The Christmas Swim

The Christmas swim is something I look forward to and something I dread about this time of the year, every year. It's mind over matter. 40 degree water. Some times lower! Screams. Shaking limbs. See your breath air. Shouts of encouragement. Camera stills and flashes. Mpeg recordings and avi files. Lounges, dives and panicking strokes. Pink, smacked skin faces and bright glowing smiles of satisfaction.

In Waterford, we have a very small beautiful cove off Tramore beach where hundreds of people go between 9.30am and 12.30pm every Christmas day to have their annual dip before they let themselves go for a day of gormandizing on meat, crisps, chocolate, wine, beer, Coca-Cola and the rest. It's great and fun and well worth a try?

Crepes and Cocktails in El Borne

One think I really love about Barcelona is the hallow cobblestoned streets of the El Borne district. I've been spending a lot of time there with my girlfriend and all the friends and relatives that have been visiting while I live here. There are two places I want to call out in El Borne for a quick bite and drink. The first is the amzing Taller de Tapas with their mouth watering fillet steak and perfectly cooked patata de bravas, at about 25 euros per head for very filling high quality meal you won't go wrong. But don't have desert there. Not that they don't have nice desert but just around the corner, beside the catheral and close to the eternal flame that lights up the entrance street into the square is a beautiful, quaint, but super-fly creperia called "Crepes and Cocktails". There are two waiters inside one Brazilian and the other Mexican and there is a charming French women. All love life and are full of chat when they are not crazy busy. The menu is a mixture of crepes, teas, beers and cocktails. For me the must have is the cinnimon crepe for most of my friends its the nutella. For 4.50 euros its great value and with a caipirinha going for 6.50 euro everyones a winner.

What a pity Ireland is stook in a time warp when it comes to embracing these type of small trendy niche eateries and bars. Are we doomed to be driven by a the super-pub culture or will this change in the future. In my opinon it will defintiely change of that I am convinced. My only wish is that in my life time I get to see it.

Also some more snaps of Barcelona life.

Garlic in Amsterdam

The last 3 days have been in Amsterdam attending a recruitment conference run by ERE exchange. The conference itself has been a bit of a let down with very little interesting content being presented so far. However, the city and the restaurents I've had a chance to visit have lived up to expectations as ever. This time I got to visit the highly interesting Ann Franks house again. The first time I visited it was in 1990 on my first ever trip outside Ireland with my primary school. It's changed a lot since then but I had some deja vu moments one in particular when I was climbing the stairs to the hidden loft. It's hard to believe its 17 years later.

Two tips I have from the gastronmical side of this trip has been the finding of two very cool eateries that I highly recommend: Five Flies and Garlic. The first a 5 star up-market posh dutch/french excellently decorated set of restored dutch canal houses the second an explosion of very interesting garlic based dishes targeted at the mid house range.

Hotel: Hilton hotel * - possibly the worst hotelling experience I have had. And for 350 euros a night with no internet or breakfast included I'd keep very much away.

Gaudi's Le Pedrera

There are many many many buildings to gaze at wonder at in stylish Barcelona. Gaudi's Le Pedrera off Passeig De Gracia is just one. A very unusual mansion with no straight lines symbolising Gaudi's belief that in nature there are very few straight lines but more sinuy bends and curves line the vain structure of a leaf. Inside the building is an interesting introduction to the architect's work but the best part is the roof where you get a wonderful vista including some of the cities most prominent land marks. Check out the video for an idea of what I mean. My wonderful apartment is 15 minutes walk from Le Segrada and 7 minutes walk from the Mapre tower and the amazing 4km of beach fronts.

The Vagabond and learnin' Spanish

Month 1 is down of 4 in Barcelona and I'm having very interesting times... part of which is getting the old brain around understanding the language. I'm at about the same level as this funny dude in the video!

More photos from BCN.

Bicing in Barcelona

There is a very cool new environmental project in full swing in Barcelona that I like a lot which is helping people get healthy while helping the environment breath. It’s called Bicing. Residents of Barcelona can for €6 a year purchase a card which allows them rent a bike for no more than 30 minutes at a go. During this 30 minutes the individual pays 1 cent a minute for the amount of time they use the bike. The idea behind the program is you borrow the bike for no more than 30 minutes which should be enough time to get you from A to B on a short trip. The system is based on multiple ‘pick n drop’ sites where you take and leave your bike a little like a car park. The whole idea is to get people using bikes for short distance travel a lot more thus helping to alleviate the amount of traffic in the city. It works beautifully and the people in Barcelona love.

Let’s take an Irish example for illustration purposes. Let’s say all the Dunnes and Lidl stores in the Dublin are bike ‘pick n drop’ sites that can hold at least 50 bikes at any one time. Now let’s say there is a long rack at each site on which a bike can be hoisted onto and electronically locked or lifted from. Now put a device that looks like a car metre beside each rack that you can swipe an identity card in. That’s how it works! Cool isn’t it! The idea is short journeys. You can’t use the bikes for the day or for a 3 hour ride to Dun Laoighre for a swim. If you do that for every minute you go over 30 minutes your card gets a hefty fine and ultimately your credit card takes the hit.

The bike is the cross between a High Nelly and a cool Chopper. It has a beautiful red frame, with back pedal breaks, chrome handle bars, a very nice spacious space for a carrier bag and very cool white mudguards.

