Ireland has a lot to offer the traveler besides its famously green countryside and popular traditional music. It is rich in prehistoric and Medieval ruins, fine Georgian architecture, and art. For those interested in literature, it is also the homeland of a great many of the English language’s finest writers: Swift, Wilde, Shaw, Yeats, O’Casey, Beckett, Behan, and–most famous of all–James Joyce. The Irish are intensely proud of their writers, and literary memorials are scattered all over the country, and frequently visited.
Unlike Northern Ireland, about which we hear so often in the news, the nation of Eire, which makes up most of the island, gained its independence formally in 1921 and completely separated from the United Kingdom in 1949. Although memories of the long struggle for independence are everywhere, Ireland is also a very modern nation. In the 1990s it experienced a high-tech boom which created widespread prosperity. In the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, some of that prosperity has dwindled, and the Irish are struggling with a declining economy; but the country is still presents a bright, modern face to the world. It is a participating member of the European Monetary Union, so we had our first chance to use Euros on this trip. Although the bills are generic across the Union, coins have a reverse side illustrating some aspect of their country of origin–in the case of Ireland, a Celtic harp.
DUBLIN:
Street lamp and spire of Abbey Presbyterian Church.
DUBLIN:
O’Connell Street, where much of the city’s main shopping district and several important public buildings lie, was being worked on extensively while we were there. Its length is punctuated by various sculptures, including the Parnell Monument to the famous nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell, familiar to Joyce readers from an early scene in which the Dedalus family’s Christmas is spoiled by a vehement argument over the scandal which led to his downfall.
DUBLIN:
But O’Connell Street (named after Daniel O’Connell 19th century nationalist leader) does not look back only to the past. Its newest addition (erected January 2003) is the towering Millennium Spire, erected on the spot where a pillar dedicated to the British hero Lord Nelson was blown up in 1966. Its severe modernity was somewhat spoiled while we were there by the fact that it was topped with an aircraft warning light. They’ve had trouble getting the tip of the spire to illuminate itself the way it’s supposed to.
DUBLIN:
The River Liffey, which runs through Joyce’s works as much as it runs through Dublin, has been somewhat cleaned up in recent years, though one day while we were there it smelled strongly of sewage. Not a place to go fishing or swimming, but picturesque in the sunset as we look toward the Ha’penny Bridge, where pedestrians used to be charged a halfpence coin to cross.
DUBLIN:
Besides many famous writers, Dublin produced a composer who was renowned in the 19th century: John Field (1782-1837). A plaque commemorates his birthplace. He died in Moscow.
DUBLIN:
We took an interesting guided tour of James Joyce’s Dublin run by the James Joyce Cultural Centre, housed in the restored home of dancing teacher Denis Maginni, mentioned several times in Ulysses.
DUBLIN:
Right of doorway at the James Joyce’s Cultural Centre.
one of several memorial plaques to the author scattered about the city, this one at 7 Eccles Street, the fictional address of Leopold Bloom. On “Bloomsday” (June 16) serious pilgrims retrace the steps of Bloom and Stephen Dedalus around the city, and major stops along the way are mostly marked.
DUBLIN:
This jaaunty portrait of Joyce by Marjorie Fitzgibbon is on North Earl Street, just off O’Connell Street.
DUBLIN:
The Joyce family, like the Dedalus family in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, had to move frequently to escape unpaid landlords. Behind the green door is 44 Fontenay St., the last house Joyce lived in with his family before leaving Ireland. The Irish love to paint their front doors with brilliant and varied colors (it’s rare to see two alike next to each other).
DUBLIN:
Just down the block from our bed and breakfast on Denmark Street was the Jesuit Belvedere College where Joyce (and Stephen) studied, and considered becoming a priest before turning to literature. In a pivotal scene in Portrait Stephen has an epiphany on these steps as he realizes he lacks the priestly vocation.
DUBLIN:
The reservoir known as the City Basin is also mentioned in Joyce’s writings. It’s been handsomely landscaped recently.
DUBLIN, TRINITY COLLEGE:
One of the highlights of any Dublin tour is the campus of the distinguished Trinity College, an originally Protestant institution where many of the most famous figures in Irish arts and history have studied. Among writers, its students have included Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Joyce, however, studied at University College, Dublin, a Jesuit institution). The theater building is named after Beckett, and the visitor will note many other famous names affixed to rooms and buildings.
The 19th-century Campanile at the center of campus; in the background, the oldest buildings on campus, the early 16th century Rubrics, now used as residence halls.
