Bru na Boinne - Newgrange and Knowth

I love Irish words- it is pretty much impossible to guess how they're supposed to be pronounced.  Bru na Boinne is definitely one of those that make it really obvious that you're not a local.

Bru na Boinne is one of the largest prehistoric megalithic sites in Europe.  It comprises various burial tombs and passage graves that were built about 5000 years ago.  They are preserved quite well because after they were abandoned and forgotten, over time they were naturally hidden from view under soil and overgrowth until they were rediscovered and excavated in the mid 1900s.  Portions of the tombs have been reconstructed.

The site is in County Meath in the Boyne Valley.  We got there via a shuttle bus that left from the City Centre.  The guided tours were fairly long and detailed so now I know things like what the word megalith means and that 5000 years ago people really liked to carve swirls into rocks.

View of the Boyne Valley

Boyne River

Knowth Burial Chambers

Rock art

Newgrange passage grave entrance

Newgrange

Candice's Visit to Dublin

View of Dublin Bay and Wicklow Mountains from Dalkey

Our friend Candice visited us from Nashville and we had a lot of fun catching up and showing her around Dublin.  And what a good guest she was-- she arrived in Dublin at 8am last Wednesday bright-eyed and wide awake despite the fact that she was probably completely jet-lagged.  AND, she had done her Ireland homework so she already had some good ideas for side trips, which made our job as tour-guides much easier.  In the five days she was here, we packed in a lot of sight-seeing and fun.

I took the day off for her first day and we did some typical Dublin sight-seeing: St. Stephen's Green, Trinity College, the River Liffey, Dublin Castle, the National Gallery, National Library and the Chester Beatty Library (whew).  The second day I worked while Candice continued with her sight-seeing: Guinness Brewery, National History Museum, a Viking Dublin walking tour, shopping, etc.

On Friday we went to Howth to do the cliff walk.  I have done it so many times but will never get tired of it.  It's beautiful and the end of the hike takes you to a cute town with good food and pub option-- perfect.  Saturday we went to Bru na Boinne which was exciting enough that I'll talk about that in another post.  On Sunday Richard finally got to hang out with us.  He had been busy finishing up a study so was working quite a bit during the week and all day on Saturday.  On Sunday we went south to Dalkey, swimming in Sandycove and to the Dun Laoghaire market.

Candice, we miss you already.

At the Temple Bar listening to Lad Lane

Candice at the Dublin Castle park

At the top of Sheilmartin Hill on the Howth Walk

Lighthouse on the Howth Cliff Walk

Howth

Dalkey

Sandycove Swimming Hole

Richard taking the plunge

Richard's Birthday

To celebrate Richard's 35th birthday we took a mini-trip north of Dublin to Skerries, a small seaside town.  Skerries is really easy to get to via the DART train- it takes about 45 minutes.  We found a great little bed and breakfast called the Redbank Hotel, which also has a well-known restaurant where we ate really wonderful fresh and local seafood.  The weather was a bit dismal but we still had fun exploring the town, taking walks, and eating good food.

Redbank Hotel and Restaurant

Skerries Mill

Skerries Harbour

Martello Tower

Wales Trip

A couple weekends back, we visited Wales for the first time since 2008. It was wonderful to see friends, help John celebrate his 30th, and to see the place again. The trip was too short, and we'll be there again soon. Above, Port of Holyhead, the welcome is warm, but the weather isn't.

Shortly after the BBQ party at Caroline and John's place was on. The right tool for the right job.

The view from the top field. If you knew where to look, you'd see the Beachhouse on Anglesey - itself the humble location of the odd party with pyrotechnical elements.











What more objective proof than a picture? Parts of the evening were really fuzzy, I swear.












Hiking in Llanberis with Martijn. Lovely day, why not wear shorts?













Now Jorien and Joakim have joined us. Even lovelier.

















Their neighbour Brushy-Pancetta.

Greystones to Bray Cliff Walk

On Sunday we took the DART train south about 35 minutes to Bray.  From Bray there is a cliff walk to Greystones that is closed due to safety reasons, however we saw at least 20 other people doing the walk so figured it was okay.  The signs warn against "land slippage" and you can see that the cliff is eroding, meaning that the path is pretty close to the edge in a couple of spots.  It is easy to tell where the worst erosion has taken place because there are fences hanging in locations where the cliff used to extend out.  I had done this walk about six years ago and didn't notice any significant changes, so it seems to be eroding very slowly.

