Elizabeth Hatley 12/1/22 Elizabeth Hatley 12/1/22

Glendalough

Our last day in Ireland took us on the M11 from Wexford to Dublin with stops along the way in County Wicklow. Before going home, we wanted to revisit two places we’d last seen in 2005 on a family reunion trip to Ireland with our dad.

First stop, Avoca, where we literally pulled over on a curb to see the confluence of the Avonmore and Beg Rivers joining to form the Avoca River, better known as the Meeting of the Waters. I recall on our last visit the water was fierce and rushing, but on this day, the scene was idyllic—the rivers gently flowed together in shallow, clear pools over the river rocks, inviting enough to almost want to take off our shoes and dip in our feet. Of note is the monument erected in the small park above the rivers honoring the place where the Irish poet, Thomas Moore, wrote his famous poem “The Meeting of the Waters.”

Next stop, Glendalough, a place as pretty as it sounds. Located in the Wicklow Mountains National Park, Glendalough literally translates to “the valley of the two lakes,” and is the place of an early Christian monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. The park has an upper and lower lake as well as picnic sites, plentiful walking trails, rock climbing areas, and hiking trails that lead up to a waterfall.

For the viewing of ancient ruins, the monastic settlement is a great place to visit. It includes the remains of the cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, the largest building on the site. Striking is the still intact round tower which stands about 100 feet tall and was used to see approaching visitors as well as to take refuge in times of attack. There are the remnants of multiple churches on the site, including St. Kevin’s church and the priest’s house, a Romanesque building named so because it was the place priests were interred. All these ruins stand among an ancient grave yard with unmarked and marked graves dating from as far back as the 11th century. On a walk between the lower and upper lakes are an old stone fortress and three crosses, thought to be stations on the pilgrimage route at Glendalough.

Winding down our trip, we celebrated our final night in Ireland in Malahide, a coastal town not too far from Dublin, having dinner with our cousins in a scenic restaurant overlooking Malahide Bay—a lovely way to end our journey.

Ireland, 2022—we hated to say goodbye, but will take with us memories of a lifetime. As they say in Ireland, Slan go Foill!

Elizabeth Hatley 11/29/22 Elizabeth Hatley 11/29/22

Wexford

Wexford is renowned for its colorful quay, its annual opera festival, and its narrow medieval streets, but it holds a special place in our hearts as the birthplace of our dad, the place our parents met, and the place they married. Located on the southeastern tip of Ireland where the River Slaney meets the Irish sea, a trip to Ireland wouldn’t have been complete without a visit.

We booked rooms on the outskirts of town at the Ferrycarrig Hotel on the River Slaney, right next to the Ferrycarrig Castle. The castle loomed large in our family lore and was a must see on our lists of places to visit—years ago, our neighbor, the artist Jens Peter Johansen, gifted our family an oil painting of the castle which, for as long as I can remember, hung on the living room wall of our childhood home for us to view every day. Ferrycarrig Castle is a rectangular tower house that sits high on the north side of the river and was built in response to the Norman invasion in the 12th century in order to keep watch over the River Slaney. It’s believed to be the first Norman fortification in Ireland.

On the morning of our second day in Wexford, we explored Johnstown Castle, a beautiful Gothic Revival structure set among 120-acres of woodland paths, gardens, lakes, and wildlife, and beyond that, another 900+ acres of working research farmland. Johnstown Castle was built in the 12th century by the Esmondes, an Anglo-Norman family. During Cromwell’s military reign, the estate was confiscated, and later changed hands many times before being acquired by John Grogan in 1692. When Grogan’s descendants were unable to pay the taxes, a deal was made and the estate was gifted to the nation.

Johnstown Castle has undergone many additions and renovations—in fact, the left side was under construction the day of our visit. The castle tour was most interesting with secret doorways and long passageways, and a visit to the inhouse research lab where they once studied the agricultural environment and agro-ecology. Interestingly, our Uncle Frank worked in that very lab early in his career.

After the tour, we strolled through the spectacular gardens complete with three ornamental lakes, statues, towers, a cemetery, a walled garden, and arboretum. Most striking on our visit were the wild peacocks all around the property. As a symbol of prosperity, they were first imported to the castle by Esmondes family as a way to show off their wealth.

Back in town that afternoon, we took a leisurely walk visiting places that hold parts of our family’s history, like Charlotte Street where our dad’s childhood home was located, and Main Street, the narrow, cobbled street where our grandmother once lived in a four story house. Both places are gone now—our grandmother’s old house now the home of a sporting goods store. Inside the store, however, the original stairs still stand.

