Aug. 11 – Long weekend in Ireland. Man did we plan too much. We flew to Dublin Thursday night and found our hotel with no problem. Jay had to get use to driving on the left side of the road and the steering wheel on the right side of the car. I’m glad it was him driving and not me. Nice hotel and OK breakfast. We took a taxi into the center of Dublin and our first stop was to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Old Library. Trinity College is the Hogsworth of Ireland. The Book of Kells was written over 1000 years ago and it contains lavishly decorated copy in Latin of the four gospels. We then walked into the Old Library. It was amazing to see the long hallway and the two floors filled with old books.
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| Trinity College |
We then walked to Dublin Castle. Only one tower is left after a fire in the 1600’s. Our next stop was to Christ Church Cathedral which was built in 1030. We decided to get on the Hop On Hop Off Bus since it was raining and to get a little more history of Dublin. We stopped at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and then on to Guinness Storehouse and Tour. Very interesting tour. Albert G. Guinness had 21 kids. No wonder why he built the brewery. In 1759 he agreed to pay the city 45 pounds a year for 9000 years for the land (now 63 acres). Today the visitor’s area is a 7 story building where you learn how Guinness is made. After you climb all the stairs to the top you are given a free glass of beer. Well deserved after the climb. The bartender that gave us our beer, made a shamrock in the foam.
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| Inside Christ Church |
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| Inside St. Patrick's |
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| Model of Guinness Brewery |
We then decided to go to the Temple Bar area of Dublin to find something to eat. We ate at Gallagher’s Boxty House. We had the “Early Bird Special” menu, which is a 3 course meal. Jay had Leek and potato soup, Chicken Boxty (chicken in a crepe with a gravy on top) very good, and Bailey’s cheesecake, which was very light fluffy. I had spicy beef salad, lamb Irish stew and bananas with butterscotch in a crepe. Jay’s dinner was much better than mine. Jay of course had a beer, Murphy’s Red Beer. After dinner we went back to the hotel to get the car to drive to our next stop which was about 1 ½ hours west of Dublin. Jay ignored the GPS (imagine that) so we missed our exit and had to drive 20 kilometers to turn around.
We stayed at a bed and breakfast. The owners have been doing this for over 20 years. Very nice house, very small room, the bed was very uncomfortable (I think the mattress has been there since they opened) and the shower was horrible, little water pressure, but we had a great breakfast. Jay had the traditional Irish breakfast, which is fried egg, bacon (slice of ham) sausage, potatoes and black and white pudding. Black and white pudding is not pudding but ground up meat sliced very thick and then fried.
After breakfast we headed west towards Galway Bay and to the Cliffs of Moher. We stopped at Dunguaire Castle, on the south shore of Galway Bay. The castle was built in 1520. This castle is used to host medieval dinners in the banquet hall. We climbed to the top where we had some beautiful views of the bay. Unfortunately we were there at low tide, so the bay was mainly mud.
An interesting drive from the castle brought us to The Cliffs of Moher. The road along the coast was very narrow and twisty. At times we had to slow down and pull to the left edge of the road scrapping the bushes with the side of the car. Jay commented that this would be a good drive with the Triumph (except for the scrapping part). The Cliffs rise about 700 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. The Cliffs were absolutely beautiful. They are on the list to be one of the new seven wonders of nature. We walked along one of the trails on the edge of the cliff. There was a sign that said “Private Property” but everyone, including us, ignored the sign and continued on walking on the cliffs edge. The Cliffs of Moher were in a few of the Harry Potter movies.
As we were making our way to Blarney, we stopped in Limerick at King John’s Castle. Looked very impressive from the outside overlooking the River Shannon, but it wasn’t one of the best castles we toured.
Our final stop of the day was to Blarney where we stayed at the Blarney Castle Hotel. We had dinner at the hotel. Jay had seafood chowder, roasted hake and vegetables. I had chicken breast stuffed with onions, mushrooms and meat wrapped in bacon (ham) along vegetables and potatoes. We went to an Irish Pub down the street for dessert where Jay had an Irish coffee with strawberry cheesecake. The cheesecake was very light and fluffy, similar to a mousse. I had Traditional Apple Pie.
