Ireland and Scotland Dream Realized (Days 4-6)

Day 4- Duke, Dogs, and Donegal

We set out from Galway, right after breakfast, but found ourselves back there a half hour later when the most annoying fellow tourists in our group forgot their passports back at the hotel. I guess I would have wanted the bus to turn around also if it had been my passport. They turned out to be pretty nice folks after we go to know them. I was a bit annoyed because I thought this would reduce our time at the first stop which I was pretty excited about. You know I’m a movie nut. I’m also a huge John Wayne fan (I know, despite his politics). One of his best movies was The Quiet Man and we were going to the iconic town where the movie was filmed. Strangely, the town is named Cong.

The Cong River with the Monk's Fishing Hut Behind Us

Scenes from Cong

Next to Central Monument Featured in the Movie

The Famous Pub

Wife with Quiet Man Statue

The Ruined Abbey

Cong hadn’t changed much since the movie which was more than cool. They’ve also made an understated effort to capitalize on the film. There was a statue of the Duke and Maureen O’Hara next to an ancient abbey’s ruins as well as a small Quiet Man Museum. The town’s central pub was virtually unchanged since the movie and there was a hotel named Danagher, the villain in the movie. The town itself was so cool, very quiet (ha ha) but also, almost serene. The nearby river was gorgeous and had a little stone hut that medieval monks used to fish from. The ruined abbey was impressive as well. It was a very nice interlude for this movie nut.

More From Cong

The Monk's Fishing Hut

Leaving Cong we drove north on the aptly named Wild Atlantic Drive. It was a major north south highway but, in many places, it was reduced to a single, narrow lane. I was totally impressed with Raymond as he expertly negotiated the road and oncoming traffic. There’s a very cool routine where one or the other driver must pull as much to the side as possible when passing oncoming traffic. This was especially “interesting” when we passed another tour bus coming in the other direction. Since we’re talking about driving, one of the coolest things about the roads were the street signs. All were in English but also with the Gaelic directly above. 

Some of those Irish Signs

We’d been on the Wild Atlantic Way for about an hour when we pulled into the Glen Keen Farm. Our tour company schedules what they call a “Be my Guest” immersion experience where the tourists interact with locals. This was an active sheep farm and our hosts had a demonstration of their sheep dogs set up for us. This was so much cooler than I thought it would be. A crusty old local farmer who trains the sheep dogs put them through their paces for us and it was fascinating. The dogs moved the sheep wherever the farmer told them to, they dominated! The sheep finally ended up in a corral directly in front of us. The farmer told the dogs to hold them there. She laid down and maintained eye contact and the sheep, jammed into the corral would not move. It was more than awesome, of course, I love dogs anyways.

The Stars of the Show

Working the Herd

The Trainer Said the Dog would Stay Like this For Hours if Ordered

My Favorite Panamanian was warning everybody in our group to be careful where they stepped because there was a lot of poo, both sheep and canine to avoid. We were about to get back on the bus when she noticed she had not followed her own advice. Raymond leapt in to help as I saw him cleaning the bottom of her shoes. I went over to finish the job, which is tough when you’re laughing as hard as I was. The smell helped control that. Part of the immersion experience was lunch served by the farmer accompanied by a traditional Irish singer. I was reminded so much of Seamus Kennedy, an Irish singer, we used to enjoy when living in Northern Virginia decades ago.

Sheep Farm Lunch

Lunch Singer

Raymond Cleaning Wife's Shoes

After lunch it was back on the bus for a three-hour drive north to Donegal. We passed through Sligo and saw the mountain where Saint Patrick made his forty days fast atop of. I was again struck by how green everything was. Of course, that’s due to all the rain but Ireland had turned very Camelot on us as it only rained hard during the night for our last couple days. I was excited about Donegal because of another movie. I loved the Fighting Prince of Donegal when I was very young. It was a Disney movie that contained a few shreds of historical truth. That didn’t matter to me as I was thrilled to learn our hotel was within sight of the real Fighting Prince’s ancestral castle. Yep, another castle (heaven).

Scenes from Wild Atlantic Way Drive

St Patty's Fast Hill

Passing Through Sligo

Donegal was a small town but I enjoyed walking around, checking out the castle and the central square. The town while small was very lively. Our evening event was dinner just outside town in a famous pub, Biddy’s O’Barne’s. The dinner, with another Guinness, was great and was followed by a local Irish story teller. He was an interesting guy with stories about the wee folk and he had a real flair, very entertaining. Returning to Donegal after dinner we joined our friends for a visit to a local pub, McCafferty’s Bar, another one of the small front but huge inside kind of places. We enjoyed some more Guinness while a local singer crooned on. My son and Wingman would be so proud of me. A fun day, our last in the Republic of Ireland.

