The City on the Shannon

Limerick is going to be the first ever Irish City of Culture 2014.

In 2012, Limerick made it one Irish people's top ten cities in the world to visit.

And in the glorious year of 2013, I made my virgin visit to the home of Munster Rugby, the historic and noble city on the Shannon.

The Shannon, Limerick City
(c) fifiheavey

Once known as ‘Stab City,’ Ireland’s third largest city has been underestimated by the rest of the Irish population for too long - with some blame placed at the city's dire portrayal in the award winning but misery filled ‘Angela’s Ashes’ book and film.

But last year, more Irish people visited the city than before- was it just for the rugby? Or was it for the history, heritage, and stunning sights?

I had two days to explore Limerick, and I used them to the best advantage taking one day to explore the city and another to drive around the county. 

King John's Castle, Limerick
(c) fifiheavey

The Treaty Stone, Limerick
(c) fifiheavey

Sunrise, sunset and every minute of the day provides a beautiful photo opportunity of the River Shannon which passes through the city on it’s way to the Atlantic Sea. Seagulls, brave wave riders and some atmospheric landscaping is all you need for some memorable pictures. Take a walk along the water, and cross Thomand Bridge to enter as medievals would have onto Kings Island and the majestic King John’s castle. the impressive structure is even more captivating inside.

Just across the Shannon from King Johns Castle stands The Treaty Stone. The Treaty of Limerick was signed in October 1691 after William of Orange won the war over King James. There is some interesting reading around the historic stone.

Don’t bypass St Mary’s Cathedral- throw just €3 in the kitty for restoration and wander about the cathedral with walls filled with great ancient Royal names. The Cathedral is oldest building in Limerick, founded in 1168.
Art lovers - Hunt Museum hosts one of Ireland’s private collection of art and antiquities, dating from the Neolithic to the 20th Century, including works by Renoir, Picasso and Yeats.

Limerick is Rugby - Munster Rugby and Thomand Park is the throne. Also if you are looking for the future of Limerick take a drive or a stroll to the University of Limerick. I was struck by how big the area is, full of life during the week - pop into the Student Bar for a Philosophical chat!

Adare Village

Outside of the city you must visit Adare Village. In the Summer this picturesque village is thronged with tourists, so this time of year is perfect for an indepth look about. English style cottages, Adare Manor Hotel, Desmond Castle, Trinitarian Priory and the cutest little village park I have ever seen, will keep you occupied for a few hours. 

Statue of King John, Limerick
(c) fifiheavey

Seafood is the speciality down here, and it is delicious and fresh. The Chowder at the Strand Hotel and anything from the menu at Freddy’s Bistro come highly recommended.

2013 - The Bigger Picture

Perth, Australia  (c) fifiheavey

New Year’s Resolutions - you either make them or don’t. But the majority of people I know make some sort of pledges to change their lives on the eve of a brand new year.

Exercise more, eat healthy, take up a new hobby, lose weight or travel more are some of the most popular goals we set. And goals are very healthy, they challenge us and motivate. We all have our own obstacles to meet, either every day, monthly or seasonally.

But this year I hope to really push myself to and look at the bigger picture.
It sounds simple, but it is far from it. I fret the small things. I worry about the minute details and often forget to take a step back and assess the whole story.

We all do it, we get stressed, frustrated, annoyed and upset about things in our lives that are not ideal or perfect but forget to look at how lucky we are. The only time we feel blessed is when we see tragedy strike others, then we realise how good we have it.

I visited a close friend recently, she had just lost her job and was fretting over buying Christmas presents for her kids. Although the presents she bought were not as big or as expensive as she would have liked she was amazed to see how happy her children were to have their mother at home all over the festive season, playing with them, cuddling on the couch watching a movie and going outside for adventure walks. She realised although money was not plentiful, her family were happy and healthy and that was all that mattered.

Best wishes to everyone in 2013 and may your pictures be big, bright and happy!

The Burren, Co Clare, Ireland (c) fifiheavey

Merry Christmas holiday makers all over the world x

Zooming in on the Book of Kells

The colours, the craft, the years of intricate details, gold lettering, the secrecy and the beautiful result of the Book of Kells is a sight to behold.

