Cruising on Home

We continued our cruise up the Rhine with stops to explore Cologne and another place before traveling along the ‘Romantic Rhine’: a section of the river that boasts numerous castles and picturesque villages. We parked the boat at Mannheim and took a bus trip to explore Heidelberg and the returned to complete the last leg of the cruise in Strasbourg.

We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our hotel in Strasbourg to find that we were booked for 2 nights not the one that we had expected. After frantically checking our that the dates lined up with our onward flights, we settled in for a lazy couple of days exploring what turned out to be a very charming old city.

                                                         

At present we are sitting Strasbourg Airport for our flights to Dublin. We will commence the return journey Sunday evening local time and will arrive back in Canberra on Tuesday.

Amsterdam and the Rhine

We arrived on the Continent in time to witness record breaking temperatures across Europe. For Amsterdam the heat wave was in the 36-38 C range for our first 3 days. This made museums good places to visit during the day. We explored the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House and the Rijksmuseum over these days and explored the canals and streets by boat, tram and foot during the evenings.

Our third night was spent on our river cruise ship which did not leave Amsterdam until late on the following day. This allowed us to take an excursion to Volendam (an old fishing Village) and Zaanse Schans where there is a collection of windmills and craft workshops including clog making. We also visited a cheese factory.

After a night of cruising we awoke in the town of Nijmegen on the Rhine River. This was our base for an excursion to the Kroller Muller Museum approximately 45 minutes away by bus. This museum is located in a national park and contains a magnificent collection of paintings and sculptures that you can get up close and personal with.

Since Nijmegen we have been continuing to cruise up the Rhine and are due to arrive in Cologne after lunch.

Castles, Churches and Other Experiences

Since our last post we have visited castles in Blarney, Kilkenny and Waterford. Religious sites including Cashel Rock Chapel, the Black Abbey of Kilkenny, the Duisk Abbey of Graigmanaugh, St Mary’s Church of Gowran, Bridget Cathedral of Kildare and St Patricks of Dublin.

We would have kissed the Blarney Stone, but we had too much respect for our backs. We also would have climbed the round tower at Kilkenny, which is reputed to be the tallest round tower in Ireland, had we been ten years younger. For the same reason we would have climbed the round tower at Kildare which is also reputed to be the tallest round tower in Ireland, but we didn’t.

We have been on a church tour, a ghost tour, a famine tour in a shopping centre (which had once been a poor house), a famine experience on a ship, a 4D tour of a bishop’s house and a 3D Viking experience.

We have been to towns and counties across Ireland where our ancestors once lived. Along the way Adrian has sampled numerous local beers and we have toured the Smithwick’s Brewery which exports under the Kilkenny brand. Sadly, our Irish tour has come to a close.

 At 6:20am on Wednesday we fly to Amsterdam for the next part of our holiday.

So hot the tar melted

It was so hot when we went to the Cliffs of Moher on Sunday that the tar in the carpark melted. Some said the temperatures reached 22⁰C. We saw some poor locals who looked like lobsters and even we got a touch of sunburn. The cliffs rise to around 190 metres and provide breeding grounds for many sea birds including a colony of puffins.

As well as walking the cliff tops, we also viewed them from the sea on our way home from one a trip to the Isle Innis: one of the Aran Islands. On the Isle we took a horse and cart ride tour and inspected a castle.

Whilst in the area we also inspected a Neolithic Tomb and a bronze age ring fort. We got to talk to some archaeologists who were involved in a dig and had found a couple of pins, a knife blade and a hair comb. On our way from Derry we also spent a night in Sligo where we visited a late stone age graveyard and considered climbing Knocknarea mountain where Queen Maeve is said to be entombed. We made it to base camp from where it is a 40-minute hike to the summit. It was cold and wet, so we decided to skip the climb, got a hot chocolate and headed to the pub.

On Monday we made it Limerick and toured another Castle. Tuesday it was a drive out to Killaloe to visit the Brian Boru Heritage Centre. According to family folklore Joy is descended from the brother of Brian. Brian is famous for uniting the tribes of Ireland and becoming High King in the 11^th century. We had attempted to visit the Heritage Centre in 2007 but when we arrived, we found out the centre had closed for the winter. This time we were prepared. We had checked the opening times on the Heritage Centre website, its location on google maps and followed signs from Limerick. So, when we walked in: we surprised to be told the Centre closed down three years ago!

Disaster and Troubles

It was all about disaster and troubles in Belfast. The major tourist attraction is the Titanic Experience, an impressive museum about all things Titanic: from the design and construction, the voyage and disaster and its aftermath, through to expeditions to find the wreck.  The other big theme of tourist activity were the Troubles: walking tours, black taxi tours, mural tours. We did a bus tour and were planning a walking tour for our final day, but the rains set in, so we decided to move on. We did fit in a visit Carrickfergus Castle which is the most complete Norman Castle and dates from 1205.

After Belfast it was along the Northern Ireland coast to the Giants Causeway. Along the way there 

were numerous sites natural and man-made to see through the drizzle. 

As it doesn’t get dark until around 10pm we explored the Dark Hedges just before dark and again in the morning. Whilst the Dark Hedges have been made famous through Game of Thrones they were planted some 200 years ago as a driveway hedge.

We arrived in Derry yesterday and learned more about the Troubles which started here in 1972 when the British army shot 28 unarmed civilians during a protest march resulting in 14 deaths. We also took a walking tour along the city walls (the most intact city walls in Europe). Along the wall we also met some historical figures including an 18^th century surgeon who wanted to amputate Adrian’s arm.

Tomorrow we will head back into the Republic and head down the Atlantic coast.

PS If you hadn't guessed Joy is mobile again

The faeries pushed her

An excursion to the Drogheda Hospital Emergency Department was not part of our plans but Joy managed to go for a slip and slide at the Newgrange Neolithic site and …

Staff at the site were kind enough to loan a wheelchair for a tour of the related site at Knowth and allow Adrian to use it to push Joy back up the 600m pathway to the carpark (even leaving a second wheelchair at the top of stairway halfway back). After the site visit it was off to hospital the experience the Irish health system. Six hours and a couple of X-rays later Joy was diagnosed with sprains and abrasions and ordered to rest for a couple of days.

Timing for Joy’s mishap was also unfortunate as we were booked in to stay in a castle in Ardee for that evening. Our rooms were on the second floor with access via a narrow circular stairway. It was a great place to stay but access was a little difficult for Joy. Concerned that Joy was getting all the attention, Adrian tried to knock himself out on the stairway (twice). People must have been a lot shorter back in 1400s!

We have spent the last couple of nights in a converted barn in a little place called Coalisland in Northern Ireland. Joy is recovering well, and we are off to Belfast tomorrow (Sunday). 

In Dublin's Fair City

Yes, we are travelling again. This time we start off with a road trip around the Emerald Isle. We arrived in Dublin around 8.00am local time on Tuesday.

 

After picking up our hire car from the Airport we made our way into the city and visited Dublinia where learned about the Viking and medieval origins of Dublin. Dublinia is located in buildings attached to Christchurch Cathedral, so we had a quick squiz in the cathedral before roaming the streets of old Dublin. Somehow, we managed to stumble into a bar in Temple Bar and listened to a performer Sweet Molly Malone.  Then it was more rambling which included stumbling upon the said sweet Molly Malone and Dublin Castle.

On Wednesday we again headed into the city, this time via bus as there was a bus stop out the front of our AirBnB in the suburbs. We spent most of time at the Emigration Museum (EPIC). In the evening we enjoyed a meal at the local pub: The Cock and Bull.

Today we will be heading off into countryside.