The cliff walk is around four or five miles.  Once we reached Bray, another seaside resort town, we hopped back on the DART and travelled north a few stops to Glenageary to go swimming at the Sandycove swimming hole.  After a cold swim we grabbed some food at the Dun Laoghaire market, then some Guinness and Irish Coffee at the Purty Kitchen.  After two days of lots of walking we were all really exhausted at the end of the weekend.

Howth Cliff Walk and Shielmartin Hill

On Saturday we did the Howth Cliff walk.  We had done the walk before, but this time we did an extended version and it was worth the extra walking.  We took the DART north for 25 minutes and got off at the Sutton stop.  From there we walked along Station Road on to Strand Road and towards the start of the cliff path.  Instead of continuing straight on the cliff path we took the path up to the summit of Shielmartin Hill, back down through the golf course, then continued on the cliff walk path to Howth.  This version of the walk is about 9 or 10 miles.

We ate a lot of blackberries along the way.  Lindsay and I are fast walkers and often were ahead of the guys who were enjoying the berries.  At the top of Shielmartin Hill the views were especially pretty because of the purple heather, yellow gorse, and the greens that were so vivid against the blue of the ocean and sky.

Once we reached the town of Howth we went to the Abbey Tavern, one of the oldest pubs in Ireland, then walked around the harbour.  Howth is a fishing village, and as you walk around the harbour you see several fresh fish markets, a lot of seafood restaurants, and of course many fishing boats.  We were there in the evening so there wasn't much action with the boats, but we did see some filling up with ice probably to get ready to head out for an evening catch?  It would be fun to go early in the morning to see the wholesale fish markets in action.

Old Jameson Distillery Tour

I took a few hours off on Friday and went to the Jameson Distillery with Lindsay and Scott.  The actual distillery is now in County Cork where it moved in 1971.  The tour is located where the old distillery used to be in Dublin.

The tour is a very good one, you learn a lot about the distillation process, and they let you sample some of the whiskey at the end.  The tour is understandably "Irish-centric" and takes some gentle jabs at Scotch and American whiskeys.  At the end of the tour eight lucky volunteers (Lindsay was one) get to sample Jameson against a Scotch (Johnnie Walker Black) and what they told us is the world's best selling whiskey, Jack Daniels.  All eight of the volunteers voted for Jameson as their favorite.  If you do the tour, make sure to raise your hand quickly when they ask for volunteers!

Lindsay and Scott visit Dublin

My sister Lindsay and her husband Scott visited us in Dublin during the last week of their two-month long trip through Europe.  (Their adventures are documented on their blog; they were in Dublin day 54 and onward).  We had originally planned to do a weekend away somewhere in the west of Ireland while they were here, but it turned out there was so much to do in Dublin and in neighboring towns that we stayed in Dublin the entire time.  Richard and I were both working but were able to take a little time off while they were here.

The first couple of days we did the typical get-to-know Ireland things: visit the best pubs, listen to Irish music, eat Irish food, and see some of the sights.  We went to John Kehoe's for I think some of the best Irish pub atmosphere; O'Donaghue's and The Temple Bar (in the Temple Bar area- confusing) for Irish music; the Hairy Lemon for a sampling of Irish food.  At Hairy Lemon we had Bangers and Mash (sausage and mashed potato), Beef and Guinness Pie, Irish Stew (lamb, potatoes), and Bacon and Cabbage (not American bacon, but a slab of pork).  Irish food probably isn't known for it's visual appeal, but they were all very tasty and unique.

John Kehoe's

Irish music at O'Donaghue's

Bangers and Mash (Scott)

Beef and Guinness Pie (Richard)

Irish Stew and Soda Bread (Linds)

Bacon and Cabbage (Kelsey)

Over the weekend we did some walks in Howth, Greystones-Bray, some swimming in Sandycove and went the Dun Laoghaire Sunday market.  Linds and Scott also squeezed in a lot of the Dublin sights during the rest of the week, including The National Gallery, W.B. Yeats exhibit at The National Library, Dublin Castle, Warren Beatty Libary, the Book of Kells, Jameson Distillery, Christchurch Cathedral, St. Stephens Green, the Spire, and a lot of walking around town.

River Liffey

Christchurch Cathedral

The park at Dublin Castle