So when the news that The Book of Kells App for the iPad was released I was both happy and disappointed.
Happy because I want the world over to know about this illuminated manuscript created by Celtic monks from the late 6th Century up to the 9th Century.
But disappointed because, for some they will download the app, scroll through it and never actually take the trip to Trinity College Library, Dublin to see this national treasure.

I made the trip to Trinity College to see one of our most sacred treasures a few years ago. The visit to see the Book of Kells is much more than the few minutes you get with the selected pages.
It it about seeing Trinity College, the most prestigious and historic university in Ireland. It is about
the other manuscripts on display and the magnificent Long Room which houses 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books in its oak bookcases and the build up to the main event with a ‘Turning Darkness into Light’ exhibition which provides all the background and info needed.

The Library changes the four pages on display every few weeks, so each visit is never the same, but of course it means paying the admission fee each time to see it. For $11.99 in the iTunes store the Book of Kells App contains all 680 pages of the manuscript.

The good points of the app are of course that you will get to see each and every page of the Book of Kells in intricate details with some you can zoom up to six times their original size!

Technology is amazing and it makes this beautiful and mysterious treasure available to everyone. People will be awe struck by it’s contents that may never have known of its existence or may never have had the means of plans to ever view it. Maybe we can get more theories on it, more information from researchers the world over.
So do purchase, download and admire, but please remember seeing the actual book is much more magical and dazzling than the touch screen of your iPad.

And of course the original was not created for zoom, tap and click it was produced to inspire, to amaze and to educate.

The difference is the security

When people ask me “what is Egypt like” I usually tell them “It is different.”
Different from Ireland, unlike your typical holiday destination, historic beyond comprehension, traditional yet modern, in upheaval yet relaxed.

What is so different? The Irish would argue our Newgrange is older than the pyramids so we can tick off history, Ireland has always been a traditionally religious country so we understand Egyptians passion for their religion, we understand borders too and the need to preserve our culture and we have also been known for our political upheavals.

The actual difference my friends is the level of security.

The amount of security around Cairo and Sharm El Sheikh is like none I have ever seen before. It is intense and it is everywhere. The reason for it is pretty obvious, but aside from the necessity it is there to make you and me and foreign diplomats feel at ease.
Except it does the opposite.

Mubarak party headquarters, Tahrir Square was burned out during the revolution in 2011
(c) fifiheavey

When I arrived at the Hilton, Cairo at 2am on our first night, I barely batted an eye to the security, well my eyes were barely open. But the next day the level and effort put into security around Cairo astounded me.



Airport security is something we have all come familiar with, we know the deal, the checks what is allowed, what is not. Now take that airport security, the metal detector, the bag xray machine, along with some serious looking armed men and their important and urgent questions and place that at every hotel in the country, every shopping mall, every cinema, every museum …. and you get an idea of the level of security in Egypt.

Security at hotel entrance of Marriott Sharm El Sheikh
(c) fifiheavey

If you take a taxi to your hotel, the taxi must stop and show identification before being let inside the 24 hour guarded gates. Also before the taxi can be admitted the boot must be popped open, and checked for explosives. Terrified passengers will also be given the once over with the guard's stern eye before you can be allowed to enter. You may have only left 20 mins before  but the same checks apply each and every time.

You may only want to step outside the hotel door for a cigarette or to check if your taxi is on time, but each time you enter you must pass the metal detector and your bag is scanned.
It is annoying, but is it too much?

For many it provides a safety blanket, a sure bet that your hotel will be safe from any suicide bombers and for a country that has a huge reliance on tourism that is a bet Egyptians want to win.

Sometimes it is the food, the people, the dress, the night-life, the social activities that divides one culture from another, for me it was the security.
Security is a loose term in Ireland, we don’t need it, so it gets little use. But even if we did need it, could we do it? I don’t think so not to that extent, we are too trusting and too lazy to be all the time on the watch out for terrorism activity.

The difference between Ireland and Egypt? The security.

