Category: Travel

The next morning we explored the Cahir castle. While walking around the castle walls, covered in the morning fog, we witnessed an almost surreal scene. The frosty silence of the February morning was suddenly split by a sound of chainsaw. We then saw two burly men cutting down a palm tree in the backyard of a house. Frankly, the palm did seem a little out of place in the Irish winter landscape dominated by a medieval castle. Nevertheless, the whole episode was unexpected and I thought that it deserved a haiku:

Cold Irish morning.

Man sees a palm tree:

A screech of chainsaw.

Unlike most other Irish castles, which either lay in ruins or had been converted to luxury residences in 17 – 19 centuries and thus lost their original defensive character, the Cahir castle has been carefully restored to its original state. It offers great photo opportunities. The best time to photograph it is early in the morning, before large groups of tourists arrive.

Another attraction of Cahir is the so-called Swiss Cottage that is located just outside the town. It was built by one of the members of the Butler family, who also used to be the owners of the Cahir castle. Apparently, building a new cottage in the continental style of architecture was more fashionable and practical than restoring the old ruined castle. Unfortunately, the cottage was closed on the day we were there, but we managed to grab a few shots from behind the fence. Luckily, the facade was nicely lit by the bright winter sun.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Cahir.

Keywords: Cahir.

 

We arrived at Cahir after dark, having spent several hours photographing the Rock of Cashel. The town is very small and appeared deserted in the tourist offseason. We parked our Hundai i30 at the central square, which was lined with pubs.

The Cahir Castle stood only few hundred meters down the street and was illuminated by bright floodlights. It was bitter cold, but we still took a few long-exposure shots from across the water, where river Suir splits into two branches to envelop the castle.

Back at the main square, there was no problem finding a room in a B&B that had a barber’s shop on the ground floor. There was also a branch of the Bank of Ireland on the corner of the square, which we were going to use the next day to withdraw cash – none of the B&B’s accepted credit cards.

With our shelter secured, we attended to the need for food. A middle-aged lady, who was watching TV behind the counter in one of the pubs told us that the only place that served food at that hour (it was around 9 o’clock) was “the Italians” – a restaurant in the corner of the square.

“The Italians” turned out to be a pizza place owned by an Iranian man and ran by Turkish and Ukrainian staff. We had a nice chat with the Ukrainian waitress, who was our age and was happy to have a chance to speak Russian. It was interesting to learn that Cahir had a large meat-processing plant that employed many foreign workers and engineers.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Cahir.

Keywords: Cahir.

Approaching the town of Cashel from the North, we could immediately see that opportunities for photographing the number 1 item on our shooting list – The Rock of Cashel, would be limited. The entire eastern wall of this magnificent abbey that dominates the town was covered with metal scaffolding. We enjoyed a late lunch by the hot fireplace in a pub located on the central street. After wondering a little through the streets and taking a couple of pictures of a characteristic straw roof an old cottage converted to a museum, we relocated to a vantage point with a view of the Western side of the abbey to wait for photo opportunities at sunset.

The sky was cloudy, but we set up the tripod anyway, hoping that the sun would shine its golden light beneath the clouds just before setting. It was long wait. We stayed inside the car to avoid the freezing February wind. The windows quickly covered with fog, and we picked out from time to time to check whether it was the time for the sunset. There was no luck that time – the lighting was nice, but there was no magical moment of a golden sunbeam. We had to contend with a rather impressive artificial illumination of The Rock with its picturesque round tower – the third one we saw on this trip (after the round towers of Glendalough and St. Canice’s Cathedral in Kilkenny).

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Cashel.

Keywords: Cashel.

 

We arrived at Kilkenny after dark. After circling the downtown a couple of times looking for a parking spot, we entered a parking lot of a bed and breakfast inn and knocked on the door. Not only there were vacancies – it appeared that we were the only guests. The house was freezing cold – the heat had been turned off. We dropped our bags in the room and went to have dinner at the historic Kyteler’s Inn. The story is that at the end of 13^th – early 14^th century it was owned by Dame Alice le Kyteler, who was subsequently accused of practicing witchcraft and had to flee to England. That was one of Europe’s first witchcraft cases.

The next day started for us with a visit to Kilkenny castle. Opportunities for photography were somewhat limited, as the exterior was lit by a very high-contrast light. Nevertheless, a combination of wide and telephoto lenses provided some variety in composition. Inside the castle, photography was not allowed. The tour itself gave a nice overview of the history of the Butler family – former owners of the Kilkenny castle.

