Reflections on the trip to Ireland

 This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. It was so special to spend this amount of time with Jecca. We celebrated being 75 and 50 in a unique way.

  The Dingle Way was a challenge for me. 80 miles of hiking and walking. There were a lot of hills that we steep for me with a variety of terrain - small stones, large stones, mud etc. We walked beaches and old grassy roads (boreens). And probably more tarmac than we would have liked.

   The accommodations varied, but most were modest bed and breakfasts, several in small villages of less than 300 people. 

    The accent in Kerry is stronger than the accent in Dublin and we met many people who have lived in the same area and whose families went back generations.

  We were SO lucky to have had NO rain while we were hiking which is quite rare.

  I learned that walking is a very good way to see things. It was zen-like and it took me a day or two to realize that. At first, I wanted to "conquer" the day and tended to want to hurry. Jecca slowed me down and made me realize we had all day to get to our destination. (The days are so much longer in that latitude.) We stopped to see birds, flowers, trees, shrubs, cows, sheet.  Wild fuchsia was everywhere.  The trip out to the Blasket Islands was special and magical.

   We met friendly and memorable people along the way, although never hiked with anyone. We'd see them and chat and move on.

     It was quite a contrast to get to the hustle and bustle of Dublin and it was a bit overwhelming at first. Of course, the fact that we were there during a major rugby match and a 3-day concert made it even busier.

      It was great to get away from the horror of the American political scene, although we could not completely escape it as we did read the headlines in the morning and people did talk about it.

      I am so grateful to Jecca for challenging me to do this trip. She was patient and encouraging, never making me feel that I could not do what was in front of me, even though she knew I was afraid at times. Fording the first stream with the cleats and the rope. Descending down steep slopes. Climbing over some tricky stiles. Carrying on, especially the day I really suffered from heat. She often took my hand. 

     It was very special.

Dublin back to the U.S.A., June 22, 2025

   Today we ate breakfast at the Harding Hotel and got a cab to the airport. We had to go through 2 security checks - one Irish and one just for those going to the U.S.A. Both Jec and I got flagged by the Irish security - her for a jar of salt and me for sunscreens I had put into my boots in my bag.

   The flight was uneventful; we left Dublin around noon and arrived in Boston around 2:15. Jecca got a ride from her friend, Ruth, and I took the P & B bus from the terminal to Hyannis. From there, I took the Hyline and I was home by 6:30 to be welcomed by Mark.

   What a lot he did in my absence - installing closet doors in our bedroom, replacing the toilet seat, doing much yard work, not to mention volunteering for the Book Festival and participating in "No Kings Day." 

Jecca's Walking Tour of Dublin! June 21

 What a wonderful day - 6.2 miles and lots of sites.

 We started by walking to Dublin Castle, which is an administrative building and little remains of the castle. There is only one of the four original towers left. It was built in 1204 and became the Record Tower in 1811 and all the important documents were kept there until the 1990s when they were moved to the National Archives.

Record Tower

  Next - The Chester Beatty Garden which was beautiful and had a moving memorial to Garda who died. Some of it was based on a cut-down tree with the growth rings on a sculpture representing lives cut short.

  From there we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral which also has a beautiful garden. 

St Patrick's Cathedral

By happenstance, we took a rest on a bench with a quotation from Vaclav Havel about whom Mark wrote his MA dissertation. It was placed there by friends of Havel and the quotation around the table is, "Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred." So apt.

Barbara at the "Havel" table

Jecca at the "Havel" Table. Tributes to other literary people in the back ground.

  And, from there we walked through St. Stephen's Park to the Museum of Literature which was very thought-provoking. Poetry was everywhere and the museum was beautifully done. One of the sections that most moved us both was the letter that Oscar Wilde wrote to his lover from prison. Both of us want to find copies of it to read.

    We ate in the lovely garden there. Jecca had a salmon/avocado open-faced sandwich and I had a grilled cheese, something I rarely order.

