Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Craic (noun) Pronounciation - crack: slang word derived from Gaelic, commonly used in Ireland to describe a fun time/person or good conversation and social interaction, usually involving laughter, music, drinking, dancing and singing. Note: does not necessarily involve crack cocaine.
As in: Ireland was great craic
Let's have some craic
Where's the craic at?
Liss is great craic after a few pints!
So there was a lot of craic going on in our little Irish detour (out of the Schengen zone), with plenty of time spent tucked away in pubs, eating a hearty meal of Irish stew, fish and chips or roast, listening to the upbeat tunes of Irish flutes, fiddles and drums whilst swilling a pint of Guiness or five, watching some Irish dancing and having a laugh and a dance with new friends.
However I'm pleased to announce that it was also a very educational experience. In fact, I hate to boast but we actually come away from Ireland with three new certified qualifications, which I'll be sure to add to my resume.
Elissa Cole
Education and Training
Bachelor of Business (Marketing) - QUT 2010
Certificate in 'Gift of the Gab' - Blarney, Ireland 2012
Certified Irish Whiskey Taster - Jameson Distillery, Dublin Ireland 2012
Certified Guinness 'Perfect Pint Pourer' - Guiness Storehouse, Dublin Ireland 2012
Yep, read it and weep. You are in the midst of greatness.
So, I was going to try and cram our whole Irish experience into one blog entry, but now that I have the gift of the gab, well...you'd be here a very long while! To give an overview, it went a little like this: Dublin - Blarney - Cork - Killarney - Dingle (and Dingle Peninsula) - Dublin - Galway - Cliffs of Moher - Dublin.
For ease of blogging, I'll lump our Dublin experiences into one entry, and then go from there. But umm, as usual you still might be here a while. So settle in, lads and lassies while I spin ye a wee yarn abooot our Fine Irish adventure: Part one.
Having waved goodbye to Ben and Gem again, we flew from Paris into Dublin midmorning on a midsummers day, and stepped out of the plane into cloudy, rainy and cold weather - pretty much what we expected! I didn't mind, it's quite atmospheric and makes the pubs extra cosy ;-) We did also get several crystal clear, sunny days as a little bonus!
Stepping onto the airport link bus, it took me a second to figure out which greeting to use..my mind ticked over with "bonjour, hola, bonjourno.."...oh right, "Hello!" Despite the lame excuse for a summer, Ireland at the surface felt very familiar and we were strangely comforted to see brands that we recognized in the grocery stores (and pies, blessed PIES!), and to find ourselves a little further from death by checking the correct way before crossing the road.
It's not the prettiest city, although the contrast of the grey buildings and fluro green lawns is amazing, and it can be a bit rough (lots of drunks, and we had homeless people stealing food from the hostel kitchen or wandering in for the free breakfast which was quite sad, but I was happy to see the hostel workers feeding them). But the history here is amazing, as is the nightlife.
We went on a free walking tour of Ireland's capital city and learned a little more about the country's clan history, the gaelic language and the long (like, 700 years long!) and passionate struggle of the Irish people for independance from Britain. We visited Trinity College, Christchurch Cathedral, and Dublin Castle - a rather unimpressive sight housing a very interesting history.
For example, it was here that 15 year old Red Hugh O'Donnell, son of the leader of the powerful O'Donnell clan, was imprisoned after he was lured onto an English ship with the promise of alcohol. In these days it was illegal to sell alcohol on the land, so they sold it instead from boats moored in the sea - what a loophole! So they got him pissed, bopped him over the head and bundled him up in Dublin Castle.
