On the Road To Kerry

Sunday, May 24

On Sunday, we drove from the Bantry area, up over Caha Pass (304 meters) and through a series of rock tunnels and Moll's Gap, which brought us into Co. Kerry.  

We stopped to admire the view of Killarney National Park at Ladies View.

We also stopped at Muckross House.  Everyone and their brother had also decided that this Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to visit this place.  The gardens are quite lovely, and the rhodies and azaleas are at their peak.

We had not traveled this way on our earlier trip, so these were new stops for us.

We then drove through Killarney.  We've always heard it is a heavily touristed area, and we would have to say we're now aware of it first hand.  We've never seen so many lodgings in one place.  For what seemed like miles, almost every building we passed was a hotel, a guest accommodation, or a B & B.  The traffic was bumper to bumper and poked along.  We were quite relieved to get past Killarney and head our car toward Dingle.

The Wild Atlantic Way

Thursday to Saturday, May 21 to 23

We have been traveling along what is known as the Wild Atlantic Way, a route that traces the Atlantic coastline, which is a large portion of the Republic of Ireland.  In many places, you have to seek out the Way.  Sometimes, it's fairly regular roads, but more often it is little (and by that I mean tiny) roads that head off along the hills and cliffs.  To say that it is beautiful is an understatement.

As we left Ballymaloe in southeastern Co. Cork and headed for Bantry in western Cork, we took the scenic coastal route rather than more direct roads.  It's a slower way to go, for sure, but our goal on this trip has been to take things more slowly and get a better sense of place.  We drove to Kinsale again and headed along the coast from there--to Timoleague (with its Franciscan abbey) and Clonakilty and Skibbereen.  (It's hard to imagine a more Irish sounding town--you can't even say it without a bit of an Irish lilt.) 

By the time we reached Skibbereen, our beautiful sunny day had turned into drizzle and fog.  We opted to forgo driving out Mizen Head and kept on to our destination in Ballylickey, just beyond  Bantry.

The entirety of the southwest of Ireland is made up of five major peninsulas--(from south to north) Mizen Head, Sheep's Head, Beara Peninsula, Iveragh Peninsula, and Dingle Peninsula--all part of the Wild Atlantic Way.  The Ring of Kerry (a long loop around the Iveragh Peninsula) is the expected drive in this part of the country.  It is Co. Kerry's primary attraction.  We drove it in 1987, but in a thick fog bank.  It is known for its traffic jams of cars and tour buses, and we didn't plan to go there again.  The Beara is the adjacent peninsula.  It is smaller but is said to have equivalently beautiful scenery--and without the buses.

Friday's weather looked more promising, so we decided to drive the Ring of Beara, the loop around the Beara Peninsula. Exploring the Beara has been a goal of mine since we were here in 1987.  We had seen a bit of it and had driven the legendary Healy Pass, which is about a third of the way out the peninsula.  But I wanted to see more of it.

By the time we were a third of the way along the southern side of the peninsula. The clouds started gathering and settling on the mountains that are the spine of this finger of land.  I started to wonder if we were simply fated to see these peninsulas in drizzle and fog.  We debated aborting our plan and saving it for the next day, but opted to keep going.  Part of the drive was in a thin mist, but the clouds lifted and we were gifted with spectacular scenery.  I don't expect to ever see anything more achingly beautiful than the far western end of the Beara.

But, to top off our day, we crossed over the Caha Mountains on Healy Pass, bringing us back to the south side of the peninsula.  By then the sun was out, and the views on the pass were more spectacular than we had remembered.  The road over Healy Pass is a very narrow track, and some portions are a bit breathtaking.  You hope not to encounter very many vehicles, as the lay-by's (the places to pull out when you meet another vehicle on a one-lane road) are few and far between.  But a prettier place is hard to imagine.  All in all, a very heady day.  

