Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Onward our travels through Europe have taken us!  In an attempt to live up to Tom's very Irish heritage, we decided to travel to his homeland and see what all the fuss is about.  Being both Irish and from Jersey, Tom's level of Irish pride is very high and being from Virginia and not at all Irish, my level of understanding of the matter was very low.  But for some reason, I felt like I needed more of an excuse to go there so I found a half marathon in Valentia Island, about 4 hours west of Dublin, for an added level of fun! 

Flights to Dublin from Naples were few and expensive between, so Tom, Julie and I opted for the Rome departure option.  Like most things in Italy, airline travel is in serious need of a systems engineer to iron out the many kinks in their system.  We waited in three different lines trying to check into our flight and only did so 7 minutes before they closed it!  We then rushed through the least secure security check then passport checks then waited in a long line to a catch a bus from the gate to the plane.  When all was said and done our plane was nearly an hour late departing, which is about on time in Italian.  Ryan Air, like Easy Jet, has no assigned seating and the mass pandemoneum of boarding was made even worse by 5 Italian guys who thought that the Jersey Shore is the end all be all of both fashion and behavior.  They pretended to not understand English when their bag wouldn't fit in the overhead compartment but miraculously understood and spoke it well enough to get drinks and food later in the flight.  Thankfully we lost them after getting our passports stamped in Dublin and ran into only the sweetest, most adorable Irish folks for the duration of our time out of the country.

Ireland is one of the most picturesque places that I've been to thus far.  While the Amalfi Coast has staggering views and dramatic island formations, the Irish countryside was so subtley scenic that I longed for a flock of sheep, a bit of Earth to tend (or to pay someone to tend for me) and a B&B of my very own.  From the Hertz agent to the girl who we asked for directions to the salty fisherman who we asked for more directions, each person on our journey was friendly, cheerful and accomodating.  I think they may breath cleaner, friendlier air up there.  Or there's valium in their water supply, along with whatever is in there that made my hair return to it's silky pre-Italian state.  I really can't be sure but I loved every minute of it!



Mary, the owner of the Shealane Inn, a B&B in Valentia Island, was a warm, adorable little Irish woman who could likely talk to a log and make it feel both important and welcome in her home.  She giggled and smiled through our conversation and filled our bellies with French Toast and full Irish breakfast each morning.  She recommended that we go into Portmagee, a small fishing village about 1/2 a mile from her establishment to see their Shanty Festival and have dinner at the Bridge Bar.  Once inside, we listened to several groups of Irish singers sharing stories and songs about the ocean, boats, fishing and women and the drinking that occured in conjunction with all of the above.    It was all in support of a new Life Boat that was being unveiled that weekend by the Coast Guard.  Also included in this festival was a scavenger hunt, parade, photography contest and a Coast Guard fly-over, though that was cancelled due to weather concerns.  I couldn't believe how much the community came together over a Life Boat!

On Saturday Julie and I picked up our race packets and toured around the Island before the noon start.  At the start line, we were highly intimidated by the number of very serious looking runners.  I was dropped off with a car full of 4 Irish women at the half way mark, as Julie and I were doing the race as a two man relay team because we hadn't trained quite as well as our ambitions had lead us to believe.  So there I stood, in the wind, looking out at the skellig islands off the coast and hoping that the race would start on time.  The other ladies were just as positive about their childhood experiences in Ireland and described just about everything as "quite lovely, really."  The race was, a race!  Having both finished more than one half marathon and a marathon, Julie and I didn't feel like our pride would get in the way of strolling or taking pictures along the race course when the desire came over us.  I got pictures of cows and mile markers, hills and bushes, depending on my skill with my iPhone at the time. 

On our way back to Dublin on Sunday, we stopped in at an old castle, the name of which I won't even try to remember.  Tom climbed the staircase to the highest tower and took about 30,000 pictures in the drizzle while Julie and I smiled from below reminding him that our rental car was due back at 3 and the battery wouldn't last forever in the camera.  Sorry, honey!  Tom, it must be noted, is the biggest lover of a roadside attraction, and can find a photo opportunity in just about any county the world over.  "Look at that!  It's a shaggy pony!  Picture!"  Alas, the "shaggy pony" photo was never realized and I think the point of some consternation.

We did, in the end, arrive back in Dublin, dropped of our rental car, took a bus from the airport to the City Center, walked 12 blocks with our bags (which was much further than the cheery girl on the bus lead us to believe) and then strolled the streets before stopping for Thai food for dinner.  We all agreed that Irish food (and their Thai for that matter) was much better than we had anticipated and loved eating such hearty, comforting meals, though we did eat quite a bit more than we'd been eating in Italy!  On Monday, we toured the grounds of the Dublin Castle and then the Guinness Storehouse before we caught the friendliest cab to the airport and headed home.  Both the Dublin Castle and the Guinness Storehouse were very impressive, very well maintained sites and we would have loved to have spent more time in both. 

It was a "lovely" trip and on the tarmac heading back to Rome, I turned to Tom and said "I wish we didn't have to leave."  "It's ok, we'll be back."  Indeed, we'll have to!  But make sure to head to the Blarney Castle and Co. Cork next time as well!