A Traveler's Philosophy

My ideas about traveling are a little different than most. The only reason I know this is because on the only two major trips I've taken in my life (Turkey and Ireland) I have run into other tourists rushing around frenetically as if their doctors told them they'd better hurry up if they're going to see everything they want to see before they drop dead this afternoon. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. And when I've engaged these hamster-wheel runners in conversation, it invariably goes like this:

Them - Oh, you're American?
Me - Yes I am. You?
Them - Oh, we're American too. Where you from?
Me - California. You? (at this point I'm usually dreading the fact that I got too close to these people)
Them - (fill in the blank) Where have you been so far?
Me - Galway (Istanbul, Izmir, answer du jour)
Them - Oh, you just got here?
Me - Nope. Been here for (more than two) days.
Them, wide eyed - REALLY? Where are you going from here?
Me - Home (Now I'm ready to puncture my own eardrums)
Them - REALLY? You're here on business? (seriously, I've had this conversation a dozen times)
Me - Nope, I like it here. I'm just hanging out. Where are you going next? (Now this is the only amusing part of the conversation for me)
Them - We're going to (list of at least twenty cities and/or points of historical interest).
Me - Wow! How long are you going to be here? (wait for it....)
Them - Ten days.
Me - No shit?! Ten days to see all that?! Why don't you just save your money and buy a coffee table book? (these things always end badly for me)

I saw a Venetian being interviewed one time on television and he was talking about how silly the tourists that come there are. The boat pulls in, the tourists stream off the boat, run around Venice like rodents, scurrying from one shop to another, buying little trinkets and souvenirs, photographing things they have no idea of what they are, then streaming back onto the boat six hours later and they're gone. They run everywhere and see nothing. His contention was that the tourists have no knowledge of where they just were except that it's called "Venice". And I couldn't agree more.

I have known viscerally, since the time I was very young, that when I traveled I wanted to stay anywhere I went long enough to get the place ON me, not just pass through staring out the window of the car. When I was very young we used to drive cross country quite a bit. In our old '59 Ford station wagon, with dad at the wheel, we drove from San Diego to St. Petersburg, Florida and back twice, drove to Houston and back too many times to remember exactly and drove from St. Pete to North Carolina several times to visit the grandparents, as well. And almost all of that was before I was 12 years old. One thing I always remembered was wanting to stop in those small towns along the way and hang out for a few days to see what it was really like there. I knew you couldn't get a feel for a place without getting out on the ground and spending some time wearing out your shoes. I would imagine what it would be like to sit on that park bench for a couple of hours or have breakfast in that diner every day for a week. I just knew there were stories to be heard and people to get acquainted with. I've always been a person who makes friends everywhere I go, and I always wanted the chance to do that while traveling. My old man was the kind of guy who didn't take his foot off the gas until we got where we were going, so my urge to hang out was always there in the back of my mind, quietly nagging away at me. I never had the chance, but I always daydreamed about it...

Then I grew up, got busy raising kids, one decade led to another, and here I am, getting senior citizen discounts, but also finally able to indulge my longing to see the world. So I guess the bottom line for me is this: I am most certainly NOT a tourist and have no desire to be. I am a traveler. Someone who is on the ground, passing through, but not too quickly. I just may take a liking to a place and stay for a week or two. I have no interest in unfurling a checklist as long as my arm to check off all the things I've seen and places I've been to. That doesn't mean I have no interest in things historical or wonders natural, but I'm in no hurry. I'd rather get to know the gal in the cheesemonger's or the bartender at the pub, or that guy sitting on the stool at the end of the bar, or the guy salmon fishing off the side of the walking path. Those opportunities are fleeting and to be valued. Stonehenge will still be there next week. Tell me, what kind of lure are you using? Do you know what kind of bird that is? Where can I get the best fish and chips in town? Nice hat, where can I get one like it? These are the things that interest me most, and they're the things that take time to winnow out. The people make the place, and the experiences there make the memories. If I just want to see a bunch of stuff, I'll buy a coffee table book.

Stuff I Did Take the Time to Go See

Kevin and I hired (rented) a car to drive around the countryside for a couple of days. There was only one thing I really wanted to see while I was there, and that was the Cliffs of Moher. They did not disappoint...

