Ireland, September, 2013: Part Two

          We knew Northern Ireland was going to be difficult to beat because of how beautiful it was, so expectations were low when we headed West. We woke up after a great night at our first bed and breakfast, ate an enormous “Irish breakfast”, then decided to stop just down the street at the oldest distillery in the world. I’m not a whisky drinker, but it was great to see the history of Bushmill’s. Plus, I had my first encounter with wildlife in the U.K. A ridiculously cute cat wandered up to me at the distillery. I sat with him the whole time while everyone else took a tour. 

         After the distillery, we headed to our first castle, Dunluce. It was amazing. Dunluce is perched at a cliff’s edge, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It’s mostly in ruins now, but it is easy to see how intricate the construction was. The nerd in me was analyzing the castle for weakness, thinking how difficult it would be to siege it because it is built on such dramatic slopes. Beneath the castle, accessible only from a steep slope within the inner wall, is the “Mermaid Cave”. After we looked around the castle for a while, we couldn’t help ourselves. The cave is famous because there are legends and alleged sightings of mermaids inside. We didn’t realize until after we’d been in there for an hour that there was a large sign telling people not to enter. I can understand why – it is steep, slick, and the tide is so incredibly strong. 

                               (The warning sign that we missed...and the entrance to the cave)

                                              (Matt and I in front of the Dunluce Castle ruins)

               (Charlie, Matt, and Lynee, midway down the descending staircase inside the outer wall)

                                     (Matt and Charlie in the cave...note how strong the tide is)

                                             (Matt and I at the mouth of the Mermaid Cave)

                                                                 (A view of the cave)

     The castle was amazing enough we could have stayed for a lot longer, but we had an appointment at 3:00 at Ireland’s School of Falconry, and we still had a long way to drive. Ireland is really not that big, but note to future travelers: if GPS tells you one hour, plan on an hour and a half. They calculate the distance as if you were going the full, recommended 80 – 100 km/hour. The roads are extremely narrow and they have abrupt twists – you are not going 80 km/hour. 3:00 began to near, and we were nowhere near Ashford Castle where the school is. So we decided to try to go to Falconry the next day, and explore instead. I’m very glad we did. We ran into a lot of ruined abbeys, drove down old country roads were we ran into herds of cows. And we found one abbey in particular that we got out and explored for a long time. It was amazing. Completely overgrown, surrounded by a graveyard and spectacular Irish countryside. We even found a tomb with human bones still in it. 

                        (The further South you drive, the more it looks like this. It got way foggy)

                                                           (A random abbey we found)

                     (The spectacular Irish countryside. View from the ruined abbey we explored)

                                                     (A tree growing from the abbey tower)

                                                  (The human skull we found inside a tomb)

                            (This happens in Ireland. We definitely weren't in Salt Lake anymore)

           We finally continued on and found Ashford Castle, but the School of Falconry was closed, so we just stayed in another B&B. We were having serious problems with cash. None of our debit/credit cards seemed to work at ATMs, and we found out quickly that most B&Bs don’t take cards. We’d find out a day later that in Europe, ATMs automatically withdraw from savings accounts instead of checking accounts like in the U.S. Easy fix J

            The next morning, we went to Ashford Castle in the hopes that we could reschedule our falconry. They were all booked up, but one of the falconers took pity on us and squeezed us in. We got a quick tour of the school, learned the differences in the way falcons, hawks, and owls hunt, and how meticulous they have to be about their diet. Even ¼ ounce change in body weight can render a hawk unable to fly successfully. They are weighed twice every day, their meals strictly monitored. I was finally handed a hawk, and it was love at first sight. Lynee took one as well, as it was ladies first, and then we hiked into the forest to go hunting. Falconry was AMAZING. Probably my favorite thing we did in Ireland. We took turns with the hawks, learning how to send them off, recall them, reward them, and test their maneuverability. They are incredible hunters. Our hawks were siblings, Andes (male) and Lima (female), and were only 14 weeks old, but fully grown. Their curiosity was the main indicator of age; they kept bringing us sticks and moss to show off. We spent an hour and a half with them before we finally returned to the castle. It was an experience that I highly recommend to anyone traveling in Western Ireland. 

                (The hawks sitting on their perches. They are lazy and sleep at least 18 hours a day)

                                                 (Matt, signaling a hawk to return to him)

                                                                  (Lima, the female)

                                                                  (Andes, the male)

                          (A close-up of their talons. Incredibly sharp, but they are careful with them)

                     (Andes, eating a mouse. Charlie looks fascinated and horrified at the same time)

                                                                (The beautiful Lima)

                                                (Matt, walking his hawk back to the school)

           After falconry, we hiked around the Burren, which is a natural area of wilderness with varying landscapes. The Burren would be a place to visit if you have lots of time – we did not, so the vast amount of hiking needed to see the really cool stuff wasn’t feasible. I’m glad we devoted little time to it, because it allowed us to spend more time at the Cliffs of Moher, which were spectacular. I’ve never seen another natural formation like this. There’s really no way to describe it, so here are some pictures. 

                                              (This is why there are no words to describe it)

                                                     (Charlie and Lynee at the cliffs)

                                                             (A view from the Burren)

                                                              (Matt and I at the cliffs)

                                                                   (Lynee and I)

                                                 (The little tower that guards the cliffs)

                                                                             (Matt)

                                                                          (In awe)


                   We drove a little further that day after the Cliffs and stayed in another B&B. The next day was our last full day in Ireland. We went to Blarney Castle. That was a really amazing place to go. It is so much taller than I imagined! The castle dominates the landscape, and it was a true eye-opened about the lifestyle people lived in those ages. The castle was tall, but the rooms were tiny, the staircases dangerous and winding. Blarney is in good enough shape that you can truly see each room and how it would have functioned. We toured it for quite a while before making our way to the top to kiss the famous Blarney Stone. Hopefully, we all have the luck of the Irish with us now J After that, we drove to Waterford, home of the famous crystal. The town wasn’t great, but the Waterford Crystal plant was pretty cool. Even better if you have thousands of dollars to blow on fancy crystal. We finally ended our day in Dublin so we could be near the airport for the following morning. 

                                                                     (Blarney Castle)

                                                              (Matt in the dungeons)

                                         (Matt, leaning down to kiss the famous Blarney Stone)

                                                    (The view from atop Blarney Castle)

                                                     (We took up arms on the battlements)

                                                   (From left: Lynee, Charlie, Matt, Me)

          That was our last full day in Ireland. The next morning, we would fly to Edinburgh, were more adventures await. I'll write about Scotland in my next blog!