Ireland has always been a country that fascinated me. The Celts, the great Irish tradition, the "troubles" with the English cousins. I've read a lot in books, I've seen many films but I wanted to see it first-hand and have a direct experience. In the summer of 2000 I convince my girlfriend (I don't have much trouble, to be honest!) and we set off for a tour of Ireland to be done in two weeks. The period chosen isn't the happiest, but unfortunately holidays can't be chosen... so we have holidays from 10 to 25 August. We move in good time (and I strongly recommend doing so). Mass tourism in Ireland is well known and then finding affordable accommodation isn't exactly simple. We're lucky. In May we find a British Midland flight that will take us from Rome to Dublin via London. The price is 440,000 lire.
At the time there weren't many opportunities, today the competition on Dublin has significantly lowered prices and opportunities. We decide to do a tour of the island, without however neglecting the city of Belfast, the object of a compulsory planned visit. First of all we organised ourselves to book our accommodation in Dublin from Italy. Better not to risk it, above all we were looking for cheap and central accommodation. A decision that directed us towards youth hostels. Among the many in the Irish capital, we opted for the Isaac Hostel (2-5 Frenchmans Lane, Dublin 1). It's really very central, you can reach all the most important places in Dublin on foot. It's very close to Dublin's main street (O'Connell Street) and also close to Connolly Station if you want to take a trip around the surroundings of Dublin.
There are some, though (at least at the time...) You can leave your luggage in a big room, but access is allowed only every 30 minutes (don't ask me why...) and moreover (like other hostels I've visited all over Europe) they don't allow access to the rooms during daytime hours (I think until 17.00). There's a movement of young people from every part of the world... the atmosphere is really cosmopolitan but the cleanliness, especially of the bathrooms, leaves a lot to be desired... also a service notice: if you book a room for two (or more people) you won't have the chance to have an en-suite bathroom. It's always shared. We booked by e-mail providing the Master Card number which however wasn't charged until our arrival at the hostel.
Anyway it's our base for visiting the city, which fascinates us immediately. It's very pretty, human-scale with lots of greenery and lots of young people. Needless to tell you the attractions you can find in any guide or on the various websites dedicated to the city... I suggest you at least, as long as your legs (and feet) help you, to walk, because every corner, every street, every alley is beautiful to see. We stayed in Dublin for 4 days, in my opinion enough time to get an idea of the city. You'll certainly be swallowed up by the venues of Temple Bar, by the frantic (and expensive) shopping of Grafton Street, you'll get the urge to study again visiting Trinity College and you won't be able to do without drinking a Guinness in an Irish pub. There are so many, impossible not to go into one at least once.
The St Stephen's Green area is particularly rich in them but I assure you that each one has its own character. Among the many things to see I'll tell you, in my modest opinion, the unmissable ones: 1) a visit to the St James's Gate Guinness Brewery (St James's Street). It's the historic brewery of the dark beer famous throughout the world. At the entrance of the Brewery (unfortunately not visitable) there's the entrance gate with a calendar marking the year of foundation (1759) and the one you're in. There's a museum with an attached shop of original Guinness souvenirs and a Guinness tasting. At the time the entrance cost £4. 2) A visit to Trinity College, Ireland's oldest university, founded by the will of Queen Elizabeth I back in 1592.
You can walk freely on the campus, but I recommend the guided tour (in English, but if there are many people you'll also find the guide in Italian) because it will let you discover all the beauties and anecdotes of the campus. The tour also includes a visit to the Book of Kells, one of the oldest books in the world (800 AD) written by the monks of St Columcille in a monastery located on the island of Iona (Scotland). To prevent the precious manuscript from falling into Viking hands the monks moved it to the town of Kells in Ireland. 3) Temple Bar. It's the "hottest" area of Dublin... ancient land of the Augustinian friars, it was bought by Sir William Temple in 1537. The term "bar" certainly doesn't indicate the pubs of the area, but an ancient passage located along the river Liffey.
The area has experienced mixed fortunes (in the '60s they wanted to turn it, it seems, into a bus depot!) and today it's considered the artistic heart of the city. 4) St Patrick's Cathedral. Whether you're religious or not, you can't do without visiting the most famous cathedral in Ireland, the one dedicated to the nation's patron, Saint Patrick. 5) The Ha'Penny Bridge pedestrian bridge. Built in 1816 it leads to the Temple Bar area. It's called this because it seems that to cross it you had to pay 1 penny. It's very characteristic and the subject of numerous photographs
Day 115 Aug 2000
Ring of Kerry
The next day we start our tour of Ireland and so we get on a Bus Éireann and gallop southwards. The final destination is county Kerry, base for the tour of the Kerry peninsula (Ring of Kerry). The journey is long but pleasant. You have the opportunity to see a beautiful inland landscape, many enchanting villages. We arrive in the evening in the county's main town, Killarney. It's a small village, very pretty and the starting point for numerous excursions, among them Killarney National Park. The weather is fine, and many people are returning from country outings. The town is crossed by a single main road Main Street which becomes High Street but in reality it's always the same one! Along the road you'll find several Hostels and Bed and Breakfasts. The prices are decidedly lower than in Dublin but, being a touristy place, they're still fairly high...
