The Isle of Man
The Isle of Man is one of the countries in the world that you do not hear a lot about except for the famous TT motorcycle race that occurs on the Island. I can tell you this is a country that should be talked about and visited more as we found the Island to be beautiful with a large variety to do that will take you through thousands of years of history. The island has Neolithic sites, a long Viking history, medieval castles, special steam trains and electric railroads and so much more. The people of the Isle of Man also make this country a special place. The people are some of the most friendly and helpful people I have been around in my travels. Here is our story of our time on the Isle of Man in 2023.
Getting to the Isle of Man
After a quite long set of flights from Houston to Chicago, Chicago to Dublin and then Dublin to the Isle of Man we arrived on a quiet and sunny morning. We came in on a small twin engine propellor plane and there were only a couple bags that came out on the carousel when we got in. Outside there were only a couple taxis available so we shared a cab with another couple from the US heading to the capital city of Douglas. We got our first dose of the Isle of Man friendliness with our nice cab ride through the rolling green hills with sheep and other ranches and farms. We passed over the Fairy Bridge for the first time where the locals still say hello to the fairies that are said to live under the bridge. He gave us a quick tour of Douglas the capital and largest city on the island and then we headed into our hotel.
The ways to get to the Isle of Man is by a flight from Ireland or the UK, by ferry from Dublin or the UK or by cruise ship. Cruise ships visit the Isle of Man from time to time on British Isles cruises. I really do recommend trying to fly there and spend a few days there. The Isle of Man has a great public transportation system that contains modern busses, historic electric trolleys and a steam train. We used them all on our trip.
Country Information
The Isle of Man is located in the Irish Sea in between Ireland and the UK. It is its own country within the United Kingdom so the same passport rules apply as visiting the UK. The currency is the Manx Pound but you can also use the Pound Sterling from the United Kingdom as they are the same value. The country is a relatively small Island that has a population under 100,000 people. English is the language spoken and the people are very friendly in the country. The country is known for the Manx Cat that lives in the country and the Bee Gees are originally from The Isle of Man. Thomas the Tank Engine was inspired from the trains on the Isle of Man.
The Manx Aviation and Military Museum
After settling into our very nice hotel that was on the promenade along the sea shore in Douglas we got our first experience on the very nice public transportation system on the island of around 83,000 people. They have busses that run throughout the island that have wifi, phone charging stations and a TV to let you know the next few stops. The busses are also affordable being a couple pounds (around $3) for a ride. We got to the Manx (the term for the Isle of Man dating back to the Manx Gaelic language) Aviation museum. It looks small on the outside but has a lot of great exhibits on the inside. The Isle of Man was used as a training base for aircraft in both WWI and WWII with many different nations visiting the island. With the foggy and rainy weather that occurs there were unfortunately crashes on the island such as an American B-17. The museum also goes over the Manx Regiment who during WWII operated mobile anti aircraft guns. Outside there are former Manx Airlines airplanes and anti-aircraft equipment. They have a nice memorial garden with a Canadian monument to pilots killed in crashes. A lady was gardening and when I was taking pictures she came over to get all her equipment out of the way so I could get a nice picture. As I continued to find the people of the Isle of Man are very friendly and care about other people.
The Manx Electric Railway Museum
The Isle of Man has a wonderful Electric Railway system that runs from the capital city of Douglas to cities further North like Laxey and Ramsey. Its one of the oldest electric tramways in the world and still uses trains from the late 1800s and early 1900s. They have a nice small museum at the railyard for the electric railway. We hoped on the bus and rode it over to the museum as we rode along the beautiful Douglas waterfront. When we got up to the museum the doors where locked. A nice gentleman who was working on the rail cars let us know it was closed for the day but then went ahead and let us in to take a look. He then went on to offer to take us on a quick tour of the facility where we could see the rail cars being worked on. We saved riding the railway for later in the trip but we enjoyed once again the Isle of Man kindness by getting a special tour when the museum was actually closed.
Walking through Douglas
We spent the rest of our first day walking around in Douglas. The majority of the population of the country live in Douglas but it still has a small town feel. They have wonderful sculptures and gardens that line a seawall that curves along the bay. The bay has beautiful green hills flanking it and if you look in the bay there is a small castle called “The Refuge” that was built for ship wreck victims due to rocks near the harbor. Along the promenade are beautiful buildings that have apartments, shops, and restaurants. There is also a beautiful opera house and a casino along the walk. We walked about a mile and stopped in a few shops back to our nice hotel. The bay in Douglas is extremally tidal so in the morning the water is hitting the sea wall but in the evening people are walking on the floor of the bay. Douglas also has a nice pedestrian shopping street with many nice shops and restaurants. Near our hotel was also the Bee Gee’s monument since they are from the Isle of Man and the Queen Victoria clock.
