 |
| Oh what a beautiful place! |
Mom, Dad, Isaac and I went to Ireland the weekend before Mom and Dad left to go on their cruise back home. What a great trip this was - we learned a lot about our heritage - like the city of Cork (our ancestors are from County Cork) has a museum all about butter and the city of Kinsale has a museum all about wine - no wonder our family likes wine and butter so much! Another thing we noticed was all the different shades of green in the landscape - Ireland is definitely a beautiful place.
We went to London the day before we left for Ireland - Mom and Isaac checked out Herrods and Hamley's Toy Store while Dad and I got all our luggage out to the hotel. We met at a quaint little pub for lunch. Isaac and I then went to the Museum of Natural History while mom and dad went back to Herrods and then to the Victoria & Albert Museum. I was so excited to get to go to the Museum of Natural History - I have seen the building from the outside and always wanted to go inside of it. The architecture in the building is amazing and the displays are really cool.
 |
| Cheers! |
 |
| More pub food - YUM! |
 |
| Front door of the museum |
 |
| Foyer of the museum - what a cool dinosaur! |
If you want to see more pictures of our trip to the museum, please feel free to browse the photos posted on my Facebook page. We called it an early night in London, which was a good thing, because we ended up having to be up at 0300 so we could get to Heathrow in time to catch our very early flight to Dublin. After landing in Dublin, we picked up our rental car and drove out of Dublin as quickly as we could. After taking a few wrong turns, we ended up getting out of the city, which was a good thing. Dad was our courageous driver and he actually did quite well considering he was driving a car with a stick shift on the left side of the road. The strange thing is that not only do you drive on the left side of the road here, you have to shift with your left hand, so everything seems backwards to us American drivers. Add to this the complexity of round-abouts with poorly marked directions, and you have a recipe for a wild ride...in fact, as we were driving through Ireland, I was reminded of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, one of Mia's favorite rides at Disney World!
 |
| You're doing good, Dad - just stay to the left - well done! |
The ride out of Dublin was a little stressful. It took us a while to understand the flow of traffic and read the maps. However, Dad was a trooper and we made it out of Dublin as fast as we could and headed towards Kinsale. About 2/3 of the way there, we decided to stop in a village called Cashel.
Cashel is a quaint town in southern part of County Tipperary. It was a great place to stop for lunch...just ask Mom - here is a funny story from our trip....We entered a pub that Rick Steeves suggested we eat at for lunch. We walk into the pub and there is no one there except for a woman who works there. Mom asks her when they serve lunch. The woman stated they served lunch after 11:00 - Mom says, "Well it is too bad we missed it; is there somewhere else we can go for lunch?" The woman directs us towards a nice little restaurant up the street. Dad and I just looked at Mom in a funny way and followed her across the street to the restaurant. When we sit down, I reoriented Mom - I reminded her that it was only 10:40 AM. All of a sudden she realized how funny she sounded at the pub - we didn't miss lunch - it hadn't even started! This just goes to show you how disoriented you can get when you are sleep deprived!
 |
| Lunch in Cashel - Isaac has fish and chips - again! |
After filling our stomachs, we decided to wander around Cashel for a while. Cashel comes from the word, Caiseal, which means "stone fort." Cashel is a very historic town complete with ruins from medieval abbeys and monasteries.
 |
| Monastery in Cashel |
But the thing that draws the most visitors to Cashel is "The Rock of Cashel" also known as St. Patrick's Rock and Cashel of the Kings. The Rock is really cool - we could see it as we approached Cashel and knew immediately we had to get up close to it.
 |
| View of the Rock of Cashel as you enter the town |
 |
| View of the Rock as we approached it |
Not only does this place look cool, but it also has great historical significance. The Rock of Cashel is the place where Aenghus the King of Munster was converted by St. Patrick in the 5th century AD - this happened even before the Norman invasion! However, most of the structure that is here today is from the 12th and 13th century. In 1101, the King of Munster gave the Rock to the church, and Cashel became the seat of an archbishop. Although we did not have time to tour the inside of this great structure, we did get to see the outside of it. We also walked past it and were able to view some other ruins from what I think was another abbey.
We really enjoyed our time in Cashel - we had good food, a much needed rest, and we were able to see our first Irish sheep!
As we started walking back to our car, we saw some really cute little cottages and we ended up finding a restaurant that reminded us of Leslie, my sister-in-law!
