Ireland

A few months ago Russ and I found a GREAT deal on Travelzoo to go to Ireland. It was only $799 a person for your airfare, 6 nights in a 3 bedroom villa & a rental car!! When we told our dear friends the Parkins about it, they were glad to go with us.

We flew into Dublin and picked up our rental car and drove 2 hours south to Adare, just south of Limerick. Although we did a lot of driving, it was nice to have a home base to come back to each night with everything we needed.

Our first day we drove to the Cliffs of Moher. It is one of Ireland's most famous places to visit. For five miles, the dramatic cliffs soar as high as 650 ft. above the Atlantic.

Their cemeteries are beautiful with little individual gardens for each grave site.

Ashford Castle is a medieval castle that has been expanded over the centuries and turned into a five star luxury hotel near Cong. It was first built in 1228, but has been added onto several times over the years. It became a hotel around the 1940's where many famous people have stayed. It sits on 26,000 acres and I enjoyed walking the lovely grounds and listening to the birds singing.

Lynette and Rich

In 1951 "The Quiet Man," starring John Wayne & Mauren O'Hara was filmed here. The castle grounds & nearby Cong were used for much of the filming.

There is an Abby near the castle that was built in the late 1100's. Down the path from the Abby the Monks built this fishing hut in the 15th or 16th century. They built it right on the bank of the river so that the river flowed underneath. They lowered a net though the floor and attached a bell to the rope; whenever a fish was netted, the bell would ring.

 We saw many houses with ivy growing all over them.

This was more restaurant than bar and was our favorite that we ate at. Its in Cong & was one of the original sites in the film "The Quiet Man". It was so cute inside and the food was delicious!!

This is a very traditional Irish dish. Its mashed potatoes, cabbage & bacon (ham). It was SO good!

Today we drove The Ring of Kerry. Its a 120 mile loop that is a winding coastal road with mountains, lakes, beautiful towns & plenty of stops. 

 Muckross House is one of the best Victorian homes you'll see in Ireland. It was built in 1843 and has 65 rooms and sits on 11,000 acres. In 1932 it was given to Ireland and became the first National Park in the Republic of Ireland. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside. I think the grounds were more spectacular than Ashford Castle we saw the day before.

 All over Ireland are green fields with sheep. There are stores everywhere that sell wool blankets, sweaters, scarfs, etc. This loom was in the Muckross house. There seemed to always be a very cold wind while we were there so Lynette and I purchased these scarfs there and they were great!!

Ireland's climate and plants are sooo similar to Washington!!

 They had a lovely cafe on the grounds that we couldn't miss trying out!

 I loved all the colorful shops in all the towns we went through.

They were all so clean and well kept.

Ring of Kerry

Daniel O'Connell

Daniel was Ireland's most influential pre-independence politician, who gained equality for Catholics 185 years ago. He was the first Catholic member of the British Parliament. 

We have this same plant at our lake house, but it never gets this big. Russ loves this plant.

Derrynane House and Chapel. Daniel lived much of his life here off and on.

We watched a 20 minute film about him and it sounds like he was a really great man. He married his 3rd cousin.

Great fish and chips!

 Rock of Cashel

This was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years. In 1101, the King of Munster donated his fortress on the Rock to the Church.

 It was REALLY windy and cold here!!

Lynette & Rich

 There is a stone wall all the way around the Rock of Cashel. Not sure what these ruins were. It was a beautiful valley around it.

Beautiful fields on our drive!

 I loved all the flowers growing out of the stone walls.

Hurling is a huge sport in Ireland.

 Kilkenny Castle built in 1195.

 The castle was transferred to the people of Kilkenny in 1967 & is managed by the Office of Public Works. Part of it is used for a conference center now, but you can still tour a section that they've renovated.

This little wooden stand to the right of the fireplace can slide up and down. We were told because woman's make- up back then had so much wax in it, if they sat  to close to the fireplace it would melt. These wooden stands would be placed in front of a woman & slid up or down to protect their face.

Thus, the expression "saving face."

They drink tons of beer (Guinness) in Ireland by the pint that originated in Dublin in the 1700's.

We'd see loads of these empty kegs sitting outside of pubs.

 St. Mary's Cathedral

Black Abbey Church, built in 1225.

 St. Canice's Cathedral dates from the 13th Century

This 100 ft. tower is from the 9th century. We were going to climb all the stairs in it, but it had already closed when we arrived.

 Below is an interesting story about where we had dinner today. (Above)

 Sunday was a beautiful day and our prayers were answered to help us find the church!! We left in plenty of time, according to our GPS, but there was a marathon going on in Limerick. Because of this many of the smaller roads were closed. We were already 15 past the time when we should have arrived.  When we finally reached the name of the street we were suppose to be on, the GPS said to turn right. A policeman was there and assured us the road was closed and we couldn't go right. He told us to turn left as we were blocking traffic and as we turned, one block down on the left was the church!! We made it just as they were finishing the Sacrament hymn!!

 All the meetings were excellent. The mission President spoke in Sacrament Meeting. Ireland is in the Scotland Mission. In Sunday school the lesson was on keeping the Sabbath Day holy & we had a joint meeting the last hour on "The Tree of Life." After the meetings the Branch had a munch and mingle & the members were so friendly. I loved all the different nationalities and you could feel the love everyone had for each other. They made us feel right at home.

There was a small grocery store in Adare that had meals all put together. All you had to do was put it in the oven.

Our 3 bedroom villa in Adare.

 We took a nice walk around Adare today. It has several thatched roof buildings, a beautiful park and lots of colorful buildings. It was a nice little town to stay in and in a good central location.

 Blennerville Windmill was built in 1800 and stands 21.3 meters high. It was used to grind corn for locals and Britain. By 1881 it fell into ruins due to more modern use of steam and the river. In 1981 Tralee District Council purchased it and restored it. It opened up again in 1990. There's a tour of the five story windmill detailing the grain milling process. It was very interesting.

 From Blennerville we drove to the Dingle Peninsula, the westernmost tip of Ireland. It was a VERY narrow road in parts and caused much stress on our driver! It was a BEAUTIFUL drive though and we had a lovely day!!

 These rock walls or others similar, (many of them looking REALLY old ) are everywhere in Ireland.

 Dingle

 No trip is complete without ice cream, especially soft serve Nutella.

 We had a nice walk down here!

As you can see Russ and Rich were ELATED to drop off the car with NO scratches or dents!!

In Ireland you drive on the left side of the street, which means you drive on the other side of the car, which means you shift your manual shift car with your left hand. Ireland has one of the highest rates of car accidents from tourist & they have very strict rules about renting a car!! We saw one just like ours parked where we were staying that was scrapped along the whole left side! I think each of them only went in the wrong lane once, but the rest of us caught them. 

We are SOOO thankful for the protection we had, the lovely weather we had, the beautiful scenery we saw, all the friendly Irish people we met and great friends to share it with:)

I have to say though, that our flight home was LONG!! We arrived at our house at 5:00 am. Wednesday morning and Russ had to be to work at 6:00 am. Somehow he pulled it off!