ireland – Page 2 – Dublin Accent

You never get too much of it

Published on July 16, 2015June 19, 2016 by HeliLeave a comment

During summer 2015, I was lucky to travel around a bit. Some places I visited had been on my way before, some places had just been on my list, which is still really long and I hope that it will never get short.

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I still haven’t been in Cork, but I have been in lots of places around Cork. This time, I spent a day at marvellous Blarney Castle with all these beautiful gardens and walked all these mysterious paths and hidden grounds around it. It was a bit like a fairy world and I am pretty sure that if somewhere is the place where they live, then one of those has to be the Blarney Castle.

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Of course, I couldn’t miss kissing the famous Blarney stone, but I still cannot say if it has made me talk more or not. Maybe you have to be Irish for that. Or maybe I just don’t want to admit that I have started to talk more than usual.

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But even if you don’t want to kiss the stone or the procedure makes you a bit dizzy, I will definitely suggest you climb up there and have that gorgeous view of the green Emerald Island that is spread beneath and could be enjoyed as far as your eye reaches.

And here are some places which don’t exist in this world 🙂

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Atlantic Tides

Published on July 26, 2014June 19, 2016 by HeliLeave a comment

2-IMG_6443 I remember that in my 5th grade English student book there was a topic about tides – a long and boring story, mostly because of all the difficult expressions we had to underline and learn by heart. Just to refresh my memory I took down my old student book from the shelf (yes, I still have it) and looked up what it was about.

“Long ago people living near the coast of the Atlantic Ocean noticed that the level of the sea rose and fell twice every day. They noticed that this didn’t always happen at the same time, at the same hour, but that it took place regularly. People did not understand the cause of this rising and falling. But they noticed that there was some connection between the moon and the waters of the ocean. Today we know that the water of the sea is always moving in or out along the shores.”

1-IMG_6442 When learning it, I was probably like the ones who had lived long ago and didn’t quite understand how it all worked. Especially because we, living here at the Baltic sea, never had any tides and the water of the sea stood quite at the same place almost all year round, without very little exceptions and so it was quite hard to picture the tides. Later of course, when reading more literature, I got to know about it some more and in 2010, when visiting England and Wales, I was happy to recognize it, when seeing the boats and yachts standing on the plain sand and I really thought about my old school book again.

But this time, we spent three marvellous days in Duncannon, just at the seaside, in a nice summer house and I was able to see all that with my own eyes. We arrived in the afternoon, which was probably one of the three lovely days during the summer, and the beach was full of people enjoying the nice weather. Just to mention – the sea was exactly where it had to be – a nice sandy beach, not very wide, but quite enough and the sea, standing still, not moving anywhere. What was totally different from any other beach I have ever seen, were the cars, parked everywhere on the sand, some of them almost in the water.

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It seemed that only I was surprised about that because all the others were spending their time besides their cars, using them as lunch tables and playing ball over them. The ice-cream car was parked with its engine roaring over the beach, but probably it was just because of keeping the fridge working and the ice cream cold. We spent some time walking around and ended our day in the local pub, had some ciders and dinner and arrived at our nice summer house.

Our house had a small garden just looking at the sea and in the morning when I went out, the sea was gone, and it means it was totally gone, no water, just kilometers of wet sand.

1-IMG_6444 We spent a nice day on the beach, found a really nice corner, where the cars were not allowed to park and enjoyed the warm day. Somewhere near 2 o’clock the water started to come back little by little. The life guards were busy to get the people back to the sea shore, because a lot of them, included myself, were walking on the wet sand that had been the bottom of the sea just a day before. And then the sea came back, just during about two hours. That was really amazing and unbelievable.

So now I have seen how it really works, not just from the books 🙂

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1-IMG_6469 In the evening, the local musicians were performing at the pub and everybody was singing. It’s not possible to describe how much I liked it. For the first time in my life I saw people play Spoons, actually, I didn’t even know about that kind of instrument before. So besides being just great and fantastic and really full of enjoyment, it was also an educative weekend and I love Duncannon and want to come back the next year. And I am quite sure that I will. The next time it would be interesting to wonder around a bit more and discover maybe some neighbourhood as well.