From there, we followed the spire to locate the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Rowe Street, where in 1954, our parents were joined in holy matrimony. Along with its twin church, The Assumption on Bride Street, the Gothic inspired church was built in the 1850s following the Catholic Emancipation. Both of the churches’ existence is notable because they were built during the time of the Irish famine, and funded by not only parishioners, but Wexford sailors and Irish exiles all over the world. The church sanctuary has beautiful features made from local as well as international artisans such as the statuary, stained glass windows, a pipe organ, carved pews and a sculpted main altar. We took a moment to light candles and have a prayer in memory of our dear parents married there sixty-eight years ago.

Our visit to Wexford wasn’t complete without time with our Irish family. That night after dinner at White’s Hotel with our aunt and cousin, we all went to an open-air production of the One Voice Festival 2022 performance of “Shadows and Street Corners,” and later popped into Mary’s Bar, one of the oldest pubs in Wexford, for a pint and a laugh. Slainte!

Elizabeth Hatley 10/20/22 Elizabeth Hatley 10/20/22

Slea Head

The scenic Slea Head Loop in the Dingle Peninsula on the southwestern coast in County Kerry was our destination on day seven. Part of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, the thirty-mile loop offers stunning views of the Atlantic, Dingle Bay, and Blasket Sound as well as heritage sites, historic ruins, museums, beaches, and mountain views.

Slea Head Loop begins and ends in the town of Dingle. We’d been advised to travel clockwise around the loop because of the narrow roads, sometimes single lanes with places with hairpin turns, and because that was the direction of the plentiful tour busses driving the route during the summer.

We set out after breakfast stopping first at The Lios, the remnants of a ringfort likely built during the Bronze age. The Lios is a circular settlement surrounded by a grassy rampart and ditch, with evidence of some huts and a subterranean passage. The stop was also a petting and feeding farm, and inside the gate, goats and sheep ran wild, jumping on us to get at the feed we’d been given with our entrance fee. One particular stubborn billy guarded the entrance to ringfort, and we had to climb around him to get inside.

As in many places we visited, there is a legend associated with The Lios that says ringforts like this one were “‘fairy forts’ imbued with ‘Druids magic,’” and that to cut the fairy trees (also known as the whitehorn) which surrounded the fort resulted in death. It’s also said a person who enters the Lios between one and five a.m. would not leave alive. Luckily we were there during the day.

Across from The Lios we went to see the remains of Dunbeg Fort, another national monument of Ireland. Dunbeg Fort is a promontory fort that overlooks Dingle Bay. It was constructed of stacked stone and is believed to have been built in the Iron Age.

From there, we stopped at the Beehive Huts (“Clochain” in Irish) which are stacked stone structures that resemble beehives with rectangular entrances and apertures in the tops small enough to be closed with flagstones. Beehive Huts are typically found inside ringforts in order to keep out livestock and preditors, and are believed to have been occupied by single families and/or monks from ancient times up until 1200 AD. We were allowed to explore five of the ancient structures on our visit. The construction is unique in that there was no mortar used and the stones were stacked with a tilt that prevented water from getting inside.

Stacked stone construction and aperture of Beehive hut inside the walls of a Ringfort

Our day included many roadside stops just to take in the scenery—Blasket Island in the Blasket Sound; Skelig Michael, an island used as a filming location in three Star Wars movies; The Three Sisters, a group of three peaks at the northwestern end of the Dingle Peninsula; and The Cross at Slea Head, a giant white cross that marks the actual Slea Head.

We stopped at The Blasket Center, the halfway point of Slea Head Drive. It’s a heritage museum and cultural center focused on the story of the Blasket Islands and their people. Behind the museum we found viewing platforms with more scenic views of the Blasket Sound and the Atlantic.

On day seven, we made a few wrong turns, we were held up by a flock of sheep on some side road, and said a prayer to make it up the steep single-lane road from the pier at Brandon Creek without encountering oncoming traffic as there was no place to pull aside.

All in all, it was a day full of fresh air, sunshine, blue skies, and fantastic scenery. Well worth the visit.

Elizabeth Hatley 9/5/22 Elizabeth Hatley 9/5/22

The Cliffs of Moher

If you’ve ever seen travel and tourism advertisements for Ireland, you’ve most likely seen the iconic photos of the Cliffs of Moher. With approximately a million and a half visitors per year, the Cliffs are among Ireland’s most visited sites, second only to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin.