When Saturday's weather dawned sunny as well, we decided to try to extend our run of luck and drive a loop around Sheep's Head.  The road was single lane practically from start to finish, and in places the steepness of the road and the drop to the sea was a bit scarifying.  We were lucky to meet few vehicles.  And, for once, Jerry was happy I'd asked him to pull off to allow me to take a picture, when a motor home came by while we were stopped.  If we hadn't stopped, we'd have met up with them on the most challenging bit of road.  Whew!

Sheep's Head, too, was a beautiful drive, and we were so glad the weather cooperated so we could see it.  We had to laugh when the pass road we took over the highest portion of the Head was called "Goat's Path!"

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Ballymaloe House--A 30-Year Story

Monday to Wednesday, May 18-20

This is a story that has evolved over a long time.

Some time in the mid-80's, I read an article in Gourmet magazine about Ballymaloe House.  It was a country house restaurant with rooms, but had recently established a cooking school.  The Gourmet article was about a 5-day cooking class that had half-day cooking classes and an excursion each day--to Ballycotton Bay to watch the day's catch arrive, to a local cheesemaker, to an artisan bread baker, to other food producers.  While that kind of format is not novel today, at the time it was very unusual.  It sounded perfect, something I really wanted to do.  

And so I began a correspondence with Ballymaloe.  (Remember, this was before email and Internet methods of communicating.)

When we did take our first overseas trip in 1987 (to celebrate our 20th anniversary), we spent 12 days in Scotland and 12 days in Ireland--Ireland, largely because of that Gourmet article.  Though we had decided we wouldn't spend 5 days in just one spot (we were new to this travel thing, then), we made a point of spending 2 nights at Balłymaloe.  We met Myrtle Allen, the matriarch of the family and the person who almost singlehandedly put Ireland on the food map.  Her daughter-in-law, Darina, was the head of the new cooking school.  We visited the cooking school, where Darina and her husband chatted with us and showed us around.  Darina took us out to view her pride and joy, a newly planted herb garden.

In the years since, we have seen myriad articles about the cookery school, and have even seen pictures of the burgeoning herb garden.  Darina has become the face of the food revolution in Ireland.  She has multiple cookbooks (I own two), has done TV, and is a spokesperson for slow food Ireland.

The Ballymaloe "brand" has grown tremendously.  They always had a farm as part of the property, but now they're known for being the source for most of the food consumed at Ballymaloe House and the school.  They bottle their own well water.  They have special heritage pigs that provide the bacon served.  They have their own line of jams, condiments, and relishes.  They have a farm shop with cafe, where they sell cooking equipment and local artwork, as well as their breads and farm produce and eggs.  They now have a building used for concerts and weddings and events.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.  They are like Irish royalty.

These days, I get the Ballymaloe newsletter and receive emails periodically.  When we decided to visit Ireland this year, it was a given that we would stay at Ballymaloe for a few days.  I started watching their extensive list of classes about a year ago.  The school is mostly known for its 12-week certificate course, but does lots of half-day classes.  I wasn't finding anything to plan our trip around and didn't really think too much more about it.  Every so often, I'd check the course listing, but finally decided the class idea wasn't meant to be and let it go.  Visiting the house and school would be treat enough.

When we arrived Monday, we learned that a couple times per week a few people can sit in on the afternoon demonstrations for the 12-week certificate course.  The only one happening while we were in residence would be on Tuesday, so we asked if we could participate.  We had to wait until Tuesday morning to learn our fate, but the fates were smiling on us and we were in!

We showed up early so that we could walk through the now well-known gardens.  (You have to buy tickets to visit the gardens, but as temporary students, we were allowed to wander through the vegetable garden, the herbal garden (!), and about four others.) Then we were shown into the very professional demonstration kitchen, with 4 ovens, more burners than I could count, TV cameras, and big overhead mirrors--there were no bad seats, but Darina showed us to two very good seats.  She  seated us next to Michaela (from Austria) who was told to introduce herself and take care of any questions we had.

