Kinnitty to Cahirsiveen

    Our next day dawned bright and hinted at actually clearing skies. We ate a fantastic homemade Irish breakfast, and planned our route with the help of our hostess. Today we were headed to the Ring of Kerry. Christina told us that a GPS was fine, but don’t trust it. We found out why. Seems that there are a few new roads that the GPS didn’t know about. In fact, even the paper map we had didn’t have all the roads right! So we learned to use the GPS to guide us basically from town to town and kept a close eye on the map to make sure that we weren’t going too far astray.  Also ran into another little “glitch” today. The last time we traveled to Ireland, we were mailed paper vouchers for each night’s stay. We in turn gave these vouchers to the B&B’s so they could get paid. This time, we were told that the confirmation number that we had was equivalent to the voucher number and we just needed to give that to the B&B operators. Surprise!!! Wrong answer!! Since it was still the weekend, Christina said that she would call the main offices Monday and get things straightened out. In the meantime, she trusted that we were honest and victims of the system. Very nice lady. 

    The drive itself was very pretty. The countryside was rolling hills and farmlands, much like the Ozarks in Missouri. We came across an interesting sign in Moneygall (Christina told us about it so we looked it up). Seems that President Obama has Irish roots! This sign traces his connection to the village. Who knew??

    Another small village along the way is Adare. It is known for it’s brightly colored shops and Irish gardens. 

Notice the real thatched roof on this place and the end of the row of shops above!

    We stopped briefly at the Kerry Bog Museum. This is a small set of homes recreated in the style of the past. There was a blacksmiths home, Town Thatcher (who was a skilled tradesman and one of the wealthiest in the village), general laborer, and farmer.

    Outside each of the homes, there was a big pile of Peat for heating. Inside the homes, there were working models of life in yesteryear. 

    We stopped for a while at Glenbeigh Beach (beaches are also called Strands in Ireland). Here we walked along the shoreline and watched the waves of the North Atlantic crash ashore. There were a few brave souls who donned wetsuits and were actually surfing! 

    We left Glenbeigh and went up over the mountain pass to get back up on the Ring of Kerry Road. We stopped briefly to look back at the beach and got this great panorama.

    Now the Ring of Kerry is a road that encircles the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest corner of the country. It starts and ends in Killarney and shows the traveler a new, breathtaking view at every corner (and there are hundreds of corners!!!). One of the cutest sights this time of year is to check out the herds of sheep and see all of the new little lambs. If you’re lucky, you can catch them jumping and playing like only lambs can do. Pull off to the side of the road and stop, you can listen and hear them calling out to each other (and to their Mothers)!

Some more of the Ring...

    We arrived at our B&B with plenty of time for exploring the local sights. I had sent an email to the proprietor, Kathleen O’Sullivan (an Irish name if I ever heard one) when we made the reservations. When we got there, it turns out that they really didn’t plan on opening until the first of April, but Kathleen said that our note was so nice that they decided to open early, just for us! The home was situated on the banks of the inlet where the Atlantic Ocean comes in to Cahirsiveen. 

Here’s the view from the back yard. 

At the edge of town there is a castle called Balleycarberry. There is no OSHA in Ireland. This old castle just sits in the field, and you can climb all around it (at your own risk of course). It’s amazing to wander in the spiral stairways and come into the great hall, knowing that hundreds of years ago, someone lived here.

    The cathedral in town is the only one in Ireland that is named for a lay person! It is named for Daniel O’Connell who was the leader in the fight for Ireland’s independence.  Begun in 1884, it commands the view as it sits in the center of town. 

    After a quick supper, we retired to the sitting room to read and relax (pictured below). From here we watched the sun set over the hills and into the Atlantic. 

Ireland, Dublin to Kinnitty

    We got up fairly early and went down for our complimentary breakfast at the Croke Hotel. I expected some bread and cheese. What we got was a huge buffet with several cold cereals and enough to make a full Irish breakfast. What’s in an Irish Breakfast? It usually consists of an egg (fried or scrambled), bacon (actually slices of ham), fried tomato, hash brown, sausage link(s), and what is called black and white pudding. Both are kind of sausage patties of differing consistencies. I found that the black pudding was a little spicier and more to my taste. Add to this some toast and scones and you have breakfast. Needless to say, we didn’t eat lunch very often. 

    We left Dublin and drove northwest towards the little village of Trim. Here we visited Trim Castle (It is pictured behind Barb and I above). Trim Castle is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland and began construction in 1172. Mel Gibson used the castle and surrounding territory to film many of the battle scenes in the 1995 movie Braveheart. If you ask the guy at the ticket counter to see the “Braveheart Album” you can see some behind the scenes pictures they took during filming. You can see the grounds for a small fee, but for 1 Euro more you can get a guided tour inside the castle. This is one of the best values in Ireland! It was a great visit, even though the weather was pretty cool and overcast. 

