Dublin Eachtraí

We'll start our story of Ireland in 200 BC. It is difficult to imagine what kind of trade different countries had between one another and what type of transportation was possible over 2000 years ago. The national museum of archeology provided two discoveries that suggest that Ireland had some way of traversing to what is now mainland Europe. The first was imported Spanish hair gel. During the dark ages, Ireland was separated into kingdoms, with a king ruling each one. At the selection of the new king, the former king was sacrificed and then thrown into a bog. Oxygenless, the bog was a perfect preserve that allowed archeologists 2000 years later to examine pedicured fingernails, gelled hair, nippleless bodies, and even the contents of their last meal. The fingernails and absence of calluses suggested a person of higher social class. The similar contents of meals in each of these "bog peoples" suggested that each of those sacrificed were served a meal of cereals and buttermilk before the coronation of the new king. Odd tradition: removal of the nipples was an Irish form of submission. Incredibly, archeologists were able to find remnants of a hair gel imported from Spain, which shows that Ireland had some sort of trade with their friends from across a piece of the Atlantic. They could have even traveled all the way to Africa because a bible dating back to the dark ages was found on a piece of papyrus. Lo and behold the only place papyrus was found in those days was Egypt!

Quick geography reminder

Bog Man: Head at bottom with hair

Now onto early Christian Ireland (100-300AD), the Irish Dark Age. This is a time of cultural and economic stagnation when religion had declined tremendously. Interestingly, archeologists were able to estimate the time period of this stagnation by pollen studies of the bog. Monks filled Ireland and were on a mission to restore Christianity by copying and dispersing ancient religious texts. By around 800 AD, Ireland was amidst the golden age for Christianity. It became known as the Land of Saints and Scholars, as ideas were spread from Ireland across Europe. It led to hundreds of thousands of abbeys dotted around the island. Things were going great until the Vikings sailed up and quickly looted the island of Ireland. The monks were no match for the Vikings so the newcomers easily overtook them and settled on the river. Though their raids began small, they increased in number and scale as they overtook monasteries and towns over a 200 year period. No group of people will keep a piece of land forever. So next up in our conquerors are the Normans. First, Normans conquered Ireland in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In 1169, King Leinster (of Ireland) was taken out of power by Norman knights and two years later, Henry II sent out an army to secure Norman control over Ireland, especially Dublin. The local Irish clans resisted this colonization and were quite persistent for years, yet the struggle was futile. Normans began making castles to fight against these rambunctious Irish clans. By the order of Norman King John in 1200, a large castle was built in Limerick, Ireland. It is situated next to the toll house on the River Shannon.

King John's Castle (on the right of the picture with the visitor's center in the background).  The small tower at the end of the bridge is the toll house.

Let's fast forward to 1536 when Henry VIII, an Englishman, took over. Henry VIII wasn't such a fab guy. As royalty in England, his family tossed him over to Ireland to rule. At this time, there were Catholic abbeys dotted all around the nation. Henry VIII was livin' the life out in Ireland awaiting the birth of his baby boy that would become his heir. Lack of genetic knowledge and most certainly patience, Henry VIII blamed his lack of XY chromosome children on his wife, Anne Boline, so he filed for an annulment with the Pope in Rome. Despite mounds of gold, the Pope surprisingly refused (a rarity in that day and age). Though he didn't have patience, he did have desperate motivation. Religion wasn't convenient for him so the obvious solution was to create a new church! So, was the Church of England created through thoughtful disagreements of the people that led to integrated combination of ideas and traditions? Nope. It was created because Henry kept donating an X chromosome instead of a Y and thought it was someone else's fault. Not surprisingly, his new church granted Henry his desired annulment. Sadly, all the abbeys scattered across Ireland were Roman Catholic and therefore abandoned because they were not of the new church.

