Doolin, County Clare

December 31, 2017

We drove up the coastal road to Doolin to see the thatched cottage where my grandfather was born, and where my father lived for about a year when he was 12 years old. My sister knew the location. 

As we arrived, we chatted with a man who lived across the street who turned out to be my father's cousin (and shared my father's name). He seemed genuinely pleased to see us. He invited us into his home, threw some peat on the fire, told us stories about the family and shared "a drop of whiskey." He is the last of the family to still live in the area and he has no children. We agreed to reach out and visit his sister (who lives outside Boston) when we returned home. 

Most of his aunts and uncles (including my grandfather) emigrated to Boston in the 1920s. Back in the day, Doolin was a pretty quiet and desolate place, with little opportunity for my grandfather and his 9 brothers and sisters (1).

After visiting with him for a few hours, we drove south to the Cliffs of Moher (2) at sunset. Due to strong westerly winds, the ocean was rather fierce at the base of the cliffs, and the wind carried the spray from the water up the few hundred feet to where we were standing.

(1) Due to its location at the end of a hiking trail to the Cliffs of Moher, Doolin today is somewhat more vibrant. Although still a small town, it is known throughout the West of Ireland for its lively pub music scene.

(2) My father's cousin told us the cliffs are the second most popular tourist spot in Ireland. Number 1, of course, is the Guiness Beer Factory in Dublin.

The old family home, Doolin

Painting of the old family home above the fireplace mantle

Coastal Road, Doolin

Doonagore Castle

The Cliffs of Moher

Wind-driven spray from the sea cresting the top of the cliffs (look closely at the second indentation on the cliff face)

Dingle, County Kerry

December 30, 2017

We drove up the West coast of Ireland to the windswept Dingle Penninsula. The winds were actually blowing a gale today, so the sea was rather impressive. We stopped at west-facing Inch Beach, where surfing lessons are offered, although not (for some reason) during Christmas week. 

Upon arrival at the village of Dingle, the tourist booth told us we should drive out to Slea Head. The road was carved into the hillsides, and had continuous sea views. Scattered about the hillsides, there were a number of stone beehive huts (1), known as clochán in Irish. Dating is uncertain, but they are believed to be from about 1200.

We stopped at as sign to hold a baby lamb. The woman at the house told us that we could not because "He's at a Wedding today." We were unsure whether she was referring to her husband (who presumably runs the lamb-holding business), or the lamb itself. We did not enquire whether the lamb was a guest or the main course. 

To return to the main road along the coast, we decided to take the road along the north coast of the Penninsula, which involved a drive over 1,496 foot-high Connor Pass ("An Chonair" in Gaelic). This is apparently the highest mountain pass in Ireland with a paved road. 

We drove north to the Shannon ferry, crossing to County Clare. We drove on to Liscannor where we will stay the next few days. Liscannor has the distinction of having the most pubs per capita in Ireland. 

(1) There must be something uniquely useful about the beehive design. I have seen many beehive huts in Swaziland in southern Africa also. Although the traditional Swazi design has earthern walls and thatched roofs. 

Scenes of Dingle Penninsula

Inch Beach

Beehive hut

Not today, "He's at a Wedding"

Sea-side Sheep on the road to Slea Head

End of the Dingley Penninsula

Descending from Conner Pass (2 way road)

Always good advise

The Shannon Ferry

Cobh & Kinsale, County Cork

December 29, 2017

We drove to the ferry to take us across the channel from Douglas to Cobh (pronounced Cove). Unfortunately, the ferry was not running from Chistmas to New Years, so we drove around. About 1/2 hour later we were on the other side of the channel, which looks to be about 250 yards from where we had tried to board the ferry.

We went to the Irish Emigrant Heritage Center at the old Cobh train/ship boarding station. Two of my grandparents emigrated from here in 1921 (they met later in Boston). Before leaving on a ship, the family and friends of the emigrants would often gather in Queenstown (as Cobh was known until 1922) for an "American Wake," as they never expected to see each other again after the emigrés left for America.

