DOOLIN, IRELAND
GALWAY, IRELAND
My Irish luck started to turn
around when I rolled into the friendly town of Killarney. I met a 28 year-old girl from Estonia named
Maarja in my hostel. She had been living
in Sweden before finding a job in Ireland.
She worked there two days and realized she didn’t like it so she took a
different job in Poland and now had a couple weeks to kill. She had sold her entire apartment and now
everything she owned was stuffed in two suitcases weighing 45 kg. Incredible.
We went for a drink around 23:30 (yes, I’ve submerged myself in the
European culture by speaking in military time) and were completely SHOCKED by
the Killarney bar scene. It was Sunday
night and the bar was packed. The live
band was really good and the crowd was decked outp. Perhaps I shouldn’t have worn skinny jeans
with hiking shoes? Yeesh. Someone is probably featuring me on their
Trendwatch blog.
Maarja was really cool so I invited
her along for exploring the Ring of Kerry.
Throughout the car ride, she taught me a great deal about growing up
under control of the former Soviet Union.
We ferried across to the Valentia Island where we saw very modest
dinosaur imprints and hiked an impressive lookout. I couldn’t help but think just how much Ireland
encompassed the color GREEN! It looked
green, it smelled green, it tasted green, and just FELT green overall. It’s the only place where I needed sunglasses
while it rained. The showers would end
just as quickly as they began and they really were worth it- they left the
terrain so enriched. I was able to see
and enjoy so much more of the ride since I had my trusty navigator,
Maarja. Roadtrips are definitely more
fun when you’ve got good company…not ANY company…but GOOD company. And Maarja was good people. We especially enjoyed the hike that
overlooked the rock formations near the Valentia Island bridge as well as the
Lady’s View towards the end. Overall, the
Ring of Kerry was fantastic- what else can you expect with a name like that?! 
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| Maarja at the Lady's View |
Maarja and I went out again that
night (slightly more dressed up) and, again, found a great crowd and a lively
band. We had met a 37 year-old German
woman who was visiting Ireland for the 7th time! She loved it so much that she drove her van
all the way from Germany each year and spent weeks driving along the
countryside. The only other country she
had been to was Denmark. When Maarja
asked the obvious question of why doesn’t she move to Ireland if she loves it
so much, we were surprised that the woman had no answer. It was like she had never thought of the idea
before. It was kind of strange.
The next morning Maarja and I hit
the Dingle peninsula and I enjoyed it even more than the Ring. The streets were definitely getting even
narrower with each passing day in the old sod.
The speed limit was 100kph but I had trouble breaking 75 while still
feeling like I was in control. The
weather was dare-I-say WARM by Irish standards so we stopped at one of the few
sandy beaches in Ireland for a swim in the sea.
How sad that they consider this weather summer! J
Maarja was much braver in the water but she’s from Estonia! That must have felt like bath water compared
to what she grew up with! We saved room
for a giant plate of fish and chips in the fishing village of Dingle to get us
through the drive toward the17th century beehive huts along the way. We timed the ride perfectly that we caught a
nice sunset as we took the ferry across to Shannon. We hadn’t arranged accommodations for the
night and it turned out to be a good thing.
We were heading for Ennis and banged a uey in search of Doolin. It was situated very close to the Cliffs of
Moher so it would be a good starting point for the following day.
We stayed at the Rainbow Hosted that
surprisingly didn’t have a homosexual vibe despite its name and the fact that
we were the only girls in the place. It
had a strong hippy vibe though that broke out around 1:30am when they all
gathered around the wood-burning stove in the cozy common area and started
beating their African drums. The Four
Non-Blondes’ version of ‘What’s Going on’ was much better than their rendition.
I wish I could say that was the
most interesting part of our evening but it wasn’t. Earlier, we had drive the car down to the
closest put that ended up being a stone’s throw away from the hostel. We schmoozed with a cool American from Alaska
while a talented 11 year-old piper was piping!
He was incredible on the flute!
We headed for our car around 11:45pm and I noticed there was an old man
trying to get into it on the passenger’s side.