To find out more go to www.bicing.com

Golan Heights and Tiberius

Today started really badly and almost finished in the same way. It was one of those days that was easily two days in one. I arrived in Tel Aviv on a business class from Paris Charles De Gaulle after missing my flight from Dublin to Paris but fortunately had been able to get on another 3 hours later which allowed me catch my connection to Israel. The worst think about the whole thing was the fact that I had to dash for the gate and missed it which left me sweating with no change of clothes which meant a visit to the men’s room to try cool down. The flight itself was great in the sense that I read the whole way through the thoroughly enjoyable ‘Long Way Round’ featuring Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and also partly due to the very nice Bordeaux wine and fillet of steak consumed on route! When I arrived in Ben Gurion airport it was 12.40am and that’s when the fun started. Surprisingly, this time, unlike the last I swept past the immigration very quickly. But 2 hours later I was still waiting for my bags – which never came. Eventually after watching the local airport staff running around like blue arse flies trying to troubleshoot a broken carousel and an angry mob of tired people hunting their bags I resigned myself to the fact that I had to go to ‘Lost and Found’ where I was given some paperwork to prove I lost my bags and was told I’d get my bag sent to my hotel at 4pm. Haifa were I was staying was 1 hour away. I fortunately got a decent taxi man who charged me face value at 465 shekils to get to the Meridian hotel (75 euros approx). On the way I asked some very direct questions about why the Palestine’s were treated so bad and how the Jews could prove they were the first people in these lands thousands of years ago. I received in a very nice way but very firml response the history of Abraham, Sole and David. I was told all about Sala Kaheem and his destroying of the temple of Jews and its replacement by the Rome of the Rock. I was also told about how the Palestine’s just sponge off the Israeli state and do very little for themselves and constantly plan war. While thankful for the contorted one-way diatribe and slushy history lesson by the time I got to the hotel I was very glad to get into bed.

6 hours later I was up and in the local shopping mall buying some clothes which I fully intend claiming back on my travel insurance. I got a pair of Nike runners, some flip flocks, a pair of shorts and a few t-shirts. The guy selling me the clothes was about 27 and asked me was I Irish because of my accent. I told him I was and we went on talking for about 20 minutes. He asked me about the North of Ireland I explained very quickly where we were with it and he explained that he hoped Israel and Palestine could be at peace some day but he feared it would never happen. He volunteered that he was in the army for 4 years and he said he had been fed hate everyday but he admitted he did not know the full-story and sympathised with the terrible conditions the Palestine’s lived in. I admired his objectively and the sincere way he told his opinion. As I left the shop I shook his hand and wondered to myself how many more were there of him in the country.

An hour later I was on the road with one of my work colleagues on the road to Tiberius with a taxi driver than had hardly any English and kept ringing his taxi office when we asked him questions and they duly translated for him. The journey consisted of taking in Tiberius, Capernam, a wine tasting treat and visited Badem Mountain and an old vacated watch tower looking out of the Golan Valley.
Tiberius is situated on the sea of Galilee and is in close proximity to a large number of sites were Jesus conducted his miracles. The walking on the water, the wedding in Caina, etc and was also the place he gave the ‘Blessed’ sermon on the mountain of Beatitudes. Nowadays it’s a little city which modern western life has consumed with pubs, McDonalds, cafes and shops. The first stop was Capernam which is where Jesus went to live after he left Nazareth and where he recruited Peter and some of the other disciplines. Luckily, when I was there I saw a local priest giving a sermon to a very well English spoken group of Japanese tourists. I learned all about Jesus curing Peter’s stepmother and all about Peter’s church and the old temple. The sun was beating down at 34 degrees as I listened to the beautiful positive words coming out of the priests heart and it filled me with joy. It was a very peaceful reflective experience and one I look forwarding to telling my Dad more about who I think would really have enjoyed it.

Next was a real brucy bonus and a visit to the Golan Heights Winery www.yardenwines.com. We got a chance to try three wines and by a bottle before we left. We tried a semi-dry Gewurztraminer white for starters, a Carbernet Sauvigon for dinner and my favourite a beautiful smelling floral, fruity, sweet Muscat dinner wine. I ended up buying a bottle for my cabinet back in my apartment it was so nice. I also bought a contraption for taking the air out of half wine bottle you haven’t finished so you can keep it in the fridge for 3 or 4 weeks without going off.
After this it was the amazing tower on the Golan Heights. For me it was a very educational visit, with amazingly beautiful scenery that looked like Tuscany meeting El Calafate in Patagonia. From the empty patrol bunker which was 1,100 metres above sea level I saw Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. To the left was Mount Hermon were the Israeli’s ski in winter. Also on our left but more in the foreground was a kabutz and The Valley of Tears where a raging tank war took place in 1973 during the Syrian invasion. In front of us was the UN town that protected the one entry point into Syria between the two countries and to the right and back was wide sweeping vineyards, a massive army control tower that has some serious antennas and satellite bubbles and dishes, some wind generators and a mountain in the distance which was a part of Jordan. What I like about it was the beauty. Golan is a very very beautiful one where the numbers of soldiers almost match the number of grapes. While surrounded by such beauty which was magnified by an extravagant sunset. The place screamed of pathetic fallacy.

The Golan Heights in a clear reminder that man is still very much at war and has a lot to learn before it can walk in the light of our Lord who preached in this beautiful land. It wil be very interesting to see the reaction of the Israeli people who love this land when they have to give it back to Syria which probably will happen sooner rather than later.