Another major historical site in Kilkenny is St. Canice’s Cathedral, from which the city derives its name. Although we were not allowed to climb the impressive round tower due to the lack of supervising staff in the off-season, we had the main cathedral all to ourselves. Once again, we enjoyed the photographic benefits of travelling outside of the peak tourist season.

An unexpected interesting feature of St. Canice’s Cathedral (besides it being an architectural treasure that traces its history to 6th century) is that it contains a tomb of one of President Barack Obama‘s distant relatives. (Really!)

Another note on cathedrals in Ireland: we were always allowed not only to take pictures inside, but also to use a tripod. The interiors of the cathedrals are perfect for applying the High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique.

To use HDR, one captures several (typically, 3 to 5) images of the same scene with different exposures (both over- and underexposed). These images are then combined on a computer (e.g. using Photoshop) to produce a single 32-bit image (a conventional photo has 16-bit dynamic range).

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Kilkenny.

Keywords: Kilkenny.

 

Glendalough was highly recommended by Dubliners as an excellent destination and a base for a 2-3-day-long vacation away from Dublin. While we decided not to make a single base for our trip, but rather to travel to a new town every day, we visited Glendalough on our way from Powerscourt to Kilkenny.

The roads around Glendalough, and mostly everywhere else in Ireland, are very narrow and winding. A trip by car takes longer than what might be expected from the distances on the map. The roads, which are bounded by stone walls on both sides, wind through the hills, sometimes allowing a glimpse of the picturesque Irish countryside.

The visitors centre at Glendalough provides maps of the hiking trails and an overview of the history of the area. The main tourist attractions are the two lakes (the name “Glendalough” means “the glen of two lakes”) and the ruins of a monastery that was founded by St. Kevin in 498. According to a legend, St. Kevin lived to the age of 120. Some also say that he moved to Glendalough to escape the company of his followers. Apparently, that was unsuccessful, as Glendalough later became a major site of pilgrimage in Ireland.

The round tower that was built around 1,000 years ago by the monks of St. Kevin’s monastery is one of most famous landmarks in County Wicklow. The round towers of this type can be seen throughout Ireland. They were used by the monks during a time of war as a defense against the invading forces. Inside, wooden ladders were used to access the top floors, where the monks could escape along with their precious books.

The sun was setting quickly behind the mountain ridges, and the ruins of the monastery quickly became too dark to photograph.  However, we did manage to take a few shots of the round tower and the surroundings.

After a late lunch at a local restaurant alongside a large family that had just returned from a day of hiking and was loudly consuming large quantities of sugar-loaded soft drinks, we drove towards Kilkenny.

We stopped at several viewpoints along the Braveheart Drive to photograph spectacular mountain ranges illuminated by the golden sunlight. The route takes its name from the movie “Braveheart”. Many scenes from this movie about Scottish struggle for freedom were shot here, in Ireland, and hundreds of soldiers of the Irish Army Reserve acted as extras. Curiously, there is a village called Hollywood along the route, after which, allegedly, California’s Hollywood was named.

 

There was still snow at high elevation. The snow patches made an attractive contrast with the yellow-orange grass and the brown rocks. There was also an opportunity to capture such staple image of Irish countryside as sheep grazing in the mountain fields. When we stopped the car and opened the doors to approach them, we were greeted by a sound of hundreds of sheep’s “Baa-a-a” echoing through the mountains. There was no other sound – no noise of city streets, no people’s voices, no traffic… That was the first time when I felt that we escaped the business of Dublin and caught a glimpse of rural Ireland.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Glendalough.

Keywords: Glendalough.

 

On the second day of our trip, we travelled from Dublin to Killkenny through Powerscourt and Glendalough.

The dramatic Powerscourt gardens are located within a short drive from Dublin. Almost the entire trip there can be taken without leaving a motorway, so we did not come face to face with the narrow Irish roads, of which we were warned, until later in the day, when we drove to Glendalough.

As a major attraction that is located very close to Dublin, Powerscourt appears high on the list of “must visit” places in travel guides. We were there in the middle of the off-season, so the gardens were not crowded at all. Although it was quite cold, the weather on that mid-February day was excellent for photography. The early afternoon sun illuminated the façade of the mansion and the Perron, an impressive stairway that leads from the mansion to the Triton Lake through the Italian Garden. The high-contrast lighting was less than ideal for photographing the details of the many statues in the gardens (mementos of the 1^st Viscount Powerscourt’s European travels). However, this type of light was perfect for capturing the white fluffy clouds on highly-saturated blue sky that are so desirable for stock photography.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Powerscourt.