There were 62 professional students and 8 of us who were guests (though that might be a funny term given how much each of us paid for the privilege of being there!).  We were quite a roomful.  Just as we were all getting settled, in came a group of people, and it turned out we were going to be treated to a mini bluegrass concert.  The group was going to be performing at the adjacent venue that night.

How many times have you signed up for a cooking class and had a bluegrass concert break out?

The group--Jeff Scroggins and Colorado, a U.S. group in the beginning stage of a European tour--performed three songs, and they were very good.  They included a bass, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and banjo.  The fiddle player, the only woman in the group, was from Portland.  (What are the odds?)

Darina took care of a number of housekeeping things for the certificate students.  They are only in week 3 of their 12 weeks.  She had also lined up an ornithologist for a 5:30am Thursday bird walk (Ballymaloe is a certified bird sanctuary, wouldn't you know) and was getting students to sign up for a cheesemaking class, etc.  She taught a short segment on edible flowers and plants.  

Then suddenly April Bloomfield walked in, and Darina introduced her.  I have read any number of articles about April recently.  She is a British chef who became well known for her whole-animal approach.  She has two Michelin-starred restaurants and has been a winner on Iron Chef. Right now, she has a hot new book out, called "A Girl and Her Greens."  A few minutes later, the executive chef of the vaunted Chez Panisse in Berkeley also showed up and got introduced.  He was going to do a special class for the students on Wednesday.  (To help explain why there were celebrity chefs wandering in and out, Ballymaloe's third annual LitFest, a highly thought of food festival for chefs, wine experts, journalists, authors, educators, publishers, and food bloggers, had just been held on the grounds the three days prior to our arrival.  This, naturally, is another of Darina's ventures.  The woman is a force of nature.)

Then we were turned over to Philip, one of her sons-in-law, who led us through butchering a half lamb.  (Yikes, I'm glad this was a demonstration and not a hands-on class!).

After all this preamble, the most amazing class began.  It was led by Rachel Allen, Darina's daughter-in-law and a former cookery school student, who is an Irish celebrity in her own right these days.  She has four cookbooks and a TV show (and her own line of small appliances!) and still teaches at Ballymaloe.  We watched an incredible array of food getting prepared.  All of the foods were meant to show the students specific techniques.  We watched Rachel make: bread, leg of lamb, carrots, potatoes, crostini, tapenade, beans, sorbets, tarts, and two vegetable salads.  It was all happening at warp speed. The class had gotten off to a slow start, but nothing was spared; it just had to happen at a brisk pace.  At times, Jerry and I had to suppress giggles at how rapidly things were happening.

After all that, we all lined up and received plates with little tastes of everything that had been made.  Whew!!  It was extremely well done.  We certainly got our money's worth of an experience.  What was supposed to be a 3-hour demonstration, ended up running 4-1/2 very brisk hours.  Our heads were spinning by the time we walked back to our car, but, boy, did we feel so lucky to have stumbled onto this opportunity.  

My long-held Ballymaloe wish has been granted.

On the (Irish) Road Again

Sunday and Monday, May 17-18

We picked up our car Sunday morning at the Dublin Airport and hit the big M50 ring road to take us around Dublin as we aimed south.  The M50 is a nasty little bit of business for tourists.  It's not nice for anyone, I suppose, but it has a particularly unpleasant aspect for the uninitiated.  It is a toll road without any toll booths.  It takes your picture and racks up a toll at multiple (unspecified) places.  You have to pay the toll  by 8pm the following day.  The toll can be paid at certain shops and gas stations or online.  At the end of our driving day, we stopped in at a couple stores before we found one that could process a payment.  You're asked how many toll places you passed.  Since I only saw one reference to a toll, I answered, "One."  But I don't actually know if that's right.  So we've paid 3.10 euros and hope we don't have a surprise when we get home.