    (View from atop the tower)

    (Entry to the castle through the “Town Gate”)

    After Trim we headed further into the Irish midlands. We traveled along the M6 for a while. Now Irish roads are named with a prefix that we assigned names for. Whether they’re right or not, I have no clue. “M” roads are like our Interstates. Wide, high speed expressways, sometimes with a toll involved. “N” roads are national and more like our state highways, only narrower with a little shoulder. “R” roads are regional and are like N roads only no shoulder. “L” roads are local and are kind of like a very narrow paved country road. 

Along the M6. Not bad and speed limit usually 120 kph (74.5 mph). 

This is an N road through a village. Notice there is room to park along the side of the road, but watch out when you get out of the car... you are in traffic!!

Another N road in the countryside. Notice the shoulder on the left side and no shoulder on the right. Speed limits here run from 80-100 kph! That’s upwards of 60 mph on this little bitty windy road. 

Here is an “R” road. You can see the edge has some wicked drops and potholes and the “shoulder” is usually a stone wall or hedgerow. Either way they are not forgiving. Speed limits here also ran from 80-100 kph!!! I could never get up the nerve to get above 80 on any of them. Narrow and winding and when you turned a corner there was a good chance of coming up on a tractor or flock of sheep!

Then there’s this one... Single lane and you can’t see from here, about an 800 foot sheer drop on the left. Every so often there is a small turnout to help when you meet someone going the other way. Somebody has to back up to the closest turnout. And yes, there are flocks of sheep that frequent the highway here also!

    Our next stop was the ancient monastery, Clonmacnoise. It was founded sometime around 545 to 548 by a monk named Cirian (pronounced like Keeran). It became a center of education, religion, and craftmanship. Many of the High Kings of Ireland are buried here. The buildings are fascinating to roam into and there are hundreds of Celtic Cross markers. It is thought that most of them commemorate a family member and not really a mark of a burial site. Some of the more intricate crosses have been moved into the visitors center to protect them from erosion and the elements. Copies have been put in their place outside where they were found. This place still is important in modern times. In the mid seventies, Pope John Paul held mass here. 

    From Clonmacnoise, it was a quick drive to the village of Kinnitty and our B&B, the Ardmore House. This is a quaint home in a small town at the base of the Slieve Bloom Mountains.

    Inside was very cozy, with a nice sitting room complete with a peat fire going in the fireplace. 

    If you’re not familiar, eat is basically prehistoric organic dirt bricks that burn. They give off a distinctive aroma and produce a nice warm fire. You can see the peat bricks in the basket in the photo below.  Peat production is a large industry in Ireland, harvesting done out in boglands with a special shovel, then laid out to dry before being burned.

    After checking in and visiting with the proprietor, Christina Byrne, we went to Kinnitty Castle for dinner. This magnificent castle is a great hotel with a very nice restaurant. We ate in the Library Bar and observed the sun setting over the grounds while we dined. 

    (This is the sitting room near the Library. Very ornate and elegant)

Then it was back to the B&B where we read, relaxed and prepared for the next day’s journey. 

The Emerald Isle

    A little over a week ago we boarded an Aer Lingus jet in Orlando and made the 8 hour plane flight to Dublin, Ireland. We left at 8:00 pm and arrived at 8:00 am the next morning thanks to all of the time zones. Our trip was a package deal that included the first night in the Croke Park hotel in Dublin, followed by three nights in Beds and Breakfasts of our choosing, then a night in the five star Ashford Castle (pictured above), and ending up for the last night again at the Croke in Dublin. To try to synopsize the trip into one blog just wouldn’t do (I’ve kissed the Blarney Stone and therefore have the gift of gab!). We took almost 500 photos alone! So I plan to break the trip up into a few blog entries and the best of our photos will occupy a place of honor on the “My Albums” page. So, let’s begin...

    Like I said, we got in to Dublin at 8:00 in the morning after an 8 hour flight. We tried our best to nap on the plane, but only managed a fitful couple of hours so we started off a little tired. We had a bit of an issue with the rental car regarding the collision damage waiver (a very important necessity for driving in Ireland). It took us a little while, but soon we we off to pick up our car. Did I say car? It was really more like a motorized roller skate! 

It was sufficient for our needs but, after driving a 40’ motorhome it took some getting used to. Now, not only was this a much smaller vehicle than I was used to, add to the mix the fact that you drive on the LEFT lane of the road, the steering wheel is on the RIGHT side of the car, and the gearshift is on your LEFT also! If this still wasn’t enough, lets throw the newbie American driver out into Dublin morning rush hour traffic!!! Wow, what an experience! Luckily I had a GPS as a part of the rental car. None of the streets in Dublin are straight. Going from point “A” to point “B” is a convoluted trip at best. Streets names are randomly posted so if the GPS says to turn on O’Connell street, you may or may not see a sign confirming. As such we took several wrong turns on our way to our Hotel.

