Monday, October 10 Causey Farm, bogs, Galway

 October 10 

This morning we have breakfast and then board the bus and head southwest.  We cross into the Republic of Ireland with no fanfare - no border crossing or signs.  David says if there was infrastructure it would be probably be blown up!  We get the impression that Brexit has further complicated the border issues, especially when it comes to commerce, taxation and such.

More signs now in Gaelic and English. In general, the western part of Ireland speaks more Gaelic. There are often flags flying by homes and David says these are for Counties.  County sports are very big - Gaelic Football, Curling, Hurling....  Very little sign of any national flags.

Things are getting a little warmer and today is a beautiful day.  In the cities there are older buildings where the first floor is businesses, with several apartments above.  As we get into the country there are more single family homes, mostly small and made of stone or brick.  We stop at a service station that features a Burger King with Texas Bacon Burgers!  There are Tesla charging stations, an ATM and the all important restrooms.

David talks a lot about Irish history, including the Book of Kells, a handwritten book produced around 800AD.  Written on velum (paper was yet to be invented) it retains beautiful illustrations and colors and can be found at Trinity College in Dublin. The Vikings established Dublin and many other cities.

This area is perfect for farming and we see many bales of hay that are wrapped in black plastic.  Farming is the number 1 industry in Ireland, followed by tourism, and then high-tech.  David discusses the potato famines of the 1840's when over a million people died and thousands of others emigrated.  The government was still exporting potatoes even as their own people were starving! The population today is still lower than pre-famine days!

We stop at Saint Columba's Church which was completed in 814. We have seen many celtic crosses.  David says the round portion behind the cross represented the sun and was an attempt to ease the move from the old religions which worshipped the sun, to the new Christianity.

Roads are getting very narrow - barely enough for 2 vehicles to pass!  We arrive at Causey Farm, which offers a look at farming in Ireland. They are decorated for Halloween, which is a surprise to us!  Catharine, our guide, tells us that they've adopted the US customs, including a haunted house!

Our first task is making Irish Brown Soda Bread.  We divide into couples and each couple makes a small loaf which we'll enjoy with lunch later.  

Next we are loaded into an animal wagon and driven through the woods on a very bumpy road, to see a bog.  It is even wetter than usual with the recent rains.  Lots of ferns and moss along the pathway.

 Work begins in the bogs in May to create fuel for the following winter.  Turf is cut and stacked to dry and needs to be turned every 2 weeks.  This particular bog is being preserved as people realize that bogs are not endless and grow only 1 mm each year.  Turf is still used as fuel and we will see stacks at various places over the next few days.  Bogs maintain a steady temperature and have been used to store butter and milk.  They have also been used to hide things - the book of Kells was wrapped and hidden in a bog for a long period of time.  There is discussion about a "bog man", a well preserved human recently found in a bog somewhere in Scandinavia.

We go back to the main farm and check out some animals including cows, sheep, alpacas and pigs.

And then we learn a bit of Irish dancing.

Lunch is soup and the bread we've made, along with scones with jam and clotted cream, and tea. 

Lastly there is a sheep dog demonstration and we chat with the trainer.  Amazing how he communicates so much with just a few sounds!  It takes a year to train one dog and they are usually border collies. (See the black wrapped bales of hay in the background?)

The countryside here is incredibly clean - no trash anywhere!  Fence lines are mostly made of stone here, with some hedgerows.  

 Then we are off to Galway, located on a bay rich in seafood.  The Normans built this as a thriving trading port.  The population is about 17,000 and they are famous for craic (sounds like crack and means good times) and hookers (which are small boats used in harvesting seafood).  There are signs of people living here during the Bronze age and bronze's components, tin and copper, are found nearby.

We arrive at the Maldron Hotel about 5:00 and do a walk into town with part of the group.  It is about a 20 minute walk to an area of several blocks that are pedestrianized.  We pass a park flying the banners of the 12 tribes of Scotland, a statue of Oscar Wilde, and the Spanish Arch which was built in 1584 as an extension of the Norman wall of the 12th century. Lots of shops, pubs, restaurants and most places are very busy!  Looks like craic for all!

The Spanish Arch.

We end up at Beef & Lobster to enjoy some local seafood.  We start with bruschetta, followed by King Prawns and Wild Mussels.  Excellent! Service is very slow as they seem to be short staffed (like much of the world, it seems).