We were on two other toll roads on this our first driving day.  One had a staffed toll booth, which was pretty straightforward.  The other was not staffed, which had us scrambling for the right quantity of coins, as it took no paper money even though it was a multi-euro toll.

Of course, the truly tricky part of driving in Ireland is getting used to driving on the left side.  We were last in a left-hand-drive country in 1994, so it's been quite awhile.  Jerry's a champ of a driver, but it is very stressful, especially at the outset.  When we were last in Ireland, there were mostly small roads.  Now there are large motorways that connect all parts of the country.

This trip, our early driving was on the equivalent of freeways.  Fast, when you're not really ready to be aggressive on the road.  But, at least everyone around you is going the same direction you are.  The only time you have to rethink your options is the periodic roundabout, which you must enter clockwise.

Though distances in Ireland (especially in this new era of motorways) are relatively small, this was one of our longest travel days, lengthened by having to get to the airport and go thru the usual hassles of picking up a car.  We had two primary goals for our day--to visit the Rock of Cashel and to arrive in Kinsale by the end of the day.  Hence our preference for the motorway rather than our usually preferred rural roads.

We were able to use the motorway all the way to the town of Cashel.  We parked in the car park at the foot of the Rock and climbed up to the castle/church/fortress.  We got there by mid-afternoon and had to share the site with only a couple tour groups.  This is one of the most beloved historical sites in Ireland, and we had not seen it on our 1987 visit.  This is where St. Patrick and the shamrock become connected.  It was the city of kings, starting in the 5th century, but handed over to the church in 1101. So this has been a key spot for a very long time.

After wandering all over the Rock, we got back onto the motorway and headed for Cork.  Traffic picked up tremendously.  Fortunately, our route to Kinsale allowed us to use the south ring road and skirt a lot of the city.  Even on a late Sunday afternoon, traffic was impressively heavy.

We were happy to arrive in Kinsale, which is a particularly charming town centered around its harbor.  We had glimpsed it on our earlier trip and wanted to visit it, even if only briefly.  There were still quite a few people in the town, which is a busy tourist destination.  After getting quickly settled, we walked the winding streets of "downtown" Kinsale and worked our way around the bay, where we had dinner at the popular Fishy Fishy.  The name is a clue that we are now in serious seafood territory.  We shared a plate of chilled local seafood--salmon, tuna, gravlax, crab, prawns, and mussels--followed by some fresh local fish.  Yum!

Kinsale is one of only two places where we will stay only 1 night.  We were glad to get a feel for the town, but would suggest to others that you can easily spend 2 nights here.  Before we headed out on Monday morning, we visited Charles Fort.  Built in the 17th century, it is one of Europe's best-preserved star-shaped forts.  It's built on 12 scenic acres above the Bandon estuary.  The wind was galing while we were there, which made for a very brisk trek and added to the rather haunting ruins.  The rain visited us a couple times, too.  My hair had a completely different "do" by the time we left than it had when we arrived.

We headed toward our next destination--Shanagarry.  I thought I had worked out a backroad way to get there, avoiding Cork and taking a little river ferry.  We were thwarted by a flooded road (?!) and ended up back on the south ring road near Cork.  This detour took us right through Midleton, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to visit the old Jameson distillery.  We had an hour-long walking tour and lesson in Irish whiskey history, followed by a tasting that compared single, double, and triple distilling methods.  A rough afternoon break.

Then we headed on toward Shanagarry, home of Ballymaloe House, probably the most sentimental stop on our itinerary.  Ballymaloe was one of the reasons we decided to come to Ireland 28 years ago, and we are looking forward to seeing it again.

Dublin Highlights

Sunday, May 17

We've wrapped up our 4 days in Dublin.  We've walked 'til we dropped.  We've seen a number of places and things we didn't see on our earlier trip, and we've revisited a couple favorites as well.

