Where's me jumper? Ireland!!!

This afternoon I find myself in quite the unexpected situation – lying on a couch in the sun, on a balcony in Würzburg, Germany. Making the experience even more authentic ‘Deutschlandish’ is the luxury Mercedes dealership and car-yard the apartment overlooks, the smell of last night’s Wurst and Kammsteak dinner still wafting from the BBQ next to me, and the multiple crates of Flötzinger Bräu Beer stacked next to me – no doubt waiting for someone to find some energy and inspiration in the great weather to deal with them. I have become quite well acquainted with this exposed-to-the-elements couch (it has been my bed for the last couple of nights!), and while I am sure my choice of accommodation is not typical for this rather affluent area, I do consider myself quite the hero of the neighbourhood – I am the self-appointed protector of the entire luxury fleet of Mercedes vehicles below!!! I challenge you to find a guard dog that can not only watch over a full luxury car-yard, but can also dial the Polizia! Of course, I also challenge myself to be able to communicate with the operator once the call goes through.

After a whirlwind week back in Australia, my travels have now resumed as planned, and I am looking forward to three weeks of everything German (I may even try some of the food, just to mix things up a bit!), before heading north to Denmark, and then on to the UK for the remainder of the European summer. My well-intentioned plans to get up-to-date with my blog on the 28 hour journey back to Europe died at the exact moment the family of seven (with new-born twins, and one particularly pesky pair of 8 year old legs that enjoyed the back of my seat) sat down behind me on the plane, and any thoughts of catching up stayed hidden for the duration of the journey. Not that I would complain about such things – it was only a Sydney to Frankfurt flight… a mere 19 hours of fun!

My last entry finished off in Italy – thoroughly wined and dined – and after saying goodbye to Clem, Eliza and Lee, it was time to get in touch with my inner Leprechaun, as the next chapter of my journey began – Ireland!

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Flying into Dublin, I jumped straight on a train to Galway, crossing the entire country in only just over an hour and a half – a preposterous feat for someone from a country which takes over 5 hours to cross by plane! Galway is the third largest city in Ireland, and as one of the highlights of my time in Ireland in 2009, was a definite on my itinerary for this visit. Not only does Galway offer a seemingly endless supply of cosy, warm, live-music filled pubs, natural beauty, and a trashy silent-disco scene; it also offers one particularly entertaining tourist attraction – Andrea.

Clem, Andrea, James

I met red-and-green-vintage-clothes-rack Andrea late last year in Adelaide, exploring the city (she had only lived in Adelaide for a few months, but knew much more about it than I did!) before venturing on an unforgettable Barossa wine-tour with friends. Andrea, who spent all of 2011 traveling around Australia, has now returned home to Galway to work at the Galway Arts Festival – which suited my travel plans just fine! I think I knew I was in for a great couple of days when Andrea’s first three questions for me were, ‘Do you drink Guinness?’, ‘Have you had a Guinness yet?’, and ‘Shall we have a Guinness now?’. And this was just day one.

MMM! Breakfast!

I spent a week in Galway, joined a couple of days in by Clem, who had also decided to head to Ireland, and then Ali, who after traveling with me for two weeks in India, thought she could cope with some more, and flew to Ireland to meet up after her uni placement in Edinburgh. Needless to say, my week in Galway was a social experience! I would love to be able to sit here and detail all the tourist sites of Galway, explain the history of the city, and make suggestions for other travellers… however the reality is I really didn’t see tourist Galway at all! My week was spent drinking Guinness (only after 9am of course), eating stodgy, fatty, greasy black-and-white-pudding Irish breakfast (all day of course), and moving from one pub to the next every night in search of an open-mic or live music. It is a hard life for some of us!

However, even the good times have to end, and nearing the end of our week in Galway, and having achieved little other than BFFriending a Canadian soldier on leave from Afghanistan, and Ali and I picking up a cold, the three of us decided to get out of the city for a day, booking a Connemara day trip, and were soon off in search of the natural beauty Ireland is so famous for. The Connemara region stretches through 'Joyce Country', between the Killary Harbour and Kilkieran Bay on Ireland's west coast, and is home to mountains, rivers, streams, ruins, megalithic tombs, quaint country villages... and sheep! Like much of Ireland, the area has a long and confusing history, with the Vikings, Normans, British, Catholics and Protestants all getting themselves involed in one way or another, and the region is now home to a number of historical religious sites... and did I mention sheep?

Our day trip was a bit of fun (the driver quickly noticed how easy a target Clem is for a wide range of jokes/marriage proposals), and took us through the stunning Irish countryside, winding through valleys, past waterfalls, and along country roads which seemed to have been purpose-built for the filming of PS I Love You.

Kylemore Abbey

We spent our afternoon wandering the gardens of the Abbey, learning the history of the often-contentious England/Ireland relations, and every fact and figure ever known to mankind about the potato – without doubt a thrilling vegetable, and well worth further research. The draw-card of the trip, Kylemore Abbey, was absolutely spectacular. An 1860's private-residence-turned-Benedictine-monastery, the Abbey overlooks a picture-perfect private lake, and the property contains a 6 acre Victorian walled garden - which today still only contains plants grown domestically in Victorian times.

Heading back to Galway, we were once again off to the pub for dinner, and while Clem opted for the usual pint of Guinness, Ali and I really decided to live dangerously, washing our meal down with a hot Lemsip Max. We really are out of control!

