Stone Fort of Grianan

Our friends, Joe & Charlotte, arrived from the states for a 2-week holiday with us. What a great excuse to plan more touring adventures of Ireland.

Marie

After a wonderfully enlightening tour and shopping spree at Belleek Pottery we headed to our first stop - An Grianan Hotel in Inishowen.  Since the night was still young we decided to hike up a small hill to see what sort of view it may offer up.  We met Marie along the way who invited us into her yard for a clear view of the valley and sea below.  Apparently, she and her husband bought the land and built the house.  She tells us she has been blessed with that view for 50 years. She was a delight, one of those rare treasures of Ireland.

Her View

The next morning, we continued up on that same road (via car this time) to the Stone Fort of Grianán of Aileach which sits about 800 feet above sea level.  Here's the history lesson -  “The origins of the Grianán of Aileach fort are dated back to 1700 BC. It is linked to the Tuatha de Danann who invaded Ireland before the Celts and built stone forts on top of strategic hills. They worshipped Dagda (the Good God) and he too is associated with the origins of Aileach. It was he who ordered the building of a stone fort to act as a burial monument to his dead son.”

Joe & Charlotte

It is thought that St Patrick actually visited the site in the 5th century and baptized the local chieftain, Eoghan there.

The fort which was mostly constructed without mortar of any kind was restored to its present state in the 1870’s. There are very narrow, and challenging, stone steps to each of the three levels within the interior.

Once on the top level the panoramas were breathtaking in any direction.  We were very fortunate to have a warm and sunny day.










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Germany

We took a wonderful trip to Germany this past weekend.  Our connection from London to Hannover was delayed and we didn’t get to our hotel until about 11pm.  Fortunately, the hotel was right across the street and it was such a pleasant surprise. Walking into the main lobby left me awestruck.  The massive interior rises 6 stories and houses 3 life size hang-gliders (with riders). Our room was so comfortable, and the windows opened!  Again, like Ireland no screens – but our room had double windows.  So quiet, we did not hear one plane taking off or landing.  Breakfast was good and very expensive.

In Germany they drive on the right and the car steering wheel is on the left.  Keep in mind I’ve been used to driving in Ireland, completely opposite.  Tom had to keep reminding me to stay in the right and which lane to get into after turning corners.  Driving gave my brain a great workout.  When getting our rental car, Andres behind the counter, tried to get us into a 250HP sporty car – because Germans like to drive fast (I declined) But oh man, they do like to drive fast!!

Our destination was Wolfshagen Im Harz for Walpurgis Night.  You’ll have to read the next blog for more on that.

Our day trip the next day took us to Goslar, again you’ll have to read the next blog.

Time to return to Hannover and we decided to take a scenic route and I’m so glad we did.  Here in Ireland taking the smaller roads we usually find delightful little villages and in Germany it was no different other than trying to pronounce city names; such as – Hohenhameln, Baddeckenstedt or Mittleres Innerstetal mit Kanstein.

One town we drove through has an electric trolley that runs either right down the middle of the main road or alongside it.  Oh baby, that was a challenge – when to avoid the trolley, speed up or slow down- who’s light is who’s, mine or the trolley? Obviously, I gave the trolley the right of way and I was happy to get out of that town.

Rapeseed plant

Spring is in full swing, the countryside was so lush, and there were numerous fields of little yellow flowers.  We did stop and check them out up close and personal, but in all honestly, they appeared to be nothing more than weeds with no smell.  The rising hills presented us with beautiful vista’s.  We drove through forests, dark and cool and apparently with enough frogs crossing the roads to warrant their own signs.

ATTENTION! Toad Hike

There was very little traffic on the roads this entire weekend as it was Worker’s Day on Tuesday giving most a 4-day weekend. The plaza of the old City Hall in Hannover was crowded with tents, workers, politicians, vendors and general public.  This is a day for demonstrations, parades, beer drinking, lots of talking, complaining and general gathering of kindred spirits. We hung out for a wee bit to get the general feel of the events.  We did not understand a word of what was being said, but we did get the sense of the passion in the words being spoken.