I had asked what he was doing and soon realized that he was the drunkest
man I have ever met in my life. He was
probably about 75 years old and he couldn’t even stand. He was so obliterated that he thought it was
his car! His 60 year-old friend was only
slightly less drunk and neither of them would let us near the car. When the older one took his hand off the car
and came toward me, he fell and almost cracked his head on the pavement. We went back in the bar for our Alaskan
reinforcement and he tried to coax the old timers away. The 60 year-old tried to start a fight with
him and insisted that he was drunk but he had a pee stain around his crotch
about the size of a grapefruit that made us all think otherwise. Have you ever vehemently denied your
drunkenness when you’ve already peed your pants?? Hopefully this Irish trait is not in my
family tree. With the help of a few
locals, we were able to assist the old timers to the NEXT car over where they
could hold on for dear life until the spins ran their course.
We had some phenomenal weather the
next morning at the Cliffs of Moher! We
walked along the ridge and looked over at the many cliffs of shale and
sandstone that dramatically dropped into the oceanic abyss. I was embarrassed when I finally asked
Maarja, ‘Soooo, is that it?’ It’s not
that they weren’t impressive- it’s just that it wasn’t clear if the Cliffs
referred to the impressive cliff to the left or the impressive cliff to the right
or the entire coast that was in view.
She was thinking the same thing!
I sheepishly asked some nearby tourists and they admitted it too! I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who didn’t
know. In case you’re in the same
predicament in the future, the Cliffs of Moher refer to the entire area in
view- all were over 600 feet above the water and all were inspiring.
Maarja and I continued on through
the beautiful Burren region near Ballyvaughan where the stones seemed to be
sprouting up right from the patchy grass.
There were many camps and tents independently set up along the coast and
I was reassured that this was a good life indeed. Waking up in a tent next to the ocean in the
FILL IN THE BLANK region would knock the socks off any 5 star all-inclusive resorts. Well, it would knock mine off.
Thanks to my Uncle Jimmy’s devotion
to our family’s genealogy I was able to track down some of our ancestry in
Ireland on my mother’s side! My father
had always insisted that my mother descended from leprechauns....there was no
better explanation for her shortness. J I was interested in putting the rumors to rest! I didn’t have an email address but I knew this
woman taught at the University of Galway.
I sent a hopeless email to the default address for her department and it
actually got to her! And she
answered! Maria Tuohy was SO excited
that I had reached out and she insisted that we get together in Galway during
my visit! I cannot believe that I was
able to track down family and set up dinner all within 3 days of a random
email. I knew they were going to be
great from the very beginning!
They surprised me by reserving a
lovely Guesthouse for my last night in Ireland- incredibly thoughtful. It felt SO nice to have my own room and
organize everything the night before my next move! I set out to explore the vibrant college town
of Galway and wrote a couple postcards while I anxiously awaited the arrival of
Justin, Maria’s brother, who would join us for dinner. Upon first impression, Justin could have
served as the stunt double for Liam Neeson…so we could be related to Liam too! He was incredibly warm and welcoming. We picked up Maria and they took me for a
walk along the pier before settling down for dinner. Maria was so sweet and it
was remarkable to see the family resemblances in just a few hours of getting
acquainted. Justin politely waited until after dinner to
bring out the extensive family tree he started working on only three days
earlier when he received my email! Those
O’Hara’s know how to work hard and smart!
We traced back the tree and discovered that my great-grandfather and their grandfather were
brothers. Of the nine siblings that left
Ireland in search of work in the USA, 4 of them returned. It was a really fun night and I felt so lucky
to be related to such kind and generous people!
And smart! Oh and good-lookin' too! Check out the photo :)
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| Justin, me and Maris with our family tree! |
Click on this link to
see all the other great pictures from Northern Ireland (you don’t need a
facebook account to view the photos): http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.915265897657.2363180.1611207&l=89eddb9a9b&type=1
FOODS I TRIED- Guinness,
Coddle Stew, Dark and Stormy, crazy good assorted sushi, local cider beer
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