Our September visit to Ireland with National Trust Tours was to be an exploration of this fascinating land as we circumnavigated the Emerald Isle on a small cruise ship.

Mother Nature, however, had other plans.

Gale force winds in the Atlantic made for very choppy sailing the first evening, kept us in the port at Cobh for three nights, and on the eastern side of the island for the entire trip. However, thanks to the ingenuity of the travel directors and our local guides we ended up visiting two-thirds of the sites we were meant to see (traveling by bus from Cobh and Belfast) and we made the best of it.

The Irish have a saying: “May the wind always be at your back.” On this trip the ship’s captain had a bit too much wind to contend with, but we had a memorable tour nonetheless. Thankfully there was plenty of spirit (and spirits) to be found on both land and sea.

It was a good time to remember to expect the unexpected. In fact, a new friend we made on this trip wrote to say that “expect the unexpected” reminded her of Roald Dahl’s quote:

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.“

“We had a great time, despite the changes in itinerary,” she wrote.  “Or maybe partly because of the changes!”

So to recall the forces of nature that brought us unexpected pleasures, I want to start as the Irish band Solas plays The Wind That Shakes the Barley from their aptly named 2006 album Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers.

It was my third visit to Ireland (beginning with a memorable December trip to Northern Ireland in 1998, mere months after the signing of the Good Friday peace accords), but as always with travel one sees new things . . . and things you’ve seen before from a new perspective. What follows is just a sampling of our most recent ten days on the Emerald Isle.

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EXPLORING DUBLIN

Our habit is to arrive two days before the tour begins in order to adjust to the time change and explore a bit of the country on our own. That brought us to Dublin, where we spent a delightful time walking the city, visiting places famous and anonymous, and discovering new worlds (for me), such as the Irish poet Eavan Boland, one of the foremost female voices in Irish literature. Over a long career,

“Boland honed an appreciation for the ordinary in life. The poet and critic Ruth Padel described Boland’s ‘commitment to lyric grace and feminism’ even as her subjects tend to ‘the fabric of domestic life, myth, love, history, and Irish rural landscape.’” 

Trinity College had an outdoor exhibit that included her beautiful poem Night Feed.

To close out our time in Dublin, I’ve chosen The Choral Scholars of University College Dublin singing Mo Ghille Mear (My Gallant Hero).

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HAVE I MENTIONED THAT FOOD (AS ALWAYS) WAS AT THE HEART OF OUR VISIT?

In Dublin and on the ship the World Atlas we ate very well while in Ireland. Through her research, Candice discovered the excellent Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant Richmond and we ended up eating there on both our nights in the city.

While we were at sea or in port, The Atlas—with an excellent chef and multiple dining options—ensured that we enjoyed fine dining with our National Trust travelers and other new friends.

As we entered County Cork we had choices to make. Thankfully Candice knew that she wanted to visit Ballymaloe, a world-class cooking school, farm, and restaurant. As is usually the case, I was glad that I took her advice. The half-day visit to the farm, followed by a bountiful lunch in the main house, was a delight for all the senses.

And all the thought of good food and a beautiful Irish countryside puts me in the mood for some more Irish music. This next video is of the great David Bromberg early in his career performing Yankee’s Revenge—a medley of Irish fiddle tunes from the Midnight on the Water album. Here you can see Bromberg as the young guitar slinger at the peak of his talents, flatpicking fiddle tunes and then setting down the guitar to join in on the triple-fiddle ending.

The medley begins with Leather Britches followed by the tune Red Haired Boy. The third in the list is the good ole’ Temperance Reel while the fourth is another variation (this time instrumentally) of The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Bromberg and his amazing band end this tour-de-force with Drowsy Maggie.

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A REMARKABLE IRISH ESTATE

Bantry House and Garden is a stately home overlooking Bantry Bay in County Cork in the south west of Ireland. The house has been in the same family—the Whites—since 1739 and was opened to the public in 1946. Our tour was led by Julie, the business manager and the 10th generation of her family to live at this beautiful estate. The original design of the garden dates back to the second Earl of Bantry’s travels and his intentions to transform the house and garden into a “Palazzo” like those he had seen on the continent can still be seen today.

Two of my favorite Irish musicians are Mick McAuley and John Doyle. Their version of The Silver Spear Set seems appropriate after a tour of Bantry House. John Doyle is bouncing around so much it looks like he may have been on our ship during rough waters!

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NO MATTER THE WEATHER, THE IRISH LANDSCAPE NEVER DISAPPOINTS

While it took some shifts to get to most of the sites on our tour, it meant that we had the opportunity to see even more of the interior of this beautiful and rugged country. We still had breathtaking seaside views, took in medieval forts and ancient beehive dwellings, experienced the strong agricultural nature of much of the country, and visited the beautiful and peaceful setting of St. Finbarr’s Oratory, named for the patron saint and first bishop of County Cork.

Jigs are a well-known piece of the Irish music landscape. Here’s something a bit different: Double bass player (and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient) Edgar Meyer performing McGlynn’s Jigs by Meyer and Arty McGlynn with pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska.

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THE PASSION BEHIND EVERY DROP

The Jameson Distillery tour in Middleton took us inside the making of one of the island’s treasures: Irish whiskey. John Jameson was born in Scotland in 1740 and came to Dublin in the late 1770s. Four of his sons followed him into the business of distilling whiskey in Ireland, setting up a family dynasty that was to last for generations. Having taken the distillery tour in Dublin on an earlier visit to Ireland, this was a much more satisfying and in-depth experience.

I’ve often told the story of my first encounter with Irish whiskey. It was on that memorable 1998 visit to Northern Ireland, when we entered a cold estate heated only by fireplaces on a blustery December day to have a bite of lunch. We were each poured a whiskey, and my first sip—which immediately warmed the body—brought instant understanding of the allure of Ireland’s favorite bracer.

And for a musical bracer, let’s return to John Doyle as he “flatpicks the daylights out of his Muiderman Steel String dreadnought” on this rendition of Elevenses, a song written in 11/8 time.

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A BUILDING REFLECTING A CITY’S CHANGING HERITAGE

City Hall in Belfast is an imposing structure that, upon examination, displays both the history and the evolution of this often troubled part of the world. Not only are there symbols of the region’s ties to the British crown, but there are memorials and signs that times change.

While in Belfast we also stopped by Queens College and walked a bit of the city. And although we didn’t have the opportunity to visit the most famous pub in Belfast . . . now a National Trust (of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) historic site . . . we did drive by so that I could tell my colleagues at INTO (the International National Trust Organisation), that I’d seen this world-renowned drinking establishment.

Timmy Clifford’s, played by a very young Solas band, seems an appropriate tune to pair with a pub.

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I wanted to end this remembrance of a wonderful trip with one of the most famous of Irish songs. Most of us know it as Danny Boy, which is actually an English folk song with lyrics written by English lawyer Frederic Weatherly in 1910. A few years later those lyrics were set to the traditional Irish melody of Londonderry Air and it became immortal. I’ve always preferred the instrumental arrangements of this lovely air, and have long enjoyed the elegant solo piano versions of Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. I’ve chosen the latter here, so sit back, pour yourself an Irish whiskey, and savor the artistry of this amazing musician.

Thanks for traveling along.

More to come . . .

DJB

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For other posts on our fall trip to Ireland and France see:

• Healing begins within . . . (October 1)
• Life in song (October 4)
• I love Paris in the fall (October 11)

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Photos of Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin, Bantry House, Belfast City Hall (tinted), Crown Bar Interior, and Irish countryside from Unsplash. Photo of barrels at Jameson distillery by DJB.