Money scams at home and abroad

Going to any foreign speaking country with a different culture to your own, brings risk.

The biggest and most probable of those risks is that you will get fleeced for money.

Egyptian pounds
(c) fifiheavey

You will hand over too much money for services or goods. It may be by mistake or it may be that you want to avoid any international catastrophes.

Egypt is one of these countries where its inhabitants are professionally qualified to rid you of your money. And lucky for you they take any currency you have!

I am not talking about pick pockets here, no my experience of Egyptians is that they rather to politely ask you for your cash. Maybe for a tip or perhaps for some item that you do not want.

I didn't want a papyrus painting. I wanted to see the pyramids and go into the Egyptian museum and see the the Khan Ali-Kalili market. I also wanted to experience real Egyptian culture.

I did all of those things but I also bought a papyrus painting and some essence. I could have said no, I could have just walked away, at no point did I feel my safety was in danger - but still I felt pressured, I felt guilty and in the end I bought a painting.

Khan Ali-Kalili market, Cairo
(c) fifiheavey

My first 24-48 hours in Cairo were very expensive.

The main reason for that was it was my first time in Egypt and I stupidly told people that.

It is the first question Egyptians ask tourists. And the reason is if you say no then you probably know better than to trust them, but if you say yes – they have you!

So after 48 hours I was angry, I was resolved to be rude if I had to, to avoid spending unnecessary money on things, services I did not want.

And I mastered it, I haggled for my life, I walked away, I said 'NO' a lot and even tried to turn a money trick back on a native. I was a pro!

But then I got a huge shock, I had been fleeced for money long before I entered this new culture.

I was “robbed” at London Heathrow Airport.

My next door neighbours in the UK, of similar culture and the same language had tricked me out of so much more money than a hard working taxi man in Cairo ever could.

My flight to Cairo stopped over in Heathrow from Dublin. At the airport I realised that we would be landing in Cairo after midnight and was unsure if airport banks and exchanges would be open at that time. So I picked one out of the hundreds of currency exchanges shinning in the departure lounge in Heathrow.

I handed over €400, the nice smiley man told me an extra fiver and they charge no commission. Bargain. I did that and he handed me 2,600 LE (Egyptian pounds). It was only when we exchanged money in Cairo that we realised I had been squandered out of €100 in the first exchange because the nasty bankers had converted my money to sterling before moving it on.

Moral of the story: You don't need to go to Egypt to be fleeced, but at least I got a papyrus painting while there!

The Final Judgement -  the most famous scene to be duplicated on papyrus.

The Fear Factor

“Things are hotting up in Egypt” is a popular comment I have heard over the past week – and the commentators are not talking about the weather.

In two weeks time I will be holidaying in Cairo. I am so excited and despite the media hype and misinformation abound I am not at all afraid that I will get caught up in some dangerous situation.

It may seem strange but I can't see myself walking out of the hotel and being hoisted on to the shoulders of mad protesters heading to Tahrir square or the US embassy.

Everything I have read seems to point that there were less than 500 at the US embassy protest on September 11, and that since then there have been no violent clashes. Protests continue – but protests continue in every country for a variety of reasons every day.

Protesters chant slogans amid orange smoke outside the U.S. embassy on September 11.

Photo: Time World http://world.time.com

Several cruise ships have altered their plans to avoid Egypt and the US Government has warned against travel there. But have they warned against travel to Sydney or Paris? There are protests there too against the controversial movie.

Remember nobody was killed in the protests in Cario. 

Last year I joined (as in went to see) an austerity protest in Athens during a stop over. Days before and after buildings had been set on fire, the city was being flashed around the world as a violent city. But when I was there it was just a protest – a mass one with thousands of people, angry people – the city was piling high with rubbish due to strikes - but there was no violence on the day I was there, just some stink! We also did not get any hassle from the protesters, one of my friends got interviewed for Greek TV!

I don't want to join in any protests in Egypt, but if I get to see one I would find it interesting to see one from a safe distance. To gauge their level of discontent to get an idea of the age profile and to try and understand the issue from their point of view.