The Manx Railroad
Also part of the public transportation system in the Isle of Man is the Manx Steam Railway. It is also been running since the late 1800s and it goes from Douglas to the Southern end of the Island servicing Port Erin. On our second day we took the short walk over to the historic train station and hopped on the train. The train cars were the old style cars you might see in a Harry Potter movie with nice seats facing each other. We rode in a car with some locals and some tourists and had great conversations. The locals gave us a lot of good advice for what to do on the island. The train ride goes by beautiful rolling green hills full of sheep, wooded areas with gentle streams and past cliffs going into the ocean. We pasted by quite a few cities a long the way. We got into Port Erin for around an hour before we headed back to Douglas. We got a chance to see the beautiful bay with a old watch tower looking over the area. We got to also visit the very nice railroad museum that was included with our train ticket. We found out that “Thomas the Tank Engine” is actually based off of the steam trains of the Isle of Man and when you look at the trains you can definitely see the resemblance. The trains are just missing the faces. We had a car to ourselves on our way back and we got back into Douglas.
The Manx Museum
After a quick stop at our hotel we headed up the hill behind the promenade to the Manx National Museum. We didn’t know what to expect being a small country but we found they have a very well done museum. They had a video going over the long history of neolithic people’s, Vikings, the Scottish and the English that controlled the Isle of Man at one time or another. The museum itself had many great interactive exhibits and went over all the different time periods of the country. We saw Viking treasures and learned about what the Manx people did for a living in the early 1900s (mining, and fishing). They also had exhibits on the natural and wildlife aspects of the country. We spent a couple hours learning about the country at this nice and affordable museum (suggested 5 pound donation).
The Manx Parliament (Tynwald)
The last thing we did on our second day was to visit the Manx Parliament that is called Tynwald. Its the oldest continuously operated parliament in the world. We got there only a few minutes before they were going to close for the day but they still graciously took us on a private tour. We visited all three chambers of their parliament (one similar to the House of Representatives, one similar to the Senate and the final a combination of both). We got to walk in not just the gallery but on the floor of the chambers. It was a nice tour and I was grateful they gave us the chance to tour so late in the day (they were turning the lights off). The tour guide was so kind and still made sure we got to see it all.
The Laxey Wheel
On our next day of our trip we got picked up by our wonderful tour guide John Shakespeare with Visit Mann Tours and started a tour of the Northern end of the island. We started out heading to a great viewpoint that gave us a high up view of all of Douglas and the bay. After taking in the view we headed to the city of Laxey to visit the world’s largest waterwheel that was built to power the metals mine located in Laxey. Its named the Lady Isabella and is absolutely huge. It still spins today and we climbed up to the top to see the beautiful view of the surrounding area. After visiting the wheel we walked into a small mine shaft to see the terrible conditions miners faced. It was very muddy and wet inside the mine but was very interesting heading down the short shaft. John gave us a very nice history of the wheel while there.
Neolithic Sites on The Isle of Man
There are many ancient Neolithic sites around the Isle of Man. Our next couple stops were some of the ancient sites. The first one was named King Orrys Grave. As John explained King Orry had nothing to do with the site but it was a gravesite for ancient people’s and also was built in relation to the summer solstice. The stones are located near some people’s homes and had good interpretation of the site. We next headed to Ballafayle Cairn which was another ancient burial site lined with stones. This site was far outside the city and was flanked with cliffs falling into the sea and beautiful green fields and hills. John drove us through some narrow farm roads to get to this site. As we continued to drive we stopped by a small lodged in a ledge by a farmers field and saw spiral etchings from the ancient Neolithic peoples. Our next stop in visiting the ancient sites in the North of the Island was Maughold Monastery that was also high in the green hills. There is an old graveyard and a collection of Celtic Crosses and ancient Viking pillars that tell stories of gods such as Thor and Odin. John gave us great explanations and history of all these ancient and well preserved sites dotting the landscape.
Point Ayre and the Pebble Beach
Our final stop on the tour for the day was to visit the furthest North point of the Island. Point Ayre contains a nice lighthouse and a massive rock/pebble beach. I have never seen such a expansive beach of different colored rocks! We walked out to the somewhat angry sea since a cold front was approaching the island and took in the view. After a few pictures we drove through the mountains and got onto the famous TT Motorcycle racing course and headed back to Douglas.
