Category Archives: Ireland

Havin’ the craic in Ireland: Burren National Park and Corcomroe Abbey

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On our drive back from the Cliffs of Moher, we made a few stops along the way. Burren National Park is named for the Irish word meaning “barren.” The name makes sense when you see the enormous expanse of rock stretching out for fifteen square kilometers. The rock bed used to be underwater when the ocean levels were higher. Now, it looks like a gray stone prairie dotted with sparse vegetation.

Corcomroe Abbey sits in the quaint rolling hills that I pictured Ireland to be. The cemetery was lined with the Celtic crosses, pictured below.

By now, the bus driver was doing his best to entertain a bus full of sleepy tourists on the way home from a day-long drive.

“Is it time for a song?” he asked rhetorically.

“Yeah!” chorused a few of the more enthusiastic Italians and Germans.

Without prelude, the driver burst into a too hyper lively bouncy Irish song. His mouth was too close to the microphone, so his song was deafeningly loud and slightly muffled. Some people at the front started clapping along with the beat, as the Irish bus driver bellowed,

“OH ROW THE RATTLIN’ BOG
THE BOG DOWN IN THE VALLEY-O
OH ROW THE RATTLIN’ BOG 
THE BOG DOWN IN THE VALLEY-O

AND ON THAT LIMB THERE WAS A NEST
A RARE NEST, A RATTLIN’ NEST
AND THE NEST IN THE LIMB AND THE LIMB ON THE BRANCH AND THE BRANCH ON THE TREE AND THE TREE IN THE HOLE AND THE HOLE IN THE BOG
AND THE BOG DOWN IN THE VALLEY-O!!!!” 

This bellowing went on for about one million years.

Partway through the song, I looked to my left at the Indian businessman, who was on the bus tour for some sightseeing after a business trip to Dublin. He had answered his cell phone before the song started, probably a business call. Now, he was cupping his hands around the speaker and yelling into his cell phone, trying in vain to be heard on the other end. I found it hysterical to picture his colleague sitting in an office in India yelling in Hindi, “Whaaat?! I can’t hear you!! There’s too much singing and clapping over there!!”

Ah, to be a tourist.

Havin’ the craic in Ireland: The Cliffs of Moher

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This was easily my favourite part of Ireland, from what I got to see in two days. We got up at a ghastly early hour in the morning to catch a 6:50 am bus tour to drive across Ireland to the west coast. The morning grogginess was well worth it, though, because the cliffs and the coastline were like nothing I have ever seen before.

The Cliffs of Moher are quite famous. I’m not a big movie-watcher, so it was unusual for me to recognize the titles that have been filmed here. The “Cliffs of Insanity” in The Princess Bride are actually the Cliffs of Moher. Similarly, the these cliffs appear in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when Dumbledore takes Harry to the cave to find the locket.

There’s not much more to say about these awesome cliffs. My camera couldn’t capture their immensity and rugged beauty. Turquoise gray waters, salty wind, the sound of waves crashing below, and a massive expanse of ocean stretching out into the horizon. I couldn’t get enough of it– magnificent!

Havin’ the craic in Ireland: Dublin

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Dublin has an awesome night life. There are pubs on every street, the streets are alive and bustling at night, and there’s live music and busking all around Temple Bar. The Guinness really is incredibly delicious– I can see why the locals take such pride in it. Dubliners are immensely proud of their pubs and beer. One of the locals working at the hostel was even boasting that Ireland had the world record for highest per capita alcohol consumption (is that really something to be bragging about? In Dublin, yes it is)!

I was only in Ireland a short time. I was sleep-deprived during this short time in Ireland. And I arrived in Dublin directly from Edinburgh, my new favourite city in Europe (based on the little I’ve seen thus far).

I’m saying this not to complain or evoke sympathy, as I realize I am very lucky to have traveled in Ireland, sleep-deprived or not! I really enjoyed myself. I’m just trying to rationalize why I felt slightly… underwhelmed by Dublin. Perhaps it is because Canada is influenced so much by the Irish, which is why it felt quite reminiscent of parts of Vancouver. Perhaps it is because Ireland endured many hardships and brutal economies, so there was little time or money to invest in building a grandiose city. Perhaps I had impossible expectations constructed by Hollywood and St. Patrick’s day. Or, perhaps I simply did not have enough time to connect with the locals and the Irish way of life, that I missed out on the real Dublin culture. I can’t quite pinpoint why, but somehow I had difficulty finding a distinctive atmosphere of the city.

That said, Dublin really has good craic! And no, I do not mean crack cocaine. “Craic” is the Irish Gaelic word for “fun” or “good times.” I went on a walking tour of Dublin (I really love these free tours) and our tour guide was the beautiful epitome of an Irish gal– fiery red hair, pale freckled skin, and a fierce sense of humour and patriotism. She told stories of the battles where the Irish tried to escape English rule, and there are a lot of them! We walked through the area of Temple Bar where Irish band U2 started their career. At the Christ Church Cathedral, she told us about the mummified cat that was found in the organ pipe when the cathedral was being restored. It turns out the cat had been chasing a mouse, because a mummified mouse was subsequently discovered in the same pipe.

Trinity College was a grand and charming university campus. We went into the library to look at the Book of Kells, an incredibly old masterpiece of calligraphy and Celtic artwork. It contains the four gospels of the New Testament in Latin, and is approximately 1200 years old. THAT’S A REALLY OLD BOOK. The intricate detail was absolutely indescribable. I can’t even imagine how long it would have taken to make the paper out of calfskin, to crush the coloured substances to powder to mix with vinegar for ink, to write every cursive letter with such precision, then to decorate the letters and paint illustrations… and to do this for more than 600 pages! If that’s not patience, dedication, and artistry, then I don’t know what is!

If there is one distinctive feature I could identify about Dublin, it would be that people know how to have a good time. A pint of Guinness, live music, and good company; that’s good craic!