 We took a quick trip through the Landesmuseum, but everything is in German (go figure) so it was impossible to fully understand what we were looking at.  It was not the most impressive collection of works, but fascinating to wonder about and speculate.

Our hotel room was great, on the top floor with a great view of the Maschsee lake. This area of Hannover has several parks and abundant bike paths. The lake has a couple of touring boats you can ride, paddle boats to rent along with a small marina which housed numerous sail boats. It was great to watch the many kayakers, runners with and without dogs and bike riders of all ages.  I suppose in the summer this place is hopping with all sorts of activities.




Heathrow Airport Photos
Hannover Arrival Photos
Wolfshagen Im Harz
Hannover Departure Photos

Walpurgis

A few years back I came across a video on YouTube of a group of witches dancing to a German song called ‘shake your bacon’. (Check it out here) The costumes and makeup were remarkable.  After further investigation I discovered this gathering is an annual event for Walpurgis Night. These particular witches (hexen in German) are from Wolfshagan Im Harz, a small village within the Harz mountains just south of Hannover, Germany. Harz mountains is where this all started.  This year, they put on quite an extraordinary show and except for the crowd (2,000 people this year), it was brilliant to see in person.

They arrive via motorcycles, do synchronized dancing, dance with the devil and have a magnificent bonfire all in these spectacular costumes. It’s all very paganistic and took place under a full moon this year.  The town & event have become very popular over the past few years mainly due to that YouTube video.

  

The entire town embraces their hexen history with stuffed witches on almost every front yard, porch and hanging from trees. The street lights even have wooden witches on them. Like our Halloween of getting dress up, little girls dress as hexen and boys the devil. There are NO OTHER costumes, not for this tradition. At least for one night a year (maybe more, who knows….) housewives become hexen and dance with the devil. 

  

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Goslar Germany

We had anticipated spending our entire second day in Wolfshagen exploring but in all actuality, it’s such a small town we did that in one afternoon. So, we hit the road and drove a few miles south and found the town of Goslar to explore. I’m so glad we did because this town was the icing on the cake of our trip to Germany.

Street after little winding street in this town screams Germany, with it’s beautifully carved, hand painted half-timbered houses and slate roofs and siding. Let’s not forget the stone streets, hard on the feet, but so quaint. I read that Goslar has the largest number of old houses in Germany, 1800 of them! This was such a wealthy silver mining town some 900 years ago that many folks settled here.  They have a center market place with fountain. One of the oldest hotels still stands on the same corner, the Kaiserworth Hotel 500 years old – decorated with numerous carved characters – some more interesting than others.

After having our second breakfast, served by witches of course, we continued to wander the streets, found a great waterway lined in wood and more intricate hand-painted roof-lines, archways and doors.

As we returned to the Market we noticed everyone looking up at a building. Whoa – Glockenspiel, a clock tower with full size figures that come out 4 times a day.  The mechanical figures that appear re-enact the history of Goslar starting with the king as he feeds his horse an apple. The clock is surrounded by bells that also play on the hour.  It was noon, so we were treated to the music and procession in and out of the clock.

The final experience was walking along the same path that thousands of Germans have in the past 900 years, even Hitler himself when we visited the Kaiserpfalz; Imperial Palace of Goslar.

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Pat & Mike

I read this morning that Ireland has experienced only 6% of the sun they should have by now.  SIX PERCENT!!!! WOW, it’s no wonder we’ve been hankered indoors for so long.  So when I’m on my face book page and I get excited to see sun shine you’ll understand why.  According to the locals winter was long, very cold and wet; spring coming to Ireland continues to be a very slow process this year.  Lucky us  L . I find myself searching for any signs of spring I can – daily (in between the rain drops).

We did have two wonderfully sunny days that shown down on my sister, Pat, and her hubby, Mike, when they visited from California last month.  I was worried knowing we’ve not had great weather, but coming from the high desert I was assured the clouds & rain would be a great relief to them.  They came with just a few places in mind that they wanted to visit which took us from one end of the country to the other.  