The Manx Electric Railway
John was going to drop us off at the hotel but then asked if we had any plans for the afternoon. We let him know we wanted to ride the electric railway to see the countryside. He very generously offered to drive us to the railway stop since it was the afternoon and the train would only run until the evening. John helped get us setup and we hopped on a train that had been in service for 118 years! The train car was well decorated and for sure took you back in time. We rumbled up the hill and made stops in small towns as we headed over to Laxey. We didn’t have time to take it to its terminus in Ramsey so we rode it half way enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way. When we got to Laxey we noticed the Mount Snaefell Railway car was still at the station and we asked the station crew if we had time to ride up to the top of the mountain and still make it back on a train to Douglas. They were very helpful and confirmed we could make it and then switched out our tickets to make sure we didn’t have to purchase extra tickets. After we got our tickets (the train was waiting for us) we got on our private ride up to the top of Mount Snaefell. The train ride was narrated and gave us information on the Laxey Wheel we passed by, a beautiful valley with waterfalls and a nice river running through it. We got great views of a reservoir and saw many sheep that occasionally were on the tracks. When we got to the top and the small restaurant at the top the weather deteriorated and it was cloudy, extremely windy and cold. We didn’t walk to much on the top and waited to head back down with the restaurant staff since it was the last train of the day. We got the nice views one more time as we made it back to the small city of Laxey and we hopped on the last train of the day right on time back to Douglas.
Tynwald and St. Johns Chruch
On what was supposed to be our last day on the Isle of Man John picked us up right on time and we loaded up our car with our bags and headed out for our tour of the Southern half of the Island. It was a rainy and gray day with the cold front that had come across the Atlantic from North America arriving in the Isle of Man. Our first stop was a quick stop at a very old church but it was not open so we walked the grounds. Our next stop was a very important stop for the country and that is Tynwald Hill and St. Johns Church. Tynwald Hill is the long time meeting place of the Parliament of the Isle of Man. They still meet there once a year on Tynwald Day. We visited also the very nice St. Johns Church where their parliament have seats. While their John brought in his bagpipes and played the National Anthem of the Isle of Man and an important song for the Island called “Ellan Vannin”. We spoke about their political system and shared a little about ours as well. We had the chance to walk to the top of the hill and didn’t let a little rain ruin our day!
Peel, The Isle of Man
John then took us to the West coast city of Peel that has some wonderful sites to see. We first visited the House of Manannan Museum. It was fairly crowded with a cruise ship and tour coming through. Manannan is the Manx Sea god that protected the island with mist from attackers. This museum goes over the Celtic and Viking people’s of the Isle of Man. It has a replica ancient Round house, depictions of ancient burials and a replica of a Viking Long House. In the Long House there was the smell of smoke that brought me back to the burning of Rome at the Space Ship Earth ride in Epcot at Disney World. They also have a spectacular replica of a Viking Ship that actually sailed from Norway to the Isle of Man. It was a great museum I’d like to go back to and spend a little more time. After the museum we went to view the impressive Peel Castle that overlooks the sea outside of Peel. The water where they place the ‘Queenies’ (I’ll go over that when I talk about the food of the Isle of Man) shells was a beautiful turquoise color that reminded me of our time in the Caribbean. We headed down to a great viewpoint at the ocean that looked at the green but foggy cliffs on the West side of the Island. After seeing the fog and a little more rain in the distance we decided to head for lunch at The Sound looking at the Calf of Man (another Island).
Cregneash
Towards the end of the day we headed for a quick stop to Cregneash to see the historic village there. They have historic homes and re-enactors that depict the way of life a long time ago. We went into a home with thatch roof and a roaring fire in the fire place. A nice lady inside let us tour the home and gave us a good explanation. There are many other homes you can tour at the site but with us running out of time before our flight home we headed off to our last stop for the day.
Castletown, The Isle of Man
We headed over to the nice city of Castletown that like its name states has a huge castle that was build around a thousand years ago. We headed directly to Castle Rushen where the Kings of the Isle of Man resided. We visited the royal dinning room and a room with colorful wall paintings that contained mythological animals. We got some great explanations about the rulers and the rooms. They have rooms that depict the different times in the castles history from a rulers castle to a prison. We learned things such as people who had black teeth from rot back in the 1600 to 1700s was a positive since they were wealthy enough to afford sugar. After we finished our quick tour of the Castle we headed over to the airport to catch our flight to Dublin. It was very foggy but we hoped for the best for the flight.
