Enjoy!
Day 6:
This morning's drive took us to Limmerick where we saw King John's Castle and the Stone on which the Treaty of Limmerick was signed in 1691. Limmerick is the 3rd largest city in the Irish Republic with a population of approximately 70,000. The treaty was to allow those who were Catholics to practice their religion freely while at the same time swearing fealty to the Protestant king. This agreement did not sit well with British Parliament and they demanded that the King break the treaty because they wanted everyone to practice the Protestant religion. The King unfortunately did break his word and now the town is known as "The Town of the Broken Treaty".
Next we drove to Adare, which is known for its prize winning thatched cottages (see bleow for picture). We stopped in Dingle for lunch and went to a place called Harrington’s which is known for their fresh, cook-to-order fish & chips. It was raining (of course) so I stood in the line to order our food, which of course was backed up out the door, while mom went in to find us a place to sit. The fish was delicious but we weren’t left with much time to shop in this cute little town. I did, however, find a couple of bookmarks for my sisters in the shop across the street from where we ate lunch.
Upon resuming our drive, we saw some absolutely breathtaking scenery in the afternoon during our drive on the Dingle Peninsula, where the 32-mile Slea Head drive afforded us magnificent vistas of the Atlantic Ocean. We passed miles of sandy white beaches, which were the setting for the film Ryan’s Daughter.
There is a story about some monks that built stone beehive shaped dwellings to live in in order to pay a penance of some sort. The inside was large enough to fit their length lying down. Many of these still exist and we were able to stop and takes some photographs. It’s pretty cool to think about how long they’ve been standing there and that people once lived in them.
This land is so beautiful. I wish I could take an extended leave, move here and experience the culture more closely. The little I know about my ancestry helps me feel connected to this great land. Learning of the Great Potato famine of the 1800’s has been intense and quite emotional. Were my ancestors part of the land workers that were driven either to death or to the America’s for escape? The famine killed one million Irish through hunger and related diseases such as cholera. A million others emigrated during the famine, with millions more following them in the following decades. There are memorials dedicated to those who lost their lives to the devastation this famine brought to the Irish farming community.
Day 7:
I got a cold! The rain aggravated my sinuses and I was starting to become miserable, sneezing non-stop! Today, at the town of Killorglin, we joined the road known as the “Ring of Kerry” for a 100-mile coastal panoramic drive. There were beautiful seascapes, mountains dotted with brightly colored farm houses, along with grazing cattle and sheep. The roads were super narrow and winding. Mom and I were sitting in the front seats of the bus this day and were quite frightened at times. Our normal driver (Phil) had a rest day (by law) and so we had a local driver taking us around. I did not care for this driver at all! He jerked the bus around quite a bit and stalled 3 times.
One of our photo stops was the Caragh River. Oh this place was absolutely incredible!
I got a cold! The rain aggravated my sinuses and I was starting to become miserable, sneezing non-stop! Today, at the town of Killorglin, we joined the road known as the “Ring of Kerry” for a 100-mile coastal panoramic drive. There were beautiful seascapes, mountains dotted with brightly colored farm houses, along with grazing cattle and sheep. The roads were super narrow and winding. Mom and I were sitting in the front seats of the bus this day and were quite frightened at times. Our normal driver (Phil) had a rest day (by law) and so we had a local driver taking us around. I did not care for this driver at all! He jerked the bus around quite a bit and stalled 3 times.
One of our photo stops was the Caragh River. Oh this place was absolutely incredible!
We passed through Cahirciveen where Daniel O’Connell was born. He was a real supporter in trying to gain independence for the Irish Catholics. By the time he was born, his parents thought that they had enough children already and one more was just too much for them so his uncle (who didn’t have any children) adopted him. Can you imagine?! He was educated in England and interestingly enough, when he died, his heart was sent to Rome and buried there. There is a church called The Church of Daniel O’Connell, and it is the only Catholic Church in the world that is not dedicated to a saint. He once stated, “there is no cause in this world that is worth one drop of human blood”.
We stopped at a Cumakishda (sp?) which means “Bay of the Hidden Treasure” for more spectacular views. My goodness, but the land here is absolutely breathtaking. There have now been a few places we have visited where I could easily stay and live the rest of my life and be happy.
We then passed through the town of Sneem, which is known for its salmon fishing. We drove by a rock-hewn riverbed where the salmon can be seen jumping in the water. I took a quick shot while on the bus, but alas, we didn’t see any salmon jumping.
