We continue to enjoy our time exploring Dublin and, the
longer we stay, the more the city grows on us.
One of the main thoroughfares is Grafton Street and it doesn’t matter
what time of day or night the sound of buskers and street performers fills the
air. It is a very happy street to walk
along, as there is always music to hum along to.
One thing that we have noticed as we have walked the
streets, is the number of houses with the same statue in the front window. Michael enquired at work as to the
significance of the statue and no one knew what he was talking about. A little online searching discovered that the
statue is called Lady On The Rock and there seem to be a number of theories as
to what she represents from denoting a brothel, gang connections or a heroin
supplier. Interesting how myths form
around something so innocent.
Good Friday was a surprise.
I had assumed that with Dublin being such a Catholic stronghold, most
shops would be closed, just like Melbourne.
I was staggered to find that 95% of shops were open and trading – even
the butchers! The one exception was that
pubs were closed however everywhere else was doing a roaring trade. There was even a game of rugby being played
which Michael and I went along to.
Everywhere we looked, people were drinking Guinness and eating
hamburgers and hotdogs. It was quite
extraordinary.
In keeping with our literary walks, we undertook one on
Ulysses. The walk was very interesting
and took us to parts of Dublin that we hadn’t seen before. We lunched at a pub where Michael impressed
the publican with the fact that he was reading the book. The publican remarked that not even the Irish
read Ulysses! Michael has now finished the novel and I also undertook the
herculean task of reading it as I couldn’t have it said that Michael read it
and I didn’t. I could write an entire
blog entry on my thoughts of Ulysses but I won’t. Suffice it to say that I did not enjoy it one
little bit!
We took a train to Waterford to have a look at somewhere
outside of Dublin. The most interesting
part of Waterford is obviously the crystal showroom. We spent quite a while admiring the different
pieces of crystal and there were many items that we simply do not get in
Australia. I was a little worried that
Michael’s backpack was going to send a few shelves crashing down however we
managed not break anything.
On Anzac Day we attended the dawn service at the
Grangegorman Military Cemetery. The service was very well organised and very
moving. It was also surprising to
discover that 7 Australians are buried there.
The Anzac address was delivered by a professor from the University
College Dublin, and it was interesting to learn about the Irish connections to
Gallipoli. The hymn singing was lovely
and I am sure that Irish voices are second only to the Welsh when it comes to
singing in harmony.
Michael hired a car and we spent a weekend driving through
the countryside to the west coast around Galway. I was amazed at the
different terrain we passed through as I had always imagined Ireland to be a
mass of green hills.
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| Pound Stone |
There were plenty
of green pastures however there were also vast plains of peat bogs, which were
wildly beautiful in their own way. We spent
the night in Galway, a lovely and picturesque town. It was very relaxing driving and stopping off
wherever we felt to look at the scenery or spend time wandering through the
beautiful craft shops.
On the way there, we stopped at Tullamore and found the Tullamore DEW distillery and on the way back the Kilbeggan Distillery (oldest in Ireland, however there is a running dispute with Bushmills in Northern Ireland over the title.)
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| Kilbeggan Distillery |
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| Tullamore DEW |
My Father He Was
Orange And Me Mother, She Was Green
Bank Holiday afforded us the opportunity to spend the long
weekend in Belfast. The train journey
took just over two hours and, despite the train being full, it was a very
comfortable trip. The train station is
smack in the middle of Belfast so when we alighted we were able to go straight
to St George’s Market to find ourselves a bit of lunch. The market was built in the late 1800’s and
has won many awards for its fresh food and atmosphere. We wandered the market for a little while and
then we dropped our bags at the hotel.
The Italian Giro is starting in Belfast this year before heading down to Dublin, so the city was full of pink jumpers (Maglia Rosa ) with signs and bicycles in all the shops. Dublin has a bit of catching up on that side and we will see some of it on the 11th May.
We probably didn’t pick the best time for a visit to
Northern Ireland as Gerry Adams had been arrested in the days leading up to our
arrival and was being held for questioning by police regarding the brutal
murder of Jean McConville in 1972.
Nevertheless we decided to take a long walk to Falls Road and Shankill
to see the murals of Belfast. There are
over 300 murals in Belfast and they used to be renowned as the most violent in
the world. Over the years more peaceful
murals have emerged as the city tries to move away from its violent past.
The most famous ones still exist such as the
one of Bobby Sands. Anyone who is my age
and older cannot fail to remember the publicity surrounding his hunger strike
and ultimate death. It was sobering to
see such a poignant reminder. We saw a
number of memorials to those killed during the “Troubles”. It seems an innocuous word to describe such a
terrible time in history.
During our
stay in Belfast, Gerry Adams was released pending an investigation as to
whether there is enough evidence to be charged in relation to the murder. The press conference was huge and there were
incidences of rocks and petrol bombs being thrown by loyalists. A new mural has now sprung up of Gerry Adams
and an elderly man was assaulted while photographing it. One begins to realise what a tenuous hold on
peace Northern Ireland has.
It was our wedding anniversary so we decided to celebrate in
style at Molly’s Yard, a wonderful small restaurant in a rustic mews. It was a perfect setting to reflect on our
travels whilst enjoying lovely, fresh food – with potatoes of course!
The main attraction in Belfast is the Titanic
Experience. Unlike the Doctor Who
Experience in Cardiff, this relates to real life! The Titanic was built in Belfast and over
15,000 people were employed to help in the construction. The Experience is a series of interactive
displays looking at just about every aspect of the Titanic, from the building
plans, construction, fit-out and of course, the sinking. The exhibition is truly well thought out and
there is even a shipyard ride that takes you through the construction of the
vessel. There is also an area where you
stand and look down as though you are in a submarine passing over the wreck of
the liner. It was a very impressive
exhibition. The Titanic is to Belfast
what James Joyce is to Dublin – just about everything is Belfast is referenced
to the Titanic.
The Cathedral Quarter of Belfast is a lovely area to wander
around. There are numerous laneways,
many of them sporting murals of everything from music to history to just plain
fun. The buildings themselves are very
old and it is nice to see a city, which has kept much of its heritage. The architecture is quite lovely, especially
when compared to Dublin. Dublin’s
buildings are mostly plain and they appear to have lost many of their old
buildings. There are many grand
buildings in Belfast with nice wide streets to show them off.
A visit to the Ulster Museum was next on the list. There were some fine paintings and I
particularly liked the Lavery Collection especially Lady in a Green Coat. There was also a stuffed Irish Wolfhound and
it was astounding to see just what large dogs they are.
All in all, we were very impressed with Belfast. It is a very attractive and interesting city
and everyone we spoke to was extremely friendly.
