Ireland: Winterfell, Direwolves, and the Iron Throne
July 31, 2016 It’s just before 10:00 am when our van pulls into Inch Abbey. We’re not quite sure why we’re here, except that this is where we’ll be meeting our tour guide. There are seven of us on today’s tour: a couple in their 20s, two Swedish gals, a local father and son who are up to Belfast for …
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Ireland: Game of Thrones Tour: Dark Hedges, Carrick-a-rede Bridge, and the Giant’s Causeway
July 30, 2016 It’s just after 9:00 am when our Game of Thrones tour bus pulls away from Town Hall, and already I’m having the best day. After yesterday’s tight schedule and go, go, go feeling, it felt great to wake up, walk the 40 minutes into downtown Belfast, and place my schedule in the hands of our tour guide. …
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Ireland: First impressions of Belfast, Part 3: The Peace Wall
July 27, 2016 Your steps are light and springy as you leave the Crumlin Road Gaol. Your first day in Belfast has gone like clockwork, and now there’s only one stop left: the Peace Wall in west Belfast. It’s a calm, balmy Friday evening as you head south towards Cupar Way. You cross Shankill Road and enter the Shankill neighborhood, …
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Ireland: First Impressions of Belfast, Part 2: Crime & Punishment at the Crumlin Road Gaol
July 27, 2016 You’ve been walking for 30 minutes on this beautiful July afternoon, and already you feel a world away from the heart of Belfast. You’ve definitely entered suburbia. The traffic hurries from place to place, and hair salons, computer repair stores, and betting parlors line the streets alongside gas stations and apartment buildings. When you see the Crumlin …
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Ireland: First Impressions of Belfast, Part 1: Opulence
July 27, 2016 It is a typical overcast Irish morning as you cross the border from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland. The express bus is moderately full but quiet as it speeds along the motorway, the scenery mostly trees and traffic. You’ve been up since early this morning, and with nothing to hold your attention you slide into …
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Ireland: The Wicklow Mountains and Medieval Kilkenny
July 24, 2016 It’s not quite noon as the tour bus pulls away from Glendalough, and already I feel full to the brim. Running on little sleep and an early morning adventure getting to the tour bus, I’d like nothing more than to take a nap as we climb higher into the Wicklow Mountains. But the beauty of the Wicklow …
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Ireland: The Monastery & Twin Lakes of Glendalough
July 24, 2016 The sanctuary stone is cool and rough under my fingers, the ancient paving stones uneven beneath my feet. My fingers follow an ancient ritual: for 1400 years, the stone’s carved cross has provided protection to those who seek it. This is my first visit to Glendalough, one of Ireland’s most important monastic sites, and already the valley’s …
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Ireland: Puissance and Pony Club Games at the Dublin Horse Show
July 23, 2016 I am relaxed and carefree as I leave my townhouse in north Dublin and catch the DART down to the Royal Dublin Society grounds. The morning is halfway gone, and it feels marvelous to not be up at the crack of dawn. In fact, everything about today feels different than my usual days out. Since I arrived …
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Ireland: A Pilgrimage to Ballykissangel
July 16, 2016 I have always thought that people who visit TV and film locations are a bit odd. I understand visiting historical sites, castles and battlefields and such. There’s an imprint of the lives lived in those places, and the feeling that those lives changed the way our world works today. It’s hard to believe a TV or movie …
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Ireland: A Morning at Killruddery House, a 400-year Old Working Estate
July 4, 2016 On my last day on the Dublin Coast, I awake to a grey, windy, damp morning. It doesn’t look very promising as Simon, Jeanne, and I climb into the car for the short drive to Killruddery House. Unlike Powerscourt, which has the sterile feeling of a showpiece that is no longer lived in, Killruddery House is a …
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