After a week of great laughs, great fun, and some extreme reminiscing on times in Adelaide, it was time to leave Galway behind, and the three of us took the train (on which an old Irish man offered me €50 for Clem, and €30 for Ali – obviously he prefers blondes!) to the Irish capital, Dublin.

Settling into our hostel, we all fell dangerously in love with the ensuite shower (which I swear drenched me in more water in a minute than the total annual rainfall in Australia!), before heading out to wander the city streets, river and shopping centres for the afternoon. Originally a Viking settlement, Dublin city lies on the banks of the River Liffey, and grew rapidly in the 17th century to become the second largest city in Europe at the time. Today the city has a population of just over 1 million, and is particularly well known for it's art and cultural scene, and it's rather unpleasant history as the location of the 1916 Easter Uprising, and subsequent Irish War of Independence.

Up early the next morning, it was time to get our tourist on, as we joined a three-day Paddywagon tour to Northern Ireland, meeting our almost completely Australian tour group, and setting off to learn some of the history of both the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland, and see some of what the two have to offer. Luckily our tour guide knew his Irish history (and what seemed like every fact and figure ever known!), because in every other aspect of the tour (and of being a decent human being) he let us all down terribly! The tour took us north through Drogheda and Monaghan, where we were left to explore the small towns by foot, before heading to Derry for the night, where we learnt about both the ancient and recent history of Northern Ireland, and were able to see some of the still visible signs of unrest and tension in the community.

The recent history of Northern Ireland has been particularly turbulent at times, and while the country remains part of the United Kingdom and is relatively safe for tourists, much of what we saw on the streets, and in the communities is a far cry from what is seen in the rest of the UK. The country declared independence from The Republic of Ireland in 1921, however this push for independence came primarily from the unionists (Protestants), and was not supported by the country's nationalists (Catholics). Many of the issues associated with this initial disagreement are still seen in society today, and communities are divided both physically, and emotionally by these differences. Protestent houses across the country are inundated with British flags, banners and bunting, while Catholic households cover their houses in the green, orange and white of the Irish flag. Disagreements, arguments and violence still erupt between these two groups, and as I asked a local man in Derry - you wouldn't even add someone on Facebook if they were from the opposite side of the divide!

The Giant's Causeway

Leaving Derry the next morning, we were off in search of The Giant’s Causeway - an area of approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, on the north coast of Northern Ireland. Legend would have us believe the causeway was created when Finn McCool - an Irish warrior - fooled a Scottish Giant into believing he was the oversized offspring of an even bigger Irish Giant. In the Scottish Giant’s haste to retreat the terrifying Irish beast, he is said to have destroyed a rock bridge which linked the two countries together – creating the haphazard rock causeway which today attracts around 100,000 visitors each year. Science however would have us believe a different story, in which the rock formations are the result of volcanic activity between 50 and 60 million years ago. Science tells us molten basalt formed a volcanic plateau, and the cooling of this plateau, and the chalk beds below the ground, led to the creation of this unusual formation. I'll let you decide! 

We spent a couple of hours at the Causeway, posing with the rock formations, dreaming up cover photos for our debut rock-star albums, and thoroughly enjoying watching Ali get followed around the site by a creepy old man who kept his camera permanently zoomed in on her denim-clad backside. Perhaps he would have beaten the previous €30 offer?

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

From the Causeway, we headed further east along the spectacular coast, to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge – a 20m wide, 23m high bridge which links the mainland to a small island off the coast. The bridge, which was originally built to provide local fishermen access to their nets on the island, is today an overpriced, yet extremely popular tourist destination. The original bridge (which was repaired, and then replaced many times over the years) is nowhere to be seen, however the current bridge is fairly sturdy, and while the rope structure still does swing in the breeze (and when I jumped on!), the views, birdlife and natural beauty of the island are well worth the crossing. 

With the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge behind us, it was time to head still further east to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, and home to the palatial ‘Paddy’s Palace Hostel’ (the showers didn’t work, the rooms reeked, the WiFi was broken, and kitchen would have made it onto A Current Affair… and Paddywagon were somehow proud enough to call this their ‘Palace’???). Belfast, an industrial city known most famously as the city in which the Titanic was built, lies on the north coast of Northern Ireland, and has a population of only just over half a million. The city is divided by a series of 'Peace Walls', which separate the Catholic and Protestant communities.

The next morning, we joined a Black Taxi Tour, learning about the history of unrest in Belfast, the history of conflict between the Catholic and Protestant groups, and the Peace Walls which still operates today, dividing the city into two sections every night from 6pm. The walls, which have become both a visible memorial to lives lost, and a visible and highly publicised space for political protest, stretch for over 21km, and divide the Catholic and Protestant communities of the city, with four main gates which close daily at 6pm. 

We spent the next morning exploring the city of Belfast (where Ali and I stumbled on the most amazing scone in the whole entire world!), before spending a couple of hours exploring the new, multi-million dollar ‘Titanic Museum’ – a huge, impressive building… which would have been great if I was more interested in the Titanic!!! The museum has exhibits dedicated to both the physical construction and ‘destruction’ of the boat, as well as the stories of a selection of passengers and crew, and a ‘ride’ which takes you through the hull of the boat during the construction phase – the safety warnings, height restrictions and line up turned out to be a bit extreme; the ride hardly reaches snail pace, let alone any speed or excitement in which anyone would be in danger!

Leaving Belfast late in the afternoon, we were headed back to Dublin, where Ali’s friends Clare and Dana were waiting with a pint of Guinness, yet another pub meal, and a live banjo duet – the perfect last night in Ireland!!!