The Cliffs of Moher - looking south

Cliffs of Moher - looking north

O'Brien's Tower

Just to give a sense of scale I've included this close-up of O'Brien's Tower. If you look at the picture above (looking north), you can see the tower sitting atop the cliff. As you can tell from the close-up, it's forty or fifty feet tall. I'll let you do the math. The cliffs are a stunning sight, and even more stunning is how many idiots will walk right up to the "sloping ever so gently away" edge of the cliff to sit and/or take pictures. Think I'm being a fuddy-duddy? They were busily looking for a body while we were there. Someone got a little too close and...bye bye! If you enlarge the top picture you'll see a tiny little boat down there. Uh huh, the Irish Coast Guard.

This is a close-up of An Branan Mor, the rock jutting up out of the sea below O'Brien's Tower. If you look closely you'll see seagulls, represented here by almost invisible tiny white dots, flying around the rock. The cliffs are huge.

And, if you turn your back to the cliffs, this is what you'll see. That is Lake Derg way down there and several small towns. Once you're out in the country, there aren't many bad views.












Once we had the car, other than seeing the cliffs, the plan was to just kind of aim ourselves in the general direction of something interesting and start driving. We had no timetable and no real agenda, other than to stay fed and warm while we drove around the western lands. It was a brilliant no-plan and led us to several good things. On our way to the cliffs, we stopped in a little town called Fanore and got a couple of sodas. Before you even think it, the roads here are so freakin' windy and narrow that you'd have to be a lunatic to even consider having a pint and getting behind the wheel. Not only are the roads incredibly narrow and windy, but they also have the added dimension of stone walls alongside that are maybe, maybe two feet off the side. It is like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with real consequences if you screw up, so yeah, sodas. Actually, Kevin had a soda and I had water.

Me and the Professor, out and about. The wayfaring strangers.













A. E. O'Donohue was not serving food on this day and we were feeling a bit peckish. A very lovely lass named Betty was serving drinks however, and we asked her where we might find an establishment in which to eat lunch. Betty was from Bulgaria, and had a thick accent, although her English was very good. She gave us some of the best advice we've ever gotten. She told us we should stop in the town of Doolin and eat lunch at O'Connors. She pronounced it Oh-ka-nores, but we figured it out. Turns out this place is well known amongst the locals. What an awesome place it is, and if you ever find yourself on the road to the Cliffs of Moher, be sure to make time to stop in at O'Connors (it's right on the way) for their seafood chowder and fish and chips. You will thank me later.

The walk down to O'Connors Pub.

The best seafood chowder in human history. Well, at least the best in my human history.

World class fish and chips. Do it, I'm tellin' ya.














The day before we drove south and west to the cliffs, we headed west with the intent of making it out to the ocean because there's a beach out there that is supposed to be very scenic and, if I'm not mistaken, there is an eatery and pub or two out that way. Anyway, we got shortstopped by an invitation from one of Kevin's fellow scientists to stop by his house for lunch. I met some incredibly wonderful people and we had an exquisite lunch, complete with a lemon tart for dessert, and much lively and entertaining conversation. I will go into detail on that in another post, but let me just say now that it was an absolutely delightful, unexpected detour in our day. Noel and Angela, you are the best!

After lunch we headed out on our original trajectory but had much less daylight to work with. After about a half-hour on the road, a light bulb went off over Kevin's head and we drove to an ancient stone tower house that is Kevin's daughter Shannon's favorite place in Ireland, evidently. And it is called...

The Gates of Aughnanure

Aughnanure Castle (pr. Ock-na-noor). There are over 200 of these stone tower houses in County Galway alone. From ancient times until the middle ages, Ireland was a land with no central government. They had no king or queen to keep order and the island was filled with warrior clans who stole livestock, stole women and children to turn into slaves and made war on each other almost constantly. It was a place where, if you wanted to have your things and family kept safe, you needed to have a defensible place to live. Hence, the stone tower houses.

Aughnanure Castle was built by the O'Flaherty's around the year 1500. It is one of the best preserved tower houses in Galway. The O'Flaherty's were known to be particularly pugnacious and the citizens of Galway considered them to be "mountainous and wild people" by whom they were sometimes "robbed and threatened". In 1537, when Henry VIII sent his troops to Ireland to bring the Irish clans to heel, the O'Flaherty's made their submissions but remained troublesome for decades. In 1572, Aughnanure finally fell to the cannon of superior forces and was re-fitted and fortified to the form that still stands today.

