November 28-December 1
On the afternoon of November 28th, Shaun and I made a pit stop in a town called Ballyhaunis in County Mayo, Ireland. Ballyhaunis is a small town of about 4700 people and most tourists probably never hear of it. We were there because this town was important in my family history. My grandparents were married here on April 25, 1927. I'm sure the town looked very different back then, but the church, which was built in 1909, has probably remained very much the same. Shaun and I walked around outside and took some pictures before finally heading in. It was really interesting to sit quietly in the pews on a rainy afternoon so many years later.
Standing outside St Patrick's Cathedral in Ballyhaunis, Ireland
That evening we made our way back through the very wet roads into Galway. We had decided to stay one night in Galway instead of driving all the way to Dublin after Ballyhaunis and we were certainly happy about that decision considering the bad weather. We booked a room at a little B&B in the Salthill area called Claremount House. The owner was a lovely woman named Anna who took one look at us and brought us a pot of tea and some homemade bread to warm us up from our cold, rainy journey. We were only staying one night so after our tea we headed into town to have dinner and a beer or two.
We had a nice little dinner at a restaurant called the Spanish Arch and then we were off on a mission. There was really just one place we wanted to go back to on our stop in Galway: the Quays Bar. We had been to Galway in 2004 and both of us had great memories of the Quays. (pronounced Keys). It is an old pub which is partially constructed from the remains of an French Medieval Church. There are beautiful stained glass windows, gothic arches and wooden pews. There's even a pulpit overhanging the bar below, so you can give a fiery sermon from the pulpit if you want! (I did of course!) We hung out at the Quays for a while and relived our 2004 memories before heading back up to the Claremount House to bed.
Some of the stained glass windows inside the Quays
My Fiery Sermon on the Evils of the Drink!
The next day we started out with a hearty Irish breakfast at the Claremount house. If you go to England and Ireland I strongly suggest staying at the B&B's, if only for the breakfast! There were eggs and sausage, tomatoes and mushrooms and homemade brown bread with jam and butter. Top it off with a carafe of strong coffee and we were ready for the drive back to Dublin! We had to return the car to the Dublin airport so we headed out right after breakfast.
Two and a half hours later we arrived at Dublin airport where we dropped off the car and made our way to our B&B. The Shantalla Lodge was another beautiful little place run by a sweet woman named Moira who was about my age. It was outside the center of the city a ways, but on a number of main bus routes which was fine with us. We had both been to Dublin in 2004 so we didn't feel that sense of urgency you get when you are in a brand new city for a very short time. As it was, we did a pretty good job of packing a lot of fun into a very short time!
The first night we took the bus into Dublin to go to dinner at a place called MJ O'Neill's. Getting there was half the fun! The way the buses work in Dublin is you tell the driver your stop and he tells you the fare. We weren't sure what stop O'Neills was at so we initially told the driver O'Connell street, which is the hub of the downtown area. Eventually we realized we needed to go further so Shaun went to tell the driver. He told him were going to O'Neills and the driver told him what stop to get off and said not to worry about the extra fare. Shaun walked back to our seats and we waited for the stop. Then when we were driving past the street that O'Neills was on, he pulled the bus over for a few seconds and yelled back to us just to point it out! You are not going to see that happen in Boston! Everyone looked over us to see who the driver was talking to- we were both cracking up.
MJ O'Neills in Dublin
The food was traditional Irish. Lamb Stew and Corned Beef!
O'Neills is an old pub in the heart of the city that serves traditional Irish food. It operates like a cafeteria, where you take a tray and head over to the carvery and order up what you would like for dinner, then order your pint and take it all to a table. Shaun ordered a corned beef dinner and I ordered some lamb stew and we both had a Guinness to wash it all down. After dinner we walked around the city for a while before heading back to the B&B.
The next morning we had another fabulous Irish breakfast at the Shantalla Lodge and then headed into Dublin early. There was a free walking tour at 11am that we both wanted to attend, so we got some coffees and headed over to city hall where the tour was to begin.
The tour was excellent. Our tour guide was a guy named Robbie who was a real history buff. You could tell he really enjoyed giving the tours and we found him both interesting and very entertaining. We walked all over the city, from Dublin palace and castle to the two protestant Cathedrals, Christ Church and Saint Patricks. We walked through Trinity College and over the Ha'Penny bridge and we had coffee in Temple Bar. We walked through St Stephen's Green and talked about the great famine at the Famine Memorial. We stood at the end of O'Connell Street and talked about the Millennium Spire that was completed two years too late in 2002.
Shaun and I behind Dublin Castle, in front of the Carriage House. The Carriage House is really just a facade that was built to hide the poor from the visit of Queen Victoria
The famine memorial on St Stephens Green. Quite a moving statue.
