A Musical Week

Take The Floor finale

From  Eileen's performance in "Take the Floor", the Fleadh music festival in Cavan to the pubs of Galway, it certainly has been a week of great "craic" (the Irish term for fun).
Firstly to" Take the Floor"- the lighting, costumes, music by Beoga and of course the 50 international Irish dancers made for a night of great entertainment. Eileen was graceful and made the dancing look easy. 10 days to create a performance, what an exceptional achievement!
Whilst Eileen was hard at work,Vicky, David and I took on Dublin with the help of Dolores and Paul. We had a great time together and tried our best to distract Vicky from missing her daughter.
Thursday night saw us take off to Belfast via the Fleadh Festival in Cavan. This is one of the largest annual traditional music festivals in Ireland. We specifically went to see a concert with Clannad and Altan, two of Ireland's most noted bands. Both play traditional Irish music but each have a different sound, Clannad's ethereal sound is similar to Enya's (she is the lead singer's sister) whilst Altan is more the foot-tapping jig and reel variety but they also play beautiful ballads. Both bands have been together for over 30 years and a couple of the musicians in Clannad looked like they were wearing shirts from 30 years ago. I loved the sound of Altan and their music distracted me from the hard seats, cosy closeness to the person next to me and the rain that was bucketing down outside.
Our 2 hour drive on to Belfast was not a pleasant one with the rain pouring down, and a wrong turn which meant narrow roads rather then the route we had planned. We finally arrived a little testy at about 1 am. Whilst David had a lecture the next day at the university, I had the luxury of a sleep-in, a late breakfast and a leisurely look around Belfast.  This included the Ulster Museum with 10 Da Vinci drawings, the Hop On Hop Off bus and the viewing platform at Victoria Square shopping centre. There was so much talk on the bus tour about the peace in Belfast and how much the country has changed, but this dialogue was interspersed with comment on the division that still exists. True peace will not be evident until the "peace" walls are removed and people move on without the constant reference to their past.

Ross Errily Abbey

We drove to Galway on Friday afternoon. We had spent an hour or so there with Emma and Rebecca and were determined to make it back to experience the Galway night life for which it is known. We also wanted the opportunity to see that area of Ireland as we had heard lots of things about the surrounding countryside.
So on Saturday morning, we headed towards Cong. This is a very pretty town.  I had read that if you imagined your romantic notion of an Irish village, this would be it. On the way, we went to Ross Errily Abbey. This is one of the best preserved Franciscan friaries in Ireland dating from the 14th Century. The countryside in this area is chequered with stone walled fences and filled with Connemarra Black Faced sheep.

The Hun

Near Cong is Ashford Castle. This is an amazing castle, now a 5 star hotel but in the most splendid grounds. It is set on 370 acres and has a lake at the front, turrets, fountains, woods for exploring and a nearby school of falconry. We had lunch in Cong, at the Hungry Monk cafe, before our return trip through the Connemarra district, an area of mountains, lakes and valleys.

Cong

The evening still lay ahead of us and it was the music and atmosphere of Quay Street we were looking forward to. We had a lovely dinner at the Quay Street Kitchen where the waitress suggested we go to The Crane to listen to more traditional music. It was packed with people but the music did not disappoint. 16 musicians were playing a variety of instruments with the occasional song being sung in between. It was marvelous!

On Sunday, we visited the village of Knock, an hour north of Galway, and attended mass. Knock is known for the appearance of Our Lady, St Joseph and St John the Evangelist in 1879. It is one of the major pilgrimage sites in Ireland. After visiting the Knock Shrine and browsing in the many shops selling religious items, we drove west to the coast, to Westport. South of Westport there is an imposing mountain called Croagh Patrick. Many people climb this mountain as a pilgrimage of penance as it was here that St Patrick spent 40 days and nights.

Knock Shrine

Croagh Patrick

Our weekend was fast coming to an end and so after the long drive back across Ireland, we settled into to another week at home in Dublin. Now we have Finland and Estonia to look forward to next weekend.

Musicians, The Crane Bar, Galway

Touring, Tombs and a Transvestite!

After a quiet week, taking it gently due to my mishap the previous week, we waited the arrival of Vicky and Eileen Wallace. Eileen is in Dublin to be part of a one night Irish dancing show "Take  the Floor" after being selected from dancers from around the world. Rehearsals started Monday, so we had the weekend to allow them to settle in before Eileen was off for this magnificent opportunity.

