Our Trip is in "Ruins"!
Sunday, March 25 - Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Cork, Skibbereen, Killarney & Dingle, IRL
Phew. It's been a busy couple days in Ireland. I have been here three full days, and already we've been in four cities, Cork, Skibbereen, Killarney, and Dingle, (a round of applause for Irish names please), visited two cemeteries (I'm just convinced there are a surplus of cemeteries here, although it could be availability bias), and been in too many pubs to count.
Killarney, IRL
I am so excited to be sharing this trip with my Grandma Terri and my Grandpa Jack. Both my grandparents, and my immediate family of four, have been to Ireland, but we haven't ever gone as one big group, together. So it's been fun to share our favorite places with one another and discover new favorites together. What sorts of things do six Hawthornes find to do in Ireland? Well, I'm so glad you've asked.
Grandpa Jack, Cristiana, Grady, and Grandma Terri at the Lissivigeen Circle
1. Lots of ruins
I'm not sure if this is a Hawthorne thing or an Ireland thing, but we sure go to a lot of ruins. Old monasteries, churches, cemeteries (as mentioned above)... We've been to the Aghadoe Church and Round Tower, the Gallarus Oratory, Fothrach an tSainsiléara, Kilmalkedar Church, and Riasc Monastic Settlement. (It's surprisingly hard to find credible sources about these sites.) Plus a few other random abandon buildings we've come across either while walking through farm fields or driving up to the Gap of Dunloe.
Riasc Monastic Settlement
2. The Gap of Dunloe
It's important, when one is traveling, to push one's driver outside their comfort zone, by politely requesting that they drive a seven-passenger VW bus up a narrow mountain pass road while driving on the left side when one is accustomed to driving on the right. Dad's a pro, he did fine. Sure, the road was two-way but only wide enough for one car at a time. Sure, there were loads of switchbacks. Sure, there were a few horse carts and tractors sharing the road. Sure, there were a handful of pedestrians running around too. But there were no open cliff faces so it was totally fine.
Cristiana, somewhere along the Gap of Dunloe
Our seven-passenger van
3. Sacred Sites
This does in fact, overlap with a lot of the ruins we've found. But we like to go out of our way to find ancient standing stones and stone circles. (Many of the standing stones are in the old monastic communities.) My favorite, so far, has been the Lissivigeen Stone Circle. We found it in the book "The Traveller's Guide to Sacred Ireland", by Cary Meehan. (I firmly believe that this might be one of my mother's favorite books of all time.) This isn't really an advertised tourist site, but it is there if you know how to find it. You have to go into this farmer's field and duck under no less than three electric fences. (See Vlog 72.) For those of you not familiar with visiting stone circles, they are what they sound like. Giant standing stones placed in a circle and often associated with sacred meanings, or magic, or fairies. People find these sites and leave little tokens similar to how one would leave tokens or prayers at Catholic Saint's grotto or burial place.
The Lissivigeen Stone Circle has two giant rocks, and then a circle of seven smaller ones. The story goes that long ago, in Ireland, a Druid ruled over those lands. For the Druids, Mayday was sacred, and no one could dance or revel on that holiday. He came to this spot to cast a spell and saw seven children dancing with their parents watching on. So as punishment, he turned them to stone. But the spell couldn't hold them completely, so every Mayday they turn back into children and dance. (In my vlog, I got this story a little wrong. Grady and I thought it was a Footloose-type situation, and the parents turned the kids to stone. I got this corrected story from this source if you want to read the whole thing for yourself.)
Lissivigeen Stone Circle (the kids)
4. Pubs with live music
The live music part is important because that's really why we go and it's how we choose our pubs. The live music scene here is incredible, and we're soaking up every minute of it. (I don't know if you've caught on yet, but the Hawthornes are a very musical group.) Dad, Grady, and I have really expanded our repertoire. We can now sing most of "Marie's Wedding", "The Black Velvet Band", "The Parting Glass", "Danny Boy", "Téir Abhaile Riu", "Molly Malone", "Homeland", "The Wild Rover", and I'm working REALLY HARD on "Rattlin Bog". We could basically release our own CD. I have control of the aux cord in the car, so we are listening exclusively to Irish pub songs and Ed Sheeran.
To see me finally get to Ireland, and shop around Killarney, watch Vlog 71.
71. I Found my Family
To see us drive up the Gap of Dunloe, and explore the Lissivigeen Stone Circle, watch Vlog 72.
72. Cemeteries and Stone Circles
To see us find the ocean and a bunch of ruins, watch Vlog 73. Which, due to WiFi limitations, will be uploaded in a few days ;) Sometimes life is hard and the WiFis gives out. What can you do?
Now I'm off, but I'm sure I'll have more fancy rocks to share with you in the days to come.
xo,
Cristiana