Robbie also told great stories. My favorite one was about how Bono and the Edge from U2 went to the Clarence hotel for a drink after one of their early gigs and were turned away from the fancy hotel bar. As they left, angry and embarrassed, they retorted that they were going to be rich and famous someday and when that happened they were going to buy that Hotel and fire them all. Guess who owns the Clarence Hotel now? (And many other buildings in the Temple Bar area!)
The Clarence Hotel in Dublin, now owned by Bono and The Edge
Another great story involved a Plaque on the O'Connell Bridge commemorating the death of Father Pat Noise, "under suspicious circumstances". The plaque appeared out of nowhere in 2004 and after trying fruitlessly to find out who Father Pat Noise was, the Dublin city council decided it was a hoax and ordered it removed. The people of Dublin, upon hearing that the plaque would be removed started putting up makeshift tributes and memorials to the ficticious preist and the Council finally aquiesced and allowed the plaque to stay. Two brothers eventually fessed up to the hoax but the plaque still stands to this day.
The Plaque to Father Pat Noise on the O'Connell Bridge
By the time the tour ended we had been walking around for 3 1/2 hours-- on a free tour! We had all gotten to know each other a bit during those hours so when Robbie suggested that we all might like the Pub crawl that evening as well, it was a no brainer! Everyone tipped Robbie well for the fabulous tour and vowed to meet back up again that evening for the Pub Crawl.
By now it was almost 3PM so Shaun and I went to get a bite to eat and then headed back over to Trinity College to see The Kells. The Book of Kells is an ancient copy of the four gospels that dates back to around 500 AD. The book is famous for the lavish decorations throughout the manuscript. They only display two pages of the Book of Kells at any time, but they have an excellent exhibition leading up to the viewing that shows in great detail how much work and time (40 plus years) went into the creation of this book. It is amazing that the book survived at all over 1500 years, and even more amazing that it is such good condition. If you find this kind of thing interesting, I would highly recommend a novel called "The People of the Book" by one of my favorite current authors, Geraldine Brooks. Hers is historical fiction about a Jewish Haggadah that survived for centuries before turning up in Sarajevo, but it gives great insight into what it must have taken to keep a book like this safe during some of our more turbulent periods in history.
After the Kells, we set off in different directions. Shaun was off to Cross-Fit Galway to get in a work out and I was off to find someone to cut my hair! The last time I had a haircut we were in Paris, so it was getting pretty unruly. I wandered around the O'Connell street area for a while before finally finding someone who could take a walk-in haircut. Less than a hour later I was back on the street, a little lighter on top and ready for our Pub Crawl!
The Pub Crawl was loads of fun. Our guide for the night was a guy named Ronan who did the Sanderman tours when he wasn't playing in his band, Funzo. He was a great host. The Pub crawl cost $11 euro and included free drinks at a bunch of pubs. Shaun and I started out sitting at a table with an engaged couple, Mark and Caroline, who were both from New Zealand but currently live in Australia. Caroline had been on the road for about as long as we had and Mark had just joined her to do a few months of travel himself. We shared lots of travel stories and gave each other tips on places to go in our journeys. We had our free Guinness or Cider and got to know each other a bit. It was all quite civilized. Then we moved on to the next pub.
Shaun with Mark, Caroline and Halina at the beginning of the Pub Crawl
At that point, the free drinks became a little more potent than Guinness. In fact, many of the free drinks were actually shots! Other than a half-shot of Tequila, I passed on most of the hard stuff. I know myself well enough to know that I just can't handle it. My husband on the other hand, thinks he is twenty! By the end of the night Mark, Ronan and Shaun were rapping, break-dancing and just generally getting down in Dublin. The highlight for me was when Shaun pulled off his sweater and started doing "the worm" on the floor of the pub. The look on Caroline's face was priceless. It was all quite hilarious.
The dancing was in full swing
Ronan busting a move
The next day was a travel day. I woke up a little tired, but not feeling too badly considering the late night. Shaun on the other hand was looking a little gray. It didn't help that we had to take the bus to the airport for our flight to Budapest and the bus we boarded was hot as Hades. By the time we got to Dublin airport he was absolutely green. Luckily we had arrived at the airport with plenty of time. We went through check-in and then I grabbed a coke for Shaun while I looked around for some food. I found a Thai place that looked like it would fit the bill. We sat down and ordered some Pad Thai and Spring Rolls for both of us and a hot and spicy soup for Shaun. I was quite relieved as I saw the color creeping back into his face! For a while there I thought we were going to end up quarantined in Dublin by airport security!
Oh how this photo makes me laugh! This was obviously before he got some food in his system!
So with my newly revived husband, we boarded our flight to Budapest. We had two more weeks of travel to go and we were pretty excited about our next destinations. We would start in Budapest, make our way to Vienna, Austria and then finish up in Germany, where it all started so many months ago! Our 3 week hiatus to Ireland and the UK was a real treat, especially because we were able to speak to everyone in English. Our last two weeks would be in Hungarian and German, but at this point we were ready for whatever came our way. Next stop, Budapest!
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