DUBLIN, TRINITY COLLEGE:
A closer view of the Rubrics (their name comes from the Latin word for “red”–describing their color).
DUBLIN, TRINITY COLLEGE:
The Graduates’ Memorial Building (designed by Sir Thomas Drew, 1892).
DUBLIN, TRINITY COLLEGE:
The Georgian Exam Hall, where examinations are still given. Many tourists head straight for the old library building, where the Book of Kells, the most famous of illuminated Medieval manuscripts, is displayed. Visitors interested in books should also head upstairs to view the amazing collection of rare books in the stunning “Long Room.” Photography is not allowed inside the library, but there are lots of postcards and other memorabilia for sale.
DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL:
Overwhelmingly Catholic Dublin has two Protestant cathedrals, the most famous of which is St. Patricks, where we headed to hear the choir perform Friday Evensong (hence the dusky lighting in this picture). The building originated in the 12th or 13th century as a Catholic church, of course; but the fanatically Protestant Cromwell desecrated it by stabling his horses in it, and it was later appropriated for Protestant services, and so it remains, like many of Ireland’s churches.
DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL:
Like Notre Dame in Paris, St. Patrick’s was “improved” in the 19th century by architects seeking to emphasize its Gothic design. In this case, buttresses were added.
DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL:
Many visitors come to St. Patrick’s because of its most famous Dean (1713-1745), Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels and other satirical works. This bust inside memorializes the author.
DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL:
Beside it is this plaque to Esther Johnson, Swift’s beloved “Stella” about whom he wrote some of his finest poems.
DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL:
Set into the floor near the entrance to the cathedral are the tombs of Swift and “Stella.”
DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL:
We couldn’t take pictures during Evensong, but here’s the choir and altar just afterward, with the candles still lit.
DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL:
During the service, the rays of the setting sun cast colored light through the windows on the stone walls.
SANDYCOVE:
Just southwest of Dublin, on the Irish Sea, is the Martello Tower at Sandycove, one of several originally built to repel Napoleon’s forces, and occupied by Joyce and John Gogarty in 1904. Gogarty figures as “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan” in the opening words of Ulysses, set in this tower. It now houses a Joyce museum. (Warning: it closes for lunch 1:00-2:00.)
SANDYCOVE:
View of Dun Laoghaire (pronounced “Dun Leary”) from the top of the tower.
SANDYCOVE:
Looking out to sea, Joyce would have seen these rocks adjacent to the natural “Forty Foot Pool” where the characters in his novel go swimming, and which is still a swimming spot today.
SANDYCOVE:
Inside the tower is displayed a rich variety of manuscripts, early editions, and other Joyce memorabilia, and up a flight of stairs is the bedroom the author slept in.
KILKENNY:
We headed southwest in our rental car and stopped overnight in Kilkenny, a charming Medieval town in the middle of southern Ireland.
KILKENNY:
On weekends, the town is flooded with people from the surrounding countryside seeking relaxation; the result is an enormous number of pubs crammed into a town whose length which you can easily traverse in a twenty-minute walk.
When we arrived, it was Saturday night, and there was a terrific traffic jam caused by a regional hurling match scheduled for the next day. Families were decked out in their team colors. Hurling, a sort of amateur roughneck version of field hockey, is intensely popular in Ireland.
KILKENNY:
Like most such towns, Kilkenny is crammed with churches. It’s difficult for an amateur to tell the really old churches from the newer ones. The Catholic St Mary’s Cathedral was built 1843-57, designed by William Deane Butler.
KILKENNY:
St. Patrick’s Church is even more recent, built 1896-9, architect S.F. Hynes. Both churches reflect the 19th-century revival of the Gothic style caused by the fascination with Romantic taste during that period.
KILKENNY:
On the other hand, the Dominican Black Abbey was first constructed in 1225 (restored in 1866).
KILKENNY:
This handsome stained-glass window is a 19th-century creation showing the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite School of artists.
KILKENNY:
A close up of the stained glass.
KILKENNY:
This composite shot of the 13th-century Protestant St. Canice’s Cathedral somewhat distorts the building, but gives a pretty good idea of its layout. The tower beside it may predate the church, having been erected some time between 700 and 1000.
KILKENNY:
One of many classic Celtic crosses in the graveyard surrounding St. Canice’s.
KILKENNY:
View of St. Mary’s from the top of St. Canice’s tower.
KILKENNY:
View of Butler Castle from the top of St. Canice’s tower.
