My Irish adventure: Letterkenny part 1

Letterkenny. A place where the craic really shines through, and the place where the craziness took another detour through our story.

When we drove into Donegal, the bus was packed...but this didn't stop the busdriver from picking up even more passengers in Bundoran who was going to Derry. One of them fell asleep on Solveig's shoulder, and when we were getting off in Letterkenny, she had to step over him..

We were going to stay at Brian's (Couchsurfing) place, and what a guy this is. Crazy? YES, but oh so fun to be around. When we arrived at his place which was located in a small forest (it felt like a forest, so don't contradict me), there were already 4 other Couchsurfers there: Aimée and Elie who were from France, Frank who came from Germany and Samira from Switzerland

Brian's place was so cool! There was so much to see, it was very cosy and he had certainly put his own touch to it. Samira made us dinner, which was really delicious, and the evening/night got spent talking, joking and singing. My fiddle got put to good use, Brian played some songs for us (he's an amazing guitarplayer) and we had a great time...even if some of us (not me) almost fell asleep...

Aimée and Elie

The next morning Brian cooked us a hearty Irish breakfast, and we bid farewell to Aimée, Elie and Frank who were moving on. Later another couchsurfer would arrive, so Brian stayed in the house while Samira, Solveig and me went on a little sightseeing trip around Donegal.

The hills and loughs of Donegal

Even in rain, the beauty of this place shines through. I felt like I had come home...

BAAAA!

We were heading for Fanad Head, and around each bend of the road, there was a surprise in store for us. Cute sheep, an amazing view or some beautiful flowers.

I miss DONEGAL!

What have my sister found?

The road goes ever on and on

Last summer when I travelled around these parts of the country with my friend Steven, I was stunned by the sheer beauty of the county as a whole. How was it possible that such a treasure was unknown to most people, even the Irish? And when I returned this year, I could once more breath freely in the natural beauty of my favourite place on this earth: Donegal county.
I was home....

Such a peaceful place

Stocker Strand. Another place I could have just sat down and stayed there for hours. Even if it was raining, and the wind made the raindrops feel like ice, the beauty and the peacefulness made the experience of standing there so worth it.

Let me wander here, night and day

But of course we couldn't stay there for an eternity, so we drove on...and then...far from everything...we found Fanad Head

The lighthouse at Fanad Head

And here I found something I had been looking for: DONKEYS
So I stood there, in the pouring rain in my jacket which was anything but waterproof and TALKED to the donkeys...aren't they CUTE?

You gotta love them...

looks like this one is up for some mischief...

Can you see Malin Head?

Dripping wet, but very happy (and smelling like a wet sheep = my amazing Aran sweater), I got back in the car and we drove back to Brian's place where we lit a nice, warm fire and relaxed before the new couchsurfer would arrive.

COSY ^^

What will happen next? Stick around, and you will soon find out....

My Irish adventure: an interlude between Cork and Letterkenny

So after two busy, but fun days in Cork we had to find our maps again and this time we would head north....far north. Our next destination would be Letterkenny and from Cork that is nearly a 10 hour busdrive (!)
But we had brought this on ourselves, and was determined to make the best of the 10 hours....

 The weather was kind of gray'ish, but the bus from Cork to Galway was packed, so we didn't care. I'm impressed by the drivingskills of the busdrivers in this country...even if they are late as hell...
Solveig found an interesting way to keep me awake: by saying 'sheep' and pointing at them EVERY f***ing time we passed a field...
When I got tired of sheep, she started the same routine with the horses and the cows...and there were plenty of them too

 It was kind of foggy, as you might see in the picture and my mind quickly drifted off into stories about fairies and mythical creatures...I have a vivid imagination

LOOK!!!! SHEEP!!

 On our way we kept our eyes open for placenames that we connected to songs we knew...and when we drove through Athy both "Johnny I hardly knew ye" and "Rocky road to Dublin" got sung....

The long and winding road to Donegal and Letterkenny

 I had been to Donegal county last summer and going back there felt...well....almost unbelievable. It felt like going home...

The Green fields of Ireland

 We drove through: Cork, Limerick, Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal

I Galway we had to wait 1 hour for the bus that would take us from Galway to Letterkenny...hope I get a chance to see Galway properly next summer.
I Sligo we changed busdriver and the first thing he tells the passagers is to buckle up...and I'm glad we did. because such extreme driving on such small roads that he proved capable of, was amazing. My sister said a couple of time in awe that "it felt like flying"...

And before we knew it, we were in Letterkenny. And that is a story for our next chapter...TADAH!

My Irish adventure: Cork by night

The Blue Hour

The last evening in Cork before leaving for Letterkenny, I decided to see the city on my own. So I wandered through the city in the fading light, thinking and humming to myself. I really hope to come back one day....I want to see more of Cork, both night and day

The river Lee in the evening light

Reflection from the history

A little treasuretrove...and what a cool name

One of the many bridges...and perhaps the most beautiful one

Red and blue; night and sunset

Much more beautiful by night

Like the city comes alive

They seem to like this kind of architectural style....

Bridge over troubled water?

So yes, I cannot deny it....

I MISS CORK

My Irish adventure: Cobh 2

Finally, the rain stopped and I am ready to continue my story from Cobh...
And I will take you on a journey of the mind, through the history of the place...well, I will at least try.