So my day started shitty, was great in the middle and then went to shitty again when I arrived back to my room at 10pm and there was no lost bag sitting beside my bed like i hoped. I went down to the reception in the hotel and tried to ring the airport to find out where my bag was but no response. I then drafted and sent a fax to Air France so they could get my disgruntled feedback the next day. At 11.30 I got a phone call and the bags had arrived!

A very interesting day indeed!

Co Clare

I love county Clare. It's where my grandmother was born and bread and it's the recent location on the vagabond's travels. It's famous for The Burren, The Cliffs of Mohar and surf at Lahinch but to say that's all it has to offer is doing it a gross injustice. The journey was spread in two. The first half was in Killaloe where I visited my good old Viking friend Morten from Norway and old Vordel work colleague,and, then Bunratty Castle and a visit to the Cliffs of Mohar with my family to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary.

Location: Killaloe
Days: Friday, Saturday
Hotel: Hotel Morten 5*
Cost: Nada

I really enjoyed my visit to my good old friend Morten and his fiancee Ciara's Limerick get away palace. It was a no-brainer for Morten and Ciara to get out of the city life in Dublin and the wide rustic forest laden and river speckled landscape is perfect for them. The trip started with a hitch on the back of Morten's 650cc demon roadster and it finished on the same way. In between was brilliant hospitality, beautiful country walks (where I took the above photo of a horsing rolling in the mud)an encounter with two newly shaven lambas from Peru and a visit to the ancient nombstone in an old church in the centre of the village. An excellent time had by all with plenty of great food, conversation and fun. I really looking forward to going back.

Location: Bunratty Castle Hotel: 3*
Cost: 145 euros a night, in the executive suite

You know what? I love Ireland and no matter how much travelling the vagabond does he loves returning home. This trip was again bomb dropping opaque affirmation of all the reasons I love this country. There simply is no other place like it. What was very special about this trip was I was with my entire family to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary. The last time I went on a holiday with my entire family was 1979 Kerry.

The first night we watched the Deise hurlers topple their great foe from Cork to reach the last 4 in the hurling and then we visited the excellent "Corn Barn" Bunratty Folk Night. This was all about watching traditional Irish music and dance while eating a good old plate full of Irish stew with gallons of free wine, meade (honey whiskey) and baileys. It cost a mere 45 euros per person, lasted 2 hours and had the greatest mountains of spuds served up by the tray load covered in melted butter bliss and fresh herbs from the local garden.

The next day we took in the small but impressive swimming and sauna facilities before we paid a visit to the Bunratty Folk Park. This is a theme park dedicated to what life in Ireland looked like 100 years ago. It consists of a visit to the castle itself and then a stroll past reconstructed farmhouses, cottages and shops,pubs, schools, post offices and bakeries. The best thing about the park is it is a living museum where you can see animals being tended to, apple tarts and bread being baked, milk being churned and live music being played with the instruments of the time. You can also if your lucky see a blacksmith at work, a weaving demonstration from an old spinster and a few scones being cooked in a hanging black pot by the side of turf fire. A really step back in time and while a little expensive at 14 euros entry an adult its was worth every cent for the images it evoked in my mind as a carefree child in the late 70s and early 80s.

In the evening my brother and his family relaxed in the hotel while my Mum, Dad, Camila and I tried out my brothers new GPS system to navigate us to the Cliffs of Mohar. On the way I encountered the worst downpour of rain i have ever seen anywhere in the world. For at least 3 seconds while driving on a motorway the drops of rain were so violently falling on the car visibility was zero. When we could see again all the cares ahead had the hazard lights on and were going at snails pace. Ironically, and kind of to be expected the sun was shining when we got there. What was nice about it was it was a rainy sun divided by heavy grey clouds on one side and azure blue and white with 2 rainbows on the other side. The cliffs were as magnanimous as ever however the abuse of tourists by having to pay a 4 euro entry cost was a little Irish for my liking. Board Failte need to get there act together and stop the rip of culture which seems to be pervading the country's touristic soul.

The next day before a trip back to Dublin on the Limerick train was a visit to Craggunowen theme park. This was another step back in time this time to the farmhouses, hunting sites and cranogs of the Iron Age. I wasn't sure what to expect from this visit but I was pleasantly surprised. I got to see how woollen taken off sheep is patiently transformed into wool reels, we got to visit a reconstructed cranog with underground food holds and had the opportunity to study some dolmens and a reconstructed version of the boat that St Brendan used to supposedly travel to the US 1,000 year before Columbus.

TIP: If you want to feel your Irishness flowing through your veins or if you are with some visitors and want to give them a real quickdraw emersion of Irish culture pay a visit to Bunratty castle and make sure you go to either the Mediveal Banquet or the Corn Barn night. It's well worth the effort of getting their and the dancing and singing are priceless.

The biggest slum in the world - Mumbai

I'm just back from a brillant week in India. My first of hopefully many visits. The first 2 days were business in Hyderabad. Next 4 days consists of pleasure. 3 in Goa and 1 in Mumbai. When I ge some spare time I'll write more about it. But for the moment here is one of the videos I shot in Mumbai outside the biggest slumb in the world!