Abandoned Abbey

Wars happened, with the 17th century being particularly bloody, etc. Oliver Cromwell had control of Ireland from 1649-1653. Essentially Catholics and Protestants were fighting and Catholics were winning....until 1691 when they were still fighting yet Protestants did more of the winning. Losers got persecuted along with some Presbyterians and such. People seemed to get sick of all this so they held the first meeting of the Society of the United Irishmen in order to separate religion from politics. While it was a fabulous idea, it wasn't working so there was a huge Irish Rebellion in 1798 to overthrow British rule. That didn't work either and the Act of the Union, created to unite British and Ireland, abolished the Irish Parliament in its entirety in 1801. Instead, it created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. At least Britain was trying to get Ireland to like them. They attempted to remove discrimination of other religions but those things take time. Then the famine happened (discussed later). 

Now onto some French Wars, which included the Napoleonic Wars! French vs Great Britain and with Ireland a part of GB they were required to participate. Spoiler alert, the French lost. During this time and through the rest of the 1800s, the British embarked on a project to install Martello towers along the coastlines of the British empires to protect its borders. This included 100s of Martellos along all of Ireland. These towers would house soldiers and if an enemy ship was in sight of one of the towers, they lit a beacon to warn the others. The other towers would see the fire and light their own fire and pass along the message like telephone. They were worried that the French would use Ireland as a point in order to attack England and were on a constant lookout for enemy ships. Seeing as the Martellos were large stone tubes, it wouldn't be my first choice for a vacation spot. James Joyce must of thought differently however, because this famous Irish poet and novelist lived in one for a few days and later based part of Ulysses on his experience.

Martello Tower by the Cliffs of Mohr

Close to one of these Martello towers in the fishing village of Kinvara, our tour guide pointed out yet another castle. Named the Dunguaire Castle, it housed yet another famous writer Oscar Wilde, as he wrote. Inhabiting large stone structures must be very inspiring whilst writing. The World Wide Web could not confirm this info but who am I to say our tour guide is wrong? Nowadays, Dunguaire Castle hosts medieval banquets but sadly we could not attend.

Dunguaire Castle

After all these years, Ireland still wanted independence. In the early 1900s there were Acts enacted and Conventions convened and fights fought.

This memorial represents the 1916 uprising.  The swords in the river commemorate the end of flighting in 1922.

One statue we saw (at the end of the memorial shown above) showed children transforming into swans. This refers to the Irish Fairytale, the Children of Lir. It began with King Lir, his four children, and their stepmother. She quickly became jealous of the love he had for his children, so with her magical powers, she cast a spell on them and turned them into swans. They stayed as swans for 900 years until St Patrick brought the Christian Faith to Ireland. Once St Patrick arrived, he proclaimed "Children of Lir, return to your land." This was a great metaphor for Irish independence because they too suffered for almost 900 years until they were allowed to return to their rightful land (before the Normans took over until 1922). Talking with Gerry, it was quite obvious that many people in the Republic of Ireland (ie not Northern Ireland) was not too fond of the British.

Children of Lir. Photo cred to google images

They finally came to an agreement in which neither party was happy. In 1921/1922, the war halted and Ireland was split. Northern Ireland remained a part of the British empire and still does today. The definition of the other half was a little confusing but people seem to refer to 1921/22 as the time Ireland gained independence. It wasn't until 1949 that they actually left the British Commonwealth and became a Republic.

The Troubles, which occurred mainly in Northern Ireland, happened in the 1960s. In short, it was characterized by violence between those who saw themselves as Irish and those who saw themselves as British ie Irish Republicans/Nationalists vs Unionists/Loyalists. We visited a memorial for all of the cops that had been killed since 1922 and in total it was less than 60. Even during the incredible amount of violence during the troubles, this number still remained far less than what we see in the United States. It gave us a very unique perspectives on gun laws and extreme violence in there US. This blog is getting long so that's all I'm going to say about that.

Ireland was good friends with JFK, an Irish-American and first Catholic to become US president. He was proud of his roots and visited Ireland in 1963. He was welcomed with waving Irish and American flags and then met with his extended Irish family. The Irish were touched by his visit and at JFKs state funeral later in 1963, Ireland was the first and only foreign country to participate in a state funeral.