KILKENNY:
St. Canice’s Steps (1614) leading to the cathedral.
KILKENNY:
The little River Bregagh, which flows into the much larger River Nore in the middle of Kilkenny.
KILKENNY:
Gate in the old city wall, near the Black Abbey.
KILKENNY:
A portion of the old wall nearby.
KILKENNY:
The Tholsel, or old City Hall, built 1761, still in use today.
KILKENNY:
Tudor Rothe House was closed when we were there, but we were able to look through the gated entrance, across the street from the Tholsel.
KILKENNY:
View through an arch of a handsome Georgian house.
KILKENNY:
Butler Castle is difficult to photograph from outside and photography is forbidden inside; but the guided tour is well worth taking. The interior has been lavishly restored to the way it looked in the Victorian era. The castle originated in the 12th century, but most of the present building is much later.
KILLARNEY NAT. PARK:
After Kilkenny, we drove along narrow, winding mountain roads through Killarney National Park. The views were breathtaking, if damp (it rained off and on all day). This is the stream just below the famous Torc Waterfall. The surrounding moss-covered forest is breathtakingly beautiful–it seemed like we had entered Tolkein’s Middle Earth. The tiny pink streaks in the center of the picture are branches of wild rhododendrons in bloom.
KILLARNEY NAT. PARK:
It’s a very short walk to the beautiful Torc Waterfall.
KILLARNEY NAT PARK:
Higher up in the park is a rare chance to pull off the extremely narrow road and admire the landscape: Ladies View.
KILLARNEY NAT. PARK:
Higher up in the park is a rare chance to pull off the extremely narrow road and admire the landscape: Ladies View.
MUCKROSS HOUSE:
Kenmare was charming, but drowned under a downpour so heavy we had to give up the idea of driving the Ring of Kerry, and retraced our path across the mountains through the park, stopping to tour Muckross House, a pleasant country estate once visited by Queen Victoria.
DINGLE BEACH:
Our drives through the Irish countryside left us deeply moved by the intensely vivid quilt of green marked off into patches by hedgerows. In Dingle we arrived at our bed and breakfast place to find that next door was this sheep pasture.
DINGLE BEACH:
Long stretches of the road around the Dingle Peninsula are lined with hedges of wild fuchsias like this.
DINGLE BEACH:
The Dingle Peninsula is famous for its scenic shoreline.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
As you drive around the Peninsula you encounter various prehistoric stone buildings like the stone fort at Dunbeg (Dún Beag), overlooking the sea. The date of its construction is unknown, but radiocarbon dating suggests it was occupied in the 8th or 9th centuries. Most of the spots along the drive around the Peninsula charge a small entry fee–nothing ruinous, but be prepared for it.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
We were reminded of the wetness of Ireland by this cascade pouring down the slope by the fort into the sea.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
These “beehive cottages” are much older, dating back perhaps 3,000 years.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
This mid-19th century stone cottage has been converted into a simple but moving memorial to the great Irish potato famine 1845-1850.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
The spectacular scenery of the area around Slea Head has been used in films, notably Ryan’s Daughter (1970) and Far and Away (1992).
DINGLE PENINSULA:
These striking rocks mark the boat landing where people can set off for the Blasket Islands (visible in the distance), now abandoned, but once occupied by a hardy group of folks who produced a striking number of fine books memorialized in the spectacular Blasket Centre in Dún Chaoin, where we viewed a film of the history of the islands. Because most of the audience was made up of an Irish-speaking local high school group, we had to wear headphones to hear an English translation. Much of the Dingle Peninsula is Gaeltacht, an area where Gaelic is promoted and sustained. We heard it used on the streets in Dingle, even by young people, quite casually.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
At the bottom of the landing were stored a number of upturned traditional ballyboats, now used to go after lobsters. The one on the right is in serious need of mending.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
Mile after mile, the spectacular coastline unfolds.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
The highway curves back inland on its way back to Dingle (most traffic goes around the Peninsula clockwise, and it’s smart to imitate it on this narrow road). A short side trip takes you to the finest and best preserved of the Medieval stone structures, the Gallarus Oratory, built roughly 1200 years ago and long used by monks living in isolation here. A short film introduces visitors to the area and is well worth watching.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
The oratory contains just one window, handsomely shaped.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
Considerably more difficult to find (but free to visitors) is the Medieval Riasc Monastic Centre, where a number of stone rings mark out the former settlement of a Christian community which adopted the same construction techniques used in this area since prehistoric times.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
Another of the building foundations at Riasc.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
Also at Riasc is this standing stone with Celtic designs on it; note the cross at the top.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
On our way out of Dingle we decided to take the scenic route along the Connor Road. This tiny, curving track proved to provide the most hair-raising driving experience of the trip, but the views were impressive.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
Even on a misty day, the hills were spectacular.