The Great Wall and the Forbidden City

I'm on a whistle stop tour of China for work reasons and I'm throwing up these two videos very quickly. The first is a visit to the Great Wall which was by and large very disappointing and the second was shot in the spectacular Forbidden city.

The Temple of Heaven and the Peking Duck

Location: Beijing, China
Hotel: Shangra-La - 4 star:big and spacious with a wonderful self-catering breakfast
Weather - A very smoggy 26 degrees at midday

After getting off a BA business class flight, the first for me, you are fighting fit to take on Marvelous Marvlin Hagler in a come back fight or in this case check out what Beijing has to offer in a couple of days before a whistle stop tour of Microsoft's Beijing office to find out what the company is doing in China and how I might be able to help make the core-tech recruitment team improve our processes and communications globally. The thing I liked most about BAs business class was their reclining chairs and the myriad gadgets it had on offer. Not to mention the constant pampering from the inflight attendants and the huge variety of digital entertainment on hand the chair was something special. Fully reclining, vibrating, and long it combined space with style all at 11,000 metres and worked well with a glass of tasty wine.



Taxis are incredibly cheap in China. Our first ride was 30 minutes long and it cost about 4 euros. We started witht he Temple of Heaven which called Tian Tian and is the largest temple complex in China. I had never heard about it before until I bought by DK book but I won't forget it now that I have seen it. The video gives you an idea of what it looks like. What the video doesn't show you is the perfectly formed circle format in which he complex is built around lush green grass with lots of myriadering walk paths and lots of beautiful flower beds with lush cedar trees all around them. Throughout the park was lots of tourists and lots of older people flying their colouful kites languidly with an ingenious mouse wheel that freely allowed the kite to soar to the heavesns reeling out as much string as the wind demanded. The is where the emperor made his sacrifice and prayed to heaven and his ancestors for a fortuous harvest for his people. What caught my eye the most was the golden inscribed beams on the outer side of the building that showed lots of dragons curled up and breathing fire. Beautiful artistry. I gave myself an hour their and it was more than enough. There was a small museum in the complex but it wasn't too impresive and if you visit I'd spend no more than 15 minutes in the inner circle with maybe 5 minutes in the museam. Also keep away from the audi guide as it doesn't contain a lot of information, you're better off using your travel book which will provide with sufficent information to let you know what is happening. If I went back again i'd defintely visit the temple again but I'd spend the most of my time watching the folk practiing tai chi, reciting Chinease opera and flying their beautiful kites o gracefully in the gently flowing wind.

After the Temple of Heaven we went to the nearby Pearl market which I thought wouldn't be up to much. I am becoming highly cyncial of markets after all my travelling. Most are rip off, 3rd class quality with sowed on labels on the clothes and rip off copies of artistery with very poor quality souenvirs. You also get enveloped by vendors screeching and touching. My intution: bang on!

After the market we went in search of some of Beijing's famous Bejing duck. I'm not normally a duck fan but when in Rome! A bot like the Brazilian's see football and the Irish see Guinness the Chinese see the cooking, cutting and presentation of duck as art. The restaurent we went to had a lot of pig's lips, cow's tongues and a plate of scorpions to top it off. We decided to go for the full gloden bronzed duck. What I like most about this experience was I expected to get the duck on a nice bed of rice with some soya sauce and salt. Instead a chef came out with a top hat, surgical mask and a set of frightening knifes. He proceeded to slice the duck expertly with a screeching crush of the duck's skull at the end to reveal its brain. With the brain we also got the golden caramilsed peff-pastry like in texture sweet duck's skin, which is a delicacy. The combination of both for me was a sensation my palette won't forget for a while. The brain was a little like you'd imagine by dropping your pencil and chweing on your erasure. The skin was much better and melted like eating paper in your mouth followed by a donut like sweetness.

While I won't rush to my nearest Chinese take-away for the duck I would recommend you try it if you want to dive head first into the crazy world of Chinese gastronomy.

The Lion of Lucerne

Recently while in Lucerne, Switzerland I saw the amazing world famous bridges of Lucerne which are argueably the most famous of all Swiss tourism sites. However, thankfully, I decided to spend an hour in the rain going looking for the Lion of Lucerne which had a small reference in my guide book. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was delighted when I got there despite having to wheel my suitcase up a hill and hoist an umbrella for most of the expedition. When I got their I took a few snaps and stared at it for 5 minutes if not more. One of the finest pieces of art I have ever seen.

The history behind this mighty artisitic feat goes back to the Swiss having a long tradition of supplying mercenaries to foreign governments. Because the Swiss have been politically neutral for centuries and have long enjoyed a reputation for honoring their agreements, a pope or emperor could be confident that his Swiss Guards wouldn't turn on him when the political winds shifted direction.

The Swiss Guards' honor was put to the test in 1792, when--after trying to escape the French Revolution--King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and their children were hauled back to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. A mob of working-class Parisians stormed the palace in search of aristocratic blood. More than 700 Swiss officers and soldiers died while defending the palace, without knowing that their royal employers--like Elvis--had left the building.

In the early 1800s, the Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldsen was hired to sculpt a monument to the fallen Swiss Guards. The sculpture was carved in a sandstone cliff above the city center, near Lucerne's Glacier Garden and the Panorama, and it has attracted countless visitors since its dedication in 1821.

