Today, Skellig Michael is a World Heritage Site, and an amazing place, indeed. It’s incredible to be here, high on top of the island, and try to fathom what it was like to live here, year round, in these little stone huts, on this steep rocky island. It was a beautiful day when we were there, but the monks didn’t always have it so good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’ll be heading back to Ireland in a few weeks for our next women’s tour of Ireland. As long as the weather and sea conditions co-operate, we’ll be sitting by one of these beehive huts soon, imagining the life of those hardy monks who built it.
I’m setting myself up for a killer schedule on my Europe trip this summer. I’ve got a long red-eye on the way to London Gatwick, arriving there about 630am. Then a long layover in London. Then another red-eye on the train/boat combination getting to Ireland.
And I couldn’t be happier about it!
This is the perfect opportunity to try out the Yotel at Gatwick. They’ve got mini-hotel rooms that you can book by the hour. Instead of curling up on a bench, artfully wrapped around your luggage, you get a small, secure private room — Real bed! Desk with free wi-fi! SHOWER!
This is something I’ve been wishing more airports had. It looks so cute, I can hardly wait! I’ll post a candid review with photos once I’ve been there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I’m heading to the Emerald Isle for our women’s tour of Ireland this summer. Yes, there are easier ways to get there, but hey — I get to take planes, trains, and boats, and try out a Yotel all on the same trip. Sounds like a travel adventure to me!
Skellig Michael, one of the islands of Ireland. These beehive huts were built about 1,400 years ago, by monks who chose to live on this isolated, steep, rocky island. It’s an amazing place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live here! (photo by Deanna Keahey)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A visit to Skellig Michael is a highlight of our women’s trip to Ireland. It’s astounding to climb up here and realize people actually lived here! Nothing like the lush greenness you’ll see in the rest of Ireland - this was a spartan existence in grey and blue.
Bertie Ahern, Ireland’s prime minister (also called the Taoiseach, pronounced tee-shock), is resigning due to allegations of corruption. He’s being investigated about receiving secret payments in the 1990s. Though the country did well during his tenure, the investigations finally (finally!) brought him down.
For over 10 years the Mahon Tribunal has been investigating allegations of corruption involving Mr Ahern, who has always denied any wrong-doing. In recent months the tribunal has looked into the apparently bizarre nature of Mr Ahern’s finances in the 1990s when he served as Ireland’s Finance Minister. …
In the 1990s, Mr Ahern, a trained accountant, did not hold a personal bank account preferring to cash his salary cheques in his local north Dublin pub.
It does seem fishy for the Finance Minister to not even have a bank account, doesn’t it?
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We’ll be visiting the Emerald Isle soon for our women’s tour of Ireland. I’m sure there will be some interesting political developments before then!
A scandal is hitting that well-known Irish tourist attraction, the Blarney Stone.
We’ve heard since childhood that if you kiss the famous stone, you’ll gain the gift of gab and great oratorical skills. Promoters even cite famous people who (supposedly) benefited from this eloquence-inspiring act, such as Sir Walter Scott and Winston Churchill.
Now a pair of archaeologists say that the real Blarney Stone is not the one everybody’s been kissing. They claim that for health and safety reasons - the owners of Blarney Castle have been guiding tourists to a “safer” stone for many decades. Does that mean Winston Churchill came by his oratorical skills naturally? That tourists brave kissing the same stone as millions of other people, without gaining an iota of verbal skill?
The marketing manager at Blarney Castle is reassuring the public that the archaeologists’ claims are just Blarney, and that the Blarney Stone you can kiss is really the one and only. Time will tell where the real Blarney lies.
We’ll be back to the Emerald Isle in June for our women’s tour of Ireland. I’ll wait for this battle to play out before taking my chances kissing any stone! In the meantime, stick with Toastmasters to improve your speaking skills.
This is the kind of story we just don’t find here in the US…
Ireland, County Galway: A 15th century carved bishop’s head was rescued from a heap of rubble, shortly before it would have been carted off and dumped. Somehow the head (over the centuries) made its way from a Dominican Abbey, to a wall behind an old sweet shop, to a heap of rubble left when the wall was demolished during renovations. That’s where an amateur historian found and rescued it.
I can easily imagine his excitement at the discovery, and the sense of joy, pride and satisfaction at saving a “hugely important” artifact. What a thrill! And thank goodness he was there to save it.
If I had a 15th century stone head in my back wall, not only would I know about it, but it would be one of the great historical treasures of Phoenix.
Unfortunately, not all historical treasures are so easily saved, even the large well-known ones. For more on the continuing saga of the M3 roadway through the ancient site of Tara, here’s a quote from an interesting site:
Tara has outlasted the invasions and conquests by internal and external geopolitical forces, climate changes of the iron age, religious crusades, plague, pestilence and famine. It is the repository of heritage and history of the Celtic people from eons ago.
But since the turn of the century, the twenty first century, Tara has succumbed to the conquest of the ‘global economy’, modernization and convenience. The government and its business partners are building a sixty km highway across its face and through its heart. If ever a place on this blessed earth earned the name, ‘heartland’, Tara is that sacred place.”
We’ll have a chance to see many of Ireland’s historical treasures on our women’s tour of Ireland this June. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be peering at every stone wall looking for bishops’ heads!
The controversial Irish highway meant to reduce traffic congestion around Dublin continues to uncover and roll over more archaeological sites.
The latest discovery is tomb engravings dating back 6,000 years — part of a large stone monument, or megalith. The engravings are similar to those that decorate other prehistoric passage tombs.
As many as 40 archaeological sites have been uncovered along the route of the M3 highway. These are all related to a single large monument, the Hill of Tara — the historical home of the high kings of Ireland.
Even though the site was declared a national monument, and the EU is suing the Irish government for not adequately protecting its national treasures, the project continues. Arguments that the road should go around the complex rather than through the middle of it have not been able to change things, though efforts continue.
We’re doing another women’s trip to Ireland this summer, though we’ll be staying well clear of this construction zone. The country has a wealth of history, and it seems a shame to remove the irreplaceable and unique, in favor of the ubiquitous and unsightly.
The European Commission is beginning legal action against the Irish government over the construction of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.
Tara is the historical home of the High Kings of Ireland, and a major archaeological site. Its monuments include the Mound of the Hostages, built between 2,500 and 3,000 BC — through its passage, a sunbeam determines days in the Celtic calendar. Another is the Stone of Destiny, which was said to roar when the future king touched it.
Ireland’s National Roads Authority said before construction began that it was “unlikely that any major archaeological site would be uncovered during the construction stage”. Already numerous finds have been made, though there is great disagreement about how significant they are. The official stance is “preservation by record”. Archaeological sites uncovered are being logged and removed, and the roadway proceeds.
It’s been an on-going story for months, with many protesters and a Save Tara campaign. This is the first time the EU has gotten involved. It’s expected they will say that Irish law does not offer enough protection to archaeological sites.
We have women’s trip to Ireland each summer, and the history there is amazing. I’m always on the lookout for interesting, relevant items, and will post whatever I find in our Ireland category.
(click for large image)
He’s being investigated about receiving secret payments in the 1990s. Though the country did well during his tenure, the investigations finally (finally!) brought him down.
It does seem fishy for the Finance Minister to not even have a bank account, doesn’t it?
The marketing manager at Blarney Castle is reassuring the public that the archaeologists’ claims are just Blarney, and that the Blarney Stone you can kiss is really the one and only. Time will tell where the real Blarney lies.
