Ireland - In which I succumb to the rarest of things, an Irish sunburn, and fall in love with the countryside

I never really thought of Ireland much. Until PS I Love You that is. As I watched that move I was astonished by the sea of green, the absolute brilliance of the colors of the flowers dappling along the countryside, the stone walls, the remote landscape that seemed both tame but independent at the same time. And so I thought intensely about visiting Ireland for a few years, then decided nothing is as good as the movies and moved on. Yet this month here I was, in Ireland. And wouldn't you know it, I loved the countryside.

We headed to the Emerald Isle for a family trip, some of us looking briefly to explore our roots, others of us along for the ride. Winding around a cliff, precariously, on the left side of the road, dodging wayward sheep and tour buses too large for the tiny lanes, it ended up being quite the ride.

Our adventure started with a drive through the Irish countryside from Dublin to Dingle, stopping in Kilkenny and at the Rock of Cashel. Kilkenny is an adorable little town that won Ireland's "Tidy Town" competition a few years back. What this means is that it is crisp, the buildings are a rainbow of colors, and the small streets are lined with historic taverns and trendy little shops. At the center of the town sits a castle, more of a manor now than a medieval fortress.

It was a delightful place to stop for lunch and a walk, a couple of hours out from Dublin. Strolling along the "Medieval Mile" felt a bit more like strolling along the shop-lined streets of a New England beach town than a step back in time, but with the trickle of fountains and the flowers bobbing to the breeze, it was well worth the couple hour stop.

Our next stop was the Rock of Cashel, one of the most famous ruins in all of Ireland. It is supposedly where King Munster was converted to Christianity by St Patrick back in the 5th century, but most of the buildings there are from the 12th or 13th century, including the cathedral, the stone tower, and the chapel.  Sitting atop the tallest hill around, surrounded by a stone wall and the crumbling cathedral, with the echo of crows circling overhead, the place feels both eerie and peaceful. There was a massive fire here after fighting between the Catholic Irish and the Protestant British, at which point Irish taking shelter in the church were trapped inside when the church caught on fire (this may or may not have been lit by the British, the accounts I've found contradict each other). Either way, the place is both enchanting, alive with visitors, and yet haunting.

There's another small ruin that can be seen from the Rock, an easy walk downhill, and just as fun to explore.

Next we hit up my favorite part of the trip: the Dingle Peninsula. While the Ring of Kerry is one of the most famous stretches of sights in Ireland, we chose to go to the Dingle Peninsula because it is smaller, less crowder, and has just as many sights but with a much shorter loop. While the many ring forts and old churches are impressive and beautiful, I truly fell in love with the landscape of Dingle, with sweeping green hills, craggy shrubberies, and bright red flowers contrasting against the brilliant water.

One of our favorite sites on the Dingle Loops was a combination of a petting zoo and a ring fort that never got excavated. The archaeological remains were undisturbed for years because the place got the reputation for being a home to fairies, and with the exception of the tourists walking over the grass and the pigs, sheep, and goats that keep the landscape trim, the sight is still left to nature.

There was no shortage of gorgeous cliff views overlooking sky and sea. I expected the ocean to be more the color of the water in New England, more of a deep cobalt or gray blue, but it was shockingly emerald.

We probably hit the timing just right, but there were bushes filled with beautiful red flowers everywhere. The picture below isn't adjusted for color in any way; the sky, flowers, and green grass were all that bright.

The town of Dingle itself is charming, especially slightly on the off season when you get it mostly to yourself. It's fun to wander along a series of brightly colored, winding roads interspersed with shacks selling fresh fish, tacky tourist shops, historic buildings, and pubs that still hold on to their heritage by proudly displaying the other purpose of their buildings, such as leather shop or a hardware store. Years ago, the pubs would serve as one thing during the day, and then serve alcohol in the evening, with separate corridors for the women since it wasn't proper for them to be seen out in public drinking. 

Next we traveled up to Galway, passing through the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. The Burren is a rocky limestone landscape, and in its most extreme form offers very little space for plants to grow. We stopped by the impressive Poulnabrone Dolmen, a portal tomb dating back to some time between 4200 and 2900 BC. When it was excavated, the remains of 33 people were found underneath. The landscape is amazing, but desolate. Edmund Ludlow, a general under Cromwell, once said of the area "there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one nor earth enough to bury one." I guess he didn't find it as charming as I did, but then again I wasn't looking for ways to kill people.

Next we headed to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. It only has a population of about 840 people, but the people there still speak the Irish language and are immensely proud of Irish culture. Many of the remaining people work in the tourist industry, either driving minibuses, directing a horse and carriage, and serving in cafes and pubs around the island, but they are proud to talk about their lives on the island. Our carriage driver told us all about the churches where people are baptized, the schoolhouse, the beaches where they swim, and the farm animals he keeps as we passed bumped along the roads towards Dun Aengus, the main tourist draw.

Dun Aengus is a prehistoric hill fort that hugs the edge of a roughly 300 foot cliff. While the fort was clearly circular on construction, the edge of it disappears right over the cliff. When it was built, it is believed that the fort would have been about 1000m from the sea, but with sea level rise and erosion, the sea has been steadily claiming the ruin.

We ended our trip in Dublin, spending a few days visiting the various museums, pubs, and walking around downtown. If you are in to nightlife, Dublin is your dream city. To get back to the airport at 3am we had to reserve a taxi, not because there wouldn't be any out but because they would all be filled with people making their way back from the pubs. Its a lively nightlife with bodies crammed in warm rooms, beer and whisky flowing freely as music spills out of each building. Going to one of the pubs and listening to traditional Irish music with a lively fiddle was one of the best experiences we had in Dublin, but this bookworm really fell in love with the Trinity Library. It wasn't my favorite city, but the people are friendly and welcoming, the buildings warm and cozy, and if you love to go out drinking and make new friends this would be one of the best places to do it.