Keywords: Powerscourt.

 

The St. Patrick’s festival runs for a full week, and consists of various events in the streets of Dublin city center as well as theatres, galleries, and music halls. Two of the highlights are The Big Day Out (on a Sunday before the St. Patrick’s Day) – a festival within a festival, which features street theatre, performance and music, and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which celebrates cultural diversity in Dublin.

Photography notes

The tea party in the Merrion Square featured people dressed in incredibly bright costumes, who entertained children and adults in the park. Timing was essential for photography, as the shadows from the surrounding buildings covered the park by approximately 5 o’clock.

During the parade on March 17, the location from which to take pictures was of primary importance. In order to have an unobstructed view of the procession, one needs to stand as close as possible to the dividing barrier, erected by the police. Given that the huge crowds gather along the route of the parade close to the starting time (12:00 noon), it is essential to arrive well in advance. Having said this, I came to my photo location of choice (towards the end of the parade route) only half-an-hour before the start and was able to position myself in the second row of people, which was close enough to the action.  I chose a spot opposite the Christ Church Cathedral, which served as an interesting background for the performers. Using a 24-105 mm lens allowed me to quickly change the frame from the wide view of the parade displays to the portraits of individual participants and spectators.

Follow the link to see my photographs of St. Patrick’s Festival.

Keywords: St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

After leaving the center of Dublin in a rented car, we followed the excellent directions given at the car rental office (but keeping our trusty Garmin GPS turned on) to the M1 motorway, which took us almost all the way to Newgrange.

 

One of the most prominent passage graves in Europe, the Newgrange is a major Irish attraction and a must-see sight for the visitors to Dublin. We parked the car at the visitor center, where we enjoyed an exhibit of the excavated artifacts, a short film, and a lunch, while waiting for a bus to take us to the site of the passage grave site itself. The tourists are taken to the site in groups of approximately twenty people, with the interval of 1.5 hours between the groups.

 

The Newgrange tomb (built around 3200 BC) is very spectacular due to its sheer size. The passage grave is protected by the mound, or cairn, made of 200, 000 tones of loose stones. The massive structure is particularly impressive in view of the fact that its engineers and builders used neither the wheel nor metal tools.

While the exact purpose and meaning of the structure itself and that of the various spiral patterns carved into its walls remains a mystery, it is likely that the people who built Newgrange worshiped the Sun. The cairn is constructed in such a way that at dawn on 21 December, the day of the winter solstice, a beam of sunlight penetrates the roof box and travels along the 19-meter passage to the chamber.

 

When our tourist group arrived at the site, we had to wait outside the burial chamber for the previous group to finish their tour. The rain started pouring, and we had no place to escape it – there is absolutely no shelter at the site.

 

Finally, it was our turn to enter the chamber. We were told to carry our backpacks in front of us at the knee-level to avoid scratching the precious stone walls in the passage. The passage was indeed very narrow. The leather jacket that I was wearing was not very bulky, but still I could barely squeeze through in some places, even while turning my body sideways while crouching down. This is definitely not a site for people suffering from claustrophobia.

 

Inside, the main feature is the ceiling of the chamber, which is constructed of overlapping slabs of stone. It reaches the height of 6 meters above the floor. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the tomb.

 

When we emerged from the passage, the weather had magically improved, providing an opportunity to take a few photos of the exterior of the cairn and the picturesque Boyne valley.

 

Please follow the link to see our pictures of Newgrange.

 

Keyword: Newgrange.

 

The cathedral, located close to the center of Dublin, was founded beside a well, where St. Patrick is said to have baptized converted Celts (around AD 450). The exterior (1254 -1270), with the Minot’s Tower and the spire (1700s), is very impressive both from the street and from the adjacent park.

 The interior contains numerous monuments. One of the famous people remembered there is Jonathan Swift, who was educated at Trinity College and later became the Dean of the St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

 Photography, including the use of a flash and/or a tripod is allowed inside the Cathedral. A flash is of little use, as it destroys the atmospheric lighting. A tripod, however, is extremely useful. It allows taking multiple images with different exposures, which can be later combined using a computer to produce a high-dynamic-range (HDR) image.

 Please follow the link to see our photos of the Cathedral.