    Add to all of the above stress, the fact that we had arranged for a Dublin City tour. This was a bus that picked us up at our hotel and dropped us off at several tourist stops within the city center, then returned us to our hotel. We made the reservation for 11:15, figuring we had plenty of time. With the delay at the airport, morning traffic, and inadvertent mis-navigation, we arrived at the hotel at 11:05! We rushed to drop our things in our room and ran to the lobby to wait... and wait... and wait! 11:15 came and went with no sign of the bus. The folks at the hotel tried to call the company and couldn’t get an answer. We reviewed the brochure and saw that their next stop was near us at 11:30 so we nabbed a taxi and screamed to the next stop to wait... and wait... A review of the assembled busses produced no one who knew of them. We dashed off to the next stop with similar results. We gave up at this point and had the cabbie take us back. I have to say that we did enjoy his company and got a good “quick” tour of the city center as we raced around. Once back at the hotel, we got onto the internet and sent a strong, but polite, email to the company. This is not the end of this particular story. Stay tuned...

    Croke Park is actually the huge stadium that houses Field hockey and Rugby matches. The hotel is just across the street from the stadium. Notice how they park in the photo below. No order is involved. No matter which direction you are traveling, if there’s an empty spot you grab it. 

    We decided to spend the afternoon walking the city center and seeing the sights. So we set off and hoofed a couple of miles to O’Connell Street. Here we saw the Post Office building. It was here where, during the Easter Rising of 1916, the building served as the headquarters for the leaders of the uprising. Eventually, Ireland gained their Independence and this building remains a symbol of Irish Nationalism. There are still bullet marks in the columns and a copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic is on display inside. 

    A little further down the road is the Ha Penny bridge. This used to be the only way to cross the river and it cost a half penny to do so. Today you don’t have to pay to cross, but there are beggars on both ends so it still could cost you to get over it. 

    Across the street from the bridge, and back a couple of blocks, you enter into the Temple Bar district. Here there are more pubs than you can count and in the evening, they come alive with music and merriment. The actual Temple Bar is the red colored establishment below. 

The downside to the live music is that nowhere do they begin before 9:30 at night. I’m an old fuddy duddy and usually I’m sitting comfortably in my hotel contemplating a good night’s rest by 9:30, so we didn’t hear much live music this trip. 

     

    You can’t have taverns without paying your penance. Near the Temple Bar district are two monumental churches, Christ Church and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Both of these are popular tourist stops and they charge for admission to the Cathedral, but there is no charge to wander the beautifully manicured grounds. St. Patrick’s Cathedral was begun in 1192, Christ Church was founded sometime around 1098!

   (Christ Church Cathedral)

   

 (St. Patrick’s Cathedral)

    As we walked along the streets we saw all of the brightly painted doors. We were told that this went back to the time when Queen Victoria died. Seems that all of Ireland was told to paint their doors black in mourning of the Queen. Now, you can’t tell an Irishman what to do (so I was told...) so contrary to directives, they painted their doors every color of the rainbow.  The second explanation given to us was that a husband used the excuse that they could not determine which was their own door when coming home from the pub to pardon their late arrival home was met with the practice of painting each door a unique and bright color.

    We were getting hungry, so we wandered back to the Temple Bar area and had a great dinner at the pub, complete with the national beer of Ireland... Guinness! While eating, there was a song playing in the pub that sounded familiar. Now only my kids will understand this, but the song was “All for me Grog”!! This is a tune that we have heard sung by the Jolly Rogers at innumerable Renaissance Festivals in Kansas City. My boys all know it by heart and it is one of those little moments shared by the family that brings a smile to my face. To hear it played in a pub in Ireland was magic. After all of the problems that started the trip, this was the sign that things were finally beginning to turn around. 

    We made it back to the hotel, a little footsore and tired but we had had a good visit. That evening, we got a call from the owner of Dublin City Tours and he was unbelievably apologetic about the mixup. He repeatedly expressed his apologies about “ruining our visit” and that was not how he did business. He thanked us for letting him know about our experience and told us that our email was very gracious. Since we were leaving the next morning, and not coming back to Dublin until later in the afternoon in a week, a reschedule was not possible. So, he proposed to refund our prepaid tour tickets, and also to pay our cab fare. In addition, to make up for our inconvenience, he wanted to treat us to an evening of food and Irish music when we came back to Dublin. We agreed and that evening, someone delivered an envelope to the hotel desk with our full refund plus the cab fare. This was very gracious of him, and he was a very nice gentleman to talk with. Things were indeed looking better. We went to bed exhausted but excited about getting out into the countryside in the morning.