Ever since I studied abroad in Ireland four years ago, all I have wanted to do is visit the Barack Obama plaza in Ireland. It just never became reality because the only way to get to it was by car, and I was solely relying entirely on public transportation while I was there and each time I was back. That is until I met my Irish fella. I won’t go into too much detail about this and hopefully someday I can write its own story time, but for now we are focusing just on where he took me.
I can’t remember how it came into conversation, but I mentioned to him that I have always wanted to go so he offered to take me next time I am over there, but little did he know that was just going to be in a couple months. So, when I booked my flight over and we were talking about what to do while I was there I brought up the Barack Obama Plaza once again to see if he was actually serious. And he was! But there was a caveat. He would only take me if it was en route to something else, because we were not going to drive 2 hours just for a petrol station (well it wasn’t just a petrol station to me). That’s how we decided on the Rock of Cashel, since neither of us had been.
If you are unfamiliar with the Barack Obama Plaza, yes it is a petrol station. I’d compare it more to like a rest stop off an American freeway as it has a lot of fast food options as well. What makes it unique though is its mini shrine and museum to Barack Obama on the first floor. This was created after a visit by President Barack Obama many years ago when he was president and the Irish took it upon themselves to find some Irish ancestry in Barack Obama. Now this plaza lies near his ancestral home of Moneygall in County Offaly where his Irish ancestors came from. I actually really love this. Its the most Irish thing to happen. This is also what inspired my favorite song, “There’s No One as Irish as Barack Obama.” My Irish lad instantly regretted giving my aux in the car when I put this on.
Anyway, lets get on with the story, because it was quite an interesting day. It started with me waking up with the worst sore throat of my life and swollen glands. I really mean it was the worst. I could barely talk. I had no idea how I was going to go on this little trip. I chugged water and then went to the pharmacy before we left. It meant we would leave later, but we already were behind, so it was ok. Sadly Dayquil doesn’t exist here, which is exactly what I wanted and needed. I had no idea what to get so I asked a pharmacist and he ended up giving me a throat spray and zyrtec which was basically useless because this was a cold, not allergies. I already had a bunch of cough drops and tissues, so we were going to just have to roll with it and make the best of it.
We decided to go to the Rock of Cashel first since it would have an earlier closing time, so we headed to Cashel in Tipperary, which was little over a 2 hour drive from Galway. I was put in charge of navigating which I am already really bad at but then throw in the fact that it is a foreign country (that yes I have lived in but have never driven in) and its the opposite side of the road. I tried my best, but their freeway like roads are confusing to me. I have no idea how the names work. Most of the way was on this type of a road until we got to Limerick and then we were on mostly country like roads.
Eventually we drove through Tipperary town which is known for having the worst traffic, so that was not fun, especially because, we’ll call him my laddie, was having car troubles so his steering was really stiff which makes driving in the towns really difficult. I wasn’t much help. While he was stressing over Tipperary town I was like, “my priest growing up was from Tipperary” and then proceeded to tell him my story about this priest giving my a warning about Irish boys before studying abroad. Definitely not helpful. It wasn’t too much further to the Rock of Cashel now. Once in the small time of Cashel its not too difficult to find its big old church.
The parking lot is located at the bottom of the rock. Its a bit of a walk up, but not too bad. We got in line to purchase tickets and I kept joking with my laddie about being at a tourist place, but the people working will be so happy to see an Irishman here. And I was right. The group ahead of us was from Minnesota, which I thought was really funny. Then we got up to purchase our tickets and I told the guy I was from Minnesota and then he knew my friend with me was from around there. We ended up doing a self-guided tour (I panicked on the spot) and the guy selling the tickets joked that my laddie would be my tour guide. In a way he was. I was going to bring my Rick Steve’s book up to be my tour guide, but then I got really self conscious about being a tourist and it made me look real bad.
I do wish that I had done the tour, because I had no idea what I was looking at. I ended up just googling it so I had some idea of the history. This site dates back to the 1100s which is when most of the current buildings were constructed by the Catholic church. Prior to this and the Norman invasion it was the seat of the Kings of Munsters. It also is said this is where St. Patrick converted King Aenghus to Christianity. Within the grounds we saw the cathedral and chapel, the cemetery, as well as the other features of a church from this time including a the round tower and high cross.
You really don’t need much time here if you are doing a self-guided tour, especially on a cold day. Its much smaller than it appears in photos. There are different trails you can walk around the area, which we tried to do, but the weather wasn’t great, so we didn’t last long. We decided we’d hop back in the car again and head towards the Barack Obama Plaza. It was about an hour from Cashel. It was going to be a little bit of a longer of a drive back to Galway since the plaza is a bit out of the way, making it at least half an hour longer. It was about 4 pm now by the time we got to the plaza and neither of us had eaten anything since breakfast, so we were definitely going to get some Supermacs at the plaza.
First we went upstairs to see Barack Obama’s shrine. It was everything I had ever dreamt of. And the best part, we had it all to ourselves! There was literally no one else there. I treated this like a real museum though and I read every single sign. It was actually kind of interesting because it talked about other US president’s Irish ancestry as well, like Bush’s ancestors were bad guys in Irish history, or Protestant/Anglo-Irish. It was interesting learning about Obama’s ancestry though. He is our first black president and faced a lot of hardships because of it, but he is also half white and I think it is really meaningful that he was treated as having the same Irish ancestry as all the other white presidents. It’s just another reminder that there is more that connects us then divides us.
Barack Obama is about as Irish as I am. His 3rd great grandparents lived in Moneygall in the early 1800s and emigrated to the states during the famine. There was also artifacts from Obama’s visit to the country including photos and his badge, so it was very small things in significance, but I still ate it up. Then I took my picture with the cut out of the Obamas. Also, did I mention the statue of Conan O’Brien stating he has been there? This place is amazing.
We got our Supermacs, which of course included some curry chips. I couldn’t get over the fact he brought me here. I have been wanting to go forever. Nobody has ever done anything like this for me before. It probably was the best day of my life. We then went back out, but first I went to the front of the plaza to snap a picture of the Obamas’ statue. I would be showing everyone this photo. We then continued our drive back to Galway which just continued to get more and more stressful. The car got much worse. I felt so bad. Every turn was a gamble of whether we were going to actually make it.
After awhile I suggested we just go to a car shop to have them check it out real quick and maybe we could get a temporary fix to get back to Galway. My laddie wasn’t too keen on the idea and it was past 5 pm so places were starting to close anyway. He just put up with it for a bit and then eventually we saw a place that looked open so we popped in quick. They suggested a steering fluid that we could get at a place up ahead. Luckily they had it and he put it in and it completely fixed the problem, well at least that is what we are going with. It could have just been low on steering fluid. The rest of the drive was so smooth. In the end it made the day that much more interesting and entertaining. I don’t think either of us will ever forget this. Lots of memories were made this day.
Anway, if you plan to visit the Barack Obama Plaza, make sure you have a car you can actually drive and maybe plan some other things to do around the area. There is so much more around there. You can go to Limerick, head further south to Blarney or Waterford, or even to Kilkenny. I just wanted to go to the Rock of Cashel because it was another place I have wanted to visit before, but could never quite figure out how to do. Together they made for a good day trip as well as date 😉
That’s the last of my travels I have for my latest trip to Ireland. If all goes well, then hopefully someday I will have more Irish adventures to share!
The Journal of Wanderlust 