We stopped in Killarney at a place called the Avoca Shop and Café for lunch. The eating area was upstairs and there were floor to ceiling windows which gave us some magnificent views to enjoy while we ate. I had a delicious homemade tomato and basil soup with a yummy brown bread. For desert, mom and I split a super yummy piece of fresh lemon meringue pie. Avoca is known for their hand weaving but we will be in the actual town on day 8 to see the weaving and visit the shop.
We stopped in Killarney at a place called the Avoca Shop and Café for lunch. The eating area was upstairs and there were floor to ceiling windows which gave us some magnificent views to enjoy while we ate. I had a delicious homemade tomato and basil soup with a yummy brown bread. For desert, mom and I split a super yummy piece of fresh lemon meringue pie. Avoca is known for their hand weaving but we will be in the actual town on day 8 to see the weaving and visit the shop.
We then traveled to see the Lakes of Killarney from "Ladies View". This name stems from the admiration of the view given by Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting during their 1861 visit. Here you can see three major lakes and the view is once again, spectacular.
We stopped somewhere a little further up for a group photo (I declined to purchase one) and were then given some time to look at and photograph more views of the Lakes of Killarney. I, however, noticed a pasture and some beautiful horses grazing. Anyone who knows me and my love of horses know that I headed straight there. There was a wire fence just beyond the wooden fence in which the horses were enclosed so I couldn’t really get close enough to touch them. There was one horse lying down and another one “pawing” him to get up. He finally did but you could then tell that he was injured because he was favoring his right hind leg. Poor baby, I wanted to go and find the owner straight away, but there were several homes in the area and the bus was getting ready to leave. Aren't they beautiful?!
We stopped a while later at a place called “Macken of Ireland”. They are known for their rare and interesting pieces of jewelry. I have been waiting many years to get my claddagh ring and really wanted to buy one while here in Ireland. I found a beautiful 14K claddagh set in the middle of a Celtic knot. It is really beautiful. I wasn’t planning on spending so much money on my ring... but I did! The other nice thing about this shop is that every design is made in a limited quantity, so I believe there have only been 100 pieces of the design I bought made. Hopefully the chances are pretty low that I will run into someone here in Florida with the same ring!
For dinner we headed into Tralee and then attended a performance at Siamsa Tire, which is Ireland’s National Folk Theatre. They have a different themed performance every night of the week and for Thursday (the day we attended), it was about the potato famine entitled “Tearman”. There was a live 8 piece orchestra to accompany the performers is song and background music. As we have been learning about the potato famine during the week, I was looking forward to the performance. There were no words spoken, songs sung in Irish (Gaelic), tap dancing, and movement. I wish I could have understood the words to the songs sung, but it really wasn’t necessary to understand because you could feel what was happening. It was a very moving and emotional performance. I could feel the emotion emanating from every performer and it touched my heart. It was quite intense and very sad. I believe 11.2 million people died during the famine. I cannot imagine what the people went through; to see their families and friends dying of starvation and disease.
Day 8:
Today we made our way over the Kerry Mountains and into County Cork. Mom has traced some of our ancestry to County Cork. We stopped in Blarney for two hours but it really wasn’t enough time. First, we headed to Blarney Castle to explore and kiss the famous Blarney Stone. It is known as the Stone of Eloquence and is supposed to give those who kiss it the “gift of gab”. I think I have that gift as it is, but of course you have to do it if you’re there! The stone is located at the top of the castle and there are approximately 200 teeny tiny steps going around and around super narrow stone stairwells (towers). I wanted mom to go with me so that she could take some photos with my camera. I really didn’t think she would do it (being claustrophobic and all)… but she did! She must really love me! I’m telling you, I don’t know who these people were building these steps for way back then but they looked like they were made for the “wee people”! We had to step sideways just to fit some part of our shoes on the steps! Every so often there was a “hole” in the walls that allowed a bit of light and breeze; I think this is the only way mom was able to make it, although she did confess to having a few moments of fright. She went ahead of me and all of a sudden I reached a point where the steps were no more and I had to climb my way up! Along the way there were some rooms labeled as bedrooms. Nothing like my bedroom! But it really did continue to make some of the books I’ve read come alive just a little bit more.
