An Ireland travelogue teaser
Five days after returning from nearly two-weeks in Ireland, I am finally shaking the lingering jetlag and feeling motivated enough to begin to sort through some of my photos and recollections.
This trip was an anniversary trip with my wife who is not quite the design fanatic that I am, therefore seeking out examples of modern Irish design was not on the itinerary. But we came across enough in passing... but not too much so as to upset the missus.
A bit of light content follows... a brief description of our journey and some random images with more detailed content in the next few days.
Éireann go Brách!
We spent five days in Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, before heading south to Kilkenny. We then crossed the country to Dingle (An Daingean) on the west coast in County Kerry. Hugging the coast we traveled north through County Clare to Galway, the Republic's fourth largest city. From Galway we traversed the country to Trim north west of Dublin. On our last day, having survived and become perhaps a bit too brave on Ireland's narrow windy roads, I hit the mother of all potholes, one I found out later the locals all knew and dreaded, while trying to avoid sideswiping a large truck. The pothole claimed not one but two tires (or tyres), and ended our day's sightseeing, but serendipitously introduced us to local artist John Ryan who's studio was located at the point on the road where we were stranded. This became a strange highlight at the end of our trip drinking tea with an accomplished painter in an old church-cum-studio.
DUBLIN, LOOKING EAST ALONG THE RIVER LIFFEY FROM HA'PENNY BRIDGE
OVERLAPPING AND LAYERING IS A COMMON THEME - OLD AND NEW; OLD AND OLDER; LIGHT AND HEAVY; VARIED MATERIALITY
THE COMBINATION OF WOOD AND MASONRY IS A FREQUENT DESIGN THEME CARRIED FROM TRADTIONAL TO MODERN STRUCTURES, AND IS ESPECIALLY TYPICAL OF THE FORMATIVE MODERN IRISH ARCHITECTURE FROM THE LATE 1990's
JERPOINT ABBEY
IRISH ONE STOP SHOPPING
DINGLE PENNINSULA
COLOR AND CONTRAST FOR AN OFTEN DREARY CLIMATE
GALWAY-MAY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MURRAY O'LAOIRE ARCHITECTS
...AND POTATOES
TRIM
YOURS TRULY...