When Things Go Wrong, and People Give a Helping Hand
John dropped us off at the airport and we breezed through the security line to find a terminal full of people in the small airport. It was extremely foggy with a light rain and we saw no planes moving at the airport. I checked the radar on an app I have and planes bound for the Isle of Man were circling the island since the airport was not visible for landing. We waited an hour and then as we expected our flight was canceled to Dublin. I contacted John and he was wonderful giving us advice on a great hotel to stay at in Castletown and information on the weather and flights the next day. We got booked for The George Hotel that sits on the town square across from the Castle Rushen in Castletown, got booked for a flight the next day and then headed out on the well done public buses in the Isle of Man.
The George Hotel was a very nice small hotel with around 8 rooms located above a pub. There were no lifts (elevators) in this quaint and beautiful hotel. With a nice wooden staircase and a room with a fireplace and all the amenities of a larger hotel in the room. The room also did not have air conditioning but that was not needed with the window open. The wonderful staff at the hotel reserved us a table at the very busy small pub so we got some traditional Fish and Chips for dinner and took a walk around the very quiet town of Castletown.
A Country Walk and Castle Rushen Part II
Since our flight was not until noon we decided to spend a little extra time seeing the wonderful Isle of Man. John gave us some great walking suggestions and we took a walk out into the countryside along the coast after a great breakfast that was included at the hotel. We past beautiful horse farms and nice homes. We walked through a field on a public walking path and met some nice teachers from a local school who gave us some directions and we talked a little about Texas as they have always wanted to visit Austin. After the walk we headed back into Castle Rushen to tour it a little more in depth than we had the day before since we had a little more time. We met up with some of the guides we had seen the day before and toured up to the top to get some great views and toured all the other rooms. The neatest thing we got to do while touring the castle was one of the guides allowed us to wind up the town clock that was from 1597. Queen Elizabeth II herself has wound that clock in 1955. It made what was a little bit of a difficult situation into a great day getting to do something so unique. After saying goodbye to the wonderful people at Castle Rushen we picked up our bags and headed over to the airport to try again. We once again breezed through security and this time our flight made it out just fine. As we flew away from the magnificent Isle of Man I caught the steam strain heading towards Douglas and got one last view of Port Erin and the coast of the Island.
The Food in the Isle of Man
While in the Isle of Man we also had the chance to eat some local foods. The Isle of Man doesn’t have a lot of chain restaurants so you really get a lot of personality in the different places on the Island. The island only has one McDonalds, a KFC and a Pizza Hut when it comes to American chains that I saw. The food in the Isle of Man is very fresh like you will find in much of Europe. In the US we tend to go to the grocery store once a week and our food has more preservatives in them. In Europe in general they get food much more often and its fresher and you can tell in food they serve. For example the butter, milk and eggs at our hotel were very fresh and tasted great. The waiter mentioned they get them all from local farms in the area fresh. We tried local foods such as Kippers and Queenies while we were there. A Kipper is a type of smoked herring fish that we had for breakfast along with a poached egg. The Kipper was not really something we enjoyed as it had a pretty strong fish taste and a lot of bones. Queenies are local small scallops and in our case it was served with a garlic sauce. We loved the Queenies and the Cajun style fries we had with them that were just as good as Cajun fries back home. We also had a full Manx breakfast that was very good that is similar to the Full English Breakfast in England. It includes sausage, bacon (what we would call Canadian Bacon or Ham slices), black pudding (tastes kind of like sausage), baked beans, a mushroom, potatoes and a fried egg. We love getting this style of breakfast. We also tried the local ice cream called Davidson’s. We had vanilla and then a great caramel sundae with caramel popcorn and other toppings. Its a great Ice Cream that would rank up there with Ice Cream like Blue Bell at home. We tried a variety of local restaurants for Greek, Chinese and Italian food as well that were good. The only other unique food we had was a potato soup with Smoked Haddock Fish in it. It was good. We thought the food was great in the Isle of Man!
In Conclusion
When we landed in the Isle of Man we had no idea what to expect as you just do not hear a lot about the country in between Ireland and Scotland/England. We found a country with a vibrant and long history from the Neolithic times to the Modern age. There are so many interesting historic sites, museums and attractions to see that are very unique. We loved the steam train and electric railway and the beautiful countryside. We loved the safety and cleanliness of the island. The food was also as fresh as it can be. With all of the great things we saw I think think the best thing about the Isle of Man are the people. Our tour guide John was wonderful and was so helpful to us during our time on the island. All the other people we met along the way were always willing to take some time to help and give us advice. They also worked to make our time on the island special by doing things like opening the capital for us and letting us wind up the town clock. If you ever have the chance to head to the Isle of Man do take the time to do so. You will not be sorry!
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