Dún na nGall - Part I: Castle Doe and Walking in Trimragh

Rainbow over the fortress of my ancestors

"The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing - to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all beauty came from...Do you think it all meant nothing, all the longing? The longing for home?  For indeed it now feels not like going, but going back."
-C.S. Lewis

I'm often asked if I would ever like to live in Ireland as half my family are there. Would I ever like to live in one of the most beautiful places I have seen, walking the same soil as my ancestors, slowing life's pace to that synonymous with rural existence? I think certainly. America is the greatest nation in the world, but yes - one day in Éireann is enough to say it feels like home. And maybe....possibly..... one day, when I'm much older, I would.

Caisleán na dTuath - Castle Doe

Doe Castle sits on the coast of Sheephaven Bay near Creeslough, Co. Donegal. It was a stronghold of the MacSweeney Clan for about 200 years (1400-1600 approx). They came from Scotland as Gallowglasses or Gallóglaigh, mercenaries, fighting mainly for the O’Donnells and settled in Northwest Ireland in the fourteenth century. They became known as Clan Suibhne na dTuath (Sweeneys of the Territory). Their fortress became Caislean na dTuath, anglicized as Doe Castle.

It is an incredible feeling to stand on the same ground between the same stones laid by one's own forefathers. Would they have ever imagined their descendants would travel from the New World they had only heard about in legends to return 500 years later to this place, their home, to remember them in gratitude and reverence?

More on the history of the Scots-Irish Clan Sweeney can be found here.

View from the barmkin, built approx. 1425

Castle Doe Towers overlooking Sheephaven Bay

Caisleán na dTuath - Castle Doe

Trimragh

Even in a cold Irish rain, I will go on a daily walk when visiting my family in Trimragh, a small township in Donegal.  And one walk through the rolling hills along Lough Swilley and the farms of the same families who have worked that same land for a thousand years convinces me that I could adjust to rural life in a place so idyllic.

Ancient Standing Stone in the middle of a cattle field

Ancient Chloch Mhór (Standing Stone) - Trimragh

My family's yard

Great European Cities: Florence, Birthplace of the Renaissance

As 14th century Europe struggled to emerge from the shadow of the Dark Ages in the monumentally destructive wake of the Black Death, Florence, standing today much as it did during the most important cultural and artistic revolution in Western history, emanated as the birthplace of the European Renaissance. As home to many of the greatest artists, scientists, politicians, and thinkers known to Western civilization, a walk through the city's piazzas and along the banks of the Arno is quite literally a walk in the footsteps of genius. Stand outside the Duomo and see the engineering feats of Brunelleschi, visit the Uffizi and see the works of Botticelli, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Leonardo, walk through the Piazza di Santa Croce and see it preserved almost exactly as Machiavelli and Dante and Galileo would recognize it, and cross the Vasari Corridor of the Ponte Vecchio as the Medici would have and understand just how significant Florence and Her Renaissance are to the shaping of our modern world.

Cosimo "il Vecchio" de' Medici and his Grandson Lorenzo "il Magnifico" de' Medici, 15th century Florentine statesmen are two of my favorite historical figures so traveling to the great city created as a result of their ambition was incredibly inspiring. I lack the talent of an artist and the preternatural brilliance of a scientist; my simple contribution to valuing works and preserving culture will be made in the form of appreciation, study, and patronage. There is perhaps no greater an example of these in extraordinary measure than Cosimo and Lorenzo de' Medici as much of modern Western intellect was forged in alignment with their vision.

So in the summer of 2015, I visited Florence and immediately fell in love. My most treasured memories are:

• Seeing Caravaggio's Medusa. He is one of my favorite painters, and this is my favorite of all his works
  
• Getting lost on a walk to the Pizzale Michelangelo and stumbling upon the Giordino della Rose, a public Rose Garden I didn't even know existed. It was absolutely beautiful
• Standing in the Basilica di Santa Croce and at once being in the presence of (the remains of) Galileo, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli

Three documentaries I recommend regardless of imminent plans to visit:

• The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance  - This brilliant documentary offers four hours on the Florentine banking family and architects of the Renaissance, the Medici, who rose to power in Florence and ruled for 300 years 
• Museum Secrets Revealed: The Uffizi Gallery - The Smithsonian documentary provides little known facts and secrets about some of the Uffizi's greatest works 
• The Da Vinci Detective: Finding the Lost Leonardo - Using chemical analysis of paint samples and radar technology, Professor Maurizio Seracini makes the case that Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari is layered under a Vasari fresco in the Palazzo Vecchio 

Replica - David, Michelangelo outside the Palazzo Vecchio

Cosimo I the Equestrian - Piazza della Signoria

Crests of great Florentine families along the Palazzo Vecchio

Neptune in the Piazza della Signoria

Hercules and Cacus, Bandinelli

Perseus and Medusa, Cellini

 

View of the Loggia dei Lanzi

Lorenzo de Medici - outside the Uffizi

Inside the Galleria Uffizi
1) Hadrian; 2) Birth of Venus, Botticelli; 3) Laocoön, Bandinelli;
4) Doni Tondo, Michelangelo; 5) Testa di Medusa, Caravaggio, 6) Duke and Duchess of Urbino, Piera della Francesca

Niccolo Machiavelli
Tanto nomini nullum par elogium No eulogy would match the greatness of the name

Uffizi from the Arno

The Ponte Vecchio is Florence's only remaining original bridge as the Nazis destroyed the others. Hitler ordered that the Ponte Vecchio be left intact.

Duomo viewed from Florentine Streets

Brunelleschi's Masterpiece - the dome of the Duomo

 

Interior Masterpiece - Brunelleschi's Dome

 

Palazzo Pitti and Giardino di Boboli

San Miniato al Monte - 11th century Church from the Banks of the Arno

 

Views walking along the river banks

Basilica di Santa Croce

Tomb of the Master, Michelangelo inside the Basilica di Santa Croce

Tomb of Galileo inside the Basilica di Santa Croce

Nave - Basilica di Santa Croce, the largest Franciscan church in the world

Tomb created for Dante although the city to which he was exiled, Ravenna, refused to return his remains to Florence.
The tomb remains empty to this day.

Onorate l'altissimo poeta - Honor the most exalted poet

The Piazza di Santa Croce looks much the same as it did during the Renaissance 

Piazza di Santa Croce

Beautiful Art can be seen throughout the city in hidden corners

 

Florentine balconies second only to Parisian

Basilica di San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapels

Tomb of Lorenzo il Magnifico and Michelangelo's Madonna and Child flanked by Saints Cosmas and Damian

Tomb of Giuliano de Medici and Michelangelo's Night and Day

Santa Maria Novella Church

Views from a walk along the Arno

My hotel

View of the Arno and South Bank from Hotel

Artists sell their wares along the River Banks and the city's bridges

Piazza della Repubblica

Pinocchio, the wooden puppet cum live boy in the story created by Florentine Carlo Collodi, has become a symbol of the City and are popular wares in souvenir shops.

The city's fruit markets, gelato cafes, bakeries, and pizzarias are fantastic when traveling on a budget.

Biblioteca Nazionale

Walking to the Pizzale Michelango

Sunset view of the Ponte Vecchio

View of the City from Pizzale Michelangelo

The Giardino della Rose is absolutely beautiful