enclosure. It was really quite interesting to see the way he worked with his dog to move sheep around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Martin has about 400 sheep year round – 100 males and 300 females – and another 600 after spring when all the lambs are born. Most of his sheep graze on top of a mountain not far from his farm and he is able to send his sheepdogs up to the top to herd the sheep down each day to be individually checked. It was really an interesting demonstration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the demonstration of the herding, he gave us an information seminar on the types of sheep he has and the benefits of them. All of his are kept as breeding stock, not for meat or wool production. It turns out the wool is really worthless – it all is sold bulk and goes to China for use as building insulation, not to be woven into cloth.

We stopped for a delightful lunch in the little village of Donegal where we ventured off to a locals tearoom for a light lunch and lovely blueberry pie.

After we arrived in Londonderry, before we even got into our rooms, we had a local guide take us on both a quick bus tour and a brief walking tour of the historical wall of the city. The city is know for its intact 17^th century walls and gates.

 

 

Originally with four gates through the walls, this was increased by three sometime during the 18^th century.

The Derry City Walls were completed in 1618 by an English merchant guildsmen, and mainly planned as a defense of the prosperous city against Irish raiders from Donegal. They are up to 26 feet high, and up to 30 feet wide, enclosing the old merchant city (where the money was). The walls then earned their immortal place in Irish history through the defiance of Derry’s Protestant apprentice boys, whose slamming of the gates (“No Surrender”) in the face of an approaching Catholic army made the Walls of Derry an iconic emblem of Loyalism and Unionism.

 

Derry is clearly a city that has seen it’s share of the Troubles and these are represented in several murals visible along the roadways and from the top of the walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the Troubles were over (if you can believe they are really over) things have settled down and a bridge to symbolize the final peace was built across the river.