Inis Mór: let the heart go back there...

...and it will release...

Play the music,....and meanwhile see the photos...

This is Ireland....

Inis Mór (or Inishmore) is the largest of the Aran Islands, with a population of about 840 inhabitants.

Inis Oìrr: its dolphin and its beach

Inis Oírr is one of the Aran Islands.

If you want to escape from civilization and get lost amongst green fields, ancient ruins, animals, clear beaches, etc...so go to the Aran Islands.

They are three: the Inishmór (the biggest), the Inishmaan (the middle one) and Inis Oírr (the smallest).

I have been cycling ;)  Inishmór and Inis Oírr (cycling is the best way to visit the islands, and you can rent the bike for 12-15 euros directly when you arrive on the Islands).

I will come back to these two islands with other posts...

Here I want to tell you about its dolphin...

Several beaches in Ireland have their own dolphin who became a kind of mascot..the most famous is for sure Fungie in Dingle (well, I will also tell you soon or later how I woke up at 6 am to try to swim with him in an almost zero degree water)...

And Inis Oírr has Dusty, Sandy, Clet..well I did not know this otherwise I would have been gone prepared instead of taking out running shoes and rolling up the jeans for quickly enter in the water and taking the pictures...

Now probably you are also thinking the same of what I thought when I saw the girls swimming without the swimming suit...Irish mysteries...and Irish strength! ;)..or just being young! :)

This father was fantastic...he chased the dolphin for 15 minutes for bringing the daughter as close as possible...

And this is the amazing multicolour beach of Inis Oírr... 

 

and the small island seen from the boat... 

More info on Inis Oírr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inisheer
http://discoverinisoirr.com/

And on the dolphin :) http://www.dustythedolphin.com/

PS: nice photos (;))..nice to see children with dolphins, swimming with a dolphin is my dream..BUT NOTE that dolphins in the sea are wild dolphins, and attention should always be placed for our and their safety!

 

The Zeltik Festival in Dudelange (Luxembourg)

Well..there is people that think that in this small country (yes,...Luxembourg is a city, but Luxembourg is also a country!  ;))..nothing happens...

I live and work here and I can tell you....nothing is missing here (we had also Ramazzotti,..what else? ;))

One event that I could have not missed was the Zeltik Festival in Dudelange, on the 12 of March 2016....

This event takes place every year...but this was the first year I heard of it and went.

It is a kind of celebration of the Celtic music...with artists from all over Europe...

All started with the BEOGA...

Beoga (photos taken with a compact camera)

Then they were followed by the DANCEPERADOS OF IRELAND, who sing the stories of the Irish travellers and the music they were bringing with them. 

 

 

 


Danceperados of Ireland
(photos taken with a compact camera)

Danceperados of Ireland
(photos taken with a compact camera)

And at the end the star that everyone was waiting (except me! ;) ..as it was the first time I had heard about him -_-) was CARLOS NUNEZ...which made a kind of show.....
 

Carlos Nunez
(photos taken with a compact camera)



 

Carlos Nunez
(photos taken with a compact camera)

The evening was very nice...full of people, nice atmosphere...

People enjoyed a lot Carlos Nunez. Well, not me. He presented how the Celtic music is played all around the World...and this is could be also interesting.

What I did not really like at all is that he transformed the Celtic music in a show...when the Celtic music is something much more intimate. It is something that is song for the pleasure to stay together and to express its own feeling, and cannot be transformed in a kind-of Madonna concert.

The skill of the singer/player stays in the ability of let you feel emotionally involved, no matter if you are listening him/her in a pub in a small village or in a stadium with hundreds of people...

And when I say emotionally involved, I mean the ability to arrive to your heart and not to stop to your ears. And no matter how much loudly Nunez was singing/playing...his music just stopped there..

Now I feel a little a fish out of water, as so much people loved him..well the music is great as everyone can have his/her taste...and maybe not everyone spent three weeks and half in Ireland! ;)

Anyway, back to Ireland, this is a small piece of the Danceperados of Ireland!!

Enjoy!! :)


 

 



http://www.zeltik.lu/

Do not underestimate the tiredness of a full solo trip!! ;)

This was after two full days in Doolin, first day walking more than 20 km over the Cliff of Moher and the second bicycling all around Inishmore (one of the Aran Islands)...and on the (more or less) 15th day of trip...

I was going to a pub (review will follow soon! ;))...and after 1 km from the B&B I realised this "small" oversight...

Did I go to the pub in those conditions or went back for changing???

Ai posteri l'ardua sentenza! ;)

Who said that if you travel solo you are alone??

I have already explained in other posts that travelling solo is an enriching experience.

But the average of people do not know this and actually see you as a strange person who has spent 3 weeks travelling by herself...and maybe they also think that in these 3 weeks you have not spoken with anyone...

