The Adventures of O'Sandi in Ireland - Day 4...

Today, Saturday, March 30th, we are headed to the Cliffs of Moher and will end the day at Bunratty Castle for a medieval dinner and show.

We left Killarney and headed to the Cliffs of Moher. Here are a few pictures of the drive.

These are stacks of peat bricks in a bog area.

We had to cross the Shannon Estuary to get to the Cliffs of Moher. The Shannon River is the long river going through the middle of Ireland. It ends near Limerick and a body of water is formed from there into the Atlantic Ocean. This body of water is the Shannon Estuary. Our coach parked in the queue at Tarbert and we took the ferry across the Shannon Estuary to Kilrush.

Our coach would continue on through County Clare to the Cliffs of Moher.

And then we had arrived. The Cliffs of Moher are a five mile stretch of 700 foot high cliffs along the west coast of Ireland. These are phenomenally beautiful. However, our first view was the visitor's center and I was just sure I was in a Hobbit movie. It is literally carved into the side of the hill. There are also four shops carved into the hill to the right of this picture.

There appears to be a path from the visitor's center all along the coast that you could walk and view them. We did not have enough time or energy in that very cold wind to walk five miles. But we did hike up and view them from two vantage points.

Claude and I enjoyed the tiny little fishing boat out in the water with a flock of bird out in front of him sitting on the water. Claude assured me they were Puffins. This is one of my favorite birds. I'm sure Claude was saying that for my benefit because you truly could not tell what kind of birds there were all the way out in the ocean.

You can also see the Aran Islands from this point on the cliffs. These islands are just bare and the people that live on them still speak Gaelic as their primary language. They also raise sheep and use that wool to make beautiful sweaters with geometric patterns knitted into them. Claude got one of these at the Blarney Woolen Mills for his souvenir.

On a clear day you could see all the way to Galway but it wasn't quite clear enough for us.

Claude and I had lunch in the visitor's center cafe and then went to the gift shops. We purchased me a little silver Claddagh ring. This is a ring filled with symbolism. I had a dear friend in Maryland who was Irish and received her Claddagh ring as her wedding ring. That was the first I learned of them. This ring has a heart on it that symbolizes love, a crown that symbolizes loyalty and two hands holding the heart that symbolize friendship. If you are married or spoken for you wear the crown toward your fingers and the heart so the point is facing your body. If you are single you wear the crown facing your body and the heart facing your fingers.

There was an Irish harp replica in front of the music store so we took the opportunity for another photo of Claude and me.

We all boarded the coach and Gerald headed toward Limerick where our hotel would be for that evening only.  He did stop for pictures of a most moving monument.

This monument is at Ennistymon. It is near the site where the workhouse would have stood. Between the years 1845-1848 a blight hit the potato crop and cause the Famine or Great Hunger. Over 1,000,000 people died as a result. For a small country this is a huge percentage of their population. The bulk of these deaths were in West Clare and West Cork counties. This monument depicts a child standing and knocking at the door of the workhouse. The workhouse if full and cannot take anymore people until someone inside dies. This child is separated from his family who are in the workhouse. Does that not break the heart strings or what??

On we head to Limerick.

Along the way we noticed this string of camper type vehicles.

Mary told us these are 'travelers'. She told us it is no longer politically correct to call them gypsies, however that is probably what we know them as. Yep, I had heard of gypsies but not travelers. I actually thought I was the travel on this journey???  She told us the government is trying to get them to settle down so their children can receive an education.

As we arrived in Limerick we passed Bunratty Castle where we would dine that evening. First we checked into what would be our favorite hotel room of the trip at a Radisson Blu. Then after a short rest we all met at the coach to go to Bunratty Castle for a medieval dinner and entertainment.

Outside Bunratty Castle is Bunratty Folk Park. It has buildings from the medieval times to stroll through. They actually have festivals there at times.

We would enter Bunratty Castle on the ground floor where there were museum type displays about the castle and its history. Then we would go to the middle floor for some 'mead' and entertainment. Once again I found myself in a little turret with tiny spiral staircases. Fortunately it was only one floor. Since our group were mostly members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and don't drink, our 'mead' was a punch. The entertainment was a violinist and a harpist. They were excellent. The room filled with people.

On the two end walls of this large room were large ancient deer antlers. These deer do not exist anymore. Their antlers are only found in bogs. These antlers can only be displayed in this type of an environment.

After all guests arrived we were asked to go up just one more turret filled with tiny steps on a spiral ladder to the banquet room. This room was filled with long tables. Our group had one very long table. We also had in our group a young couple who were just married the week before. They were on their honeymoon with the bride's parents and would go on to Scotland when the rest of us headed back to the States. This young couple were given the honor of being the Earl and Lady for the evening. They sat across the table from Claude and me for dinner.

The meal came in courses and we were only given a cup to drink from and a steak knife for a utensil. Our first course was a delicious soup, then we had ribs, then a tiny bird of some sort, then we were given a yummy dessert. Bread was offered throughout the meal. Love me some soda bread.

The entertainment continued throughout the evening. The minstral box in the room was used to start the evenings entertainment by making an announcement from there. There were madrigal singers, the harp and violin were played, someone ended up in the dungeon, and the list goes on. It was a delightful evening and the food was great.

