Brendan drove us to Dublin and as usual, filled our heads with useless but interesting information. He said that midnight mass used to be at midnight but pubs close at 11:30 so mass was full of drunks. Now the midnight mass is at 10pm.
He told us that the litter bins in Dublin have little openings to stop people from putting their household waste there, and thereby avoid paying for trash pickup.
As we drove over the bridge he pointed out the Corrib river, which is just 4 kilometers long and very rough today.
We noticed that in Dublin the bike and bus lanes are often combined, which seems like a bad idea.
Dublin's Wellington monument is the tallest obelisk in Europe and the 2nd tallest in the world (Washington monument is taller). It's fairly generous of the Irish to acknowledge him so well. He was born Irish but is credited with saying “just because you were born in a stable doesn’t make you a horse”.
National galleries here are free.
A car costs around 5,000 euros less in Northern Ireland.
As we go near the hotel, Brendon told us to be careful in Dublin. Like most big cities, there have some problems here. Around 3/4 a mile from our hotel is a known drug area and sometimes they steal from tourists. We should take our own luggage from the bus into the hotel and be quick about it. In fact, he asked one of us to watch the open bus door while the others shuffled the luggage out of the undercarriage, to be sure nobody popped in to do any damage. We did.
After we got settled into the hotel, we got back on the bus and headed to the Clonmacnoise Monastic Site.
Brendan said that Bó = cow and that cow tracks became the roads. Most of us misheard cow for car, which changed some stories he told about accidents.
When someone mentioned how clean things were here he told us about the Tidy Town annual contests. There are 5 categories and it's a big deal to win.
Trash pickup used to be weekly but it changed to every other week. But it still costs the same. Some people like to burn their trash but that's illegal. Planes fly around to check but they don’t fly on Sunday so that’s when some folks do a little burning.
Ballinasloe has an annual horse fair, and 100 extra cops are called in to help handle it.
The thing about Brendan is that he makes everything sound interesting. And he has a low, mellow voice that is easy to listen to. But oddly enough, if you're tired, it puts you to sleep like a lullaby. Most of us have gotten some of our best sleep on the bus.
And by this time we were at Clonmacnoise. Outside of the actual site is a lovely ruin. This is what is left of Clonmacnoise castle. I like my ruins to be ruined, but this is pretty far gone. Still, it's very evocative, which is the main point of ruins. Yep, I like it.
We went inside the visitor's center, where we watched a short video about the history of Clonmacnoise. Ciarán (later known as St. Ciarán) was born in around 516. He became a priest and in 545 he founded a monastery here, helping build the first church. However, he died less than a year later. Yet for someone who died so young, he seems to have made a tremendous impact.
Inside the visitor center are the three remaining original High Crosses. Amazing.
The Cross of the Scriptures is one of the largest. These crosses were used as teaching tools so the carving told stories
"Shown from the bottom panel up: Soldiers guarding the tomb of Christ, the arrest of Christ, Flagellation and in the centre of the ring the Crucifixion. This cross is decorated with figure sculpture on all four sides. The Cross of the Scriptures was mentioned in the annals of the Four Masters in 957. At the centre of the head on East face is the Last Judgment, and at the top of the East shaft is a panel showing Christ with Peter and Paul. Below this panel are two more panels bearing iconography that are still open to interpretation. On the base are three riders facing left and two chariots facing right. At the bottom of the shaft is an inscription that has now become almost impossible to see: OR DO COLMAN DORRO CROSSA AR RIG FL.ND, A prayer for Colman who had the cross erected on King Flann."
The South Cross: "The raised bosses represent the studs that would have kept a wooden cross together. The Cross has a crucifixion scene on the west side of the shaft. On the east side is a panel with a vine and birds. The triple-stepped base of the cross represents the Rock of Golgotha and bears a lot of worn carvings. The southern side has iconography in the left hand panel showing the Fall of Man. Although the western side of the base is very worn, you can make out a procession of horsemen."
Along the walls are Cross Slabs with inscriptions for prayer. This one says"A prayer for a servant of Michal"
The north door of cathedral has a whispering arch; if you face one side and whisper softly, someone facing the other side can hear you. This may have been used to take confession without risking getting sick from each other. Our guide had a different idea - she asked for volunteers to stand and whisper a secret, and then asked if the other one heard. They said yes! Over the doorway are reliefs of St. Dominic, St. Patrick and St. Francis (who lost his head).
A few steps away she reported this little depression of water as a cure for warts. We'll see.
From the back the pilgrim road is still marked with stones, leading to this small church. I like it that the road leads to a humble church, and not a cathedral.
As for the rest of the buildings - they are utterly beautiful and I don't need to know anything about them right now. Maybe later. Today it's enough to enjoy them.
I was the last one on the bus but everyone was nice about it. As we drove on Brendon mentioned that we were driving on a new road, although it was very bumpy. The reason for the bumps is that the road was built over a black bog. He pointed out a nearby power plant which used to burn peat. Now it burns other fuels and just a little peat; soon it won't use any. A roadside display was created by an artist using bog trees. He used them as stand to display the phases of the moon.
No comments:
Post a Comment