...The Irish still don't like British. Up until a cease fire in 1995, there were still an abundant amount of political rallies. In conclusion: order of Irish rulers were Monks, Vikings, Normans, British, then Ireland gained independence. It makes me wonder if religion would have existed the same as it does throughout the world if they hadn't copied those ancient texts.

We traveled to the Cliffs of Mohr, an incredibly astounding set of cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. Somehow we ended up with a beautiful sunny day in the normally rainy Ireland. The well fed grass in the sun was super bright green which made me feel as if I was in a fairytale. The height was less scary simply because we were overcome by the beauty of the cliffs. That did not however cause me to not worry about my friends who were a little too close to the edge for my comfort. Regardless, we walked along the border of the cliffs, looking at them from different angles and admiring the incomprehensible and powerful natural force all those years ago that forged this massive structure. Throwing pebbles down, we counted to 13 before it hit the water. Referring back to the physics formula oh so long ago: d=1/2 gt^2. D=1/2(9.81)(13)^2. D=829 meters! After Wikipedia said physics had failed me and they are only around 200 meters high I was a bit disappointed. The rock didn't fall quite straight down and flew round a bit so that could have been where we went wrong. No one volunteered to provide a heavier object that was less subject to the wind so I guess it will forever be a mystery.

Panoramic View of the Cliffs of Mohr

Kadee taking in the view

Other cliffs we visited after leaving Cliffs of Mohr

It is illegal to put buildings on the Cliffs of Mohr.  Solution: put them inside

On our way back from the Cliffs of Mohr, we stopped by one of the abandoned catholic abbeys discussed earlier. The stone structure was quaint compared to magnificent churches you can see around Europe, yet more personal. When walking around the church, there were graves from the late 1800s all the way up to 2009. Families over generations had been buried together and poems were written on the graves. Gardens of flowers and greenery covered these mounds making this site of death, a site for new growth and beauty. I imagined family members from modern times visiting this rural area of Ireland to bury their loved ones next to ancestors. After that, we drove up to a chocolatier shop in the middle of nowhere to buy some of the best tasting chocolate I have ever had. Walking into the shop, a waft of chocolately air attacks you, forcing you to buy this decadent delicacy so you can allow your other senses to partake in this experience. Elderberry dark chocolate sprinkled with rose petals was just as delicious as a simple milk chocolate hazelnut piece. One tour guide said we had lucked out with the weather, as that was the best he'd seen all year. Let's just say all in all the day was a major success.

A grave that contained 6 family members all buried together

Some tidbits of Ireland: sheep and cattle filled fields surrounded by rock dry walls. These were fences of stacked rocks that were not held together by any type of mortar substance.

Cattle fields

Sheep fields

Old Irish town we passed through

Lines of dry walls snaked over the mountains without an obvious pattern. They did not contain anything and served no purpose. Back in the time of the infamous Irish potato famine (mid 1800s), food and money were obviously sparse. Over a period of 4 years, it is thought that over 700,000 people died. There were no such thing as free handouts so the government had peasants work all day stacking these walls in order to receive pennies to buy some food. Though I could easily walk up and take the stones off one by one, these walls have stood the test of time and survived all sorts of weather. What may be the saddest part of the situation was the fact that Ireland was growing plenty of food to feed the population, they were just exporting it to make money. Citizens gave their life savings to travel on a "coffin ship" to British North America in hopes of finding a better life. They often did not have a choice, as many were thrown out of their cottages when they could not pay rent. This three thousand mile journey across the Atlantic did not come with food, water, shelter, bathrooms and most certainly an immunity from the many illnesses aboard the ship. This can be compared to the slave ships coming from Africa, except the cargo didn't need to be kept alive coming from Ireland.