At the Ferocious Mingle Market

We managed to fit in a bit of shopping and a visit to the Ferocious Mingle Market on Sunday. This is a quirky vintage market with a touch of the eccentric and, because it was Sunday, stall holders dress up. We bought a couple of books. One Vicky found that she said was a great book was called Man and Boy.  But looking a little longer, she found the book she actually had enjoyed - Boy and Man. What was the chance of finding those two books on one second hand bookshelf? So we bought them both. There was supposed to be music that started at 1 pm but like all things Irish that does not necessarily mean 1 pm and so we left the Mingle Market without listening to the music.

Sand sculpture

Then we headed off to the sand sculptures at the neighbouring Dublin Castle and stumbled across Furlong and Kehoe, the ice cream shop where we tried ice cream flavours such as Guiness, bacon and maple syrup and  beetroot and chocolate.
Once Eileen was dropped off on Monday, David, Vicky and I set off to explore Newgrange, one of the most famous Neolithic sites (5000 years old) in Europe, which is north of Dublin. We had hired a car for the day to take us to Bru an Boinne (The Boyne Valley) as the Newgrange region is known in County Meath .

We went on the David Officer tour, which took us firstly to a place called Monasterboice. This is in a rural area close to the coast, dates back to the 6th century and is known for its elaborately carved Celtic cross, one of the largest in Ireland

Monasterboice

Amongst the ancient ruins, there are also new graves. The cemetery was alive with colour as flowers are regularly put on the graves. We came across a man standing before a newer grave that he was tending and that was decorated with marble figurines and words such as sister and friend. I asked him if the grave was special to him and he proceeded to tell us about his daughter who had died aged 12 in 2008. She loved to sing and had been in her school concert when she had fainted and in his words "was dead before she hit the floor". He said her heart just stopped beating. His story has stayed with me and moved me greatly.
The David Officer tour then took us to Mellifont Abbey, the first Cistercian monastery in Ireland,  and then on to Knowth. Knowth and Newgrange are the sites of one of the worlds most important archaelogical discoveries and is a truly amazing place.

Knowth

On top of the Knowth mound

Neolithic art, Knowth

A World Heritage Site, prehistoric passage tombs are spread across the landscape and these mounds reveal the oldest surviving traces of human activity (www.newgrange.com). The tombs at Knowth are spectacular because of the elaborate carving (Neolithic Art) on the massive kerbstones. Newgrange is impressive as an engineering feat as every year at the shortest day of the year, a single beam of light penetrates into the central chamber of the tomb. My words don' t do justice to this area.

Newgrange

How the huge kerbstones were moved across the landscape to this area can only be surmised.

Hill of Tara

On our way back home, we went via the Hill of Tara, one of the most sacred sites in Ireland.  From there you are supposed to be able to see 23 counties of Ireland. Sitting in the car for the day did mean I arrived home feeling very tender, but am determined a few cracked ribs won't spoil my time here.     Anne

PS Have returned from a night at the local pub where we played Crazy Bingo hosted by Annie Balls. Well... What can I say.... Nothing!

Ouch!!!!!!

It would seem that to go out to dinner in Dublin means visiting at least 3 venues as part of the evening. This was definitely the case last Friday night when David and I enjoyed an evening with Dermot. First stop- drinks at The  Stags Head. This bar dates back to the 1780's and as the name suggests has a huge stags head over the bar. Next  stop was dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant and finally to an old pub, Hugh's, we had previously been to, to listen to Dermots daughter play the fiddle. It was a great evening! I love listening to Dermots amusing stories about the Irish people. He told a story about an old drunk from the village out of Donegal, where he owns a holiday house. This guy sees your light on and just walks on inside for a sandwhich and then expects a lift home. This can happen at three in the morning!


On Saturday we went to an area south  east of Dublin called Glendalough, in the Wicklow Mountains. Dolores and Paul had use of a car for the weekend and invited us to join them for the day. The misty rain added to the mystic of this area which is in a valley and renowned for its early medieval  monastic settlement founded by St Kevin in the 6th century. A boardwalk takes you past ruins of an old cathedral,  a cemetery, a tall round tower which was used as a bell tower but also served as a landmark for visitors, (it could also be used as a place of refuge in times of attack), past two lakes and unfortunately lots of Italian and Spanish students. 
After leaving  Glendalough, in  pouring rain, we had a very late lunch at a pub which is at the "Meeting of the Waters". There was an art class here painting at this very picturesque spot. Then  we drove on to Avoca, known for its woollen mill.
Our final leg, took us along a winding road, where the purple heather coloured the mountains. It was here that we stopped for a photo. The view was down to a deep valley that had a couple of houses beside a meandering river. Unfortunately  I lost my footing and very nearly saw the view from the valley floor.  A couple of sharp rocks prevented me falling far, but it appears that I have torn the muscles between my ribs as a result. Apparently I can look forward to 6 weeks of discomfort!
This week will be a quiet one. Let's hope I have something to report next week.
Anne