Powerscourt Gardens and Glendalough

Trees at Powerscourt

e love going to gardens of all kinds, and Powerscourt, just southwest of Dublin, is Ireland’s gem. Lots of grand houses and wealthy families have done great gardens over the centuries, but the cool thing about Powerscourt is the conservation management they have accomplished over all these years. It is a splendidly laid out and organized combination of formal garden and the wild beauty of the surrounding land. We especially enjoyed using the tree map to see the wonderful variety of conifers and deciduous trees planted here. At the end there was a pair of gorgeous borders, and two huge dahlia and rose beds. Even though it is the end of September, there are flowers blooming everywhere in Ireland. All along the roads there are huge hedges of fuchsia and stand and stand of blazing orange Crocosmia. There are still Gladioa blooming and lots dahlias, begonias, and other things that would be long gone elsewhere. The whole island is a garden.

After Powerscourt (where it seemed the whole population of Spain had descended) we headed, with one brief wrong turn, to the ancient monastery site of Glendalough. This is a very popular weekend and holiday destination for the Irish and, as this was a Sunday, they had definitely arrived! But we managed to find a parking spot and wandered off into these very old stone buildings. St. Kevin was the founder, and his chapels and huts fill not only the little village where the main monastery buildings are, but move right on up this mountain valley with hermit huts and special chapel spaces. I am always astounded at the ingenuity and care that went into all these communities. There is a round tower here, as there is for each monastery site in Ireland. When the Vikings, or the Normans, or whoever was on the attack, the monks would put a ladder up and haul all the treasure up into the top windows of the tower and then go there themselves and wait it out. Very smart.

Glendalough

Our day ended at Bailey’s Hotel in Cashel for a two-night stay. It’s a good spot, and we’re looking forward to exploring the famous Rock of Cashel in the morning.

The next day in Cashel proved exciting - rain, rain, rain. The Rock of Cashel is an old friary and cathedral that is largely intact in its wall structures. It sits high on a rock above this lovely town. It was a short walk from our hotel. And it was rainy horribly! Just buckets and buckets and buckets of water. We were relieved to be able to sit in a room for a video which wasn’t happening, but we had a good conversation with a couple from Los Angeles who used to be from Seattle. We finally got to see the video and the explore the ruins of this pretty amazing sight.

The Rock of Cashel

The need to be dry finally got the better of us, and we headed back to the hotel and hung up our wet clothes. Yikes! We had dinner again in the excellent bistro at Bailey’s Hotel and closed the place down in a long conversation with an English couple. 

Dublin

On September 18 we went to Dublin. It was an easy trip from Dun Laoghaire on the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit). Our first stop was at the Gresham Hotel to meet with Sean Quinn, genealogist and owner of My Ireland Heritage. He does family research and also tours with people to their ancestral homelands in Ireland. Larry has been trying to pinpoint the places where his great-grandfather Dominick (who came to the US) and Dominick’s father Thomas (who stayed in Ireland) are from. It’s been an interesting journey, and Sean Quinn really put it together for us. He is an interesting person who had another career in tourism before starting this family business. (His daughter and son-in-law help out.) We were impressed with his expertise and his love for his country. One of the problems with doing genealogical research in Ireland is that there are no records from 1821-1911. They were all burned in the Civil War. He also shared with us that many of the Catholic parishes have just thrown out their registers as they remodeled or rebuilt buildings, and that many of the priests just don’t have time to be bothered with the history. So it’s pretty difficult to locate specifics.Tax records are the real clue, and Sean gave us a lovely package of locations, directions, and information. It was well worth the time and money.

Old Library, Trinity College

After our meeting with Sean we headed to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Old Library. We learned there was a student-led tour that would include those places, and those are always fun, so we signed up and went to have sandwich before the tour began. School is just getting underway in these parts, so we watched new undergraduate and graduate students lining up as you always do at school for the many aspects of their orientation.

The tour was terrific, with an entertaining English Literature major. See the book of Kells was amazing - what a thing that is! The Old Library is beautiful. Books are organized in a very particular fashion - big books on the bottom shelved, small books on the top! Their current exhibit was about books that draw their inspiration from myths of all kinds, so we saw first editions of Lewis, Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling. We also saw a children’s book of Irish myths by one Malachy Doyle, who we will be visiting on September 27. You’ll read more about that then!