This is one of the dungeons!For dinner we headed into Tralee and then attended a performance at Siamsa Tire, which is Ireland’s National Folk Theatre. They have a different themed performance every night of the week and for Thursday (the day we attended), it was about the potato famine entitled “Tearman”. There was a live 8 piece orchestra to accompany the performers is song and background music. As we have been learning about the potato famine during the week, I was looking forward to the performance. There were no words spoken, songs sung in Irish (Gaelic), tap dancing, and movement. I wish I could have understood the words to the songs sung, but it really wasn’t necessary to understand because you could feel what was happening. It was a very moving and emotional performance. I could feel the emotion emanating from every performer and it touched my heart. It was quite intense and very sad. I believe 11.2 million people died during the famine. I cannot imagine what the people went through; to see their families and friends dying of starvation and disease.
Day 8:
Today we made our way over the Kerry Mountains and into County Cork. Mom has traced some of our ancestry to County Cork. We stopped in Blarney for two hours but it really wasn’t enough time. First, we headed to Blarney Castle to explore and kiss the famous Blarney Stone. It is known as the Stone of Eloquence and is supposed to give those who kiss it the “gift of gab”. I think I have that gift as it is, but of course you have to do it if you’re there! The stone is located at the top of the castle and there are approximately 200 teeny tiny steps going around and around super narrow stone stairwells (towers). I wanted mom to go with me so that she could take some photos with my camera. I really didn’t think she would do it (being claustrophobic and all)… but she did! She must really love me! I’m telling you, I don’t know who these people were building these steps for way back then but they looked like they were made for the “wee people”! We had to step sideways just to fit some part of our shoes on the steps! Every so often there was a “hole” in the walls that allowed a bit of light and breeze; I think this is the only way mom was able to make it, although she did confess to having a few moments of fright. She went ahead of me and all of a sudden I reached a point where the steps were no more and I had to climb my way up! Along the way there were some rooms labeled as bedrooms. Nothing like my bedroom! But it really did continue to make some of the books I’ve read come alive just a little bit more.
Once at the Blarney Stone, you have to lie down on your back, grab a hold of iron bars on either side of you, scoot back and hang almost completely upside down to kiss the stone! It was kind of crazy. I think the picture of me actually “kissing” the stone is a bit blurry but you get the idea! Mom couldn’t quite do it due to her back problems (I don’t think she was too disappointed though)! I got some nice photos of the view from the top of the castle as well. I also got a shot of mom going back down (though those steps look a little better than the ones we climbed going up)!!
This whole process took us about an hour, so that left us only one hour to get back over to the Blarney Woolen Mills to shop and eat lunch. There are three floors to the Woolen Mills! I was able to find a scarf that matches my cool new hat. I was looking for a nice sweater or jacket but then looked at my watch and it was 12:25 (bus was leaving at 12:30)! Mom and I rushed to get in line to pay and then what happens? My credit card was declined! The employee tried it 3 times and it declined each time. Oh I’m getting really frustrated by this point. Thank goodness mom was there – she just put it on her card and told me to hurry to the bus and not let it leave without her. Mom ended up putting some of her items back because we were running so late. We didn’t even get a chance to eat lunch and my tummy was rumbling. I had a chocolate bar in my bag so we ate that as we pulled away from Blarney.
Our next stop was the world-famous Waterford Crystal Factory. We had a guided tour around the facility where we were able to see how some of the pieces are created. It was pretty cool. We watched this guy firing a piece of glass that was to be added to a pitcher as a handle. We then saw how the handle was attached and molded. It was really neat to watch.
Our next stop was the world-famous Waterford Crystal Factory. We had a guided tour around the facility where we were able to see how some of the pieces are created. It was pretty cool. We watched this guy firing a piece of glass that was to be added to a pitcher as a handle. We then saw how the handle was attached and molded. It was really neat to watch.
The pieces here are quite stunning (both to the eye and the wallet). There was a piece dedicated to the heroes of 9/11 that was beautiful. There was a piece of a girl and horse that I absolutely fell in love with! We also had a glass etcher show us how the etching is done. Most of the positions in the factory require a 10 year apprenticeship and I can understand why! I posed with the guy who showed us a demonstration (and also created the seahorse shown in the picture).
I called my bank as soon as we got to the hotel to check on my account since my card had been declined. My account was fine; they were having problems earlier in the day so the bank disabled everyone’s cards for a few hours! I would have been soooo mad if my mom hadn’t been there to help me out – I would have missed a chance to purchase items at the Blarney Woolen Mills! Grrrr….
We stayed the night at a nearby seaside resort in Tramore. We took a walk down to the beach (Pebble Beach) before dinner and walked along the shore. We found some cool rocks to bring back and let our hands run through the waters of the Irish Sea.