10 years on, two sons of another powerful clan called the O'Neill's, busted him out through the floor of his cell and into the river below. They made a harrowing trek home through the mountains where one O'Neill died and on returning home with a case of frostbite, Red Hugh's father was so impressed that he abdicated and handed over the leadership to his son. Red Hugh by now had pretty passionate feelings toward the English,having wasted his youth in a prison cell. He is considered one of the greatest heroes of Ireland, as he then went on to unite with the O'Neills (previously an enemy clan) to fight for Ireland instead of fighting each other. Red Hugh came closer than any other hero to freeing Ireland from the English, leading his clan alongside the O'Neills against England in what became the Nine Years War. However like many before him he ultimately failed due to a stroke of bad luck. The Irish had gained strongholds in a large portion of the country, but in a final push that could have won their country back, their Spanish allies landed at the wrong end of the country. Doh. The English chased them off, and decimated the Irish when they came to assist.
Despite this ultimate failure, I thought that was a pretty inspiring story, and apparently so did Disney as they've made a movie based (maybe loosely) on his story - "The Fighting Prince of Donegal".
The castle was also a key site of a seige during the Easter rising. 250,000 Irish men and women were ready to launch an attack on key sites in Dublin, with Easter Sunday pinpointed as the date. However when a weaponry shipment was intercepted by the English, the attack was called off. The English had heard wind of it, and spent their Easter on watch for attacks which never came. But the following day, a group of diehard freedom fighters decided to go ahead anyway. On Easter Monday, 19 Irishmen stormed Dublin castle, got through the gates and were met with...nothing. It spooked them, and they left. Turns out the castle was nearly empty, as the English soldiers were given the day off to make up for their wasted Easter Sunday. Had the Irishmen pushed on, they could have easily taken the castle. Another Doh moment.
We learnt of many similar, bumbling attempts at independence - yet I still find the passion of these people very inspiring. Definitely points for persistance...the Irish are the ultimate underdog.
We took a stroll through the famed nightlife area, the temple bar, and saw the venue of U2's first gig and the pub across the road which they were once refused at and now own.
We ended the tour at the Famine sculpture at St Stephens green. Mark and I returned to this beautiful park to eat lunch by the pond while ducks and swans weaved through the lily pads and under a picturesque stone bridge, then we strolled across the bright green lawns and watched adorable Irish kids play in a deluxe playground (cluck, cluck!) until the skies opened up and sent everyone running for cover.
We also visited St Patrick's Cathedral and wandered past the building which now houses the Bank of Ireland. Taking a second glance you'll notice the building has no windows. The stone frames are there, but where there would be windows there is only more stone. Why? Because the English liked to make life hard for the Irish - from the extremes of the Famine and cultural oppression (Queen Mary banned them from any form of congregation, and even from singing!), to relatively minor annoyances such as a window tax - a new building would be taxed depending on how many windows it had. So in one of many "feck you's" to Engand, they built the building without windows (and also wrote a song about not being allowed to sing).
Dublin was also the site of our first 'official' pub crawl - a fantastic night that brought all the Aussies and Kiwis out of the woodwork - I tried my first ever Guinness, we danced up a storm to amazing live Irish music, a couple of Mackay boys introduced us to strawpedos, the girls and I got a little dreamy eyed in the pub where that PS I love you scene was filmed (where Gerard sings Galway Girl, sigh!) and by the end of the night, Mark had to piggy back me halfway home.
Great craic ;-)
We took some time to do both the Guinness storehouse and Jamesons whisky distillery tour - both of which I'd highly recommend. The Guinness tour is self guided, it's huge and gives a lot of information about how the stout is brewed, the history of the brewery and its workers, the marketing and culture and at the end of it, we were taught how to pour a perfect pint before having a go ourselves and drinking the final product.
The Jameson's tour was comparatively short and sweet, and great value as we again scored two student tickets (this time the cashier wasn't deaf, just clumsy - "oops my finger slipped" wink wink). So for 10 euro each we were given a guided tour, a drink (a new favourite - whisky, ginger ale and lime) and a taste test of 3 different whiskys.
So that's Dublin in a rather massive nutshell (sorry, as you can tell I got a little swept up in the history of this place). After a few wonderful days in the city, it was time to hit the real heart of Ireland, the beautiful green countryside. To be continued :-)
- comments