The next morning we had the traditional Irish breakfast before heading to Blarney Castle where we toured the castle and made our way to the top to kiss the blarney stone. To kiss the stone you have to lie on your back over an opening in the wall, five stories above the ground, hanging on to two metal bars. Legend is that if you kiss the blarney stone you will have the gift of eloquence bestowed upon you – “The Gift of the Gab”. This is one of the best castles so far that we have visited. On the grounds area there is a house, but since it was Sunday it wasn’t open to tour, but the walk was nice. We also visited the “Poison Garden” where there are all kinds of poisonous plants. They did have an example of a cannabis plant, but the sign said that the police had confiscated it.
Our next stop of the day was to the town of Cork, where we stopped at St. Anne’s Church. At the church we rang the Shandon Bells. You could play different songs on the bells – Jay played “This Land is Your Land” and I played “Kumbaya”. I am sure the people that live around the church just love hearing those bells all day. The church was built in 1722 and is one of the oldest churches in Cork.
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| View of Cork from bell tower |
From Cork we drove to Waterford (home of Waterford Crystal). Since we were pressed for time we didn’t go on the tour. They had several pieces on display – Cinderella’s Carriage cost 30,000.00 Euros about $43,000.00. Needless to say, we didn’t buy the carriage. I can’t remember what the Viking ship cost, but we didn’t buy that either. We were just hoping not to break anything as we walked through the store. We stopped at a bar (The Munster) across the street for a beer (Smithwicks) and fish and chips. Very good fish and chips.
We then drove and took a ferry to Hook Head Peninsula, where we visited the Hook Lighthouse. This is the oldest operational lighthouse in the world. It is now operated by computers out of Dublin (Dublin is about 2 hours away). Of course we climbed to the top of the lighthouse.
Our final stop for the day was our hotel. It was OK – wouldn’t stay there again. We asked for a few recommendations for dinner in Kilkenny. We were told that we need to eat by 9:00 p.m. since that is when they stop serving meals since it is time to drink for the Irish, and he was right. We ran into some folks from Massachusetts and Virginia while we were looking for the recommended restaurants. They had eaten at one of the restaurants and said that the atmosphere was nice but the food was not very good. We went into a local pub and ordered dinner. Afterwards, we stopped at a different pub for dessert and since it was after 9:00 we were told that the cook was gone for the day and they were no longer serving food. We went back to the pub we ate dinner at and stayed there for a while since they were going to have some traditional Irish music later. The four piece band played some good Irish music.
Breakfast at the hotel was one fried egg with sliced packaged ham and different cheeses. One of the cheeses looked like Kraft individually wrapped American cheese. Jay said that the coffee was good; it was served in a coffee press. Not the best of breakfasts. Before leaving Kilkenny, we stopped and toured Kilkenny Castle. Kilkenny Castle was built in the 13th century. The castle later became the residence of the Butler family for almost 600 years. In 1971 it was given to the people of Kilkenny for a payment of just 45 pounds. Since that time they have been restoring the castle. Our next stop was to The Black Abbey. The Black Abbey was built in 1225 and is one of the oldest churches in Ireland. The stain glass inside was beautiful. The Black Abby still functions as a catholic church. Our final stop before the airport was to The Cathedral Church of St. Canice. Outside the cathedral there is a tower which was built in 849. We didn’t climb this one even though it was only 100 feet high. The cathedral was completed in 1285. In a remote corner of the cathedral, there is a stone chair called St. Kleran’s Chair. This chair is still used today when a bishop is enthroned. It really doesn’t seem fitting for a bishop. In another part of the cathedral there is a more modern chair for the bishop.
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| Inside The Black Abbey |
A few closing observations about Ireland. Every placed we stopped at it seemed that every tour cost 6 Euros each. As we were driving in Ireland we noticed that every second house is a Bed and Breakfast. They must get some kind of tax write off to have a B&B. We also noticed that some of the trees were already starting to change color. After driving in Ireland I can see why at the end of the night everyone is at the Irish pubs drinking, and the Irish can sure drink!! I was ready for one and I was just the passenger. Jay mentioned that on our next vacation he would like to stay in the same hotel more than one night instead of 4 different hotels in 4 nights like we did on this trip. Ireland can’t be seen in 3 ½ days, but we really enjoyed what we did see. We planned way too much for the short time that we were there, but all in all it was a great trip.