Meeting Titanic

Published on July 18, 2014June 18, 2016 by Heli1 Comment

We started our day at the perfect time for having a brunch at Bunnyconnellan Restaurant in Myrtleville, not far from Crosshaven.

It was located on the top of the cliff, overlooking the Atlantic’s and the views were breathtaking. It’s a very popular place among the locals, especially for weddings, but not only. It’s a perfect place to start your day or to come over and chat with your friends at the weekend with a nice drink and delicious food.
The name of the restaurant was put together from the names of the women who started it and it’s known as “Bunny’s” among the local people. And it is open all year around.

Inside it looked like a cosy pub or a bar and the outside terrace was large, with big tables and nice corners where you can be quite on your own and don’t have to listen to the other peoples talk. But if you are having a big party, then you have a lot of space to enjoy the company of your friends, mixed with the fresh smell of the sea breeze, and the music of the waves just beside you.

I would like to come back in the evening because I have always liked the mystery of the dark sea when you can just hear it. Maybe the next year I will be lucky enough to come back and have a late dinner right here above the Atlantic Ocean.

This time, I was the one who had to make a decision and pick the next place – The Whiskey Factory or Cobh Heritage Centre. I didn’t have to think too long because I know that I am not too much into all kinds of producing processing and so I excluded the Whiskey Factory. Maybe some next time, why not. So we headed to Cobh – the town with three names.

Cobh Heritage Centre is situated in an old railway station. and it’s dedicated to the mass emigration during 18th and 19th century and to Great Famine 1845-1852 when the whole Ireland was starving and what became the reason for the mass emigration.

It is said that between 1845 – 1950 over 6 million people have emigrated from Ireland and over 2,5 million of them have started from Cobh or Queenstown. So this port plays an important part of the immigration history.

Besides that a lot of big cruise trips, Titanic among them have stopped here and the port was also used for deporting criminals to Australia.

As it has been a spot for leaving Ireland forever, it now offers the genealogical research for your Irish ancestors. It is possible to order a session and get to know how to read the old records and find your Irish roots.

At the entrance stands the statue of Annie Moore and her two brothers.

Annie Moore is considered to be the first person whose name was written down on Ellis Island in the United States after coming down from the ship.

She started from Cobh harbour on 1st of January in 1892 and the whole journey took 12 days.

The similar statue stands also on Ellis Island as a symbol for all the Irish people who have emigrated using the same way.

People leaving their homeland forever – quite lifelike sculptures.

I had never heard anything about the Irish photographer Frank Browne, who was the most well-known Irish photographer during the first half of the 20th century. But in Cobh Heritage centre I got to know a lot about him and his unbelievable trip on Titanic.

Frank Browne started his journey from London by a train called “Titanic Special” which was taking the passengers from London to Southampton port to board Titanic, The queen of the Ocean.

He had a first class ticket from Southampton to Cobh, where the ship had it last stop to take on board some more passengers. He was there to take photos only, but on his way from Southampton to Cobh, he made friends with a wealthy American family who offered him a first class ticket to America. That sounds already as the beginning of the Titanic movie.

But probably Frank had its own Guardian Angel looking down at him because when he telegraphed about that unbelievable opportunity to his uncle, bishop Robert Browne, he got a very strict answer – “Get off the ship” – and that’s what he did, in Cobh, where he was supposed to get off. This telegram probably didn’t make him too happy when he got it, but it saved his life. His photos are the only evidence that has remained from the Queen of all the Ships that didn’t make a single voyage.

And it’s not all about Titanic for that day. When we left the Heritage Centre we couldn’t pass it.

… and we couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Around Cork

Published on July 17, 2014June 19, 2016 by HeliLeave a comment

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It’s my first trip out of Dublin and it happens because someone’s sister lives near Cork 🙂 At first about three hours by car and here we are, in a nice house in the middle of the fields in a place called Crosshaven. And we are going to stay here for three days.

1-1 The first place we visit is a small town Kinsale which has a fort which is called the Charles Fort, a historical port and a lot of nice colourful picturesque houses. It is located about 25 km-s south of Cork and sits at the mouth of the river Bandon with only a bit more than 2000 people. But I believe that in a summer time they have lots of tourists wandering around and enjoying the atmosphere of the town.