A stretch of fine days
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday provided one of the best stretches of weather we've ever had during our holidays here. Unseasonably warm - temperatures in the low 70s - blue skies, no humidity - it was just marvelous.
Candee decided to take me away for my birthday. We headed north toward Co Sligo, about an hour and half's drive, for a stay in Sligo City at the Glasshouse Hotel in city-center. A very nice hotel with a bit of a hipster vibe. We went away equipped with some ideas provided by Padraic about what to see and do.
When we arrived, we headed out to Strandhill to see the beautiful and expansive Atlantic beach. We walked a couple of miles on the beach and then treated ourselves to a cappuccino and a 99 - not nearly half as good as McGreevy's - that's the truth. I should be more kind to the man...
Our first priority on Monday was to visit Lissadell House, the childhood home of Countess Constance Markiewicz, nee Constance Gore-Booth. The Countess (by marriage) is one of the heroes of Irish Independence, having played a significant role in the Easter Rising of 1916. Lissadell was built in 1833 and is a wonderful example of the Georgian Mansions built all across Ireland by the British on lands granted them by the English Crown. The land was confiscated from the indigenous Irish and awarded to British aristocracy to gain further control over the island. The Gore-Booths' estate encompassed over 40,000 acres. These estates were sustained by letting out tracts of land to the Irish as tenant farmers and collecting ruinous rents. Although many landlords (especially absentee landlords) were cruel and punitive, the Gore-Booths were quite benevolent and substantially aided their tenants during the hardest times, including the series of famines which occurred in Ireland during the 1800s.
Constance and her sister Eva were unique and idiosyncratic - artists, poets, patrons, progressives - their lives crossed paths with some of the biggest names in turn-of-the-century Ireland and England. One such luminary was the poet and Nobel Prize Recipient for Literature W.B. Yeats, who wrote of the sisters, remembering a visit to Lissadell many years prior. For some insight into the deeper and contemporaneous meaning of the poem, click here. To learn more about the Countess' extraordinary life, click here.
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz
The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
But a raving autumn shears
Blossom from the summer's wreath;
The older is condemned to death,
Pardoned, drags out lonely years
Conspiring among the ignorant.
I know not what the younger dreams –
Some vague Utopia – and she seems,
When withered old and skeleton-gaunt,
An image of such politics.
Many a time I think to seek
One or the other out and speak
Of that old Georgian mansion, mix
Pictures of the mind, recall
That table and the talk of youth,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.
Dear shadows, now you know it all,
All the folly of a fight
With a common wrong or right.
The innocent and the beautiful
Have no enemy but time;
Arise and bid me strike a match
And strike another till time catch;
Should the conflagration climb,
Run till all the sages know.
We the great gazebo built,
They convicted us of guilt;
Bid me strike a match and blow.
That night, we had a wonderful dinner at Eala Bhan. I had the Prawn Tacos for a starter; Candee had the goats cheese and ricotta croquettes. Candee had the Trio of Fish for her main; I had the Rack of Lamb. Go ahead, click on the link, look at the pictures and read the descriptions on the menu. A little gastroporn for ye...
On Tuesday, we visited the Glencar Falls and did a modestly rigorous climb up to the Devil's Chimney. A very nice sojourn away from our idyllic life on Barleyhill.
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| Stunningly gorgeous beach at Strandhill, Co Galway |
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| Tide is out |
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| Some most excellent surfing buddies for our grandkids Grant and Maggie |
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| Lissadell House |
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| A beautiful path at Lissadell, looking down at Drumcliffe Bay |
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| St. Columban's Church in Drumcliffe |
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| W.B. Yeats is buried in St. Columban's cemetery |
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| Looking out at mighty Benbulben (1725 feet high) from St. Columban's cemetery |
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| High Cross dating from the 11th Century. Since bibles were rare and the people were illiterate, bibles scenes were carved on the crosses for use in instruction by the priest. |
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| Glencar waterfall |
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| Getting ready to hike up the Devil's Chimney. A moderate walk that took us about 400 feet above the lake and the valley |
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| Some views from the top of our hike |
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| Self-satisfied hill climbers |
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| View from our room in The Glasshouse Hotel, city-center and right on the Caravogue River. Beautiful setting, we could hear the river flow all night long. |