Since our hearts had finally stopped pounding and our nerves had recovered, we decided it was time to get back into the car and get to Kinsale before dark. One thing we noticed about the roads in Ireland is that they are REALLY narrow. In fact, there are many roads that are not big enough for one car that actually are considered 2-way roads. It is truly amazing that more people don't die on the Irish roadways! Fortunately, we had several angels on our shoulders and we finally made it to Kinsale.
 |
| The view of the harbor outside of our condo |
Kinsale is in the southwestern portion of Ireland and is in County Cork, Ireland - which is where our ancestors are from originally. Kinsale is another medieval town that is known for great food, its Spanish influence, fresh seafood, and phenomenal pubs...talk about a place where our family feels right at home! Fish, ale and food - it just doesn't get much better than this! We stayed at a nice condo called Sam's Studio that was really located in Scilly (pronounced "Silly").
 |
| Living room and sun porch |
 |
| Breakfast - can you tell Isaac is possessed by his buttered bread?!? |
 |
The front door and our little car - Dad had to go straight up a steep hill and then back into this parking spot...
To get out, we had to go up the hill and then back out onto another hill behind us - it was treacherous, but
Dad drove it like a pro...even with the backseat comments from Mom :) |
When we got to Kinsale, we first had to figure out how to get to our condo. The directions to the condo were quite strange - basically we were told to take a severe left turn back up the road toward the Spaniard Pub and Charles Fort once we got into the town of Kinsale. Well I am not sure how people would really make this severe left turn. Basically to turn up the road to the condo, you would have to almost turn back upon yourself - the 2 roads came together in a V - picture yourself driving down the left-hand side of the V and then having to turn left at the tip to go up the right hand side of the V - this turn was virtually impossible, especially when there are cars coming toward you! Instead of negotiating this hairpin turn, we went into the town and then came back up toward the road from the town centre.
Once we got into the condo, Dad and I decided we needed a drink...and it was a well-deserved drink! Fortunately for us, the Spaniard Pub was just right at the top of the hill from our condo.
 |
| The Spaniard Pub |
The Spaniard is also in the town of Scilly - outside of Kinsale. Scilly got its name from the Cornish sailors who settled here. The Spaniard quickly became our favourite hangout in Kinsale. The pub was built on the remains from a castle in or about 1650. In the 1960's, its new owners named the pub, The Spaniard. The pub is named after a famous Spaniard, Don Juan d'Aquila, who was the commander of the Spanish forces in the battle of Kinsale in 1601. Lucky for us, the pub is full of locals who love to tell tales and sing songs - it is definitely a traditional Irish pub. They also serve great food and awesome ale!
 |
| Cheers! We have finally finished driving for the day! |
 |
| Dad had mussels - appropriate for a man who just drove 3 hours from Dublin to Kinsale! |
 |
| Isaac and his signature dish...fish and chips with mushy peas! |
While we were eating, we started talking with the bartender and several of the bar patrons. There was one very tall man who reminded me of my cousin, Big Mike - I think this man was as tall as my cousin, and you could tell they are both Irish :)
 |
What a cute little door at the pub - it used to be the door for a bird cage!
And, no, I didn't change my clothes - we just came here a lot :) |
Isaac and I left the pub after dinner to go to the condo and wind down while Mom and Dad stayed for another pint. It was a good thing they stayed - they started talking with the tall man, named Mark, who we lovingly called Big Mark - they also talked with Mark's friends and the bartender. While they were at the bar, we were invited to a birthday party that was to occur the next day. Mom and Dad were told we should come because the birthday girl loves Americans - what a fun place! Well, as they were talking, the guys at the pub realized that we were trying to figure out what to do the next day. We had been thinking about driving the Ring of Kerry - which is a gorgeous and famous drive, but the roads are very treacherous and we heard nightmares about what would happen if you encountered a bus. Big Mark and his friends took the time to map out a route for us that would allow us to enjoy the scenery of Ireland but hopefully avoid the huge buses and throngs of tourists. I lovingly called this trip the "Ring of Big Mark". I'll tell you - Big Mark and his friends should really go into the tourist business. The route they mapped out for us was beautiful...and I could tell Dad was getting more comfortable with driving and that the roads were a little less scary because Mom only swore about every 20 - 30 minutes from the back seat :)
 |
The Ring of Big Mark - Kinsale to Macroom to Kenmare then to:
Bantry, Ballydehob, Skibbereen, Dromberg, Old Head and back to The Spaniard in Kinsale! |
Our first stop was at Kenmare. This is a great little place - it is part of the Ring of Kerry and is at the foot of the Kerry and Cork mountains. It was developed in 1670 by Sir William Petty and still has many of its original historic sites, so it is very picturesque and had great things to see such as the Holy Cross Church which was consecrated in 1864. The ceiling is made out of wood from the Black Forest in Germany, and there are angels at the top of the ceiling.
 |
| Carved wooden angel |
 |
| Holy Cross Altar |
We also got to see the ocean, the Kenmare Stone Circle and we found some great food and drink as well!
 |
| The port of Kenmare - It was a windy but beautiful day to see the ocean! |
 |
| Our great lunch and... |
 |
| Sustenance so we could make it to the stone circle! |
 |
| The walk up to the Kenmare Stone Circle |
 |
| These are some really old rocks - WOW! |
 |
Stone circle dating back to the Early Bronze Age, about 3000 years ago!