We visited the national museums, which are mostly clustered just north of St. Stephen's Green.  The National Gallery was largely closed for renovation, but they had a series of rooms filled with a selection from their collection and another area with a temporary exhibit of a contemporary artist.

We made a point of visiting the National Museum of Archaeology to give some historical context to some of the sites and monastic ruins we expect to see as we tootle around the countryside.  We saw some very interesting displays, but were almost more taken with the building's architecture than its collection.

We went to the National Library of Ireland (NLI) twice.  First, to see a Yeats exhibit.  We will be in Yeats country later and wanted to get our toes wet concerning his works and his life.  We made a second stop there to work with a family research advisor in the library's genealogical resources area.  We were lucky to get to spend some time with Mary, a very nice and knowledgeable woman.  As we feared, we really didn't have enough information to get us very far.  But Mary gave us a lot of suggestions and advice on what kind of documentation would be the most useful when it comes to Irish ancestry.  (Jerry's great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland.)   

The NLI, too, impressed us with its striking architecture and stained glass.  We were allowed to silently visit the stunning Reading Room (I.e., peek in from the side).  It is filled with old individual wooden desks and reading lights, which has a very old-fashioned feel.  But what stops you in your tracks is the ceiling--a large powder blue dome with amazing white plasterwork scrolls and figures.  Quite a setting for one's research!

Located on the north side of the River Liffey and just outside Phoenix Park, we saw the National Museum of Decorative Arts and History.  Period furniture, clothing, jewelry, and a jaw-dropping collection of Irish silver.  There was also a temporary exhibit of a master wood turner that was very interesting.  Here again, the building housing the collection was a high point of the visit.  It is a former military barracks and riding school surrounding a vast parade ground.

We also took a tour of Kilmainham Gaol, which presented a rather sobering background on various Irish rebellions and the infamous executions after the 1916 Easter Rising.  Nothing warm and fuzzy about this visit, but it was highly recommended by Rick Steves for its insight into a big aspect of Irish history--and it really did turn out to be quite impactful.

Then there was some time spent at Trinity Colłege and in the presence of the Book of Kells, followed by a visit to the impressive St. Patrick's Cathedral.  These, we had done on our long-ago visit, but they were well worth a second look.

So, as you can see, we had a busy few days here.  Now, if you've read the preceding post, you know the highlight of our Dublin time was the Mark Knopfler concert.  But we certainly enjoyed steeping ourselves in Irish history, literature, and art.  If not in Dublin, where?

As a counterpoint to all our running around, we also tried to make time to do some "down time" kinds of things.  We stopped to have a Guiness at a quintessential old corner pub. And we tried to go to Bewley's on Grafton Street for tea, but it is no more.  (The landmark building is still there, but there's a big sign saying they've moved.  We learned they hope to reopen in a smaller format and without their upstairs tearoom. It just won't be the same.) So, instead, we had coffee and a pastry at a little coffee shop on a side street off Grafton.  It was some of the best coffee I've ever had, plus it provided the perfect venue for watching the Saturday afternoon crowds in the Grafton area.

We walked through St. Stephen's Green so many times I thought the pigeons and ducks might start to recognize us.  Saturday morning, as we strolled through on our way to the National Library, we stopped to watch a Qi Gong group going through their moves.  On our way back to our hotel in late afternoon, we stopped in the same area, where the nearby gazebo was filled with couples dancing the tango.  This park is an Irish version of a central plaza--children playing, families picnicing, couples strolling, fountains, ponds, flowers and trees--everything under the sun, all in one place.

So, all in all, we had a wonderful combination of busy times and more quiet times to savor some of the heartbeat of Dublin.

Now we're off to the countryside.

MARK KNOPFLER...LIVE!!!

Please forgive me, but I absolutely must rave about the most fabulous concert we just saw.  There may be a bunch of exclamation points and capitals and lots of excessive-speak.  But it was just so GOOD!