Scenes from Donegal

Fighting Prince's Castle

More From my Walk Around Donegal

Scenes from Central Donegal Square

Dinner Location

The Irish Story Teller

Ending Night at McCafferty's with Maine Friends

GuinnessTime

Day 5 – Borders, Giants, and Fish

We left Donegal early in the morning for our drive into Northern Ireland. During the drive the Tour Director led a long discussion on “The Troubles”. Northern Ireland is, of course, still a part of the United Kingdom and the troubles refer to the bloody struggle for the Catholic in this part of Ireland against the protestants who identify as British. Part of the peace agreement was that the border with Ireland needed to be unmarked. I was surprised when the director turned around and said we were passing that border as we drove over an unremarkable bridge. The roads in Northern Ireland were not as well maintained as in the Republic and Gaelic disappeared from most signs. There seemed to be a different, undefinable vibe as well although the countryside looked identical.

Crossing the Border

Peace Bridge in Derry

Derry Statue with Hands Reaching Out

Our first stop was the city of Londonderry (officially) which is called Derry by the Catholics. We pulled into town and saw numerous signs aimed at trying to bring people together. There was a peace bridge and a statue depicting the two sides reaching out to each other. We stopped at the city hall where we met our local guide who was a real character. He was a colorful dude who gave us a tour of the area where Bloody Sunday took place as well as the nearby ancient city wall. The guide gave a really interesting take on history and seemed honestly hopeful for the future of the city. Raymond proved his driving mastery again maneuvering through a tiny opening in the wall. The guide continued his stories and jokes on top of the wall as we walked back towards the city hall. He pointed out the Catholic area of the city which abuts the border with Ireland. He also talked about the Irish that left the city. He had a theory that a group of Presbyterians who left the city in the 1700s because they were angry with the British. He claimed the American revolution wouldn’t have happened without their influence once they reached our shores. Like I said, he was a colorful dude. He remained very upbeat and optimistic for his city.

Scenes from Where Bloody Sunday Took Place

Tight Spot Ray Drove Bus Through

The Ancient Wall

Catholic Area of Derry

Scenes from the Wall

Our Awesome Local Guide

Wife in Front of Derry City Hall

We remounted the bus and headed out for our next stop, the Giants Causeway. I’d never heard of this place but it is a huge tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. It’s an immense natural formation that the Irish, predictably, created a myth about. It is said to be the end of a huge causeway built between Ireland and Scotland by two giants, one from each side. They were building the bridge so they could fight each other. As the two ends came close, the Irish giant, Finn McCool, saw how big the Scottish giant was and decided he didn’t want to fight. He went back and was hidden by his wife in their house, masquerading as a baby. When the Scottish giant arrived, looking for McCool, McCool’s wife showed him the “baby”. The Scottish giant was so disturbed by the size of the supposed baby that he decided he didn’t want to fight and went back to destroy the bridge.

Scenes from our Dive through Northern Ireland

Wife Unhappily Walking Down to the Causeway

The Irish weather re-inserted itself with high winds and rain which led to one very unhappy wife. My Favorite Panamanian claimed she would stay in the visitor center while the rest of us went to see the causeway. I cajoled her into joining us, pointing out it was all downhill and we could get a bus ride back to the visitor center. She complained all the way down but she made the walk and then immediately got in line for the bus. I ran around snapping pictures and marveling at the geographical formations before joining her on the bus. When she is not enjoying something, she has the ability to make everyone else around her unhappy as well. She was happy to get under cover again where we got a fast food lunch in the visitor’s center. I had my first ever sausage wrapped in a roll. Spousal morale was fully restored when she waded into the Visitor’s Center gift shop but she still faced the windy walk back to the bus.

Scenes from the Causeway

Lunch

Wife Headed to the Bus

This was followed by the long drive to Belfast, our home for the next two nights. I expected to find an Irish equivalent to Beirut after hearing so much about the violence in the city during the “Troubles”. I found, instead a thriving, modern city. I took an exploratory walk around the waterfront that was adjacent to our hotel. The final event of the day was a locally guided pub crawl ending with a fish and chips dinner. My wife was laughing at the possibility of me having to eat a fish dinner. The local guide was yet another colorful character. She seemed to know everybody in the city and would stop mid-sentence to greet somebody walking by. She was a lot of fun and led us through a local whisky emporium followed by a very lively pub where you guessed it, another Guinness was sent downrange.