DINGLE PENINSULA:
The view north, from the top of the pass.
YEATS TOWER:
On the road to Athlone, we visited Thoor Ballylee, the Medieval tower which served as home to William Butler Yeats and his family 1917-1929, and which appears in his poems.
YEATS TOWER:
We encountered a touring American college literature class there.
YEATS TOWER:
Yeats’ bedroom.
YEATS TOWER:
The view from the tower.
COOLE PARK:
The tower was owned by Yeats’ friend Lady Gregory, who lived nearby on her estate at Coole. Yeats wrote a famous poem about the swans on the lake there. Some gray swans were swimming on the far shore of the Coole Turlough when this photo was taken, but they’re too distant to show up clearly. Yeats spent a good deal of time visiting here, and was in love with Lady Gregory, but she preferred to be his friend and ally in the Irish Literary Revival.
CLONMACNOISE:
We enjoyed our stay at the funky (and cheap) Bastion B&B in Athlone, but found little else to keep us in town. We were there to break our drive back east and to visit the Medieval site of Clonmacnoise (in Irish, “Cluain Mhic Nóis), just to the south. It’s a cluster of churches, towers, and other ruins overlooking the river Shannon, with a fine museum and interpretive center. It is said to have been founded by St. Ciarán in 548. This was a center of learning which between the 7th and 12th centuries drew scholars from all over Europe. Most of the ruins date from the 10th-12th centuries. Above, the 65-foot tall O’Rourke’s Tower (Irish “O Ruairc”), named after a high king of Connaught. Several Irish high kings were buried here.
CLONMACNOISE:
The smaller churches on the site are called “temples.” This is the Temple Finghin and its tower, with the River Shannon running in the background.
CLONMACNOISE:
Closer view of the Tower Finghin.
CLONMACNOISE:
Arched window from one of the ruined temples at Clonmacnoise.
CLONMACNOISE:
Entrance to the Clonmacnoise Cathedral
CLONMACNOISE:
View through its window of the Tower Finghin.
CLONMACNOISE:
Clonmacnoise features a number of high crosses, the finest of which have been removed to the safety of the attached museum, with replicas installed outdoors.
-REPLICA
CLONMACNOISE:
Clonmacnoise features a number of high crosses, the finest of which have been removed to the safety of the attached museum, with replicas installed outdoors.
-opposite sides of the same cross–that’s why the designs don’t match.
CLONMACNOISE:
The North Cross, of which only the shaft remains, dating from c. 800.
CLONMACNOISE:
The North Cross, of which only the shaft remains, dating from c. 800.
CLONMACNOISE:
The ruins of the nearby 13th-century Clonmacnoise Castle.
Brú na Bóinne:
Not far north of Dublin, is the area known as Brú na Bóinne–The Bend in the Boyne River. We stayed in a B&B outside the village of Slane to visit the nearby prehistoric mounds, the largest collection of such mounds in Ireland. The three main sites are Dowth, Newgrange, and Dowth. Looking for Dowth Mound (obscurely marked and not strictly speaking open to the public) we stumbled at sunset on the ruins of the old chapel and graveyard at Dowth Castle.
Brú na Bóinne:
The overgrown cemetery had quintessentially romantic air about it.
Brú na Bóinne:
Dark was coming on fast when we finally spotted the mound next door–appropriately, since “Dowth” (“Dubhadh” in Irish) means “dark.” It was badly damaged in the 19th century by amateur tomb-raiders in search of treasure, and looks from some angles like a stone quarry–which it was for a time. It is currently being scientifically excavated. It is 46 feet high and 206 feet in diameter. The flash from the camera did little to illuminate the mound, but lit up the overhanging leaves. From the top you could originally see both Knowth and Newgrange, but trees have grown up to obscure the view.
Brú na Bóinne:
One of the entrances to the Dowth Mound, now locked up.
Brú na Bóinne:
Our tour bus picked us up the next morning near our B&B and took us first to the most famous of the mounds, Newgrange, with its nearby visitor center and museum. Entry to the site is permitted only with authorized tours, but they are well worth the cost. We got the first tour of the day, so the site was relatively uncrowded.