Ogham Stone at Kilmalkader Church on the Dingle Peninsula

There were a few other places I had chosen for them to see too, so we did lots of driving and saw a great deal of the beautiful Irish countryside & coastline.  I enjoyed revisiting a few places we’ve been to this past year, but also discovering a few new treasures they wanted to see. Finding a couple of the locations was a challenge, but so worth the accomplishment in the end.

Mike at the Nolan Castle

Tom and I discovered whiskey at the Jameson Distillery in Midleton and found Mikes roots at the Nolan Castle in Enniscrone.  Pat and I strolled the halls & grounds together of our own Butler family castle in Kilkenny.

Butler Castle, Kilkenny

Unfortunately, Pat picked up an Irish bug somewhere along the way and their 7 day visit turned into 12 – not in a good way.  This was not the ending to our visit that we all had hoped for since Tom & I also got the bug. Once Pat started to feel better and was ready to go home I was so sick I could not drive them back to the airport.  So they took a cab.  I know this will be one trip none of us will ever forget - for so many reasons.  Pat and Mike experienced the good, the bad and the ugly of Ireland.  Hopefully, by now, we are all getting back to our healthy selves.  In time for the delightful spring season. 

PHOTO ALBUM, Day 1

PHOTO ALBUM, Day 2

PHOTO ALBUM, Day 3

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PHOTO ALBUM, Day 7

PHOTO ALBUM, Day 8

St. Patrick's Day

There are many different degrees of celebration all over the world and when I think of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland something lively & loud like Mardi Gras in New Orleans comes to mind.  Perhaps St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, or even Galway comes close and I’m sure the pubs were overflowing with patrons dressed in green. Maybe not so much this year. There was another cold snap that came in over the weekend, so we decided to partake in our local celebration.  Still froze our arse’s off!!

For the past few weeks we’ve seen all the store windows decked out in green and Irish flags flying everywhere.  On the big day there were numerous events all over town – a rubber duck race in the Shannon (cancelled due to the weather ☹) 

Drummers (just outside the library – haha)

In the park there was face painting, petting zoo, bouncy houses & military & Garda displays.  Of-course the parade earlier enough in the day so no one had to miss the "big game". The parade was like any Fourth of July parade we’d experienced back home.  

The most visible difference being rather than Red, White & Blue everywhere, it’s Green, White & Orange.  Parade participants included old men in uniform, kids marching from every organization imaginable – including the scouts, bagpipers, cars, clowns, drummers (my favorite) and St Patrick himself. 

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Waterford Crystal

When we traveled through Waterford two years ago it was during tourist season, full tour buses congested the streets and travelers filled the sidewalks.  As I’ve mentioned before one of the main reasons we chose to stay a year here was to experience Ireland when all the tourists go home.  Winter is the best time to visit those places that would otherwise be jam-packed at the height of the season.  So many times, we’ve stood in the back of the crowd waiting our turn to get up front to see what everyone else was looking at – after the tour guide had already moved on. 

In Waterford, this time, we took a tour of the Waterford Crystal factory.  There were only 5 of us on the tour and it was wonderful.  Plenty of room along the rail at the front so see everything that was going on. Which is great for me at 5 ft, one inch. We also got to experience a few things most would not – like holding a solid crystal football; worth thousands of dollars.  

Our guide Valarie was able to answer every question and give each of us her special attention.  She was extremely knowledgeable about the history of Waterford Crystal. A fascinating process of blends and procedures from start to finish.  80% of the process is now done in the U.K. but the blowing and etching remains in Ireland.   

There is a 5-year apprentice program. There are over 600 different etching's that one must master to become a certified Waterford Crystal etcher.  At the end of the apprentice program they are given 3 chances to etch a bowl with a very specific pattern. Once they have successfully completed their 'final examine' they etch their name on the bowl and it is theirs to keep as their diploma. 

Apprentice Bowl

The finished products; craftsmanship are extraordinary, quite beautiful and expensive for good reason. 

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