The Cliffs of Moher are located in the Burren region on the southwestern edge of County Clare. Part of the Wild Atlantic Way, they are eight miles long and rise to 702 feet at their midpoint just north of O’Brien’s Tower. The tops of the cliffs are covered in emerald green grass, the edges are undulating strata of shale and sandstone pounded into shape for centuries by the deep blue Atlantic. On a clear day you can see the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, two mountain ranges to the north, the Loop Head Island Lighthouse and the Dingle Peninsula to the south.

Our return trip on the ferry from the Aran Islands included a sea level view of the Cliffs of Moher that began at the Doolin pier and took us below O’Brien’s Tower, a tower built in 1835 by Cornelius O’Brien supposedly to enjoy the fantastic view. Over millions of years, the weather and the rough waters of the Atlantic have carved the Cliffs into their distinctive undulating shape, and from sea level, we viewed caves, sea arches, and sea stacks. Our ferry ride took us to the southern point as far as Hag’s Head, an enormous rock named, some say, because of its resemblance to a hag.

Irish legend records another story of how Hag’s Head got its name. It’s said that a hag named Mal falls madly in love with the Irish superhero, Cu Chulainn, and chases him down. Cu Chulainn is repelled by Mal and runs all over Ireland trying to avoid her. Eventually Mal corners him at Loop Head, but invoking his superpowers, Cu Chulainn escapes to the Cliffs of Moher using the sea stacks as stepping stones. Mal tries to follow him, but looses her footing at Hag’s Head and falls to her death, where her blood is said to have stained the sea red.

We took a walking tour the morning after our ferry ride, parking near the visitor center and heading south along the clifftop path. The path is a narrow curving dirt trail that gets precariously close to the cliff edge in places. With eight sheer headlands, the length of the walk was deceiving and several times we talked about turning back, but the day was gorgeous and we didn’t know when we would get the chance again, so we went as far as Moher Tower at Hag’s Head, about three miles from where we started. With endless views of green farmland on one side and the rugged cliffs overlooking the Atlantic on the other, we were once again surrounded by Ireland’s natural grandeur.

Looking north to O’Brien’s Tower and the sheer rockface

The Cliffs of Moher have provided fantastic backdrops in many movies, including The Princess Bride scene of the Man in Black climbing up ‘The Cliffs of Insanity’ to rescue Buttercup, as well as scenes from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Many years ago, on another trip with three of my sisters, I almost saw the Cliffs, but because we had just gotten off an all-night flight, and the need for sleep was more important to me, I stayed in the car and napped while my sisters took in the sight. Sometimes in life we get second chances, and on days five and six of our journey, I finally got to see the Cliffs of Moher and check off a thirty-eight year bucket-list item.

Elizabeth Hatley 9/2/22 Elizabeth Hatley 9/2/22

The Aran Islands

Inisheer, Inishmann, and Inishmore, the three islands that make up the Aran Islands, sit in the mouth of Galway Bay off the western coast of Ireland. Known not only for the popular Aran fisherman sweaters and wool products, but for the rugged terrain, on day five we went to Inishmore, the largest of the three islands, and one of Carm’s picks to visit.

To get there, we took a forty-minute scenic ferry ride from the port in Doolin, County Clare, getting a glimpse of the Cliffs of Moher as well as a lighthouse and shipwreck on the smaller islands. Though Inishmore is biker friendly, we opted for a pony and trap tour, and met our guide, John Dirrane, alongside his bright red trap as we disembarked the ferry.

Our tour guide sitting atop our conveyance

Nine miles long and just over two miles wide, Inishmore has a population of approximately 800 people, most of whom still speak Irish. Tourism and fishing are the main industries. The island is part of the Burren region and has a “karst” landscape, a topography of limestone, dolomite, and gypsum rocks with underground drainage systems that include sinkholes and caves.

There are two main roads on Inishmore—the main upper road and the low road—and (as the song goes) we took the low road along the coast, stopping while John pointed out the town of Galway across the bay and the Aran Seal Colony. The tide was high again on the day of our visit and the few seals we saw were mere dots bobbing in the ocean, but bucolic scenes of livestock framed by the ubiquitous rock walls were plentiful.

Not far beyond the beautiful white sandy crescent of Kilmurvey Beach where the two roads join, John dropped us off at the visitor center and trailhead for the short but rocky climb to Dun Aonghasa, the remains of a semi-circular prehistoric fort that sits atop a 330-foot sheer coastal cliff. Partially restored, it’s the oldest fort in western Europe and offers amazing views of the cliffs, literally sheets of stacked rock, of the nearby islands, and the Atlantic, a must-see on Inishmore.

