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Limerick to Dublin
It rained overnight, but had stopped by morning, which was alright with us. We had breakfast at the hotel (they had to make coffee especially for us), then walked across the street to the train / bus station.
We purchased bus tickets for what we were told was a 2 ½ hour trip back to Dublin. It turned out to be a four hour trip (everyone is optimistic when giving advice around here…), but we got to see towns like Kildare and Ros Crea (which had a castle) that we wouldn’t have otherwise seen.
The bus dropped us off (or “let us down”, as they say here) just a block from the Abbey Hotel, where we planned to spend our last night in Ireland.
After dropping our packs at the hotel, we walked up O’Connell St. (every city seems to have an O’Connell St.) to the Garden of Remembrance.
The Garden commemorates the Wild Geese, the Irish fighters who, after being defeated in the Williamite Wars in 1691, had to leave their country forever. They moved with their families to France (their allies in the war) and remained there for generations.
The memorial also contains a reflecting pond in the shape of a cross, with swords and shields painted on the bottom.
Dublin on a cloudy day looks a bit grittier than Dublin on a sunny day, and I was more sensitive to the homeless asking for handouts.
There was a vendor on the corner selling boxes of strawberries, which we bought for a euro and totally consumed right there. The strawberries were about half the size of the huge tasteless ones we get at the supermarket, totally sweet through and through…
We looked in a tourist shop, but decided we had enough stuff, and didn’t need any shamrocks or leprechauns. Just as we were leaving, the “traditional Irish” music that you hear everywhere here struck up a rousing chorus of “You’re drunk, you’re drunk, you silly old fool”, causing me to burst into tears. By way of explanation to those not in my family, this was a song my Grandpa O’Keefe loved to sing, and I suddenly missed him very much. I realized that the whole time I’ve been here, I’ve been looking for faces that look like his…
Our last dinner in Dublin was at a Turkish restaurant down the street from our hotel – three weeks in Ireland, and we managed to never once have Irish stew...
Killarney to Limerick
Partly cloudy
Unfortunately, we seem to have left our only bottle of shampoo back in Tralee, so we had soapless showers this morning, but at least we had towels. The hostel was set up with a self-serve breakfast of Muesli, toast and coffee, to which we added some bananas and yoghurt, and we were ready to hit the road.
The bus trip to Limerick took us through several small towns, like New Castle and Castle Island, that looked very middle class and suburban, and one tourist town, Adare, which boasted a castle, a golf course, and a very pretty park.
We got to Limerick by 11am, and found the Railway Hotel right away, as it was just across the street from the station. This is an old hotel, very art deco. Jim is trying to use up the camping food we did not consume on the trail, so today for lunch we had a tuna, cheddar and pepperoni sandwich, with packets of mayonnaise, mustard and brown sauce (what is in brown sauce? We had it in London too…). A once in a lifetime sandwich.
Properly fortified, we set out to do our walking tour of Limerick. This is a working class town, and the streets were full of people. This was the first time since Dublin that we saw people of color in any great number, or heard other languages spoken on the street. We passed several Asian groceries, and several businesses that catered to the Polish population according to their signs.
We walked through the southern end of town to look at the Georgian architecture, and walked by the address where we could have paid to see a reconstruction of Frank McCourt’s hovel for 6 euro each (we opted to pass on that one…)
We strolled through People’s Park to see the restored Victorian drinking fountain, which provided water for both people and horses.
We walked up O’Connell St. to see the statue of Catholic emancipator Daniel O’Connell.
We continued uptown, crossing the River Shannon at Matthew Bridge, stopping in at the Hunt Museum.
We visited St. Mary’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, founded in 1168 by the King of Munster.
The cathedral contained rows of black oak misericords, (mercy seats) which are special benches built to support the clergy and the choir, who had to remain on their feet during long services. There is a place to rest your elbows, and a little fold down seat to rest your bottom, so that it looks like you are still standing…. They thought of everything, didn’t they?
Soon our walk took us to King John’s Castle, built in the 1200s by the only King John of England, a little man nobody liked very much.
The castle was actually built over the ruins of a Viking settlement, constructed 200 years earlier, and partially excavated for our viewing.
The castle was built right on the river, and was in active use in wars right up to 1922. How I love to look at things of great age and appreciate the people who built them. Americans just don’t have anything that ol.!
