Castles and Cliffs and Craic - Oh My!

Good morning Ireland!

I really should do a post with all the new phrases we heard on this trip. Today’s was most memorable: Craic (pronounced crack). It means fun and good times. So you might wonder how it is used in a sentence. When someone in Ireland says “What’s the craic?”, they are checking to see if you are having a good time. Well, that is exactly what today (and this whole trip) was all about.

Our taxi driver was pleasant despite the early hour of our departure to meet our tour group. As he was whipping us around town, he pointed out things of interest. When we saw the litter on the streets when we crossed a bridge, he said that on the other side of the bridge there is a “different kettle of fish” similar to our expression about “the other side of the tracks”. But he assured us that by 10am, all the litter would be cleaned up. Tourists!

En route to the Cliffs of Moher, we made a pit stop at the Barak Obama plaza whose heritage was traced to a small Irish town. His Irish heritage comes through his mother, Ann Dunham. Her great-great-grandfather, emigrated from Moneygall, Ireland, to the United States in 1850. Our delightful tour guide even played the song “There’s no one as Irish as Barak Obama”.

Ireland was originally a rainforest when first settlers arrived. Newgrange is over 5,000 years old making it older than Egyptian pyramids and suggested that the early settlers understood the pattern of movement in our solar system. Inside chamber illuminated only on shortest day of the year.

St Patrick was a slave boy from Wales. Escaped after 6 yrs of captivity. Returned to spread Christianity (received vision from God). He was the one to use the shamrock ☘️ as symbol of trinity. And it is on EVERYTHING in Ireland which is making souvenir shopping very tricky. But we will persevere!

Fun fact: It was believed that the only thing needed to establish a town was a church and a pub. We went through a very small town that had 5 pubs but no grocery store :)

Not so great fact: Great famine of the late 19th century had significant impact on both Ireland and NYC. The population in Ireland went from 8MM to 3MM due to immigration. In fact, one year, there were more Irish babies born in NYC than Dublin City.

The Cliffs of Moher

At the highest point, the cliffs rise over 700 feet in the air. The breathtaking, dramatic scenery was a treat that I’m sure the pictures won’t do justice. Listening to the app, we learned about several birds that call this area home. One is the Puffin (consider the clan bird). It sits on the ground and burrows like rats. It cant’t fly or swim well but about 5,000 come back every year in the Spring and leave in August. We just missed them.

Good night Ireland!