Wednesday 9th June

This morning, we looked outside and thought it might not be such a bad day. Last night we had FINALLY discovered one of the 3 channels we had here did have a news programme at 10pm which we left on, purely for a weather forecast. So far in Fanore, we hadn’t been able to find any sort of news, having been stuck with children’s TV, black and white movies, 1990s American TV shows with names like “Everwood” which I have never heard of, and random American TV chat shows such as “The Doctors”, again which I had never ever heard of! Still, at 10pm we found some news - and in English, but it wouldn’t have mattered if we’d had a weather report in Irish Gaelic, just as long as we could see a picture! The forecast seemed rainy today but brighter on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully it would remain that way.

Today we decided to spend the day in Limerick, but first we went to Doolin to book a place on a ferry to Aran (Inishmore, the main and largest Island). It was a strange building we went into, with a friendly receptionist and a snoring Bulldog in the corner (?!), a very large room but also very empty - it didn't look like the sort of place you would go to book a ferry ticket.  We booked our return for 2 people which cost E40. We got our ticket, and left for Limerick, noting that Doolin seemed to have a few nice looking shops which may even have been real CRAFT shops - I noticed a chocolate shop and a sweater shop at least which looked pretty “local craft” to me. Tomorrow our ferry would leave at 11am which is quite late really, and I have no idea how long it takes to get there. I am hoping an hour or less. Our return ferry leaves at 4pm which is quite early, so I don’t know exactly how long we’ll have there. I am hoping we’ll land on Inishmore at 12ish so we can spend 4 hours there. That’s a good enough time to cycle the length of the Island there and back I feel, allowing time to look at all the ruins on the island. I just hope I can still ride a bike, and I hope the weather will be kind to us!! Mathew suggested we get there early to look at the shops before we go, but I have no idea what times the shops open. It was 10am when we left Doolin for Limerick and two shops were open at least…..

So, on to Limerick. This was a long trek, further than Craggaunowen and Bunratty, but it was going to be the furthest we would drive on this side of the country. Our first stop was King John’s Castle which I had been to before, and I remember lots of archaeology going on and my Dad getting all excited about it yet again. This time, there were remains of what I remember being excavated, but it was grown over with foliage and the leaflet said that the area would soon be cleaned up and sorted out and ready for visitors to explore on a proper footpath some time next year.

The castle was quite fun, although there was a disturbing account of a battle in Limerick which took place in its heyday. I know, I know these battles must have been awful to witness especially if you weren’t fighting it yourself and had no power over them….but the film we watched was slightly dated I thought, and the female “narrator” and the filming of her was quite bad and she did keep repeating herself when mentioning that “it was a terrible thing for a 16 year old girl to see” and she did whine on about it quite a bit, almost rubbing our faces in it.  She could have acted her part a much better I feel, and I must confess to rolling my eyes a when the film ended with her screaming “Holy Mary Mother of God!!!!” and fading away into the background. Hmmm.

Outside, there were a few towers to explore which had mannequins dressed up and display boards on the sides. Random peat-fires had been lit outside as we roamed from tower to tower, and the last one we went in I have to say was really quite dated but very amusing! I wish I’d taken a photo of it, but I hadn’t. It was about a treaty being signed - there was a man sitting down at a desk signing papers, but his feet weren’t touching the floor. Another man leant over the table, who’s face looked quite green and he didn’t appear to have any arms. The mysterious man behind the entire scene had no eyeballs, and the man on the side holding his gun seemed to be the only intact mannequin in there! It was quite amusing, although I don’t think it was meant to be….!!

