We haven’t rented a car since we arrived in Northern Ireland, and it was time for a new driving adventure! The vehicle: a lovely, white Skoda Fabia. For the people who aren’t familiar with this particular brand, Volkswagen has three levels: Audi, VW and Skoda, with Skoda being the bargain brand. For the Fabia, take a VW Golf and remove a bunch of length and width (in Europe, this is the VW Polo: a mini Golf🤣🤣). Then remove most of the ability to accelerate. Not a car that I would choose to drive normally, but it was cheap.
As soon as the Husband was done with work on Friday we set off. The Daughter quickly figured out that the backseat was nausea inducing (especially with roundabouts every couple of miles). Once we got out to the main motorway (dual carriageway, if you want to be precise), she felt better though. It was a couple of hours drive to Lisnaskea, where we had our Airbnb rental for the weekend. Note to the people who put up road signs: when the main road that people might take to a town is closed, it would be really helpful if said people knew this ahead of time. Really helpful. We got to our turnoff (after passing a sign on the previous exit saying, unhelpfully, Lisanaskea exit), headed down the road…only to see the sign (now) saying road closed. Our Dana (as we have named Google Maps. Why Dana? No clue. Random choice) took us on a country adventure. We did eventually get to our destination, so she did not lead us astray. Lisnaskea is not much more than a village, and our house ended up being a few miles outside of it. Out a small country road, then we turned on a smaller country road, then we turned on the gravel path past the green fence. You get the idea. Great house though!! Beautiful, spacious, no one around, gorgeous views. It was wonderful. Although, it was a little surreal waking up the next morning in a room painted gray, as this was almost the exact same color that was in our bedroom at our house (sniff, sniff). But I digress…We quickly dropped off our bags and headed to Enniskillen to find some dinner (knowing, rightly, that food options in Lisnaskea were very limited). We ended up at a lovely pub and had an excellent dinner (and even better conversation) with a local couple who gave us all kinds of tips for the area. Number one among these was go to Devenish Island. I already knew about this place and was hoping we could get out there. We are so glad we did…and it will have its own blog post!
Driving back to Lisnaskea that evening we made certain to make a couple of photo stops. We had spotted these places on the drive in to Enniskillen and the evening light made for some pretty pictures.
The next morning we went into Lisnaskea for breakfast – thanks to our host Shaun for recommending the Kissin’ Crust! Yummo. I also knew that I could continue my ancient Irish High Cross quest as there was one in the town!
Back we went to Enniskillen. What a cute town! It had that wonderful Irishy feel to it that Larne is so lacking in. We didn’t have much time (we knew we would have more time later in the day), so we went directly to Enniskillen Castle and the outstanding museum/visitor center there. Other than the historical value of going to this site, there was another, more personal one. The castle was built by the Maguire clan, who ruled Fermanagh beginning in the 1300s. Our family is most likely a branch of the Maguires, Mac Maghnusa, therefore the Maguire chieftains would be distant relatives. The modern spelling, McManus, is found all over the Lisnaskea/Enniskillen area. One ancestor went to America, one of his descendants had seven sons and they all spelled their last name differently (spelling didn’t have consistency until the 1800s)…
To continue our busy, busy day…we were going to the Marble Arch Caves! We had to drive way out into the hills, but it was an easy drive. The caves themselves are marvelous. I have only been in one other cave (Lewis and Clark in Montana), so I don’t have much to compare them to, but, WOW! There is a river running through the caves, which is what carved them out of the limestone. In many areas you can see almost ripple-like areas in the stone from the movement of the water. And where there are pools of standing water it is so still (no wind, right?) the water is as clear as a mirror. Stunning.
Once we were done with our cave adventure we went back to Enniskillen. We meandered along the high street, enjoying the feel of the town. We are discussing basing ourselves there the next time we come back to Ireland as it would be an easy location to explore the northwest corner.
We spent our evening out at Devenish Island, but as I said before, that will get its own blog post. Not a night we will forget easily. Definitely a highlight!
The next morning, after discovering that in really small towns in Northern Ireland even the Lidl grocery store is only open for 4 hours in the afternoon on a Sunday, we had a quick breakfast and made one last stop in the area we were in, Ballymacmanus. Yep, the family had an island. It is now referred to as Belle Isle, which is too bad. Granted, it is not absolutely certain the the Husband is descended from this particular family as there is another McManus down in Co. Roscommon, but this was the largest, and best documented group.
Ballymacmanus is beautiful. There is a 17th century estate on the island that has been converted to a resort. The rooms are in the main lodge as well as in the converted stables. It is very well done and isn’t intrusive on the natural beauty. We plan to come back and stay there at some point!
Our last stop on this great adventure was Armagh. This stop was for me. Unfortunately, we didn’t leave a lot of time to spend here.
The most direct (according to our Google Dana) route from Ballymacmanus to Armagh took us through the Republic of Ireland. It was good to see those Gaelic signs again! I wished I had been better prepared for the switch, as the old border crossings were still there. I couldn’t exactly slam on the brakes as we went speeding past. The buildings were derelict but were a example of neighbors being split. The border went along the county lines, we started in Co Fermanagh, crossed the border into Co Monaghan, and back into Northern Ireland at Co Armagh. Monaghan town was adorable – need to go back there again!
Why Armagh? Those of you who know me, know my love of history. You have my attention between the 3rd and 16th centuries. Because Church history is so intertwined in this time period, it too is a focus (that, and I love the tradition). Armagh is where St Patrick built his church. The one that he built because he wanted to. He was getting old and wanted to settle in one place. On a hill in Armagh, where Queen Maeve had been said to rule from (long story there!) he built a stone church at a time when most structures were wooden. As bishop, this made Armagh the center of the church in Ireland, which it still is today. The church that was built in the 5th century no longer exists (😭). A large part of the current structure dates from the late 1100s. When King Henry VIII pitched his royal fit (not that I have any strong feelings on the matter) and created the Church of England/Ireland in 1534 the cathedral at Armagh was no longer a Catholic cathedral. This wouldn’t bother me so much if there was not so much wanton destruction of irreplaceable historical objects and places along with it. Prime example – one of the relics of St Patrick (his staff) was burned in the 16th century. ARGH! Put it in a museum, hide it in a closet…but don’t destroy it! I know, I know, it was a part of the time. So…back to the original subject…the St Patrick’s Cathedral, Church of Ireland, is beautiful. And has the remains of a high cross. Yea!
Alrighty, fast forward to 1835. A new Archbishop (Catholic) of Armagh had been appointed and immediately asked permission to reside in Armagh – no bishop had resided there since 1534. And he found a way to build a new cathedral. So, there are two St Patrick’s Cathedral in a little town. And they face each other from hilltops. And over the ensuing nearly 200 years they have gotten along very nicely. In fact, the restaurant where we had lunch was a place where both bishops frequently eat – and occasionally they eat together.
I didn’t get nearly enough time in this town. It is on the list of places to return to! The weekend was wonderful, we saw some fantastic places, cute towns, jaw dropping caves, beautiful scenery and met many lovely people. I will try to get the post on Devenish Island done tomorrow (fingers crossed)…it will be mostly photos anyway. It might be one of my favorite places that I have ever been…