Tower house and watchtower

This is probably going to sound a little hackneyed and cliche, but when you walk across the bridge, through the gates and into what was once the inner ward, or courtyard, you can almost feel what it must have been like to live there. It was built to withstand attack and be defensible, and had many features built in solely for that purpose.

The walls at the top of the tower house have battlements to protect shooters, and there are gun-ports in all the walls and buildings for musketeers to shoot from. There is a small river on the north side of the enclosure and the other three sides are completely walled in, or were anyway. The inner ward walls are no longer there, but you can see remnants still attached to the watchtower, which was located at the corner of the walls.

View east looking over outer wall

Most of the outer walls and watchtowers are still standing. It provides a real sense of what things must have been like.

Northeast corner of outer wall. You can see what is left of the
watchtower there. 

Stairs in tower house

I have tons of pictures of this place, and I don't want to start boring everyone to death, but just a couple more. I spoke earlier about the feel of the place, and I have to tell you one reaction I had that was very visceral. It was pointed out that the staircase is designed to spiral to the right for a very specific purpose. Imagine that you are defending your home from a band of armed, murderous, rival clansmen and they have breached both walls and are, by God, breaking in your front door! Your last stand is going to be made on those stairs. If you are a defender you are going to be retreating up those stairs and trying to inflict as much damage on the intruders as you can. With the stairs spiraling to the right, only the person above will have a clear swing, with his sword in his right hand, onto his attackers below. The attackers will be at a distinct disadvantage on those stairs, even if they are lucky enough to be left handed. Standing on those stairs, I tried to wrap my mind around the reality of having to fight to the death in that narrow space against a group of similarly minded invaders. Maybe my imagination is a little too good sometimes, but it was a frightening thought.

Tower House, up close and personal 

They're filled with glass now, but the gun ports are visible next to the windows. A very formidable facade, and I highly recommend visiting there if ever you have the chance.













Alrighty then, a couple of quick randoms...

Just an old, abandoned castle

The professor lives right beside the River Corrib, which runs from Lake Corrib to Galway Bay. On my last day in Galway I decided to walk along the river up to the lake, a distance of about three miles. I passed two castles along the way, and this is the cooler of the two. I have no idea what the history of this castle is, but there you have it. There were large birds flying in and out of the tower and it looked like something out of an old movie.

These old structures are everywhere in County Galway, and probably the whole country. You can't throw a stick without hitting an old stone something or other.

Tea House Folly

This structure is called "Tea House Folly". I also stumbled across this while on my walk to the lake. There was a plaque there saying it was built in the late 1700's or early 1800's and not much else. It said the building is an oratory. I have no idea what that means in this context, but I would assume it has some religious significance. If you know or can find out, please leave a comment and let me know. Just another one of those stone structures the Irish are so fond of.

Tower House

This is another stone tower house we stumbled across on our way to the Cliffs of Moher. I have no idea what it's called, but it was very scenic. I imagine this was the high rent district for tower houses, what with that view and all. This one has obviously been extensively restored and added on to, but still very cool, and what a location!









Last, but not least, The Burren.

This is the one thing that will be on my (very short) hit list for my next trip to Ireland, and I really wish I had known about it before I went this time, as it is right on the way to the cliffs.

The Burren is a huge area, roughly 250 sq. km., of naturally occurring limestone pavement. It has an incredibly diverse ecology with alpine, Mediterranean and arctic plants side-by-side. There are also many tombs and stone monuments throughout the Burren. We only saw it from the car as we drove around it and when we stopped here to have a closer look. Honestly, I had no idea exactly what it was we were looking at and didn't until I looked it up later. This seems like a place you could spend at least a day nosing around and see all kinds of crazy stuff.

Well, that's pretty much it for the straight-up sightseeing part of my trip. Everything else I saw and did was on the fly, just the way I like it.

I hope you're enjoying the blog. I've got a few more posts left in me for this trip, and as I've been looking, I realize I have some unfinished business from my Turkey trip, as well. I hope you'll read along, and don't forget to become a member if you like what you're reading. Have a great day!

Until next time...