After Trinity College we headed off to see the Jennie Johnston boat and famine museum, stopping along the way for a beer at Sweetman’s. Many people who fled the Irish potato famine died en route to the US. The Jennie Johnston took thousands of passengers and there was not one death. Sadly, we got there after the tours for the day had stopped. I had pretty much stopped, too, and the beer hadn’t helped! But we refreshed ourselves and headed off for the Chester Beatty Library, a fabulous collection of books and manuscripts. It was really worth the walk, and we saw the oldest extant fragments of letters from St. Paul. Way cool.

In September every year Ireland has what they call a culture night all over the country. September 18 was the day, and it was festive everywhere. There are lots of free things of every variety. We stopped at Christ Church Cathedral (Dublin’s Anglican - Church of Ireland - Cathedral) where they had a huge food fair in the close and music in the nave. The place was packed. We heard the end of an organ recital and then the Cathedral Choir had a brief concert which included two pieces from  Handel's Messiah at the end. When Messiah was first performed in Dublin, the choir was that of Christ Church Cathedral. (It was in a concert hall, not the church.) Lots of fun.

The choir at Christ Church, Dublin

 We ended the evening with dinner at The Brazen Head, Dublin’s oldest pub. Dinner was accompanied by Rugby on television, the item everywhere. We seem to be good at landing in these countries during major sporting events! In 1998 we followed the World Cup (soccer) from place to place, even being in Paris for the final when France won! Now we’re following the Rugby World Cup everywhere. It is a passion in this country for sure.

The DART brought us back to Windsor Lodge late and we slept very well.

Dun Laoghaire

We took the ferry from HolyHead, Anglesey, Wales around noon on the 17th. The ferry goes to Dublin Port and we made our way with little difficulty to our wonderful B and B - Windsor Lodge - in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced “Dun Leery”), a south suburb of Dublin. Our hosts were gracious enough to welcome us a little early, so we were able to have a nap. We went for a long walk in the town along the coast, including a most interesting stop at the James Joyce museum in Glasthule. It’s in a round tower near where he stayed, and some lines from Ulysses are descriptive of that place. Joyce and Ulysses are everywhere around Dublin. His depiction of Leonard Bloom’s day is so precise to the area that businesses and communities post the lines on walls and street corners, on business fronts, and on restaurant menus. My favorite is the Nichols’ funeral home on Pearse Street in Dublin which proudly boasts the quote that names it in brass letters on an outside wall. I’ve never read Ulysses (and am disinclined to do so), but it seems to have a lot to do with death. We scoped out restaurants on our walk and ended up in an Italian place that was pretty good.

Windsor Lodge

The second day of a trip I always ask myself why I’m doing this. Why travel? What’s the point when you have a perfectly good place to be at home, friends and family to be with, and good and useful occupation? It’s a good question, I think, and worth asking as we set out. I don’t know if I yet have an answer, but am exploring the question on each day.

The Windsor Lodge in Dun Laoghaire is really nice. Mary Farrell has been doing this for a long time, and she’s good at it. It’s a very pleasant house in a lovely neighborhood, with good access for the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) to get into Dublin. We were there two nights. It’s a Rick Steves’ recommendation, so there were lots of Americans!

Trearddur Bay, Anglesey, Wales

We’ve begun a month-long trip in Ireland and the UK. Yesterday was long - arrived at Heathrow, got our car, drove 5.5 hours to Wales! Pretty tiring, but it worked. This morning we take the ferry to Ireland for a two-week journey that includes locating (we hope) the place where Larry’s great-grandfather was from. We’ve not been to Ireland before and are looking forward to it.

I did some related reading for our trip and the books are sort of interesting to share. One is a series called The County Cork mysteries by Sheila Connolly. This is not great literature, and with the exception of too much repetition and a bit of overwriting, these are good plots with good characters and she really knows the area well. There are three to date: Buried in a Bog, Scandal in Skibbereen, and An Early Wake. She uses real places and streets and buildings, which I really like. (That’s why I can never read one Seattle author - can’t remember her name right now - because her mysteries are set in Seattle and she uses the real locations with different names. Drives me nuts.) Anyway, The County Cork mysteries are fun, quick reads.

And since we are in Wales, I also read Finding Camlann by Sean Pidgeon. This is a really good novel about archaeology related to the legends of Arthur. Really well done and a great read. Lots of historical detail, and he clearly knows the subject.

I’m re-reading Peter Ackroyd’s London, an interesting approach to London’s history and present. And, for Ireland, I’m reading Simon Rutherford’s first book in the three-part Dublin Saga: The Princes of Ireland. I enjoyed Sarum, and this is starting out well.

So I do hope to keep the blog up on this trip. Stay tuned!