Tips: Give yourself at least an overnight stay in the city and try stay down town in the old centre were a double bed for the night will cost anything from 150-300 Swiss francs. Make sure you give yourself and hour to see the two famous bridges and also have a look at the Art Centre near the train station. Myself and Camila had a fine meal for a reasonable price at a restaurent right on the river bank, on the train station side called "Opus" that I would recommend.

The Holy Land

Unlike my visit to Egypt I spent a lot of time researching my trip to Israel by buying the ever useful Lonely Planet on Israel and the Palestinian Territories (which I eventually found in Hodges Figgies on Dawson Street, Dublin 2), and, the excellent Culture Shock! : A guide to Customs and Etiquette in Israel by Dick Winter. I read, underlined and studied both books heavily before I left for the Holy Land and as a result felt much more comfortable in the knowledge that I had a basic understanding of the geography and politics of this contentious region. I would recommend you do something similar if you go. Also worth a little bit of time is surfing YouTube under the keyword ‘Israel’. While laden with propaganda videos from both the Israelites and Palestine’s there are a few videos that provide a quick primer on some of the must see sites in this tiny land.

The reason for this trip was to visit our Microsoft work colleagues in Haifa in the north beside the Lebanon border and Herzoliah just outside of Tel Aviv. On both site visits we were there on a listening tour to understand how we could assist them rise to the challenge of recruiting 150 engineers for our new telecom and security offerings in very tight timeframes which is a tall order considering they have to concentrate on sourcing Jews predominately from their own country.

Similarly to Cairo we thankfully built in a day to see some of the rich sites of the country and ordered ourselves an ex-tank commander tourist guide to explain to us what we were seeing. Israel if unusual in that it is very small at approx 250 miles north to east and 50 miles west east but it packs a heavy weight punch in terms of history, geography and politics. You really need to understand some of the basics to try assimilate what is going on their so you can make some conclusions of your own. It has a population of 6.4 million (the Gaza Strip and West Banking adding another 3.4 million), it has a GDP per capital of $24,600, its economy is strong and getting stronger with major exports being: military hardware, machinery, computer software, cut diamonds and phosphates. Religious it is a hot pot of secularism with 76% of the population being Jews, 16% Muslim, 2% Christian, 1.6% Druze and 3.9% unspecified, visa via, 95% Muslim and 5% Christian in the Palestine Territories. It is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with many varied geographies dispersed over very little distances. In the Golan Heights there is excellent snow capped mountains with ski runs. All along the west of the cost the Mediterranean throws up many beautiful beaches with fine grained sand and hot waters. The Negev desert offers cactus farms, adventure sport paradises and the world’s three largest craters at Mitzpe Ramon. You have the beautiful Sea of Galilee to the north with the mighty Jordan running to it and from it into the Dead Sea and then on towards the Red Sea and the amazing diving sites of Eilat. Then there are some of the oldest cities in the world most of which evoke very clearly defined teaching and stories indoctrinated in the Christian faith: Jericho, Nazareth, Hebron, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv and the unforgettable Holy City of Jerusalem. It is the home of many different occupiers including: Muslims, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, British and Zionists and it very controversially became an independent state in 1948 after the British government grew tired of the violence of Palestine and turned the problem over to the UN.

When arriving into Tel Aviv from Amman in Jordan by plane the night was filled up with fireworks that marked the 24th of April and Israel’s Independence Day. Like any nation the Israelites were celebrating their nation’s birthday which happened to be its 59th. As we were going from our taxi to our hotel there were Israeli blue and white flags with the prominent star of David flying everywhere. What struck me most though was how many there was. It seemed like every second car, house, and person had some type of blue and white on them. It was a bit like being in the middle of a frenzied crowd of Deise hurling supports in Walsh Park, Waterford, except spread out over many miles.

To trace Israel’s history takes some reading and understanding to explain how it has got to where it is today. I would suggest you go to the following Wiki for a brief but thorough understanding of the history where you can learn more about the 1967 Six Day War, the fatal 1972 attack on Israeli athelestes in the Olympic village in Munich the 1st and 2nd Intifadas.

For my visit the day’s site seeing consisted of a visit to Mountain of Olives, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to see the fortress ruins of Masada which we had hoped for but all an all it was a packed day. The day started at Mountain of Olives which provided us a clear site of the Garden of Gethsemane were Jesus was betrayed by a kiss, and the Dome of the Rock with its impressive golden top were Abraham almost sacrificed his son and Mohammed ascended to heaven on a white horse, the massive outer wall of King Herod surrounding the city with its eight gates and the plateau terraced Jewish graves which the Jews believe will be the place where the first dead will rise when Jesus decides to return to the Earth in the sacred temple to judge mankind on the Day of Judgement. Inside the city walls there was literally too much to see. We started with visiting the site of the last supper and then we quickly moved onto the tomb of David and the resting place of the 10 commandments. Next was the most revered site of the Jews, the Wailing Wall and then the unforgettable church of the Holy Sepulchre which was built on Calvary where Jesus was crucified. It also holds the stone of unction were Jesus’s body was anointment before he was placed in his tomb which he rose from only a few feet away.