Alan asked us to remain after the other guests left and he took this wonderful picture of our tour group in Bunratty Castle.

The Adventures of O'Sandi in Ireland - Day 3...

Our Friday, March 29th, would begin with breakfast for all of us at the Riverview Hotel. Then we would board our coach for a full day ride around the Ring of Kerry.

Mary, our tour guide, told us they think of Ireland as the shape of a teddy bear. Think of the bear sitting with his legs out to the left side. The head would be the northern Ireland portion. We didn't venture into that area much. From the neck down is southern Ireland were we spent most of our vacation. On the west side of Ireland is the Atlantic Ocean. On the southern half of this west coast of Ireland are three peninsulas. These would be the feet and arms of the teddy bear. They are each beautiful in their own right. The Ring of Kerry on the Iveragh Peninsula is the center of these peninsulas and that is where our tour would take us.

First we stopped at St. Anne's Cathedral in Killarney. While not Catholic I still love to visit a Catholic cathedral. They are magnificent creations and ,for a person who likes to take photographs, they provide many, many wonderful angles and views. St. Anne's was our first cathedral to visit and it did not disappoint in the least. Here are a few pictures from St. Anne's Cathedral in Killarney, Ireland.

The first town of any size we passed through was Killorgin.

Along the highway were these bushes that were filled with yellow buds or flowers. Mary explained they were 'gorse' bushes. In Winnie the Pooh he gets stuck in a bush at some point and that bush is a gorse bush. They reminded me of sage brush out west in America. They have the fragrance of almonds. However, their little leaves are really pointed and with the power to stick you real good. Gerald, our coach driver, pulled to the side of the highway so we could take some pictures of gorse bushes. I snapped a twig and took it back to the bus for those who didn't feel they wanted to traipse out into the cold air for this photo op.

Gerald would also stop at a lookout along the coast.

It seems Queen Victoria came to Ireland. When she came she brought her own train!!! They literally had to build rail tracks for her train. This is one of those tracks that has been abandoned.

On the outskirts of Cahersiveen we pause to view a monument to Daniel O'Connell. I was more impressed with this view of a little river headed to the ocean.

And a little further down that same highway was a monument to St. Brendan, the Patron Saint of Kerry, the county we were driving through. This St. Brendan was quite the adventurer and in his little boat traveled to American before Columbus. Image that!

Our next stop was on Valentia Island to visit the Skellig Experience. This facility is a museum, theater, cafe and gift shop to help visitors learn about the Skelligs.

There are three islands off the coast of the Iveragh Peninsula which the Ring of Kerry goes around. These are very rugged peaks coming out of the ocean. The largest of these is called The Great Skellig or Skellig Michael. This island seemed the perfect place for monastic monks to live in solitude and draw closer to God. Overtime they constructed three stone step paths up the sheer rock faces of this island. They constructed a monastery complex which eventually included dwelling places, a large and small oratory and a medieval church with cemetery. Further up the face of this imposing rock was an even more secluded spot where a monk could go on his own for long periods of solitude. Only when the seas allow is there a boat to take tourist to the islands where they may climb Skellig Michael at their own risk. Fortunately, the seas were not in good humor when we visited the Skellig Experience. Small Skellig is a bird sanctuary and thousands of birds reside all over its rock face. These pictures were on the back of a book about the Ring of Kerry we bought while in Ireland.

Portmagee is across the channel of water there. After our tour of the Skellig Experience, I braved the wind to take pictures of the spot on Valentia Island and Portmagee.

Then we were off to complete the rest of the Ring of Kerry.

As we left the Ring of Kerry we entered the Killarney National Park. This park has three big lakes connected by rivers. There are also oak forests.

Before returning to our hotel we stopped at Muckross House. This was owned at one time by a very wealthy who really, really, really wanted a title. When Queen Victoria came to visit Ireland, he invited her to stay at his home. He borrowed great sums of money to refurbish his home and make it suitable for a Queen to stay for a week. Queen Victoria arrived with two fire brigades. She was deathly afraid of fire from a bad encounter with one as a child. She would not stay on the top floor of the home so three rooms on the main floor were converted as her apartment while she visited for only three days. She also insisted on a fire escape from this set of room so the owner of this home incurred more expense in building a metal fire escape out of the back of his home. Queen Victoria also arrived with her militia of 200 men and her own personal family and attendants. No small group of people. The end of story is this man did not get a title and he lost his home because of the debt he incurred. According to Mary, he was not at all liked by the people of Killarney.

This picture of the back of Muckross House shows the three rooms used by Queen Victoria. They are the main level and begin at the left side of the house with the room with four windows, then the room next to it with two windows and finally the room with the metal fire escape out the center set of window/doors.

Such amazing scenery this day. I expected green rolling patchwork hills with stone fences. I found some terrain just like out west in America, ocean scapes to rival any I have ever seen and more bogs than I ever imagined. One never tires of the old castles and towers that pop up all over. Such a long history in Ireland. We seem fascinated when something in the States was from the 1700's. Here we find things from 200AD. Just a wonderful day.