Ireland days 5, 6 & 7

Friday June 10, 2011
Today started out with a trip to Athenry Castle, a Norman fort build in the middle of Ireland for the invading force to repel attacks from the native Irish. It was in a beautiful setting in the middle of the small town that grew up around it and with a small river beside it. The castle is indicative of the force of imposed rule that has been upon Ireland for so much of its history. After this we drove for about 1 ½ hours heading to Sligo and on the way stopped at the ruined monastery, Clonmacnoise. Situated on the Shannon river, Clonmacnoise used to be the crossroads of Ireland because it was placed at the intersection of all the major trade and travel routes through the country. It grew eventually into a rich and flourishing town and spiritual center but that very prosperity was ultimately its downfall. The town and monastery were sacked upwards of thirty times in its history, with the final time completely stripping it of all but the stones that made up its walls. Today, it is a spiritual sight, a pilgrimage destination and a place of great peace. There is an undercurrent of deep stillness here in Ireland where even though cars are going by or sheep are bleating or boats are cruising by on the river, if you listen just below the surface you will be infused by a peace that is all-consuming. I imagine it is how the world should be, how it was 1000 years ago when our ancestors walked the hills and plains and beaches and forests of the world. The rush of the city and stench of pollution are at least suppressed out here in Ireland’s countryside even if it still exists and for a time you can forget what’s happening in the world and remember instead how things were. Maybe that’s why I love it so much here. Maybe that’s why I feel like I’ve come home in a way. Because this is how our home, my home should be.
Saturday June 11, 2011
Today was exhausting and exhilarating. We started out the day with a trip to Carrowmore, a Neolithic burial site situated in a basin of land in between mountain ranges. Most of these ranges are topped by their own monument and can be seen in a beautiful panoramic arch from Carrowmore. We heard a really interesting tour about the different monuments and their history and their importance to the Irish people. These graves are important to the studies that we have been doing because these passages not only were seen as portals into the world of the fairies (Tuatha de Dannan) but they are also concrete ties binding the Irish to their cultural heritage.
After finishing our tour of Carrowmore, we drove a part ways up the mountain on which Queen Maev’s cairn is built and then hiked the entire way up (around 1500 feet) on loose pebbles, rock slabs, grass and moss. It wasn’t an easy climb, but the view from the peak once surmounted was so worth it. The mountain is situated right on the coast and for an 180 degree arch in front of you is the Atlantic and behind you is the grand panorama of the other monument-topped mountains. It was so spectacular. From the peak, our two surfers of the group, Charles and Charlie, spied the waves at the coastal town of Strandhill near the base of the mountain, so they, Gillian, Julie, Drew and I all decided to go on a spur-of-the-moment adventure. We hiked down the mountain, through multiple peoples’ pastures, tore through blackberry bushes and hopped mud spots for an hour until we finally had to ask someone to let us through their last pasture so we could get to the road. After finding out that since the surf was so dangerous that swimming had been outlawed and surfing could only be done with a instructor in the water and they couldn’t just rent boards and wetsuits, the boys ended up meeting an instructor who understood what they wanted and graciously offered to just loan them some of his personal gear. They surfed for about an hour (which was really cool to watch) then we all went to have a few beers and some dinner at a pub overlooking the sea while we waited for the bus back to Sligo. All together, it was an amazing day of heights and beauty and surprises and hikes and slips and laughs and sea water. Perfect.
Sunday June 12, 2011
After our miles long hikes yesterday, today was spent mostly in the bus riding from site to site, which was a nice rest. We first stopped at Parke’s Castle, a castle home on Lough Gill. The most interesting thing to me there was a small sauna/steam room cut into the rock where the peasants used to heat stones and pour water over them to fill the room with steam and then after a few hours they would get out and take a plunge in the chilly lake in an effort to cure the ailments. From the castle we stopped off on another part of Lough Gill where the lake isle of Innisfree, made famous by Yeats’ poem of the same name, can be seen. We all stood there and looked at it while Julie read the passage aloud:
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glad.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.

From there, we stopped at a holy well of which there are over a thousand in Ireland. There was a beautiful sort of shrine set up around the well and as it is a Catholic place, the stations of the cross are also set up around for people wanted to pray. Next came the grave of Yeats in the graveyard of a church in the shadow of the mountain Ben Bulben (another of the mountains associated with the mythological past of Ireland in which Yeats was deeply entwined). Our last stop was Glencare waterfall, associated in the mythology with the snatching away of children by the fairies to bring them into the fairy realm. Even though its been raining allllllll day today and it has been really chilly, it was a day full of beautiful sights and indescribable vistas.