Sunday, October 9 Belfast, Titanic, Giant's Causeway

 Sunday, October 9  Belfast

We start today with a bus tour of Belfast, joined by a local guide named Alice. Northern Belfast is the oldest part of the city and we pass a pub that was established in 1711.

Belfast, whose name means "Mouth of River" is an ancient city, but also a young city in that nearly half of the population is under 30.   The Lagan river was essential to its development.  Belfast's  heyday was in the mid 1800's to the mid 1900's when industries such as shipbuilding, linen production, rope production, and sugar and tobacco brokering were thriving. Nearly 60% of the population in the 1800 and 1900's came from Scotland, England and Wales to support industry. Today those industries are much smaller and 1 in 10 jobs is tech related as they try to establish new fields. 

We pass  City Hall,  known for "Hatches, Matches and Dispatches" (Births, Marriages and Deaths).  Many monuments including one dedicated to those who died on the Titanic, which was built here.  Many Victorian buildings.

There are two universities including Queen's University founded in 1845 and we do a short walking tour of the campus.  This statue of Galileo is in the main entryway. His toe and knee are quite shiny, as he is touched for good luck by many students. 

Nice botanical gardens and many symbols included in structures - St. Patrick's cross, a crown representing the queen, books, the seahorse (symbol of Belfast), and the red hand of Ulster. The red hand is rooted in Gaelic culture as a sign of a great warrior and has been used since the thirteenth century on various coats of arms, flags, etc.

 During 1969-1998 the city was at war with itself, with "the troubles", sparked by economic problems. Over 3500 people died and many more were wounded. We pass the Europa Hotel which was  bombed a record 33 times as we head to West Belfast where the troubles started, to see one of the Peace Walls, a series of separation barriers erected to separate the Nationalists (mostly Catholic) and Unionists (mostly Protestant)neighborhoods. 

The first street we travel has mostly protest messages demanding freedom or justice.

On the next street there are many murals, words and pictures on the wall, along with messages from people all over the world urging peace.  We stop and add our own.  

Many urge the removal of the Walls, but our guide says both sides must agree to this and thus far they haven't.  Even today, she says, only 10% of the children in Belfast go to schools which integrate the two sides, as most children are educated separately with religion included.

Alice points out that 15 of the American Presidents have Irish heritage in their past. 

Next stop, the Titanic Museum which was built to look like an iceberg. (use your imagination!) We go to the 4th floor where there is a ride which takes you through a visual journey of the shipyards, with lots of details of the building of the Titanic. Workers worked 74 hours a week in not so great conditions!  The other floors have various displays, films, etc.  but there are so many people that we opt to skip over much of it.  Greg walks to this nearby White Star Line ship called the SS Nomadic.

Most of the group meets the bus at 1:30 for an optional trip to The Giant's Causeway which is about 45 miles away.  We pass quite a few sheep - David tells us there are about 7 million of them in Ireland, 2 million in Northern Ireland, which is down because they are not as profitable as they once were.  Passing farmland and a few wind turbine farms.

This bus is very roomy! Nearly everyone can have their own set of seats.

The weather is miserable as we reach The Giant's Causeway.  Rain and wind as we hike to the amazing hexagonal basalt columns created some 6 million years ago. Mythology says these are the remnants of a Causeway that connected Ireland and Scotland until a battle between an Irish Giant, Finn MacCool and a Scottish giant Benandonner.  With waves crashing, this coastline is beautiful, even in this weather. 

The Visitor's Center was interesting, pointing out several named rock formations in the area - Wind Gap - the windiest place in Northern Ireland, the Camel (named Humphrey), the Haystack, the Giant's Boot, etc.  We are both wet, but Beth walked a quick other trail and got caught in a real downpour, so is quite soaked on the ride back to Belfast!

A quick stop at DunLuce Castle remains, but the weather is still uncooperative.

Lots of hedges and rock walls in the countryside here. We pass the town of Balleybullie and notice quite a few camping areas.  Greg notices that the smart sheep are up against the hedgerows which serve as a windbreak.

We take good hot showers on return.  We've called to ask for more heat in the room and although they send someone up who lifts a ceiling tile and makes a show of doing something, we don't get any more heat.  Used the hairdryer on our shoes for a bit.  We stayed in and had pizza at the hotel tonight as did many others (plus a tasty dessert treat). There is almost always a soccer match on the tv's in the lounges and public areas.