After touring Dun Aonghasa, we headed back to town on the main upper road and had an excellent view of much of the island. The main road is another of Ireland’s narrow roads framed on either side by rock walls, and we often had to yield to oncoming traffic. Here we saw an eclectic mix of newer modern houses alongside very old stone farmhouses, thatched cottages, barns, and churches. Lining the roadside were stone “cenotaphs,” memorials dating back to the early 1800s. Topped with crosses and covered in ivy, they were placed in commemoration of local families.

Like so many places we visited, The Aran Islands also have their place in literature and film—James Joyce mentions them in his short story, “The Dead,” while Seamus Heaney’s first book of poems has one entitled “Lovers on Aran.” A scene in the 1997 film, The Match Maker, starring Janeane Garofalo, was filmed there, as were scenes from the 2010 film, Leap Year.

Last stop, our drop off point in town where John pointed out Frenchman’s Beach, the site of a large, modern “glamping” village that seemed somehow out of keeping with the rustic nature of the rest of the island. Maybe next time…

And, because you can’t tour the Aran Islands without stopping in at the Aran Sweater Market, which boasts of “the largest selection of Aran sweaters to found anywhere in the world,” we popped in to purchase souvenirs before catching our ferry back to Doolin.

Elizabeth Hatley 8/30/22 Elizabeth Hatley 8/30/22

Slieve League

Leaving Portrush on the morning of our third day, we went searching for hidden waterfalls, driving along one of Ireland’s notorious twisty roads in the small town of Adara, a road so narrow we had to pull aside for oncoming traffic. Hidden in plain sight along the side of the road, and standing about 300 feet high, we found the dazzling Assaranca Waterfall cascading between a cleft in the mountain into a small and inviting clear pond. (Ironically, the address for this hidden treasure is “unnamed road,” Co. Donegal.)

From Assaranca Waterfall, we went spelunking in the nearby Caves of Maghera. After parking, we walked a short distance over the sand dunes where the white sandy stretch of Maghera Beach opened up to us, and on the western end, the mouths of the caves. The site boasts of eight arches, five tunnels, and more than twenty caves to explore, though they’re only accessible during low tide. Unfortunately, the day we visited, it happened to be high tide, and we could only enter one cave. Still, the dunes and the white sandy beach hedged by the caves and arches made for another beautiful view. Legend has it that during the Viking invasions of 807, the caves were where locals from Donegal hid out.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was Slieve League, a key point of interest on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. It is the site of the second highest sea cliffs in Ireland, three times as high as the more popular Cliffs of Moher, and some of the highest sea cliffs in all of Europe. With a peak of 1,972 feet, Slieve League translates to “mountain of stone pillars,” and ascending the mountain that day, one could see why.

We arrived at the Bunglass viewpoint late in the afternoon on a blustery day, and climbed a steep stone path to the first summit, part of the 4 K trail known as Pilgrim’s Path. The strong wind and the steep angle made the climb a little nerve-racking, (and the fact that the barrier fence went only so high,) so we had to mind our steps, but it was well worth it for the spectacular views of the sloping cliffs over Teelin Harbour and the Atlantic Ocean.

Slieve League holds the remains of an early Christian monastic chapel, and monk’s dwellings known as beehive huts, and there are stone markings along Pilgrim’s Path indicating it had been a place of pilgrimage for Christians and earlier civilizations. On the way back to our car that afternoon, we saw a giant WW II era ‘EIRE’ sign still on the side of the mountain designating to pilots during the war that Ireland was neutral ground and a free fly zone.

Elizabeth Hatley 8/27/22 Elizabeth Hatley 8/27/22

The Giant’s Causeway

When my sister, Carm, (who planned our itinerary,) asked for input for our trip, the Giant’s Causeway was one of two places I requested we visit. Driving through Belfast to County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, we went there on day two.

Considered by some as the 8th Wonder of the World, the Giant’s Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the most visited tourist site in Northern Ireland. Estimated to have formed some 60 million years ago during the intense volcanic activity of the Paleocene Epoch, it’s a jagged promontory of over 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, mostly in the shape of hexagons, that juts out into the North Sea, and is surrounded by some of the rugged cliffs Ireland is known for.

We began our tour at the site of the amazing basalt rock formations with the rough waves of the North Sea crashing against them. The craggy columns looked almost chiseled, man-made, and were all the more impressive because they were created naturally.