Close up of the famine walls

While they are known for their potatoes, rice is actually the main food source of the inhabitants via a survey a few years ago. Not only do they have sheep farms but they often have cattle as well. Gaelic, which can also be referred to as Irish, is still spoken as a first language in 5% of the population. This is seen mostly in the rural fishing or farming communities around Ireland. Though you can choose it as a second language in school, many students prefer French or German because it helps in the business world. The language itself is still a tradition so all official airport and street signs are still in both Gaelic and English, however, restaurants and other social venues omit Gaelic. It's still a bit chilly in the summer so I imagined in winter, Dublin would be a frozen over city but in reality, the temperature just changes a few degrees over the year and it never snows. They don't do too hot or too cold, they like it juuust right, like goldilocks. As we were driving along the highway passing the pastures of cattle and sheep, our tour guide pointed out the fields that were lined with rows of cut-up grass. This was called the "winter soilage" and is served as cow feed for the slightly colder winter months.

Lines of "soilage"

Windmills

Our tour guide admitted that when it came to mountains, the Irish exaggerated a tad. Apparently, they love to brag about the abundance of beautiful green mountains among Ireland. If the technical definition of a mountain (over 1000 meters tall) is taken into account, Ireland has only one mountain and the rest are hills. Though Henry VIII did his best back in the day to eradicate Ireland of Roman Catholicism, nowadays, approx 90% are Catholics and 10% Protestants. Now onto one of the best parts of Ireland: Gerry. Maybe the kindest man in Ireland, he found some of our friends looking lost and immediately went to help. He subsequently led them around Dublin, showing off his favorite sites and museums. They had such a great experience that day, we emailed him and asked if he was available. The rest of us went out the next day in search for this old white haired jubileeic man. We found one another and started on our adventure. At a breakfast/coffee place he took the unfinished bread and stuffed it in his bag for the pigeons later on. Each tourist info place we stopped at, Gerry grabbed 9 copies of each interesting site around Dublin. He exclaimed, "you must go here is it amazing!" as he handed out the flyers to each and every one of us. And not to worry, he brought a cloth bag for us to hold all of our flyers. So we traversed on, visiting the prime ministers office and all the other great free museums. Gerry would stop any person who looked in the least bit lost. Staring at their maps, they were often taken aback as a small old man walked up and jollily asked if they needed help finding anything. After a few hours we took a break and he pulled out candy bars for each of us from his bag and insisted we enjoy. Some great places we visited that day were the national history museum and the archeology museum. The national history museum housed the aforementioned bog people as well as some other cool things. One section described the Ogham language, an early medieval language used to write the early and old Irish language. Letters are just carved slashes that differ in number and length in order to differentiate between the letters.

Not my photo.  Just an example of the Ogham language

The archeology museum, nicknamed the dead zoo, was by far was the best. Was it because of the interestingly stuffed animals dispersed throughout the building? Nope. It was Gerry's excitedness about all the old bones and poorly done creepy old taxidermic animals that made it such a great time. For every relatively cute or astonishing creature, Gerry insisted we all get a group photo in front of it. This included the zebra, the hippo, the ancient Irish deer, giraffe, elephant, and almost the rhino but we foregooed (forewent?) that one due to his lack of a horn.

Group photo with taxidermic animals

As we were walking through, the man who worked there saw how much we were enjoying it and brought us to see one of his favorites: the smiling hedgehog.

The infamous smiling hedgehog

What made the trip even better was Gerry's jokes. Here are a few:

Why are giraffes necks so long?

They have to be otherwise their body wouldn't reach their head

How do porcupines make love?

Very carefully.

Why don't anteaters ever get sick?

They are full of antibodies.

What's the definition of an Irish queer?
One that prefers women to drink.

And a special TN joke just for us: Why are Dolly Parton's feet so small?

Nothing grows in the shade.

Some other places we visited with Gerry was the Masons museum, Trinity College (which has been open since the 1500s), and parliament.

Trinity College

Trinity College

Free Mason Museum

Gerry feeding pigeons

More facts:

The White House in Washington DC was designed by an Irish architect and was originally gray sandstone. After the British set fire to it in 1814 during the War of 1812, it took over 570 gallons of white paint to cover the building. Slightly abrupt ending to the Dublin post but this has been quite lengthy so it's time to move onto Rostock, Germany!