The Newgrange Mound measures 262 feet across and almost 43 feet high. Like the other principal mounds in the area, much of it was constructed using enormous non-native stones brought laboriously from far away by large teams of hard working stone-age inhabitants around 3200 BCE, long before the Egyptian pyramids were built. Stonehenge in England is over a millennium more recent.
Brú na Bóinne: Although these clearly served as burial mounds, some of them like Newgrange obviously had other ceremonial uses. Above the entry door was found a shaft which admits a beam of light to illuminate the central chamber only at dawn on the winter solstice (if the weather happens to be clear–no sure thing!). Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the illumination is a little off in modern times, but the alignment is still quite close.
The restoration of the facade around the entrance is controversial, having been created by archeologists making guesses based on rubble in the 1960s. It’s striking, but seems implausible. Visitors are taken inside the central chamber, which is awe-inspiring (photography forbidden).
Brú na Bóinne:
Of the many great stones surrounding the mound, eleven are decorated. This one is carved on the left with a sunburst design difficult to make out in the photograph. The largest of the stones used to build Newgrange is said to weigh 50 tons, far larger than those used at Stonehenge.
Brú na Bóinne:
Knowth at first is less striking. Its interior shafts (oriented to the equinoxes) are less spectacular than Newgrange’s, and it lacks the shining white exterior of the more famous mound. However, the archeologists here chose to leave the white rocks on the ground surrounding the mound, believing that was where they had originally been placed. However, in some ways it is even more impressive. It is actually the larger of the two, being over 275 feet in diameter.
Brú na Bóinne:
To the left, the main mound, to the right, one of the 17 auxiliary mounds nearby.
Brú na Bóinne:
The entrance to one of the smaller mounds.
Brú na Bóinne:
Far more of the large stones surrounding Knowth Mound are carved with decorations than the ones at Newgrange. There was a Native American scholar on our tour who was interested to note the comparisons between these designs and those made by his own ancestors.
The projecting concrete ledge was built in modern times to protect the stones. One of them is currently behind plexiglass as a test to see whether similarly covering the rest would better preserve the engravings.
Brú na Bóinne:
Our guide shows us a pattern of four engravings which look like lunar symbols (only the lower two appear clearly in the photograph).
Brú na Bóinne:
A sunburst design and spiral (center stone). Note the pattern of white and gray stones scattered around the mound. It is this sort of rubble which the Newgrange restoration refashioned into its vertical facade.
Brú na Bóinne:
Serpentine design (center rock).
Brú na Bóinne:
One of the two entrances to Knowth Mound with its guardian standing stone. Visitors are taken inside to see a replica of the chamber excavated here.
From here we headed back to Dublin and managed by great good luck to get two tickets to an evening of songs associated with James Joyce performed at the Joyce Centre. We have no photographs documenting our several evenings enjoying traditional and more modern Irish music in pubs around the country, but they are an unforgettable part of our visit. We couldn’t always stay awake long enough to enjoy these sessions, however. They typically begin at 9:30 PM, at the earliest. Also not documented here is the fine food we had at many restaurants. Irish cooking has moved upscale in recent years.
POWERSCOURT:
For our last day we wanted to get out the city. We saved money, but not time, by taking a city bus south to Powerscourt Estate. It got stuck in slow-moving traffic for a long time and there was a long but not unpleasant walk on the other end of the trip. Powerscourt was originally a stately home, but shortly before it was to be opened to the public in 1974 it burned to the ground. Today the remnant houses a variety of upscale shops; but people come mainly for the sprawling, elaborate gardens.
POWERSCOURT:
The formal garden is anchored by this spectacular pond. In the center is a replica of Bernini’s Triton fountain from the Piazza Barberini in Rome (mistakenly referred to by many people as the “Zeus Fountain at Powerscourt”), and there is a winged Pegasus on each side of the path.
POWERSCOURT:
Another of the elaborate fountains at Powerscourt, with a sundial at its center.
POWERSCOURT:
An unusual feature of the Japanese Garden is this elaborate grotto.
POWERSCOURT:
Entrance into one of the walled gardens.
POWERSCOURT:
A peacock strutting overhead.
On our way out of Powerscourt as it closed we met streams of formally dressed people headed for a wedding at the estate.
That night we had dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant in Dublin, the Rajdoot; and walked on the beach at sunset, observing the tide rapidly creeping along the gently sloping beach which Joyce describes in Portrait. Ireland was relaxing, friendly, spectacular, and fun. We’ll go again.