From the basalt columns, we took the red trail around Port Noffer, and climbed the steep, narrow path to edge of The Amphitheatre. There we had some of the most magnificent panoramic views I’ve ever seen. Afterwards, we retraced our steps halfway down the slope then climbed The Shepherd’s Steps to the upper red trail and to more stunning views atop the cliffs.

The Giant’s Causeway is steeped in Irish legend. It’s said the causeway was built by the giant, Finn MacCool, in order to cross the North Channel to fight the Scottish giant, Benandonner. In one story Finn defeats Benandonner outright, while another has Finn hiding from Benandonner when realizing how much bigger he is. To trick Benandonner, Finn is disguised as a baby by his wife, and when Benandonner sees the size of the baby, he figures that Finn must be a “giant among giants.” Benandonner flees back to Scotland, destroying most of the causeway in his wake so that Finn can’t chase after him.

Interestingly, several movies have been filmed on location at The Giant’s Causeway including Dracula Untold, Hellboy II, and Your Highness. Just down the road from The Giant’s Causeway, we stopped to see Dunluce Castle, a ruined medieval castle where scenes from Game of Thrones have been filmed.

For its breathtaking beauty, The Giant’s Causeway tops my list of favorite places to see on our trip, and on day two, I was able to check off a long-held bucket-list item.

Elizabeth Hatley 8/22/22 Elizabeth Hatley 8/22/22

Knowth and Newgrange

Summer vacation in Ireland…as if it were meant to be, the trip came together perfectly.

Traveling with my sisters, Carmel and Una, and my niece McCaffrey, (to celebrate her college graduation,) we arrived early in Dublin at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, quickly passed through customs, and claimed our luggage without a problem. Carm, who graciously took over all the driving, got us safely to our hotel in Navan with nary a scratch on the car. There, we caught a few hours’ sleep before our first adventure—a tour of Knowth and Newgrange, high on McCaffrey’s list of places to see.

Knowth and Newgrange are Neolithic passage graves located in County Meath, west of Drogheda (our mother’s birthplace) in the valley of the River Boyne. Built around 3200 BC, they are older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids, and are considered some of the most important megalithic tomb structures in Europe.

First stop, Knowth, the sight of eighteen mound structures built out of alternating layers of earth and stone, and covered in grass. Knowth consists of one enormous passage tomb, known as Site 1, surrounded by seventeen smaller satellite tombs. Encircled by 127 etched “kerbstones,” Site 1 has two entrances aligned with the sun’s path—one on the east and one on the west which lead to separate burial chambers.

For conservation purposes we weren’t allowed to enter the tombs at Knowth, but were able to peer through barred entrances into the caverns of the smaller mounds, and to climb to the top of Site 1, where we had fantastic views of the surrounding valley of the River Boyne in all its glorious shades of green, and in the distance, the Wicklow Mountain Range.

Our second stop that day was to Newgrange, a single, exceptionally impressive passage tomb framed by ninety-seven kerbstones, and the main monument in the World Heritage Site that includes Knowth and sister site Dowth. Here, we were able to go inside, warned in advance that doing so may cause feelings of claustrophobia. The inner stone passageway is sixty-feet in length and is indeed narrow. We had to “mind our heads” and turn our bodies sideways to get to the cruciform chamber at the end where we stood under massive stacked rocks that formed the inner dome. In each of the three smaller chambers of the cruciform, large carved granite basins are where human remains and other votive offerings were discovered.

Newgrange is an engineering feat designed to align with the winter solstice sunrise through an open port at the tomb entrance, and a highlight of the tour was a simulation of the event. For a few seconds, we stood in pitch blackness while our guide narrated how the tomb was representative of a “womb” for the return of the spirits of the dead. Then, a narrow laser beam of light traveled the length of the chamber floor mimicking the sunrise.

Underground, below tons of stone, unable to see our own hands in front of our faces, at this point several of us were starting to feel claustrophobic. Needless to say, when the lights came on, we were the first to exit.

Renowned for the spirals, chevrons, serpentiform, and many other etchings, the kerbstones surrounding both Knowth and Newgrange were a marvel. There is no concurring meaning of the etchings, but we heard theories from our guide that some believed them to be purely decorative, or to be representative of the topography of the area, or that their meaning is symbolic. For example, the image of the “Triskelion” or Trispiral on the kerbstones and on one of the stones inside the tomb of Newgrange, might represent the birth, life, death cycle, or the spring, summer, winter cycle, or the unity of earth, water, and fire.

Day one at Knowth and Newgrange—in a word, fascinating! Well worth the visit, and a great start to our journey.