I've spent the past few weeks going through all my old negatives and scanning them, which is a bit tedious but it's been interesting to look back at some of these old pictures. So here are a few pictures from Ireland in 1999, along with our little bonus excursion to Paris and London (to see more, I did a much more detailed write-up of the trip in 2009 HERE HERE HERE HERE and HERE).
May 21, 1999: On our first full day in Ireland we headed north and visited Newgrange, and then the Hill of Tara. This is a view of sheep grazing at the Hill of Tara, which was the home of the ancient High Kings of Ireland from around the 1st through the 12th centuries (there are also Neolithic passage tombs here that date back to 2500 BC). This was taken while standing on the site of Teach Chormaic (or Cormac's House). Cormac mac Airt was one of the most famous of the High Kings of Ireland, and is credited with building many of the historic sites at the Hill of Tara (and is also possibly a distant relative?).
While there we also went by this neat old church, which was built in the 1820's. It's now used as the Hill of Tara's visitor center.
May 22, 1999: We did a tour of Dublin, and went by a few landmarks. This is the stately Custom House along the River Liffey. I wish I could have gotten a better view for this, but it was taken from the window of a bus.
This granite archway sits at the entrance to St. Stephen's Green. The arch was built in 1907, and through it you can see the busy traffic around Grafton Street.
May 23, 1999: Our group did a day trip south to the historic city of Kilkenny, which dates back to the 6th century.
We walked to St. Canice's Cathedral, which was built in the 13th century. The 100 foot tall Round Tower next to it was actually built sometime in the 9th century (you can usually go to the top but it was closed when we were there).
May 24, 1999: We again drove south and visited the ruins at Glendalough, which was one of the highlights of the trip. Glendalough contains the ruins of an old monastic settlement that was first established in the 6th century. This is the view looking up at the century-old Round Tower, which is amazingly well preserved. I used up several rolls of film here.
And a small path, cutting through the woods at Glendalough. I've spent the past twenty years trying to imagine just where this path leads (hopefully not just to the maintenance shed or something like that).
May 25, 1999: We headed to Limerick and did a tour of King John's Castle, which was built in the early 13th century. This is the view from beside the castle, as the River Shannon flows by an old bridge and a Gothic church which were both built in the 1830s.
May 26, 1999: Our bus somehow navigated the narrow roads around the Dingle Peninsula, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean in the southwestern corner of Ireland.
I love this place. It has been twenty years, but this is still one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I've ever visited.
Whenever we win the lottery, we're getting a cottage here.
May 27, 1999: We spent the morning at Bunratty Castle, which was built in the 1400s. This is the view from one of the castle towers, looking towards the Ralty River.
And then we went and visited the Cliffs of Moher, which were amazing. The cliffs are so massive (about 700 feet high) that you can't even hear the sound of the waves crashing into the rocks below.
May 28, 1999: Our group next boarded a ferry and headed to Inishmore, which is the largest of the three rocky and windswept Aran Islands. The Aran Islands are known for their isolation and culture, and also because you can still find many people who still speak Gaelic. Our minibus driver who took us around the island taught us some Gaelic, which was mostly curse words (for example, Póg mo thóin means “kiss my arse”). This is the view of the village of Kilronan, the largest settlement on the island.
We went by Dún Aonghasa, which is a prehistoric stone fort that was built sometime in the 2nd century BC. Since I live in a place where the oldest building is from the 1820s, it was amazing to be standing in a place that has been around for that many centuries. The stone fort, which is very well preserved, sits atop these tall bluffs and enjoys a great view of the ocean.
May 29, 1999: We next headed north, and stopped at the stately Kylemore Abbey. The abbey was built in 1868 and is now used as a school by Benedictine Nuns.
And a shot of the road, taken while we headed north towards Sligo.
May 30, 1999: The next day we drove from Sligo to Dublin (which still amazes me that you can drive across an entire country in just one morning). We toured St. Patrick's Cathedral and then walked along O'Connell Street, passing by the General Post Office. The GPO was built in 1818, and was nearly destroyed in 1916 during the Easter Rising.
Nearby is the Ha'Penny Bridge, a pedestrian bridge over the River Liffey that was constructed in 1816. This is the view looking east...
And the view looking west...
May 31, 1999: Unfortunately, this is was the end of our time in Ireland. But a few of us managed to tack on a few extra days on our trip and added a side trip to Paris and London. So on this morning we flew from Dublin to London, then took the Chunnel train to Paris. We checked into the hotel, then walked towards the River Seine.
June 1, 1999: We had lousy luck when we were in Paris. Our visit there was at the same time that half the city was on strike. Most touristy places were closed (like the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe), but one of the few places that was open was the Eiffel Tower, and we managed to get tickets to go up to the top just before sunset.
June 3, 1999: We had travelled back across the Channel and were back in London. Looking back I wish we were able to see more of London, but we did manage to see Trafalgar Square:
And Parliament:
And Westminster Abbey:
June 4, 1999: And one last shot from the trip, from Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, the Queen did not invite us in for tea, for some reason.
It's been way too long since I've taken these pictures, which means that it's the perfect time to make a return trip, right? How much are plane tickets to Dublin????
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