Jec at the Museum of Literature

Beautiful rooms at the Museum of Literature

From the display of banned or "evil" literature

Lunch in Museum Garden 

Lunch in Museum Garden

     One of the museum people recommended we go next to the Seamus Heaney museum which was small and wonderful. We had a very knowledgeable receptionist (Keeva). She and Jecca had a chat about Heaney whose poems Jecca uses. In addition, Jec had seen him around the Harvard campus, but did not have a class with him. She got several collections of poetry, some of which are not available in the U.S. And, I bought one with 100 poems which spans his career. 

At the Heaney Museum

    We stopped at Sweney's Pharmacy (not misspelled) which is preserved by the James Joyce Society as it appears in Joyce's work and is a stop on BloomsDay (June 16). It is a tiny pharmacy and there was one volunteer there when we arrived. Jec bought some lemon soap, also featured by Joyce which is made by one farm in Wicklow. Then, an older gent came in, also a Joyce fan and probably a volunteer. He sang us a song in Irish. As we were leaving the first man asked where we were from and we answered, "Massachusetts." He asked for more detail and we both said, "Nantucket," but then added that she taught in Concord. He said, "Then you must be Jecca!" We almost fell over. A teacher with Jecca had been in earlier and told the man that a woman named Jecca might just be in as she teachers James Joyce. Amazing!

Sweney's - the man who said, "Jecca?"

He serenaded us

     We have been in many bookstores. We see books that are not available in the U.S. including authors like Saroyan. It is impressive. The Irish are clearly readers.

    After the Heaney museum, we walked across the river intending to get a bus to the Guinness Experience, but we realized it was only a mile, so we kept walking. We passed through a sad section with homeless and some even smoking crack. We did find a lovely coffee shop, though, and had another break before going to the Guinness place.

Coffee after a hot walk

    I have to say, I was not expecting much from this tour, but it surprised both of us because it was quite informative and interesting....and a rather Disneyesque experience. It was crowded, but like Disney, they know how to funnel people through. One of the most interesting parts was sitting and watching the clever ads that Guinness has had over the years - very inclusive and creative. We haven't seen them in the U.S. partly because alcohol was not allowed to advertise for many years. 

The HUGE (7 stories?) Guinness Building

   Then, we took a cab back to the shopping and hopping area which was so crowded and youthful. We hand-made dumplings at Little Dumpling which we thought excellent. I ordered wild mushroom ones. MMMM. From there we went to Spilt Milk for delicious ice cream - both of us had nut butter. Then, we walked home and are trying to pack everything efficiently. Jec has bought 7 books, 2 t-shirts and a few other things. My problem is that I am packing my boots and sandals, so will have clothes in my backpack, but I think we are pretty much ready for tomorrow's journey.

At "Little Dumpling"

Walking Dublin June 20

     What a great day we had. About 5.5 miles of walking. 

Christ Church

     Jecca researched a variety of restaurants so we left well prepared.

     The weather was in the 70s and pleasant as there was some cloud cover.

     Our first stop was the outside of Christ Church Cathedral.

    We then crossed the Liffey and had an amazing breakfast at Brother Hubbard. 

Brother Hubbard

River Liffey with HalfPenny Bridge

   Then, we wandered to the Old Post Office Building (gorgeous) which is near the Spire which is on the site where Nelson's Pillar used to stand. When Ireland became independent, that came down. From there we walked to get some photos of the Half Penny Bridge and then made our way to Trinity College.

Old Post Office

Old Post Office

    At Trinity College we had a tour which was excellent. We learned so much. Trinity was built by the English and was for Protestant men. When Trinity finally accepted Catholics, the Catholic Church threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who attended. Women were not accepted to Trinity until 1904.

Center of Trinity. The bell rings erratically. Legend says that if a student is under it and the bell rings, they will fail their classes. If they run out and touch a particular statue in 5 seconds, they may escape that fate.

 The architecture is impressive, but one of the most beautiful buildings was built during the Great Famine by the English. What they spent helping the poor was 1/5 the cost of the building. But, it was beautiful with more Connemara Marble than any other building in the world. But, it also was sobering to think of the imperialism involved.

  After the tour, we went into the Long Room library which is being refurbished. It is incredibly beautiful. All books published in Ireland are stored in the libraries of Trinity. From there, we went into the exhibit about the Book of Kells. Both were amazing. The Long Room is being slowly emptied so that I can be renovated, so you see a lot of empty shelves. It is amazing that the Book of Kells was saved throughout the centuries. 