Stones like these are not found in the Kenmare area so they had to be brought here from several miles away |
It is thought this stone circle was probably used by Druid priests. It is 17 meters in diameter and although the stones are not huge, you just have to wonder why these stones were brought here from so far away such a long time ago and how the people who built the circle got the stones here in the first place...these rocks may not be huge, but they are heavy!
 |
A "reenactment" of the stone circle...on a much smaller scale!
We saw this on the foot path on our way to the actual stone circle site - what a hoot! |
 |
| Gate leading to and from the stone circle |
 |
| A view of downtown Kenmare |
 |
| River running through Kenmare |
 |
| A friendly Kenmarian...Too bad we couldn't take her home with us; she was a doll! |
Mom met this really nice older lady on our way out of town. She was a Kenmare native and was really sweet. It was too bad we didn't have time to take her for a cup of tea. I think she thought we were a little crazy, but she humored us and talked with mom while they walked together. At the end of the path, our little friend went on her way while we climbed back into the car and continued our journey. I have to wonder what she told her friends and family about us! As we drove south from Kenmare towards Bantry, we saw this really cool place to stop...we are not sure what it was called, but it was beautiful!
We found a really cool old car - too bad it wasn't our rental! - and we also ran into a druid - he was kind of scary looking, but fortunately, he didn't bite :) After soaking in the great views we climbed back into the car and kept driving south. It is important to explain that it sounds quite simple as I say, we climbed into the car and kept driving. The reality of this statement is that Dad, Isaac, Mom and I will probably never forget the tight hairpin turns and the really narrow roads in Ireland. Even though we had a little car, there were times when you could hardly get one car to go through the roads. This being said, we saw some of the most gorgeous country sites as we completed the circle of Big Mark and for the most part, we avoided the buses and other large vehicles, which was quite fortunate for us...and for the other drivers on the road!
 |
| A view out of our windshield - look for that...tree! |
 |
| Another look out our windshield - the trees almost formed a tunnel! |
As we got further south, we continued through more mountains and then ended up back by the ocean.
 |
| Somewhere near Ballydehob |
We even saw wild sheep in the mountains. Once we hit Ballydehob, our journey took us west along the southern Ireland coastline. One of my favorite places we stopped at was the Dromberg Stone Circle. This circle, also known as The Druid's Altar, were even more impressive than the one in Kenmare. It is thought that this site dates back to about 930 BC - now talk about a bunch of old rocks! There are 17 rocks about 29 feet in diameter. In addition to the circle, there is also what is believed to be a stone hut and a stone kitchen. Just thinking about how old this site is took my breath away...and then I checked out the view. How spectacular!
 |
| Gate to the Dromberg Stone Circles |
 |
| Stone circle |
 |
| Stone hut remains |
 |
| Isaac in the stone kitchen |
 |
| Isaac - what should we make for dinner? |
 |
| View from the stone circle |
 |
| Another spectacular site! |
 |
| Somewhere between Dromberg and Kinsale |
From Dromberg, we continued our journey west until we got to the Old Head of Kinsale. In the 17th Century, Robert Reading built a light house at Old Head which is now famous for two different reasons - it is the nearest land point to the site of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915 and it is home to a really cool but very expensive golf course. I'll get to the Lusitania story in another blog but first, you need to see this golf course. It is truly amazing - it is accused of being very elitist and very expensive. Dad figured it would be at least $400 USD to play a round of golf here...and they have a dress code to boot! After figuring out the cost, I can see why it is described as expensive and elitist!
The only way you can go out to Old Head now is to play golf on the course. We didn't know this until we got to the gates of the golf course. Since we really wanted to see the course, Mom told the guard at the gate that we were there to check out tee times for the next day. The guard believed us and he actually let us through. Now, those of you who know me know I don't like to golf, but I think I could be persuaded to be a caddy and walk this course. It was gorgeous!
 |
| The infamous light house - and a great golfer :) |
 |
| There is a dog like this on either side of the front door to the clubhouse |
 |
| Could this be Tiger Woods?!? |
 |
| Landscaping along the path to the first tee |
Rumor has it that Tiger Woods played this course once and he claimed it is his favorite golf course in Ireland - then he met some lovely girls in the pubs in Kinsale...and the rest is history :) I can't imagine anyone not liking this place. It was truly amazing as was the sunset that night...
We made it back to Sam's Studio and headed back to our favorite pub for some soup and a pint or two. The bartender was happy to see we had made it back in one piece! What an awesome day - we saw beautiful sites, got to spend our time together as a family, and to top it all off, we never got in a wreck! I will always remember this special journey I took with Isaac and my parents...life is good...and it is good to be Irish!