After dinner we went to a local pub for some entertainment. This pub (Hayes) has been run by the same family for 300 years. The current owner took us on a little tour of the town and gave us some of the history.
There was a musician there (Richie Roberts) who played the guitar and sang. He had a great voice and was quite funny. He led us in some sing-a-longs, which was bunches of fun. Mom and I were sitting pretty much right in his face and he turned to me, asked me my name, held out his hand and then proceeded to pull me up from my seat to stand next to him. I was to be his “assistant”. All right – so now I get to be the celebrity! He pulled out a harmonica and told me that when he gave a nod, to hold the harmonica against the microphone and then he proceeded to play it and the guitar while I held it to the microphone. How fun! He called me back up later on to “assist” him in one more song. He played for about an hour and it was a great time.
Day 9:
This was the last official day of our tour. We traveled northbound through Enniscorthy, which is the sight of the final battle of the Great Rebellion of 1798. Next we were off to visit Ireland’s oldest hand-weaving mill at Avoca. I bought a scarf for my mom, one for me and then I got another one free (after buying two). We had a tour of the mill and watched one of the weavers at work. The looms are incredible and it was pretty cool to watch one at work and see the lines (threads) of material be fed through and pressed into place. I think he was using alpaca or mohair.
Back on the road we saw the beautiful Wicklow Mountains. Next we were off to Glendalough with its ruins of an Irish Christianity center of founded by St. Kevin (a hermit priest) in the 6th century. It was destroyed in 1398 by English troops. This ruined village contained a former monastery and grave sites. The location was sought out as a peaceful retreat by Saint Kevin because of its remoteness and serenity, but several men who wished to follow his teachings built a temporary place of churches and living quarters in the valley below the site of his house. This soon grew and became an important school.
There were some nice walking trails that led to the Lake. We walked one of them and had some really pretty views. Mom was climbing into the forests so she could get her photo with some big rocks and trees. It was pretty muddy and I was afraid she was going to fall! Silly woman!
We stayed at the Montrose Hotel for our last night in Dublin. After arriving at the hotel, we decided to go explore Dublin one last time before we had to leave. We took a local bus to city centre and walked around for a while. I really enjoy people watching and there are all kinds in downtown Dublin! We did a little more shopping (mainly just little trinkets and such) and then decided to have our last evening meal in Ireland. We found Gallagher’s Boxty House again and decided to end the trip the same way we had started it… with a yummy corned beef and cabbage boxty. We had quite the time trying to find the right bus stop, to catch the right bus, to bring us back to the hotel!
Day 10:
Up early for breakfast (6:30) and then off to the airport at 7:30 am. Our flight wasn’t until 11:30 but it was a good thing we got there early. It took us a while to get through check-in, security and processing our tax back forms. The sales tax here in Ireland is 21% (choke, choke). The only good thing is that American’s get the tax back. We had to get tax back forms from every place we bought something and then stand in 4 different lines at the airport to submit them. Such a pain but at least we will get it back (6-8 weeks I’m sure). The flight from Dublin to Atlanta was a little over 8 hours (I think I watched 4 movies – helped the time go by). After arriving in Atlanta, we had to go to the baggage claim area, get our luggage and then go through customs and re-check them! That took us a hour to do – super pain in the butt. The only good part of this day was taking a shower after getting home and crawling into my scrumptious bed! I do miss Ireland though – I am sure I will go back, especially now that I know which areas I would like to re-visit. ERIN GO BRAUGH!!!!
Day 10:
Up early for breakfast (6:30) and then off to the airport at 7:30 am. Our flight wasn’t until 11:30 but it was a good thing we got there early. It took us a while to get through check-in, security and processing our tax back forms. The sales tax here in Ireland is 21% (choke, choke). The only good thing is that American’s get the tax back. We had to get tax back forms from every place we bought something and then stand in 4 different lines at the airport to submit them. Such a pain but at least we will get it back (6-8 weeks I’m sure). The flight from Dublin to Atlanta was a little over 8 hours (I think I watched 4 movies – helped the time go by). After arriving in Atlanta, we had to go to the baggage claim area, get our luggage and then go through customs and re-check them! That took us a hour to do – super pain in the butt. The only good part of this day was taking a shower after getting home and crawling into my scrumptious bed! I do miss Ireland though – I am sure I will go back, especially now that I know which areas I would like to re-visit. ERIN GO BRAUGH!!!!
