Ireland - June, 2003

Friendly faces, good brew, wide open spaces, ever-present sheep, and of course the endlessly green rolling hills... is there anything not to like about Ireland?  It was my first journey abroad with my soon-to-be bride, Nicci - and it was not a disappointing one.  Read here for a word-formatted or html-formatted of our visit.  Pictures from the trip can be found below....

Click on the images for larger pictures.

  Brightly colored buildings along the Liffey in Dublin, near our hotel.

  Say cheese!  Sheep everywhere in this country, and they ain't shy!  (Photograph taken in the mountainous Wicklow region just south of Dublin.)

  River near Glendalough valley.  Pretty ain't it?  At the mouth of this valley the river runs down an impressive slanted waterfall... unfortunately I never got a picture of it.

  The 10-arched stone bridge across the River Nore in Inistioge, a sleepy little town just south of Kilkenny.

  Grand view from atop the hill overlooking Inistioge - this one's got it all... green rolling hills, sheep, old stone church...  pastoral Ireland.

  Some unnamed bit of a keep near Inistioge.  There are many such fortifications to be found in Ireland..

  A very tasty and well-presented crab salad at the elegant Lacken House, Kilkenny.  The award-winning dinner here was amazing.

  Front of Kilkenny Castle, a grand old structure which dominates the finely-preserved city of the same name.

  A great hall within Kilkenny Castle.

  Rose garden and fountain behind the castle.

  St. Canice Cathedral with it's ancient tower in Kilkenny.

  Another photo of the cathedral in Kilkenny.

  Bridge across King's River at the hamlet of Kells.

  Old Kells Mill (the building and Mill seem to be up for sale too....  any takers?)

  It was a pleasant walk up along the King's River towards Kells Priory.

  The ruins of Kells Priory... built here during the 12th century.  That's wee Nicci seen through the archway.

  Nicci in the crumbling remains of the priory again... which was a remarkably fortified place of worship.

  Someone's stone cottage near Kells.  Purdy flowers.

  A nifty sky-scape I caught later in the day, near Dunsmore East.

  The ancient lighthouse (still functioning) at Hooks point - viewable near our room at Dunsmore East.

  We paid a visit to the Waterford Crystal factory, with it's world-renowned glass-blowers. The craftsmen here study and apprentice for a minimum of 8 years before they're allowed to work in the production of crystal! Here is a fellow in the process of blowing the glowing-hot glass and lead mixture.

  Hot stuff!  Very neat to watch them handling the melted blobs.

  A master craftsman at work... these guys take 30 years to get that title!  (At which point they are able to make special commissioned pieces.)  Take a look at the cuts he's making in the glass by holding the whole piece against the wheel.  You can see the areas he has yet to finish.  A slightest mistake can send the whole thing back to the melting pot.

  Commissioned piece - a crystal violin at Waterford Crystals.

  Obligatory foreign toilet-bowl shot.  High volume, low efficiency.  I give them a 6/10.

  Picture of a swan Nicci took by the roadside.  They're not terribly shy.

  Here's the left-side-of-the-road-drivin' Fiesta we drove for 814 miles around the country!  Shifting with your left hand takes some getting used to.  The roads are incredibly narrow in many places in Ireland... you wouldn't want to be driving anything much bigger than this.

  Macroon - this town was host for the Iranian Special Olympic team (most every town of decent size was hosting a country for the event.)

  Lake in Killarney National Forest.  Say hi Nicci.

  Another photo near Killarney.  Say hi Steve.  Beautiful view, no?

  Another photo in the Killarney National Forest... this one from high up on the mountainside.

  Sheepies kickin' it on the roadside.  A very common sight.

  That's our car and the somewhat tropical-looking view out the window of our B&B in Kenmare.

  Drive-down beach at Inch, on the Dingle Peninsula.  Pretty cool if you don't get stuck in the sand.

  The green countryside of Dingle Peninsula (what a name eh?).

  A loggerhead turtle we saw at Oceanworld.

  The picturesque fishing-village-turned-tourist-town of Dingle.

  Here's Fungie the dolphin, a local Dingle celebrity which you can read about in the journal.  It was hard to get a good photo of his face as he jumped out of the water by our boat.

  Another Fungie-photo... this time further a way, he was popping up all over the place around our boat as the captain played a game of chase with him.

  Since I couldn't get a picture of his face, here's a scan from a postcard of Fungie the Dolphin.  Feisty fella.

  And here's me sitting on poor ol' Fungie.  Har!

  Another picturesque view of Dingle... this one from our room at Milltown House.

  Breakfast at Milltown House. deeeeeeeeeeeelicious and colorful too!  Great hosts, great place, great food.

  A restaurant built of stacked stones... no mortar is used in this method of building.  An impressive skill maintained by the people of this region.

  Here you can see the veins of stacked rocks criss-crossing the countryside of Dingle.  Many of these have been standing for over a couple thousand years.

  Nice view of the Dingle Peninsula from near a stone fort.  Here you can see more of the stacked-rock walls and sheep which permeate the region.