Cobh. A place people left. Either to look for their fortune in a foreign land like America or Australia, or as this sign says: Cork
The old trainstation has been turned into a museum over the emigration and life in Cork. A museum which also covered the two tragic accidents concerning Titanic's misfortune in 1912 and the sinking of Lusitania in 1915.

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I'll try to let the pictures speak mostly for themselves, but here and there you will see my comments...enjoy...

You feels like you have  been brought back in time...to a time when first class-passengers got to wait in their own room...



A melody to wish the passagers a good journey across the ocean

I this case...not a very pleasant journey....

The population of Ireland decreased sharply in this period as you can see...some say that in 1845 there lived about 8,1 million (!) people on this fair green isle...and then the worst tragedy in Irish history occurred: The Great Famine (An Gorta Mór). More than 1,5 million people either starved to death or died from deceases caused by malnutrition...and people fled the country to seek a better life in America, Canada or anywhere else really. And about 1921 the population had shrunk into about 4 million.....


Dance on board one of the many ships headed for the new world...





People fled the country...




...and this was partly the reason why they fled

 I remember when I started reading about this period. I couldn't stop myself from crying when I read about how people got evicted when they couldn't pay the rent on the small patch of land they had.
Which reminds me of a verse from "Skibbereen":

And  well do I remember the bleak decemberday

the landlord and the sheriff came to drive us all away.

They set my roof on fire with their cursed foreign spleen

and that's another reason why I left old Skibbereen.



no mercy



Can we ever imagine how it must have been?

 

Big, large...largest?

It was cool to be big and strong...but there is nothing like being the FASTEST SHIP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

The last boat to receive the Blue Riband was "United States" in 1952. She crossed the Atlantic in 3 days, 12 hours and 12 minutes---just some curiosa

Yes, Titanic WAS big....

Farewell---forever



Annie Moore---the first person to pass through Long Island emigration centre in New York



More picture than talk this time, but in my next post you will only get pictures, so please don't complain...

See ye soon

My Irish Adventure: Cobh

Cobh. For many Irish men and woman was this the last place they saw of Ireland before barking on the dangerous trip across the fierce Atlantic Ocean. For  you of my readers who have followed me and this blog the last 2 years will remember what my bachelorthesis and what going to a place like Cobh mean to me.

But let me get to my point and telling you about how it felt going there, to also see the last harbour for Titanic before she went down outside Newfoundland, 12^th april 1912.

Cobh has been colored by its naval and marine history, but when you’re there today you cannot feel the vibrant ‘mood’ that you would have felt if you walked along the dockside let us say in the 1880’s.

But let us not dwell on the past. I will show you how Cobh is today.

Here goes:

PROOF

 The first I did when we were walking towards the trainstation was to....get lost. Yes, this day I had NO sense of direction at all...so started wandering in the opposite direction of the trainstation and if noone had stopped me, I would have walked straight out of Cork...

 But in the end we found the trainstation...and got ourselves some breakfast there while listening to the rain that was falling outside...wish I had brought an umbrella :p

Our train

To sit on the train, and just stare at the rain...what a feeling. Solveig looked around for something interesting to take pictures of

Beware beware

This was the first thing we saw when stepping off the train in Cobh. It was raining cats (and dogs for that matter), but we wouldn't let this stop us.

Our first stop was a church that had been turned into a museum over the history of Cobh, and it felt nice to get out of the rain and simply walk straight into a treasuretrove. It was amazing to see how they had turned this church into something else after the congregation got too small.

Here are some pictures from the exhibition:

Very beautiful

When I was younger I dreamed of having something like this...

After a long and interesting discussion with the guide on the subject of Irish emigration, we braved the weather once more, heading for the dock. We were looking for the memorials for Titanic and Lusitania, and we passed it a couple of times before we actually saw them...so typical of me...


Titanic-memorial




Lusitania-memorial

 After a touristy morning, it felt sooooo good to get out of the rain, which was heavier than before and into a pub for a pint and some planning. And here I will leave the story until the rain stops...

A tourist's best friends....

My Irish Adventure: Cork/Cobh part 1

Cork. A place where the people talk really fast, so you got to listen VERY carefully when they try to tell you something. Beside that: I like Cork. This may come surprising to some, since I've gone on and on about how I don't like cities that much, but this place reminded me of home. Not too big, nor too small.

The busdrive from Waterford was nice, and we experienced all the different facets of the Irish weather...well, sunshine-rain-sunshine-rain (+ rainbow)-sunshine etc
After some misunderstandings we ended up at Kinlay's on the north side of the river. We were very tired after walking around with our backpacks (add a fiddle + some shoppingbags), so we took a nap before making dinner in the kitchen and exploring the hostel.

Our dorm..which we shared with 6 others...though it could take 18

Something to keep my mind off things...sadly it got lost somewhere between Letterkenny, Derry and Belfast

Beware; the wallmonster...its only craving is sausages

 The first evening we spent playing backgammon and making plans for the next day. We decided that we would go to Cobh (pronounced COVE)...and I will tell you all about it in just a few lines time.

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Cobh has a somewhat special place in my heart. Well, doesn't all of Ireland have such a position you might ask...

The simple reason for this is...my bachelorthesis. Writing so much about all the Irish men and women who left this small coastal town in search for a new and better life, left a mark in my soul. So I believe you can understand why I had to see it with my very own eyes