From my Walk Around Belfast Waterfront

There were a Bunch of Glass Monuments to Game of Thrones

The dinner was at the restaurant recently recognized for serving the best fish and chips in the entire British Isles. I was determined not to wilt under my wife’s expectations of me eating fish. The fish was actually very good and she was a little stunned to see me eating the whole thing. I was a little miffed when one of our friends, who shares my eating pickiness, was served a delicious looking hamburger. I was not aware that had been an option but the fish was good. It’s good to know I can still shock the wife.

Local Pub Guide

Whiskey Emporium

Main Pub Area

Inside Pub

More Guinness

More from our Pub Walk

Fish and Chips Place

Day 6 – Sinking, Whiskey and Troubles

We woke in Belfast to howling winds and rain, of course, although it was a weird weather day. With blue sky breaking out followed by more wind and rain. We took a driving tour of Central Belfast which ended up at the Titanic Museum. I was wondering about the need and location of this museum dedicated to the sunken ocean liner. It turned out to be very interesting. The Titanic was built in the shipyards where the museum was located. The museum takes you through the building up through the sailing and the sinking. There were numerous poignant, personal stories of the people involved. There was a wall of the people who died as well as a fascinating exhibit on the finding of the sunken ship.

Driving Tour of Belfast

City Hall

Titanic Museum

Jonathan Swift Saw a Huge Sleeping Man's Face Outlined in this Distant Hillside
He Used that as Inspiration for Gulliver's Travels

Just across the parking lot from the museum are the Titanic Studios, famous for filming the Game of Thrones. Continuing down the waterfront we came to the new Titanic Distillery, where we went on a tour. During the tour we learned how whiskey is made and that Belfast used to have more than 18 distilleries. They all went bust when the US prohibition took place in the 1930s. Entrepreneurs are trying to recreate the iconic role Belfast had in the Irish whiskey business. Since it takes three years and one day for official Irish whiskey, they’re still a year away from their first official sales. The Irish added the day to three years because Scotch requires three years. My Favorite Panamanian sat out the tour since she doesn’t have any interest in whiskey. Neither do I but it was interesting to learn and we were all given samples of both whiskey and vodka they’ve created, so there’s that.

Where the Whiskey is Made

Enjoying my Samples

Titanic Studios

We headed back to central Belfast where we were on our own for lunch. We joined our Maine Friends and chanced upon a place called Hellcat Maggie’s (yep). It was named after a legendary female Irish street fighter in New York City during the time period depicted in the movie, Gangs of New York. She apparently filed her teeth to points. The fascinating things you learn while traveling. I should mention, although it won’t surprise you at this point, that another Guinness was donated to the cause here.

Lunch with Maine Friends

The afternoon involved a fabulous experience. The group was split into small groups and loaded into “black taxis”. They are a famous legacy of the troubles when each faction had their own taxi service. After the peace deal they formed a joint company and offered tours of the areas where the “troubles” took place. The drivers can be either catholic or protestant but they provided a surprisingly frank and, again, hopeful perspective. They desperately want the peace deal to continue while bemoaning the separation that still exists.  They took us through the Protestant area which is marked by numerous British flags on display. The Catholic and Protestant areas are separated by what is called the Peace Wall. It is tall to prevent objects from being thrown over it. They had a vote to ask if it should be torn down but while the general population wanted it taken down, the resident s of the area voted by over 90% to keep it, because of the safety it represents.

Heading out in the Taxis

The Gate Area Looking into the Catholic Area

Cross in No Mans Land

The wall has a series of gates between the two areas which are locked at 7 each night. We stopped at one of the gates where we walked from one side to the other. The areas near the gates are festooned with a lot of political graffiti. The area between the gates is known as no mans land. We continued on into the Catholic neighborhoods which saw the biggest conflicts during the troubles. The drivers preserved with their hope for the future but said the biggest impediment is that kids still go to separate schools so the hostility is being perpetuated to the new generation. They admitted it was a weird situation where people from both sides of the wall would go into central Belfast each night to party at the many pubs only to return to their separate neighborhoods at the end of the night, forced to live separately by the radical elements of each side. I left with a better understanding of the situation. I always thought it was strange that Catholics would fight against protestants but I now understand it’s more the Irish fighting against people they see as British invaders, even after many generations.

Peace Wall from Protestant Side

From the Catholic Side

Catholic Neighborhood That Took Brunt of Conflict

We returned to the hotel late in the afternoon and my Favorite Panamanian decided to remain in the hotel because of the mercurial weather. I decided, since it was my last night on the island, to take a walk through the aforementioned pub district; strictly in the interests of reminiscing, honest. I soaked up the atmosphere before returning to the hotel. I really enjoyed our time in Belfast with its many surprises.

Okay, that gets us through virtually all our time on the Emerald Isle. I’m running out of gas writing so I’ll pick up our time in Scotland tomorrow.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course