Cobh was the Titanic's final port of call before its rendezvous with an Iceberg southeast of Newfoundland in 1912. The Titanic exhibition included a note in a bottle recovered on the Irish coast that was thrown overboard by Jeremiah Burke (1), one of the victims of the Titanic sinking.

My father (who was born in the US) lived in Ireland for a little over a year beginning in 1938. When World War 2 broke out in September, 1939 the family returned to the U.S. At the Heritage Center, there is a picture of a ship leaving Cobh in 1939 that was chartered by the American government to bring U.S. citizens home from war-time Europe. My father (then 12 years old) was probably on the ship.

We then proceeded to a sea-side town called Kinsale for dinner. The Ocean Liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U -Boat off Kinsale Head in 1917. The loss of American lives in this sinking was a major contributing factor to the U.S. entry into the First World War.

(1) Coincidentally, this was the name of the high school in Boston where my aunt (from the other side of the family) taught for many years. 

The ship Acadia leaving Cobh to repatriate Americans living in Ireland upon the outbreak of war in 1939. My father was probably on board

Kinsale

Blarney, County Cork

December 28, 2017 

On the Ireland portion of this trip, I am very pleased to have my whole family and my sister with me. After an early morning arrival at Cork we had some breakfast and got ourselves oriented. We decided to visit Blarney Castle, which is a short drive from Cork. It was rather cold and as we arrived at Blarney Castle it started to snow (1). We climbed up to the top of the Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone to receive the gift of gab. To do so, you must hang upside down over the edge of the Castle.

The story is that Queen Elizabeth kept asking Lord Blarney for assurances of his loyalty and received nice sounding, but equivocal responses. She became exasperated with some other member of the aristocracy for similar equivocation and exclaimed what he was saying was "all Blarney." Hence began the legend of kissing the Blarney Stone, and the use of the word "Blarney" to signify nice sounding words with little meaning.

(1) Snow is fairly rare in this part of Southern Ireland. The Irish weather service posted warnings for 2 cms of snow, which is slightly less than an inch.

Blarney Castle through the snow

 View of Irish countryside from Blarney Castle

Waterfall at the rockery, Blarney Castle

Flowering plants with snow at Blarney Castle

Rome

September 3, 2017

Swiss Guard at Vatican City

The Pope in the window addressing the crowd

Marching Band in jeans at St Peters

St Peters from the back

Viaduct for the world's shortest state Railway to Vatican City

Castel Sant'Angelo & the Tiber

The Pantheon 

Interior fresco, Church of St Mary in Campitelli

Foro Buario to the left, Temple of Portuna to the right

La Bocca della Verittá

Roman Arch detail

The Colleseum

Refugee camp/protest site

Old stuff; Rome is full of it

Roman street scene

Train to Rome

September 2, 2017

San Marino

September 1, 2017

I found a cheap flight to Anconna, Italy through Brussels, so we decided to go to the Anconna on the Adriatic coast. Upon arrival, we rented a car and drove up the coast through thunderstorms to a seaside town called Riccione, where we had some lunch at a beach cafe as the sun appeared.

A short drive then took us to the independent, enclave country (1) of San Marino. San Marino was the only state (other than Vatican City) to remain independent during Italian unification in the mid 1800s. 

According to the man at the tourist information counter,

The historic center of San Marino city is high on a bluff about 20 miles from the Italian coastal city of Rimini (2). While wandering about, we noticed a large number of people with kelly-green shirts from Northern Ireland. They told us (with incredudilty as if we could not possibly know such an important fact) that San Marino was hosting Northern Ireland in a soccer world cup qualifying match that evening. The town got very quiet as evening fell. I don't know if this was typical for a Friday evening, or if everyone in the country was at home watching the soccer match.

After returning to the hotel, we watched the frequent cloud-to-cloud over the Adriatic.

Whimsical advertisement at Charleroi Airport. Belgium is presumably not known for its sunny weather.

View of the Italian coast and the Adriatic from our hotel in San Marino

San Marino city on bluff

Tower 1, San Marino. Note the green shirts of the Northern Ireland Soccer fans in the foreground

Towers 2 & 3 from Tower 1

View of Tower 1 from Tower 2

Sunset view from San Marino

Twilight at San Marino