THIS MAN CAN PLAY THE GUITAR!!  I mean he PLAYS GUITAR like no one else.  (In fact, I think he played 6 or 8 different types of guitars. I lost count.) He is GREAT!  He is mind-blowingly good.  (And his drummer and all the other musicians--most of whom have been performing with him for 20 or more years--are supremely talented, too.)  We could not have asked for a more fabulous concert.  (Did I already say fabulous?) They played for 2-1/2 hours straight; nary a break.  The fans rushed toward the stage at the end, and Mark and the band played 4 encores.  

Though we were sitting in the nose-bleed section (our only choice, even in December), the sound was perfect.  We both agreed that we weren't remotely disappointed in our seats or experience.  Our taxi driver told us this venue is considered to have the best arena acoustics in Europe, and we believe it.

This is the MK Tracker Tour.  The Dublin performance was at the 3Arena in what used to be the rather seedy Docklands area, north of the Liffy.  It's been cleaned up and largely reclaimed.  The arena holds 15,000, and there weren't many empty seats.  We bought our tickets in December and bought them because there were very few still available at that point.  We knew we needed to commit or assume we would not be able to see Knopfler, of whom we have been fans for years--though I'd say fans in a fairly passive sense.  We used to listen to his albums all the time and have a real soft spot for his music.  But we'd never gone to a concert or even talked about going to a concert.  In fact, we don't do big-arena-type concerts.  But when we saw that he would be playing in Dublin while we were there, it just seemed like a we've-got-to-do-it moment.  (Of course, the joke ended up being on us, when we later learned that Knopfler will be playing Portland later this year.  But seeing him in Dublin just felt right, and you obviously won't be hearing any complaints from us.)

MARK KNOPFLER!  SO GREAT!  I'm in love with his music and his talent all over again.  WOW!!!

Green

Friday, May 15

Yes, 'tis green here indeed.  Of course, that's one of the first things you notice as you fly in.  It all looks just like it should--a patchwork of green

But as we neared the Dublin airport, we could see that a lot had changed since we visited here 28 years ago.  I mean, even from the air, we could see ample evidence of the boom that occurred around the turn of the century.  Lots of suburban housing developments.  Motorways everywhere.  

We took a cab into town (with the friendliest fellow, filled with good humor and lots of advice).  I asked him about the change since the boom.  When we were last here, there was an out migration of Irish people.  That changed during the boom, but he said it is again true because of the economic downturn.  (As we would learn Thursday during a history-based walking tour, the population of Ireland has still not recovered from its numbers before the potato famine of 1840!) The economy must be reasonably robust, if all the road construction is any indication.  Everywhere, roads are being widened and tram lines extended.  Downtown is a maze of construction fencing and constricted traffic.  (We're so glad we're not having to deal with a car while we're in the city.)

Dublin is a good walking city, and we've done a lot of that.  We also used the bus to get a bit further afield and see some sites we hadn't visited before.

Our hotel is about 5 blocks from the SE corner of St. Stephen's Green, while the head of the famous Grafton Street is at the NW corner.  So we've become habitués of the Green.  A nice spot, very popular with locals and visitors alike.  Reminds us of Boston Commons, as the Georgian neighborhood where we're staying reminds us of Beacon Hill.  So too, the juxtaposition of new buildings and old.

This is a thriving city.  Filled with folks bustling every direction.  Lots and lots of buses, and you've never seen more taxis.  I don't believe I'm exaggerating when I say that over half the vehicles on the streets in Dublin are either buses or taxis.

Just to make us feel at home, it's a very bike-friendly place, with special bike lanes and stands of rental bikes everywhere.  There are charging stations for electric vehicles.  Starbuck's is omnipresent.  And there are pro and con signs EVERYWHERE about an upcoming vote on same sex marriage.

We're enjoying our time here and loving the old Georgian mews of our neighborhood.  A couple museums today, ending with a Mark Knopfler concert at the big arena in the Docklands.  That should give us an abrupt change of scene.