If that wasn’t enough we got back into our car and made our way into the West Bank on a protected Israeli highway on our way to the Dead Sea. As we travelled we saw the sad diving walls of the two peoples, Bedouin tents, the site of the Good Samaritan and the so called oldest city in the world Jericho. Hailed by the local PR companies as the biggest ‘natural spa’ in the world the Dead Sea is certainly a completely different experience then your run of the mill spas. The water contains 20 times as much bromine, 15 times as much magnesium and 10 times as much iodine – it is in effect 33% substance. This amazing array of minerals caused the unusual buoyancy levels that make you float as if you are gliding on the top of the water. You almost feel like a balloon that when pushed under the water immediately wants to come shooting back up. The part I loved the most was covering myself head to toe in mud and kicking back on the top of the water and lying their motionless for minutes staring at the sun, looking at Moses burial site on the far away mountain tops of Jericho and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life when I retired.

I enjoyed Israel a lot and despite the fact that while there the Palestines were launching rockets from the Gaza strip into nearby Israeli towns I felt safe. The security is amazing. Having said that I was happy to leave Israel safe in the knowledge that I did not have to live in such a complex world as there’s living on high alert 24x7. It’s good to be home in my apartment sipping orange juice and staring at the river Liffey. I hope one day the Holy Land acts as calm and peaceful as the famous Dublin river and provides bridges of peace were once only rivers of hate flowed.

King Khufu, Jasmin essential oil and ancient golden masks

The world’s fascination with Egypt has echoed through many centuries like the sonic boom of an overhead jet. Like the cracking thunder first heard its grandeur once seen is permanently impressed on the mind’s eye forever. On this occasion my rambling brought me to Cairo for work not play. Microsoft’s Cairo Microsoft Innovation Centre (CMIC) is expanding and we are searching for research software engineers to help us prototype some new products in the Search and Health verticals. My job was to visit them with two of my American colleagues to hear what they are doing and discuss how we can help them recruit. So for any of you out there who have a doctorate in applied research and have strong object orientated development skills, and, can speak Egyptian, let me know and I might have you a job!

Thankfully while there we all built in a day into our trip to see the sites. We decided the best way to do it was to get the amazing Four Season’s concierge service to order us transport and a guide. While expensive at 700 US dollars our approach paid off handsomely when we were introduced to Mohammed our 7 series black BMW driver who knew every back street in the city and Leila our local Cairo guide who possessed a Masters in Egyptology from Cairo University and was a fountain of knowledge.

First stop were the magnanimous towering enigmatic pyramids of Giza. The only remaining standing Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. When I was boy of eleven years of age my mother asked me what I would like for my birthday. I answered ‘a Celtic jersey, please’. She hunted high and low but wasn’t able to get it for me in time. It was only months later that the jersey was in stock and I was able to get its beautiful cotton on my body. It thought be patience and the joys of finally getting something you desire. I can still remember how excited I was when I received it, quickly put it on and peered at the mirror in my bedroom as if I was a professional soccer player. The episode reminds me of Cairo. For a long time I have also wanted to come to Giza but it seemed to always elude me for one reason or another. But I’ve always remained patient knowing that someday I would visit. A bit like the eleven year old flicking his legs at a mirror and an imaginary ball in his bedroom my first site of the pyramids doused and soaked my thoughts in a well of wonder. As I turned a side street in our car and saw the sky almost filled to the top with a brown imperious triangle with a massive hanging shadow I can remember thinking, “the great pyramids of Egypt, hello old friend. Finally I get the chance to introduce myself”.

Nearly 5,000 years ago Giza became the royal burial ground (the necropolis) for Memphis, the then capital of Egypt. Within 100 years the Egyptians built three towering pyramids complexes to serve as the resting places for their dead kings. Surrounding these tombs were smaller satellite pyramids and a sprinkle of modest structures called masrtaba, for the king’s family and royal court. The tallest and most famous of the three pyramids belongs to King Khufu. It is estimated to contain over 2 million blocks of stone weighting an average of 2.5 tonnes with some stones reaching up to 15 tonnes. In the centre of the pyramid deep inside its walls is the king’s chamber holding his sarcophagus. This is where I went a bee line for when I visited. For a small fee I was told to leave my camera behind and to enter a small slit near the base of the rocks and to start my ascent. For those who are claustrophobic I would not advise taking this on. The walls are very thin and there is a lot of back bending crawling up a small shaft that is at a 51 degree angle. It took about 7 minutes to get to the epicenter and see the empty lidless tomb that had been stolen of its treasures 600 years after its creation. The tomb itself is roughly 20 paced feet long by 12 feet wide. It’s height approximately 20 feet. I shall never forget the peace inside once I entered and the cool air that drafted in from the ingenious built in vents at the top of the chamber. Time stood still. Knowing that 100,000 people spent 50+ years not as slaves but as willing citizens of Cairo to honour their king and bring him to this small chamber and to finally see it was a bit like getting smacked on your frontal lobes with a big wet fish. 30 minutes later while on my camel and posing for some photos with Khufu’s amazing pyramid in the background I kept thinking to myself “I‘m one lucky bast*rd to have just been inside there.”



No, no, no, but that wasn’t enough. After Giza we headed into the city centre to buy some of the world famous Egyptian essential oils. A real nose sniffing treat and highly recommended for those tired of the usual aftershave brands that cost an arm and a leg in high sobriety. This stuff was the real deal with 20,000 petals being crushed and distilled to produce a single 500ml bottle of pure essential oil that if you choose could be mixed with distilled water and pure alcohol to provide an amazing smell. I ended up coming away 250 Euros out of my pocket with 5 bottle of a mixture of Jasmin, Eucalyptus, Violet, Lavender, Gardinia, Lemon and Carnation oils. I also both some pipette like oil holders with built in dobber that you can dip an swab across your neck. Great presents that should last decades. A bit like Jamie Oliver’s teaching in Cook with Jamie explaining what proportions of oils and vinegar to use when making a salad dressing I now have a better understanding of what proportions of water, alcohol and essential oil to use to make a well balanced perfume.

