The Connemara

Not long after our return from France, we travelled to the Connemara area in western Ireland. We took the coastal route from Galway, and on the way, we passed through the delightful town of An Spideal, which is supposedly where all the Currans are from. We were disappointed that there was no bunting out to welcome the antipodean Currans, and there was no sign of a cup of tea and scone from the local mayor, but anyway, we pushed on and had lunch at a local pub. In any case, the town is in the Gaeltacht area where only gaelic is spoken, so we would have understood very little in any case, although the girls would  have been able to translate some of it. In Spiddal we also visited a very rare thing in Ireland - a decent souvenir/gift shop. Ireland would have to specialise in probably the world's worst souvenir shops. Every one of them appears to be the same, drenched in superficial shamrockery. The inevitable leprechaun dolls, sheeps with scarfs on and so on. You get the picture. In Spiddal however there was a little community of artists who had a collection of shops in the same area, just outside the town, so we brought away some nice memories of our visit. 

Some of the scenery around Spiddal:

 

The Connemara has to be one of the most ruggedly beautiful parts of Ireland. Here you get the iconic scenery of huge mountains dwarfing white-washed stone cottages and poor lonely sheep perched on rocky outcrops. It was perhaps this scenery which inspired Patrick Pearse, one of the heroes of the 1916 Easter Uprising rebellion against the British, to have his summer cottage here. We visited it and it certainly is very small and isolated, but has fantastic views. Pearse had chosen this place of isolation to write some of his most powerful rhetoric about Irish nationalism. A teacher by trade, he had been one of the most prominent leaders of the Gaelic revival in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Ireland, a movement which above all else promoted the teaching of Gaelic in schools as well as the learning of Irish myths and legends.He was a cultural nationalist. Originally opposed to violence, he became radicalised by the failure in the early twentieth century to achieve Irish independence. Pearse was one of the first executed in Kilmainham Gaol following the failure of 1916.  The cottage is modest and there is a debate in the Irish press at the moment about why the government is not doing more to promote its significance. Many are apparently uncomfortable with Pearse's swing to violence at the time of the rising. Others want to preserve the very simplicity of the site, which does, I have to say, have a power all its own. One of his poems was on the wall of his bedroom (where it is also believed he wrote one of the most famous funeral orations in Irish history - to O'Donnovan Rossa) and is worth reading:

The Wayfarer, by Patrick Pearse

The beauty of the world hath made me sad,
This beauty that will pass;
Sometimes my heart hath shaken with great joy
To see a squirrel in a tree
Or a red ladybird upon a stalk
Or little rabbits in a field at evening,
Lit by a slanting sun,
Or some green hill where mountainy man has sown
And soon would reap; near to the gate of Heaven;
Or children with bare feet upon the sands
Of some ebbed sea, or playing on the streets
Of some towns in Connacht,
Things young and happy.
And then my heart hath told me:
These will pass,
Will pass and change, and die and be no more,
Things bright and green, things young and happy;
And I have gone upon my way
Sorrowful,

The view from Pearse's cottage

 

 

Our next destination was Cashel, where we stayed in a hotel called Cashel House. The place owes its fame primarily to the fact that former French president Charles de Gaulle, and his wife Yvonne, stayed here for 2 weeks as part of their Irish holiday in May 1969. This was after De Gaulle had left the presidency. Readers of the blog will recall an earlier post about the monument to De Gaulle in Sneem, on the ring of Kerry, where he also stayed (he had Irish in the bloodlines apparently) and whilst in France James also visited De Gaulle's home, La Boisserie, in Colombey Les Deux Eglises, in the Haute-Marne region of France. Cashel house has a plaque to commemorate the De Gaulle visit and a shrine to De Gaulle in the hallway, replete with a photocopy of the signed bill for his 2 weeks stay. The owner of the hotel, who spoke to us at dinner, remembers the visit and told us some great stories about De Gaulle and his behaviour at the time. Perhaps the most impressive part of this degaulliana however was the seat where he used to sit. This was located up on a small hill and had a gorgeous view over Cashel bay. The hotel was one of somewhat faded elegance and probably remains resting a little on the De Gaulle laurels, but it was a very comfortable stay, and a real treat.

The view from our room at Cashel House

Below, James does his best De Gaulle impersonation on the De Gaulle seat....

 

  

The girls loved the hotel too because it has its own 'secret garden' in its grounds, with all the flowers in bloom and a number of exotic plants - it really was an adventure each time we walked in there. In another part of the hotel grounds there were fruit trees and a superb looking vegetable patch. 

The entrance to the secret garden

Getting lost in the garden:

 

 

From Cashel we also visited the town of Roundstone and also Clifden, where we had dinner at one of the local pubs. 

 

Some shots of the coastal drive between Roundstone and Clifden: At a few points along this road we came across groups of cows just relaxing on a little stretch of beach, enjoying the view!

 

 

 

Coming into Clifden

 The next day, we travelled the inland route on the way back to Dublin, enjoying some more beautiful, but quite different, scenery.

