Enchantment in the fairy fort

An old Irish tale tells of a farmer who was clearing land to plant his crops when he ran upon a ring of twisted Hawthorne trees. For hundreds of years, the Hawthorne tree had been a sacred sign of an entrance to the fairy world, not something wisely to be tampered with. Ignoring the old tales, the farmer decided to remove the circle anyway. That night as he lay in his bed, he heard dark whispers in his head, promising that he would pay for the desecration of the fairy ring. The next morning the farmer awoke, completely paralyzed. Even though his family replanted the trees where they had once stood, his doom was sealed, and he remained paralyzed for the rest of his days because of his folly.

I had never realized until I ventured into the wild, ancient hills of Ireland how easy it could be to believe a story like that. As I stood among the rocks of the Burren, or looked out over the Cliffs of Moher, I could see why so many people believed that fairies still roamed the wild landscape. Among the twisted bracken and broken stone ruins, I could imagine I saw them, the good folk, flitting between hill and bracken. 

After spending a week with me in Berlin, Lisa Koller and I hopped on a Ryanair flight that would take us to the airport in Dublin. This was the first time in three and a half months that I had set foot in an English speaking country, and it was more shocking than I realized it would be. I no longer had an excuse not to be friendly to shop owners.

We stayed in a 12 person room at a hostel in Dublin city centre. We had limited time as it was in Ireland, so we were only able to stay in Dublin for a night, but we both agreed that it was well worth it. Earlier, I had been complaining that after a while, European cities start to look alike (first world problems, I know), but Dublin was unlike any city I had visited yet. It had an earthier, grittier quality about it, lacking the elegant refinement of cities like Prague or Florence.

Tempel Bar

Spring was already in Ireland!

One of the sights we were most blessed and excited to witness was this incredible rainbow. It only lasted for a few minutes, but that didn't stop us from trying to chase after the gold.

St. Patrick's cathedral

In our wandering rambles, we stumbled upon this gorgeous park in the center of Dublin.

This is a bridge and park that are in the movie Leap Year.

I wanted desperately to get out of the city and into the countryside, but even so, I was happy that we had decided to spend the afternoon in such a fascinating city.

The next morning, Lisa and I hopped on a coach bus that was to take us across the entire country, a whopping two and a half hours, to Galway, a small city on the western coast of Ireland.

Galway was a little larger than I had expected, but it only took a fifteen minute walk from our hostel to get us out of the touristy shopping area and toward the ocean where a beautiful pier stretched out over the water.

Galway

Me outside Galway

Ocean

Lighthouse!

After our little adventure, we stopped at a pub that two girls we had met in the customs line at the airport in Dublin who were studying in Galway had recommended. After this massive meal of hearty Irish food (Shepherd's pie and french fries), we decided to head back down to the pier to walk it off. It was one of the most incredible sunsets I have ever witnessed.

SWANS

I was their master

We saw ANOTHER rainbow, and those bins are clearly where the gold was stored.

Lisa!

Me!

That evening, Elizabeth Early (who you may remember from my post Embracing Tourism and the Hunt for Hugh Jackman) and a friend of hers from France, Catherine, met us in Galway. I also had the unexpected pleasure of running into Jessie Todd, another friend from school, at our hostel, and we all went out to an Irish pub with live Irish music!

As enchanting as both Dublin and Galway were, neither were as enchanting, or ever could be as enchanting, as what we experienced the next day.

Saturday morning we boarded a bus for a guided day tour into the countryside that would bring us finally to the Cliffs of Moher (or the Cliffs of Insanity for you Princess Bride fans). Our tour guide was named Eamonn (how awesomely Irish is that?), and told wonderfully amusing anecdotes as we traveled through the countryside. The further we traveled, the more I felt as if I had been transported back a couple hundred years in time.

Just LOOK at this castle! Its like a fairy tale!

This is a fairy fort. Like in the tale of the farmer and the fairy ring, the same principle goes for these fairy forts. If anyone altered these ancient earthen walls, they would be cursed by the fairy folk, or the Tuatha de Danann. These forts were once a battle site for ancient Celtic tribes, and because of the myths surrounding them over the years, they have remained exactly the same.

Stone walls like this one covered the island.

This monolith was built by neolithic farmers and was probably a grave site. Like most ancient sites in Ireland, it is said that this too is an entrance into the fairy world.

The Burren, rocky land

The entire day was building up to the moment we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. We had two hours to wander the cliffs, but I could have stayed there for days, wandering along the edge, braving death at every turn. One wrong step would send you tumbling thousands of feet to the rocky, churning ocean below. It was one of the most stunning sites I have ever seen in my entire life, and unlike in the US, where guard rails would dictate where you couldn't go because of danger, there were few guard rails, and people could climb at their own risk.

Reenacting the famous battle scene between Wesley and Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, of course.

We were exhausted after such a long day, but we made a few more stops as we drove along the ocean on our way back to Galway. The rugged wildness of Ireland never ceased to astound me.

Elizabeth and I

Sunday morning I had to take a bus back to Dublin and then a flight back to Berlin (which took me 9 hours total), and I experienced the most difficult parting with a place that I have experienced since arriving in Europe. Ireland's wild landscape captured my heart, and I now understand what people mean when they say "the call of Ireland." Three days was not enough, and I am more determined than I have ever been to one day return and give this incredible land the time it deserves. Who knows, maybe the fairies have enchanted me.