Smelling literally like a perfume shop we next went to the Egyptian museum. The highlight for me being the mighty Ramesses II and also the boy king Tutankhamen’s life sized golden mask. An excellent dreamy evocative tour especially after visiting the pyramids.

Visiting Cairo and Giza makes you feel like downloading Raiders of the Lost Arch, jumping on a chariot and trail blazing the dusty roads of Cairo on your way to the Luxor templates and the Valley of the Kings. I’m definitely coming back here and would recommend anyone interested in history to get here to soak up the atmosphere. Next time unlike this time I’ll be better read on the sites so I understand just a little more the countless wonders this enchanting land has to offer. I have a lot of rambling that needs to be done in the red soiled sun drenched land of the pharaoh kings. On the list are: The Theban Hills, the tomb of Tuthmosis 111, the tomb of Ramses VI, the Hatshepsut temple, the Ramesseum, Sharm el-Sheikh, Alexandria and the Aswan damn. And next time I'll be bringing my Celtic jersey for good measure.

Istanbul and the Blue Mosque

Call it what you will but Constantinople, Byzantium or Istanbul is like no other city I have visited in my life. It is a city immersed in a deep sleepy history that frequently comes alive with a visit to one of its many wonderful mosques, churches, synagogues, palaces, bazaars, museums, baths and harems. What impresses me most about Istanbul is the manner in which it provides the west with a clear example of how ‘warts and all’ secularism can work. Respect is everywhere and so is a picture of Mustafa Kemal, or "Ataturk" who was the soldier turned politician that halted the invasion of the Greeks in 1922 and brought democracy, and western values to a new created Turkish republic. In Turkey he is a demi-god. It is he who cleverly took religion out of politics and who galvanized the Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Turks, and Kurds to name but a few to stop their bickering over internal feuds and push as a nation cohesively towards a brighter future. To do this he changed the alphabetic to a Latin based system and made religiously sensitive sites like the Hagia Sophia and Topkai Palace into museums rather than dividing them between Muslims or Christians who have their history deeply intertwined in both after many changes of power over the generations.

While Istanbul still has its problems with the PKK or Kurdish freedom fighter movement, the occupation of Cyprus, and the Armenian genocide issue halting its application into the European Europe the respect I saw for multiple cultures, the slow deep patience towards progression and the optimism of the people for a better future is clealry evident in the mist and fog that hovers like a white blanket over the mighty Bospherous in the early morning. Turkey will more than likely join the rest of Europe and they are prepared to wait whatever the time is necessary to sort out their own problems in the eyes of Europe before that happens. It will be very interesting to see how this unfolds for in the coming years. I for one will be paying special attention to the subject as the months roll by.

I stayed 4 days in Istanbul which was a really nice amount of time to allow me soak in the beautiful sites and charms of this amazing city. There were many but here are some of the highlights.

1.The Blue Mosque which takes its name from its blue tile work decorating its internals is one of the most famous religious buildings in the world. Serene and magical it is best visited during one of the 5 prayers times in the day that Muslims worship Allah. It was commissioned between 1609 and 1616 by Sultan Ahmet 1st and it is very easy to imagine the throngs of people using it then as they do now. Its six minarets or towers pierce the Istanbul skyline impressive during day and especially night. I had the fortune of seeing it from the lounge bar on the 6th floor of the Richmond hotel in the famous Taxim area on the packed musical winding Istikal Caddesi (the Grafton street of Istanbul). Before you enter spend some time at the water wall on the outside of the building where the Muslims wash their feet, hands and face before they enter. Also, when inside also go to the back of the church to see the very discreet women praying section which marks the line from which men and women can pray.

2.Hagia Sophia or the “church of the holy wisdom” is among the world’s greatest architectural achievements. More than 1,400 years old it is still standing the tests of time and is a reminder of how sophisticated the world of the 6th century Byzantine capital was. The building was the most revered Christian church for over 1,000 years anywhere in the world but was converted to a mosque by the Ottomans in the 15th century. For me the tattered mosaic depicting the archangel Gabriel adorning the lower wall of the apse along with the mihrab pointing to Mecca are its most impressive features.

3.No visit to the capital is complete without a visit to the Spice Bazaar. Unlike the hugely unimpressive Grand Bazaar that mostly sells low quality classic touristic memorabilia that Spice Bazaar delivers on its promise. It is an explosion of color and smell. I really enjoyed it and went back twice in my visit just so I could soak up its atmosphere again before I left. Pictures and video footage can probably do this place much more justice than I ever could with words. I came away with a kilo of mouth wateringly fresh Turkish delight, 2 vacuum packed packets of Love Tea and Chamomile Buds Tea as well as a healthy packed of fresh curry and ginger powders which are now proudly sitting in small jars in my kitchen waiting to be used.