 

 

Once past Galway, we stopped for lunch in Athenry, from where the famous Irish song 'the Fields of Athenry' is taken - now sung widely at Irish rugby matches!

Road trip to Biarritz: Week 3 in France

So we left St. Quentin on July 11 and began our 3 day road trip which would take us to Biarritz. Our first stop was the medieval city of Carcassonne. We were staying just outside the old walled city and after our drive the first thing Pia and Ella wanted to do was enjoy the hotel pool - which they did! Late afternoon, we wandered up to the walled city. It really is like something out of a fairytale, with its high walls, tall turrets and narrow, cobbled streets. Carcassonnes' history dates back to the Romans and Visigoths but the walled city was completely restored in 1853 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage listed site. We had dinner there and then returned again the next morning to walk around again, visit the castle within the walled city and soak up the medieval atmosphere!

 

 

 Legend has it that Carcassonne got its name from Madame Carcas, who was the commander of the fortress. Apparently after a siege, she ordered the bells to be rung and so it was said "Carcas sonne" - Carcas rings (the bells). Here is Madame Carcas depicted below at the entrance to the city.

 

 

The streets of the walled city are full of shops which sell a wide range of toy medieval weapons - Ella's favourite was the bow and arrow and she spent many hours afterwards refining her skills - she is now a very good shot - so watch out!!

 

 A final view of Carcassonne as we headed to Toulouse....

On Day 2, we drove about an hour over to Toulouse. I had been most concerned about us navigating our way into the city centre of Toulouse without a GPS and only my directions from Google Maps but somehow we ended up finding our hotel quite easily, with only one little wrong turn and very little stress - this was worth celebrating!!

After we settled into our hotel (and enjoyed another swim!) we walked into the city centre where we saw the beautiful Capitol building. It is easy to see why Toulouse is called "la ville rose" when you see the colour of its main buildings.

 

 I loved the old Donjon behind the Capitol building and the girls enjoyed playing in the park there, too.

We would have loved another day in Toulouse, but to was time to move on...this time to Pau. On our way we stopped at a rest stop on the highway which had a very interesting exhibition on the Tour de France in the Pyrenees. We were treated to beautiful views of the Pyrenees on this drive, many of which were still snow-capped. You can see some in the photo below, although unfortunately it was very hazy.

 

 This exhibition was the closest we got to the Tour de France during our time in France - although it was not really that far away.

 

 We arrived in Pau and set out to find Pau castle - a very impressive building. Usually there are great views of the Pyrenees from near here but it was so hazy again that we could hardly see anything, which was a shame. We did enjoy walking around the castle grounds and then back into the city centre, where we enjoyed a cool drink. It was a very hot day and at one point we even found ourselves wishing for some of that cooler Irish weather!!

 

 

At this point in our trip it was now Bastille Day Eve - July 13. So we marked the occasion by attending a military parade, complete with lots of tricolor flags but sadly we missed the national anthem! Afterwards, we enjoyed a lovely French dinner - the creme brulee was a big hit!

 

 

 

And so it was that we arrived in Biarritz on Bastille Day. We were staying in the Biarritz Camping site, just outside of the city centre. It was lovely to meet up with our friends Nicky, Pascal and their family and together we enjoyed dinner in town and then the fireworks display on la Grande Plage. Being the height of summer it is not dark until close to 11pm and that is what time the fireworks began - the girls managed to stay awake, enjoy the atmosphere and some dancing!

 

 We had a great week in Biarritz, enjoying a nightly tradition of 'apero' and days at the beach and in the pool at the campsite.

Apero with Nicky, Pascal and Renee

We did enjoy a few visits back into the centre of Biarritz which had a great holiday feel to it. The main beach, Grande Plage, was lined with colourful umbrellas which are said to replace the colourful wooden dressing cabins which once used to line the beach. I loved the view out to sea from Grande Plage, with big rocky formations dotted along the coast.

 

 

 James also loved the look of this hotel (I forget its name) where former French President De Gaulle stayed when he holidayed in Biarritz - this is the closest we will get to staying in that hotel! But as you will see, we do manage to visit a few of De Gaulle's holiday spots in Ireland.

One of the highlights of our week in Biarritz was a day trip to Spain. Pia has been studying Spain at school this year so when she heard how close Biarritz is to the Spanish border she was very keen for us to visit. So 40 minutes later, we arrived in Spain! We chose the first little town we came to once we crossed the border - Hondarribia. It turned about to be a beautiful little fishing village with an old walled city. We spent most of our time in Spain (a grand total of about 3 hours!) inside this walled city, enjoying the beautiful architecture, views and of course, the tapas!

We loved the colourful buildings!

 

Back in Biarritz, the girls enjoyed spending time with Lucille and Emmeline - boules was a popular activity, and thanks to some expert tuition by Nicky and Pascal the girls were soon involved in some tight competitions!

 

 

 

 

 We were also treated to a live theatre performance one night by 3 budding actors!

All too soon, our week in Biarritz had come to an end, as had our time in France. It was time to farewell our friends and the lovely view from our cabin (below) and head back to Dublin for the last 6 months of our adventure!