The Long Room with Gaia suspended

   Next up was yet another delicious meal - this one Middle Eastern, called Tang. Jec had a flatbread filled hummus, cabbage, minced lamb, yogurt. I had a salad of grilled vegetables with beet hummus. 

Delicious food at Tang

   We then walked to our next museum - the Little Museum which is said to give a tour that takes half an hour. The building is a Georgian mansion across from St. Stephen's Park. The building was beautiful and filled with authentic artifacts. The tour, however, was very corny, so we don't give it high marks. We could have learned a lot more if they stuck to just the history.

Tour at Little Musem

 

    Then we walked back to Trinity College where we sat outside and had a rest and liquid.

Cricket clubhouse and green where we had a nice break from walking.

    Afterwards, I succumbed to buying sandals to get my poor toes out of their prison! 

    Dinner was at Kathmandu Kitchen where we both had rather spicy dishes and naan bread, but it was delicious. 

     Home by 9:00. Quite a day. We saw on t.v. that Argentina won the rugby match. There will be thousands of sad Brits in the city tonight (and our hotel) and we are happy we are in for the day.

The fans of England were EVERYWHERE by the thousands

   

Tralee to Dublin, June 19

 We left the b and b in Castlegregory by taxi which took us to the train station at Tralee. Mary, our landlady, served us the most minimal of the breakfasts we've had. "Oh now, you don't want to fuss with a big breakfast," she said. So, it was a selection of cereal, some yogurts and fruit, but with a scone, too, and some brown bread.

  The train to Mallow was on time and easy. But, the train at Mallow was super crowded because an earlier train was disabled and they put everyone on our train.

Hence, there were people in our "assigned seats" and they showed no sign of moving. But, we were lucky because there were people who had to sit in the aisles. There was no announcement by the train officials about the situation. It would have been good to have explained the problem. (We found out from the people who were next to us about the disabled train) They also should have asked if there were people who would give up their seats to the many elders who were on the floor.  And, it was hot. 

   At any rate, we arrived a bit late and we took a cab to the Harding Hotel

A needed coffee break

in the heart of the city, a hotel that Mark and I had a credit for because of our cancelled trip of the Covid year, 2020. We checked in and then went out for a much-needed iced coffee. Across the street was the Smock Theatre which was advertising a play being performed by this year's graduates of their drama school, "Counting Puffins" and we bought tickets.

   Then, we strolled to get our bearings wandering through Temple Bar, the pub district which was very crowded.

Jec found a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Our main meals were - sashimi (Jec) and ramen (me).We had goyoza and another appetizer, too. It was good. Danura, I think was the name.

 

   The play was a lot of 2fun and was in a lovely old theatre dating to 1662 (!) called the Theatre Royal on Smock Alley. It was one of the first theatres in the world to use footlights. It played to 300 people 7 nights a week and included actors such as David Garrick. But, it fell into disrepair and closed in 1787 and was used for many years in a variety of commercial ways such as a warehouse. In 1811, it became a Catholic church. (The Church of St. Michael and John or, irreverently St. Mack and Jack.But, during the Penal Times, Catholic Churches were persecuted and the bells silenced. This church was the first to ring its bell in 300 years, so earned the term, Ireland's Liberty Bell. 

   

It was not until 2012 that the building returned to its roots, 350 years after it was built and restored.

   So, it was great to be in that space and witness the energy of the 18 or so young actors who acted in a play about 2 groups stranded in the fog on a little island (InnishPuffin) off the coast of Kerry where we just hiked. It was so fitting as we would not have understood the references to places we hiked and some of the inside jokes about the area. The two groups were 7 girls who were doing community service for minor offenses and a group who were put on the wrong island for a yoga/wellness retreat and have to share the 2-bedroom hovel (with outhouse) for 2 nights and well as nurse a baby puffin and fear there is a murderer on the island. It was funny and perfect for us. The audience was made up mostly of friends and family of the actors which made it more fun.

   Then - back to the Harding and to bed.