4.Between 1459 and 1465, shortly after his conquest of Constantinople Mehmet 11 built the Topkapi Palace. Rather than a single stand alone palace it was designed with 4 enormous courtyards with huge surrounding walls. Nowadays it is a magnificent museum which consists of the Sultans harem, the archeological museum and the treasury which holds the Topkapi dagger, the forearm of John the Baptist and a strand of hair which belonged to the prophet Mohammed. All are worth visiting. My advice would be to go to Topkapi early in the morning. Go to bed early the night before and get up first thing in the morning to be there for 9m. Your efforts will be rewarded by allowing you circumventing annoying long queues to get into each section of the palace. You will also receive a Brucie Bonus by being allowed stare longer at the amazing Topkapi dagger and impressive Sulatan’s harem quarters if you are not being rushed on by lines of people coming behind you. PS – Pay the extra entry price for a guide of the site. While expensive at 10 euros per person with a little haggling you should be able to get the price lowered. At a minimum buy one of the audio handset guides!

5.The Bosperous River is a beautiful silver veiled wedge that cuts West from East and the Golden horn from the Galata Tower and Beyoglu. What I loved about it was the countless boats of all different sizes that can be seen on its busy waters and the huge number of fishermen that link the bridge all day chatting and joking while they drop a line to see if they can catch a tasty mackerel. What is well worth doing is going to one of the restaurants under the Galata Bridge. Soak up the view, grab a tea and watch life go by for a few hours.

6.And finally, there is Istikal Caddesi which is the busy street I have ever been on. It kicks 6th avenue in New York and Grafton street, both of which I love, into touch. It is really long about the same size of the bottom of O’Connell Street to the top off Grafton Street. It is a lot like both the aforementioned with western shops and lots of pubs and restaurants. It also has its fair share of buskers and shoe shiners. What I liked about it was the sheer number of people on the street wearing so many different types of clothes and smiles. It was amazing to hear all the different languages in full flow like one giant bumble bee hovering over the city and taking a break to look at the little specs below. Noteworthy, also was the countless winding backstreets which held lots of little pubs and meeting places where older men drank tea and played backgammon and where the liberal Turks partied hard into the early hours of the morning.

Also worth experiencing are a good scrub down and massage in a Turkish bath and dabbling in one of the many varieties of kebabs or kebaps as they call them in the capital. Be prepared for a little aching after both. The baths involved being contorted, twisted and stepped on where as the kebabs on numerous occasions want to get in and get out of your body as quick as as one of the jet boats want to get up the Bosphorous. Last but not least make sure to have a shave in one of the barbers. It is heavenly and an experience you won't ever forget especially when they set your ears on fire to get rid of unwanted hairs :)



This blog would not be complete without me mentioning the huge drops of unremitting hospitality that rained down on me from everywhere I went. The people are amazingly friendly. I would put them on a par with my Brazilian experiences. The Irish still have a thing or two to learn on this front. We need to break out of the all to often "convenience" hospitality mode we sometimes find ourselves coasting in and need to truely make an effort to make our guests feel like part of our families like the Kurdish and Turkish muslims did for me.

Pike Market - Seattle

Hotel: Marriott (Waterfront) $199 pp per night. ****
Temp: 6-11 rainy and windy
Must sees: Pike Market and Space Needle.


City of grunge? North Western American high-tech old frontier town? Jewel of the Sound? Home of Mount Rainer and Peugeot Sound? Sparkling? Meandering? Hilly? Charming? Rebellious? Complex yet easy going? Suprising yet contradictory? Yes.Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And home of the eccentric Pike market. Oh yes indeed.

I'm here in Seattle and have been slowly reeled in and captivated by its charming complexity. While still showing all the tell tail signs of one of the US's biggest cities with its yellow taxi parade, phalanx of homeless people and billowing Chevies, Humvees and Uts Seattle seems to have a lot more to offer than meets the eye. While famous for Microsoft and Starbucks, Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain it also is home to Pike Market which is the oldest continuous market in the nation. It was set up in 1907 to give fishmongers the opportunity to bypass middle men and sell straight to the public but quickly grew and attracted a home for bakers, florists, farmers, butchers and cheese makers. Nowadays it also includes book shops, cafes, arts and crafts sellers, buskers and artists. Each day approximately 40,000 visitors travel to this haven of colour and noise on the downtown waterfront of Seattle's city centre and soak in the atmosphere of the lively and infectiously happy demeanor of the stall owners and artists. It's very hard not to leave without a healthy injection of positivism pulsating in the veins. Touching a little on the art deco of Greenwich village, the cramped but colourful feel of Meeting House Square of Temple Bar on a bright Saturday afternoon and the madness of Thailand's Chengmai's midnight markets its buzzing with activity and theming with loads of great bargains. I ate some wild Peugeot Sound raw crab and a cinnamon and apple crep on my first visit and also bought some Albert Camus, Alphonse Mucha, Peter Tchaikovsky and George Carver postcards for my apartment back in Dublin. If left to my own devices and with a small pocket full of change and an hour to kill I'm sure my bag would have been heavier and the souls of my feet lighter.

Portugal and Sevilla

HI there... it's been a while. I promise I'll post more in the future. I'm just back from 11 days touring around the Iberian peninsula. I started the trip on the 28th of December flying into Faro in the Algarve and finished on the 8th of January flying out of Faro. But did I simply just stay in Faro. Yeah right. Alberfueira, Lagos, Lisboa, Sintra, Estoril, Evora, Monserat and Sevilla sat nicely in between. Next stop Seattle in February and Hanover in March.