Our next place to visit was St. Mary’s Cathedral but there seemed to be a recital in there preventing us from going in - unless we wanted to attend it - so we decided to go to the Hunt Museum first. We had lunch there in their restaurant which was quite nice, although very small and quite busy. It appeared that I hadn’t really understood the menu properly, I was distracted by the fruit pie and crumble and I had to make a quick decision. I had read the menu of course, but it just seemed like a random list of food which to me, didn’t really mean much. Did I want a plate of brie and lettuce or ham with parsley sauce? Not really. It turned out that there was a lot of other food available but it wasn’t on the menu - such as vegetables, mashed potato and cold pasta salad which you could have with any item from the “menu”. There also seemed to be a tasty looking vegetable bake which I probably would have gone for, but I had already decided that soup was the best option, what with not really understanding the menu! The soup was fine, but it wasn’t really what I was after. Still, it was lunch!

We then explored the Museum which in its quirkyness, began on the second floor. It contained Medieval artefacts, which seemed to be a little random in display, a slightly “knick-knacky”. I was quite impressed with the ceramic Medieval water-jug - a jug with a watering-can rose on the end of it. Very innovative, and I had never seen anything like it before! The strange collection of items was due to the history of the Museum. It was a tiny Museum, but it housed the “Hunt Collection” which included 2000 original works of art and antiquity, formed by John and Gertrude Hunt. Basically a couple who were really very enthusiastic about archaeology, antiquity and art, but were more collectors than professionals. They had what most antiquarians would have had - a random collection of items - which they donated to the people of Ireland, but they remained altogether in one small Museum.

We followed the blue carpet up to the third floor which housed archaeological finds from Greece, Egypt, and Prehistoric Europe. There were some things definitely worth seeing on this level - namely the flint spearheads which were HUGE and very impressive in how they had been made. To form a large piece of flint such as this would have taken much time and care, specially with the addition of a tang which narrowed the flint and would have made it easy to break in the process of creation. It - along with many other spearheads, blades and even scythes, all made of flint - was really very impressive.

Finally, we followed the red carpet down to the ground floor for the religious items, religious art and crucifixes, rosaries and “the treasury” which housed many religious artefacts. The basement had a weird childrens activity in it which we had a nosey at - lots of large paper mache fruit and TV screens which displayed weird things when you moved the fruit and walked around in the centre. I remember the guy at the front desk telling us there was an interactive display which a group of children were enjoying as we came in and we were welcome to investigate it. He seemed to describe it like he had no idea what it was for, just that it was an interactive display. I think it would have been more amusing and cryptic if he’d said “an interactive display involving giant lemons and LCD screens”, but I guess he didn’t want to freak people out! There was a gift shop which sold some handcrafted items, but not all said items were Irish. It was a nice little shop but more full of useful things not made in Ireland rather than souvenirs, I would say.

We left for St. Mary’s Cathedral which doesn’t look very old on the outside, but once you’re inside, MAN it looks old. And it is - 840 years it has been standing, and the architecture seems to be a bit of a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic. It is really quite impressive that the building is still standing, given that so far on this holiday we have seen a LOT of very old buildings probably the same age as this one, and they are in ruins, but with the odd little bits here and there remaining intact. I ended up speaking to the man who gave us tickets and a guide to the building as it was evident that Mathew was having a really hard time understanding him. He was a nice elderly man, but his Irish accent was incredibly thick and I have to admit that I almost didn’t understand him myself! I had to listen very very carefully and half lip-read his words as he spoke thickly and very fast. I think Mathew was relieved that I was managing to hold a conversation with this guy about the weather, where we were from, where we were staying, and what direction to start walking around the building. Mathew was in “smile and nod” mode and agreed with me on everything I said to the man at the desk….!

After the Cathedral, we decided to have a wander into the centre of Limerick, more or less guessing where the centre was, and finally finding it. It was just like any other town really, not much in the way of tourist shops and craft shops (unless we were at the wrong end of town), but we did notice that there were quite a few places which were run down or closed. I think the place had suffered in the recession and is on its way out of it, slowly. We returned to the car via King John’s Castle, taking a photo from the road and the bridge, and started on the long journey home, back to play ball with Timmy until he tired himself out, and into the warmth of our cottage where we would have dinner and finally to bed.

Although I was growing concerned about my ability to ride a bike the next day.....