Category: Uncategorized
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Loop Head Peninsula, West Clare
Loop Head Peninsula is a slender finger of land that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean from the most westerly point of County Clare. It encompasses the villages of Cross, Kilbaha and Carrigaholt, as well as the charming seaside town of Kilkee, with its beautiful sheltered bay and stunning beach. Loop Head Drive is a…
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Limerick
Walkabout Sitting at the mouth of the River Shannon, Limerick both straddles the river and is encompassed by its meandering course. The skyline is dominated by King John’s Castle and St. Mary’s Cathedral (top row). See more on these institutions below. Because of its location, it was an important medieval stronghold and remains an important…
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Galway
Walkabout Galway, a harbor city on Ireland’s west coast, is where the River Corrib meets the Atlantic Ocean. The Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde statue on Shop Street by Estonian sculptor Tiiu Kirsipuu is symbolic of the literary heritage and friendship between Ireland and Estonia, two small nations with rich cultures and histories. While the…
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Enniskillen
Enniskillen is the County Town of Fermanagh, located almost exactly in the center of the county on the natural island which separates the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. Enniskillen Castle was built in 1428 and houses the Fermanagh County Museum and a museum for the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and Royal Inniskilling…
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Belfast
Belfast, the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, is second to Dublin as the largest city on the island of Ireland. In the 1820s, while other Irish towns experienced a loss of manufacturing, Belfast embraced industrial expansion. As the global leader in the production of linen goods, shipbuilding led the development of heavier…
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Dublin Walkabout
The origins of Dublin are long and complex. There certainly has been a settlement of significance at the mouth of the River Liffey for thousands of years, but the current site likely began as a church settlement in the centuries following Patrick’s mission. The Vikings established a settlement in 841, which merged over time with…
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Archeology Museum
The National Museum of Ireland—Archaeology houses an extraordinary range of treasures from prehistoric times to the present. Admission is free. My visit focused on prehistoric life and Ireland’s Bog Bodies Research Project, within the Kingship and Sacrifice exhibit. Ireland’s Bog Bodies Research Project was established in 2003 following the discovery of two Iron Age bog…
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Hungering for Life
The Famine Memorial on the banks of the River Liffey in Dublin features larger-than-life bronze figures of emaciated men and women dressed in rags. Expressing profound sadness, despair, and determination, the figures pay tribute to the million peasants—primarily Catholics—who died of hunger in rural Ireland, from 1846 to 1849. It is one of the most…
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Fired Up—
Bealtaine Celebrates Fire, Fertility, Festivities, and Faeries Bealtaine, the Gaelic May Day festival, celebrates the powerful Sun, the fertile Earth, new life, and the official start of summer. Celebrated about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, it is one of the four cross-quarter days and one of the eight seasonal celebrations of…
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Stick with the Winners
Writers write because we are driven. Other than fulfilling an inherent need, however, we also have goals. Maybe it’s to earn money, polish our craft, or share a story. Sometimes it’s to find other writers who get it, or simply to tell the world that we are writers. I’m a strong advocate of using writing…