Saturday morning we were scheduled to leave Dublin already and head northwest to Sligo, which sits on the Atlantic coast. Along the way we stopped to see Knowth, which is (according to a web definition) a Neolithic passage grave with two passages that has been reconstructed; an ancient monument of Brú na Bóinne in the valley of the River Boyne in Ireland. We also stopped at the Hill of Tara, which was once the ancient seat of power in Ireland until the 6th century (“142 kings are said to have reigned there in prehistoric and historic times. In ancient Irish religion and mythology [Tara] was the sacred place of dwelling for the gods, and was the entrance to the otherworld. Saint Patrick is said to have come to Tara to confront the ancient religion of the pagans at its most powerful site.”)
Eventually we arrived in Sligo in the evening at a location called the Ardtarmon House where we would be staying for the next several days. Own by a couple, Charles and Christa Henry, it has several self-catering cottages and a main B&B/house, which has been the family home since 1852. That evening we had a group meal of spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread in one of the cottages. I was one of three students who stayed in the house where most of the Victorian furniture is original.
Being in a more remote location, then next few days were fairly low key, though we did bus into Sligo a couple times. On Sunday we had a “day of rest”, though it turned into a work day because we had a paper due the following day (which was kindly pushed back because of our hectic days in Dublin). In the morning, however, I did get a chance to take an incredible walk along the road past the farms along the coast, and I ended up at this strip of land between a bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It was so beautiful; you can check out my myriad of pictures on facebook.
The rest of my time in Sligo has kind of become a blur. A couple of the mornings we had class in one of the cottages, which was probably one of my favorite class locations; we all had tea together and it felt like a one room school house with all of us piled in on the floor and on chairs listening to DR’s lecture. Two of the mornings/afternoons we went into Sligo to the Yeats’ Society to hear a woman lecture on Yeats. One of the days we climbed Mount Knocknarea (a hill compared to Mount Snowdon, but it was fun nonetheless!); another afternoon we had a boat tour on Lough Gill which contains the Lake Isle of Innisfree mentioned in Yeats’ poetry. Sadly is was very, very misty so we couldn’t actually see much out the windows, but we were served tea and coffee inside which made it fun and cozy. The boat driver admitted that this was probably one of the worst days he had ever driven regarding visibility! Furthermore, another afternoon we went to Lissadell House, the famous “childhood home of Constance Markievicz, her sister Eva Gore Booth and her brother Josslyn Gore Booth. Constance was one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, and was the first woman to be elected to Dail Eireann, where she served as Minister for Labour (thus becoming the first woman minister in a modern European democracy), and was also the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons at Westminster, London (where she declined to take her seat). Eva was a poet of distinction and an active suffragist…Sligo born poet W. B. Yeats was friendly with the Gore Booth sisters and stayed at Lissadell in 1893 and 1894. He immortalised Lissadell and the Gore Booth sisters in his poetry.”
Come Tuesday night it was time for another one of our “parties” that was actually an Irish Folk Dancing lesson! Our entire group plus the family who owned the place all piled into a small brick building and sweated the night away as we learned a few different ‘figures’ with partners and danced to the music. We all had so much fun, and it was definitely exhausting, but so rewarding!
I think my favorite part of Sligo was the fact that because I got to stay inside the house, breakfast was provided. So every morning, DR, Judie, Erin G, Kaari, and I all had a wonderful Irish breakfast usually over good conversation with plenty of cups of tea and coffee. Also, by staying in the house we got to know Charles & Christa better. (Plus, I was the “laundry goddess” of the week, which meant I coordinated with Christa and the cottages to figure out how 24 people were to get their laundry done!) Charles is Irish, but Christa is actually German. The evening before we left I talked with them for a little while about the US, where I am from, my family and my studies, and I also got to tell Christa about my German heritage too, which was very fun. Fun fact: Christa’s German nephew was visiting while we were there, so if we (the girls) were lucky, we’d get an occasional sighting of the German boy. Haha.
By the time Wednesday rolled around we were schedule to write another paper due the next morning on Joyce and Yeats. This pretty much consumed my entire day and even went into the early hours of the morning. The next day was a definite “glasses day” (as opposed to contacts), which worked out well because it was mainly spent traveling on the bus all day to Belfast!
No comments:
Post a Comment