Well, something cannot be more wrong! ;)...I mean, if you are a person who speaks a lot (and my friends and colleagues always say that I speak a lot! ;) ), who is not extremely shy, and you are curious of the world...the chances that you will not communicate with anyone are very few, also only just for answering the bus driver who asks you if you are a student and you ironically answer "do I look like a student?" and he gives you the student ticket! ;)...

That time I was seating in the steps in front of a door waiting for the bus, in a so small village that after having visited all the three shops and the art gallery, there was nothing else to do...I was there to see the Dunguaire Castle reflecting itself in the waters of the Ocean but the weather conditions were not the best ones for this, the castle is small and one day in Kinvara for the castle and the three shops was really too much! ;)

Then this guy came to ask me if the bus for Galway was passing there...yes it was...and even if at the beginning that time I was not in the mood of communicating, he began the conversation...which ended up to be a nice exchange of experiences of our solo travels which followed almost the same routes!!

We spoke about the murals that we had seen in Belfast, what we had seen in Dublin, next steps where we may have met each other again...

We spoke of our works...

And why we were there....

I am not going here to write the reason why he was there...as I think he could be quite recognisable for this ;)...I just wish him all the best in his new life!

If you want to read more on solo travelling, here a couple of link! :)

http://solotravelerblog.com/travel-alone/

http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/best-countries-for-solo-travelers/18

In this last link there is a rank for best countries for solo travelling, and Ireland is at 18th place!! :)

The Kearney Cycles Streets of Galway 8K

7th of August 2015

There are times when I participate in races...

this time just happened to be in Galway that day...too late to be registered and anyway horrible weather...

So I enjoyed it from outside...with my camera and testing (mostly unsuccessfully ;( ) the new lens (and loosing the lens cover...so if you see me with a Nikon lens and a Canon lens cover it is because it was already a big success to find a photography shop in Galway open on Sunday morning! :) )

In 5 days time there will be the Ing Night Marathon in Luxembourg. I had not registered this year as I wanted to do the 20 km in Brussels.

Well, the point is that I will not go to Brussels neither (and it was difficult today to receive at work the complete package for the Brussels race - chip, t-shirt, etc - and knowing that it will remain unused...first race in which I registered and I will not go...:( )..

So I will be the photographer at the Ing! ;)

Of course, participating is something,...being outside is another..

But still...

I will enjoy the spirit of the race...the same spirit that I enjoyed that day in Galway..

...The joy to be between the first...

...and the regret of not being first

The tiredness at the arrival....

...and the thoughts that probably never left us...

 



 

The fashion style which is in someone...

...and the team spirit which is in some others.

All the different emotions at the arrival...

 

...under the gazes of unusual spectators....

 

 

 

Info on the race:

http://www.galwaycityharriers.com/category/categories/streets-galway

http://www.runireland.com/events/kearney-cycles-streets-galway-8km



I do not remember your name, but I remember you

I have a flaw (amongst the several ones! ;))...I do not remember names...
 
This is bad, even worst when you will not probably have the occasion of knowing the name of some persons anymore...and this is one of these cases.

Paul, Eric...I do not remember...but I remember what he left to me, which at end is more important than a name.

I was taking pictures of seagulls...a lot of seagulls..and with the City Hall as background the photo would have been fantastic ...(FYI: the photos did not come as beautiful as I wanted...but then who cares? :-))...

...and then I saw him. He was in front of a closed door of a shop and he was giving the food to the birds...

This is why they were all there: I guess this had become a kind of habit...they knew him and he knew them..he knew who was the strongest seagull, he knew in which roof they were waiting to have none close to the food...he knew all their strategies and he told me all of those.

...He was lying down under a blanket in front of this shop. He was sharing, as a perpetual ritual, his dinner with these birds.

He was a homeless. The first homeless I had the occasion/possibility/courage to speak with...But I do not remember his name.

He told me the story of his life...and why he ended up in the street...he had worked before...also in the hotel where I stayed.

I asked if he needed something...No, the answer was no thanks. He was not asking money neither...

It was an equal conversation. The same equal conversation he had with other people passing by and stopping to know how he was...

Notwithstanding he was under a blanket, with few bags around him where he may have had all of his belongings, he was smiling and full of dignity.

And this post is for him...who let me enter in his life...who showed me how to be always self-respectful...who was smiling notwithstanding all.

Who let me breaking down barriers that I may have instinctively created.

Who was telling me the stories of the seagulls as a wiser and more experienced friend would have done.

I do not remember your name. But I do remember you.

Thank you and good luck man!

Seagulls and City Hall, Belfast 2015

There are things that can happen only when you travel alone...because you are more open to what happens close to you and you see the world with more curious and genuine eyes.

I do have photos of him, but I have decided of not putting them online, to respect his dignity and that moment...

But I do not remember his name...though...