We stayed at the Neptune's Town Hostel which offers double rooms without a bathroom for about £ 20. We then bought the tickets for the Ring of Kerry tour for the next day.
It's a tour around the perimeter of the Iveragh peninsula, a full 179 km long. It's one of Ireland's most important attractions and you can get there with Bus Éireann from mid-May to mid-September. The spectacle is truly very beautiful and fascinating, there are breathtaking inlets with Caribbean-crystal-clear water... it's very picturesque. Moreover, along the road the coach stops at a sort of farm where there is (for a fee!) a show put on by a Border Collie breeder with which he manages a flock of sheep. I assure you it's worth it, it's great fun and it's incredible to see how the dog follows its master's whistles to the letter, complying with his every command! One piece of advice: some venture out with a rental car along the narrow roads of the Ring... it's not advisable unless you're a skilled driver.
The roads are narrow (one and a half lanes), driving is on the left and the coaches race like madmen. On the (several dozen) blind bends you risk coming face to face with a 60-seater monster! You decide whether it's worth it!!!
Belfast. Murals in the protestant Shankill area
Day 218 Aug 2000
Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Galway and the Aran Islands
The next day we again took a Bus Éireann heading north, towards Galway. We passed through Tralee and Limerick towards the Burren region and the Cliffs of Moher. The Burren is an extraordinary region in its own way: it's kilometres of limestone rock offering a particular, almost lunar landscape. The road then bends towards the sea, heading for another particular natural attraction: the Cliffs of Moher. They are cliffs over 200 metres high that drop sheer into the Atlantic Ocean, offering an incredible spectacle, hard to describe. One thing that struck us is that the scheduled bus makes a stop of a good hour precisely to allow passengers to take a walk and snap some photos... if the weather favours you!! Until that moment the weather had been fantastic, with sporadic rain and plenty of sun... but bad weather was lying in wait, in classic Fantozzi style.
Having got off the coach, the sky turns leaden and an unparalleled downpour comes crashing down... driving, freezing rain in the classic Irish tradition! The bus driver had taken refuge in some pub and all the passengers (ourselves included) were left exposed to the cold and the water with no possibility of shelter. The umbrellas, in fact, were on the coach!!! Soaked like drowned rats we finally manage to get back on the coach and after two minutes, two, it stops raining!!! In perfect "Murphy's Law" style, of course. The journey continues along country roads two metres wide and small villages with the barn next to the house... and we arrive at Galway.
The weather on the Atlantic coast is decidedly more changeable than on the Eastern one. There are violent downpours alternating with patches of clear sky. The lucky thing is that the bus station is opposite not one but two hostels!!! They are on Station Road (of course!) and they are the Galway Hostel and the Great Western House Hostel. We head for the latter, it seems decidedly newer... in fact the rooms are really new and there's even a bathroom in the room! How luxurious!!! Unfortunately in the hostel there's a group of Italian kids making a tremendous racket and during the night they break a bed. The police are called... there's quite a commotion... a sleepless night. Moral: damages paid and Italians removed as unwanted guests... what a show, guys, what a show! Galway too is a very compact little town but frankly I liked it very much.
The centre is crossed by a single road that changes name: from Shop Street it becomes High Street and then Quay Street down to the port on Galway Bay. Numerous pubs and fish-based fast food places characterise this seaside spot... here you can clearly see that prices are lower than in Dublin and life is decidedly less expensive! In many places where you eat fish (almost always fried!) there's a menu that illustrates what fish it is... also because guessing from a menu written in Gaelic is not exactly the greatest! The smell of fried fish will characterise your stay in Galway and you'll smell it from 9 in the morning until late at night!! Galway is also famous for the Claddagh ring, used as a wedding ring by young Irish couples. It's sold in gold and silver but you'll also find it in less precious material.
From Galway we take a ferry and go to visit the Aran Islands. They are an extension of the Burren out in the open ocean, the islands are made of limestone rock, stocky and mighty in the middle of the ocean. Without a single tree, with only blades of grass that grow with difficulty among the cracks of the limestone rock... an incredible spectacle. To get to the Aran from Galway you use a ferry service that is actually large tugs which take you across to the Islands in about an hour. You land on the island of Inishmór, the largest of the archipelago. You arrive at the port of Kilroran where you can hire bicycles or use a taxi service to visit the island and the Celtic ruins of Dún Aengus Fort perched above the sea. Also unforgettable is the sight of the seals present in a small bay at Port Chorrúch. Obviously the shopping is concentrated on the famous Aran sweaters.
Our trip continues with the return to Dublin, to which we devote another couple of days, mainly for a bit of shopping, for a few Guinnesses and to recover from the exertions of the journey. Travelling by coach lets you relax while on the move, keeps you from being tense about driving along the small Irish country roads, but it ties you to schedules and routes that are often irritating. If I went back I'd hire a car, without a shadow of a doubt. The northern part of Eire unfortunately we didn't manage to see precisely for this reason, the scarcity of connections... and that was a real shame. But perhaps it's also an excuse to return as soon as possible to the island of the Celts.
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