  Here's Nicci peeking out of an archway at a prehistoric stone fort, also made out of the same stacked rocks.

  My turn, same stone fort.  See that crack in the stones down by my feet?  That crack leads to an ancient escape tunnel that runs underneath the structure.

  Dramatic ocean view from the other end of the stone fort...  it was pretty high up on a cliffside, making it impossible to attack by water.

  One of the roofless-versions of the prehistoric beehive huts of this area.  You can see another beehive hut in the background as well.

  Another beehive hut... this one still in very good shape.  Can you believe the locals sometimes used these ancient structures as sheds??  (I think recent laws now prohibit them from harming the structures.)

  Here's a photo of us, taken from the ground up - from inside of one of the huts.

  Dead Man's Island... one of the Blasket Islands off the coast of Dingle.

  Signs of Catholicism abound in Ireland... crucifixes like these were a pretty frequent roadside sight.

  A small village overlooking a little cove and beach on the Dingle Peninsula.

  The coastal waters here were remarkably clear, clean, and beautiful.  They looked almost tropical in color... though quite cold, I'm sure.  On the upper-left hand corner you might see the white specks of seabirds there...  the dive-bombing gannets - impressive to watch.

  Billy our tour guide, standing with Nicci at the Dingle Peninsula.

  Me and Nicci.

  The Gallarus Oratory - an early Christian-built structure, also made entirely out of stacked-rock, and shaped like an inverted Viking boat-hull.  I think this one dates from the 6th century or so.  You can just see a Celtic-cross-inscribed ogham stone peeking out behind the Oratory itself.

  Nicci inside the structure, which remains quite dry, solid, and stable to this very day... nearly unaffected by the centuries, apparently.

  Interesting tree-carvings here in Dingle town.

  Picture from atop a high pass heading north across the Dingle Peninsula.  Pretty lakes like these were everywhere to be found...  as well as the sheep of course.

  Here's a picture of Nicci on the ferry we took north across the River Shannon.  Our car is on the deck below.

  Here we are at the stupendously high Cliffs of Moher.

  A better view of the cliffs.

  Nicci posing by a little mini-castle perched at the top of the cliffs... not sure how far back this one dates.

  Look real close at this picture and you can see not only the silly people in the foreground, but also the ones atop the far cliff, yeah... those wee little idjits standing at the edge.  That should give you an idea of the jaw-dropping sensation I kept getting every time I imagined them slipping off that edge.  Ayyyiiiiiiieeeeeee!!!!!  (P.S.  There were signs posted for people not to go up there too... duh.)

  Castle near Doolin at sunset.

  Okay, okay... sorry, I can't get enough of the dramatic sunset shots, so sue me!

  The remarkable moonscape of the Burren area... this place has to be seen to be believed.  Read more about it in my journal!

  Another very common sight in Ireland...  cemeteries!  You've never seen so many dead people before.  Sheesh.

  An isolated castle in the Burren region... it was quite a bumpy ride down a REALLY narrow dirt road to get to this one.

  A still-functioning well by the castle.  Sorta creepy-lookin' ain't it?

  The Poulnabrone Dolmen - a prehistoric structure erected some 5000 years ago in the Burren region.  That's a 5-ton slab of rock you're looking at there.

  More of the odd stone formations to be found in the Burren region.  Wierd and beautiful.

  Another photo of the Poulnabrone Dolmen.

  Wildflowers everywhere!  I'm sure these didn't help Nicci's allergies any either.  :(

  Check out the fractured rock-patterns in these boulders in the Burren.

  Half-toppled castles like this were everywhere in western Ireland.

  Dunguaire Castle - a simple-yet-impressive structure by Kinvara.

  The dining hall inside Dunguaire Castle.

  Here's the interior of a pub in Kinvara... fairly representative of many of the endless number of pubs you'll find in Ireland.  Lots of wood.  After driving around a while in Ireland, it starts to seem like every other building you see is a pub.

  Humorous little sign posted in a restaurant in Athlone... probably not authentic, but worth a good laugh anyways.

  The massively-walled castle of Athlone.  I'd hate to have to storm this thing.

  Here's Nicci atop the walls of the castle, with Athlone's cathedral in the background.

  That's me in the castle as well.

  View from atop the impressively-thick castle walls, looking down at the River Shannon.

  Campus of the beautiful Trinity College of Dublin... a grand old place with a long and proud history.

  That's our tour guide in front of the Berkeley Library in Trinity College (no... not THAT Berkeley Library... this is the original.)  Heh.

  The Long Library at Trinity College.  The walls were stacked floor-to-very-high-ceiling with ancient-looking tomes.  Quite an impressive place.  (Incidentally, this is also where the famous Book of Kells is housed.)

  The original deed for the Guinness Brewing factory...  giving Arthur Guinness lease to the land for 9000 years!!!

  Here's the bartender pouring us a couple pints of some very fresh Guinness.

  Parting shot of Nicci... atop the 360-degree glass-lined bar atop the Guinness storehouse in Dublin.  Cheers!

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