View of the River Shannon from the top of King John's Castle
This is an archer's window in the turret - just wide enough to aim an arrow through...
Tralee to Killarney
Rainy
We pulled on our full rain gear for the short walk to the train / bus station in Tralee this morning. I was anxious to leave the hostel, so we didn’t stay to make ourselves breakfast.
The bus trip to Killarney took only 40 minutes. Once there we checked into the Railway Hostel, a busy youth hostel with a European flavor, and kids hanging out in the lobby, watching TV, surfing the internet, and making plans for their next stop.
All the rooms were named for TV characters or animals – we got to stay in the Chimpanzee Room! This is a very nice hostel, bright and clean, with a window, a skylight, and, most importantly, towels!
The rain cleared after a while, and we walked through town, checking out the tourist shops and those selling Irish woolens and Galway crystal.
We also toured the Friary and St. Mary’s Cathedral, which was at the far end of town – built in 1855, it was not that old, but pretty impressive, and had a transplanted standing stone on the front lawn.
I collect plates from all our travels that hang on my kitchen wall, and found a nice one that said, “Slainte” (SLAN cha), which means “to your health” or “cheers”, and got my mom a gift from Cork.
The Fodor's Guide was right about Killarney - there really isn't too much here of interest!
We got back to our room early, had dinner in, and read for a while – I finished my second novel, which means tomorrow’s quest will include finding a bookstore, and a new book to read.
I listened to the birds singing outside the window, and wondered if there were more birds here than at home because I’ve been acutely aware of them throughout our trip. I came to the conclusion that I’m probably just hearing the birds because we’ve been sleeping with the windows open everywhere we’ve stayed. There are no screens on the windows here, they are just open. Why don’t I open the windows at home?
Tomorrow we travel north to Limerick, a working class town with some history and a castle!
Hiking Day 9 Castlegregory to Camp to Tralee (Caislean Ghraire – An Com) 6 miles
Today we complete our circle by returning to Camp, after a lovely breakfast prepared by our host Sheila Rohan. Jim had porridge (oatmeal served with cream and honey), salmon and eggs (known as a Scottish breakfast). I stuck with Muesli and scrambled eggs.
We set out through Castlegregory and returned to the beach by way of several RV parks containing many walking and gardening senior citizens, out to enjoy a beautiful Sunday morning. We passed acres of yellow flag iris in bloom.
We walked along the water’s edge for about 3 miles, having to remove our shoes at one point to wade across a river that emptied into the bay.
Unlike yesterday’s cloudy quiet, today the beach was filled with families, sweethearts and dogs happily fetching sticks out of the water.
The sky was gorgeous and we saw an egret perched at the shore. It was a brilliant walk!
Our guide instructed us to leave the beach when we saw the church steeple at Kilgobbin. Isn’t it amazing that we’ve made it all the way around without ever knowing the name of a single road?
We saw something that looked like a castle, and thought we’d better check it out, and sure enough, it was the church steeple.
From the church it was a short uphill climb back to Camp, and the familiar Ashe’s Pub where we’d eaten fish and chips the week before.
We ate our lunch at the picnic table outside the pub, and had one more Guinness while we waited for the bus that would take us back to Tralee. As we finished our lunch, the Germans arrived again! Kirsten, Daniel and Timor joined us in a final toast, and we rode back to Tralee together, parting ways at our respective hostels.
We went back to Finnegan’s Hostel (the place with no soap or towels…) dropped off our packs, and walked to the train station to see about tomorrow’s schedules to Cork or Killarney – we haven’t decided where to go next.
We strolled back through Tralee Park, finding a Five Senses Garden, and a bust of Rose Kennedy surrounded by roses in bloom.
We spent some time in St. John’s parish church, which has a really magnificent central altar, then, as we walked through the gardens, found not one, but two headstones of priests named O’Keeffe (my family name) who had lived and died here in Tralee.
Back in our room, we pondered our next destination. I had wanted to go to Cork to see where my grandfather came from, but without a real address, that now seemed like a poor reason to make the trip.
We had consulted several travel guides that said there was absolutely nothing to do but shop in Killarney, but it was supposed to rain tomorrow, and that didn’t seem like such a bad idea…. Killarney it is!
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