The “new” Ireland, as we like to call it, loves to charge $ for its sights. This was not always the case. 10+ years ago, one could simply walk up to ruins, cut through a farmer’s field and see stuff for free. At the very worst, you may get a farmer who would ask for a $1 Quid tress pass free but…Enter the Irish Tourist board. In the new Ireland, everybody pays. Any possible lump of old rocks that can pack a tour bus in a tiny parking lot is money! Sometimes the price is fair for what you see, and sometimes not. Today was one of those “not” days.
We drove over to the Gallarus Oratory, which is about 1000 years old, and still water tight. (see picture) We see a giant parking lot and a visitor center where they wanted $3 Euro (roughly $5 US) to pass through the gate. They then shuttled us to a short 5 minute video on the ruin & the surrounding area. After the video was over they told us we could now walk up the hill to see the site.
After arriving and snapping pics, I started to walk away and noticed a long path that led off to some parked cars. I asked the girl what was up, and she told me, “Oh, that’s the public access way for the public parking.” I smiled politely, thanked her and walked away.
Moral of the story: We paid 3 Euro not to see the ruin, but for the film. The park is set up so that unsuspecting tourists who enter are made to think that THIS is the only vantage point to access the ruins. The video was actually pretty lame & almost put us to sleep, so that is how they justified making us pay a fee. Regardless, it’s a pretty shady setup and the locals in the pubs all tended to agree with us.
1 comment:
I absolutely agree.
It's a shame that the OPW pays to keep the site, and some greedy person sets up a rather overpriced shop with a terrible low-fi film and has the nerve to charge 3 euro.
Not only that, but the person in charge lies and denies that there's a free way to visit the site. Pathetic.
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