Back in Dublin
Oh, my! It has been a while! SO... I did head back to Dublin and got terribly lost in the city - no street signs and no where to pull over and figure out where in the heck ya are! The thing is even if you could pull over if you don't know where you are, you can't figure out how to get to where you want to be!! I wandered around for 2 hours and finally returned the car - a welcome relief!
The next few days flew by! I wandered around by day and checked out a few sites in Dublin and took it easy and in the evenings I volunteered at the Absolut Fringe. Mainly I stood around telling people where the bathrooms were or took tickets, but it was cool to be able to hang out with other volunteers and have some people to chat with. I saw only one show the whole way though and wish I didn't - it was crude and not my taste in the least. The rest of the audience seemed to enjoy it. Of the other nights I worked I caught little bits and pieces and had a great time. I stayed at a little guesthouse on South Great George St just outside of Temple Bar - close enough for everything to be handy and far enough to be more on the quiet side.
A New Adventure
I picked up mom from the airport on Thursday where we also picked up our new rental car - a grey Nissan Micra. The best part - it is automatic! We headed off to an area not too far away just north of Dublin called Sutton Cross for the night and then on Friday we caught the main road around Dublin and headed south into County Wicklow.
Glendalough (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendalough)
Here you find the remains of a Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest, and destroyed in 1398 by English troops. It has a high tower, grave yard and churches. We have found that farther from Dublin things are easier to find. It probably also helps that I am not both driver and navigator and that I am getting more used to Irish roads! It is a cool, but popular site so there are plenty of people visiting. It is a beautiful and moving place.
Old Castlemacadam Church
We were heading toward Woodenbridge where we were staying and right after we passed through Avoca there was this old unmarked church covered in ivy. I turned the car around made a (rather fast and unexpected) turn into the little driveway next to the outside wall and we drove up to the top of the drive was only to find the gate locked tight. I was quite disappointed but took a few shots around the gate. As we left we found another little gate, pulled over again and found this one unlocked. This place was magic! There was an unreal sense of awe and sacredness. It was full of peace and wonder. I could have stayed here for hours breathing in the magic.
This is by far my favorite place so far in Ireland! I searched for a long time on line before finding any information on the church or even the name of the little town it is in. I found that this parish was Protestant and was founded in 1720.
St. Mary Church - Gowran
We left Woodenbridge heading toward Thomastown when we passed though Gowran in County Kilkenny and saw another set of ruins that were calling to us. It was another sudden turn into what I thought would lead into a parking lot. I was wrong! It lead to another locked gate! This one, however was so tight and would mean either backing into a busy street of a 12 point turn. We choose the 12-point turn and much laughter! We found an open gate and headed in. There is no way to capture the magic of this church! It was terribly elaborate and beautiful! It was collegiate church and was built in the late 13th century on the site of an earlier monastery. In the 19th century the tower was added on between the two structures. It is still in use today as is the surviving building.
Jerpoint Abbey – Thomastown
This abbey in County Kilkenny is open to the public and has been partially restored. Although most of the structure is in its original state it lacked the sense of awe and sacredness that the previous 2 did. It is believed to be founded in 1160 by Donal MacGillapatrick, King of Ossory and was colonized by Cisterian monks in 1180. The abbey was dissolved in 1540 and all 1880 acres of land held were presented to the earl of Ormonde.
Sunday
I can’t believe that it was just yesterday that we passed through Gowran and Jerpoint! It seems like so few things that we have done, but traveling between places and then stepping into the past through the left over ruins takes a lot out of a person! We stayed in a nice, but terribly loud room in Colmel in County Tipperary. We stopped into the hotel pub for a drink but lounged too long and missed the opportunity to have dinner there and so were forced to eat at the fast food joint across the street. This morning we got up and headed off for Cashel to see the abbey there.
Rock of Cashel (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/rock-of-cashel)
AKA: St. Patrick’s Rock, Cashel of Kings.
Cashel means stone fortress. History suggests that this site was first build as a defense post in the 4th or 5th century and was the seat of the High Kings of Munster. Most of the current buildings date back to the 12th and 13th centuries.
It has also been believed that St. Patrick visited this site in the 5th century and converted Aenghus, the reining king at the time to Christinaity. As the story goes, Patrick accidently stabbed the king in the foot with his crosier during the process. The king, unfamiliar with Christina ways, thought it was part of the initiation rite and simple bore the pain.
Mitchelstown Caves (http://www.mitchelstowncave.com/)
While at the hotel in Clonmel we got a guide for the area and mom found an add for these caves that were once an underground river. They were unreal! Naturally, it was dark and moist, but the work of the water over thousands of years can be unreal! The stalagmites and stalactites were beautiful. The guide showing us through said that the acoustics were great and that concerts had actually been held down there in the past! When she asked for a volunteer to check them out I couldn’t resist and belted out the intro to ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’.
Backyard Castle
The road to the cave was a tight squeeze! You didn’t want to meet someone long it, that’s for sure! As it was a ways in, I thought perhaps we should keep in the same direction on the way out regardless of where it took us. Along the road we noticed the remains of a castle (this is so common in Ireland that sometimes it just ends up being a random building forgotten in a field!). As we got closer we saw that it was simply sitting in the back yard of a house! Mom went to the door and asked if we could see the castle and the lady kindly let us wander through her yard and under the (possibly electric) fence to gander at the remains. It was Burncourt Castle and was built in 1641 by Sir Richard Everard. Unfortunately it was burned down by Cromwell in 1650. Everard was hanged by Ireton a year later and so the castle has laid in ruins ever since! An old rhyme says, ‘it was seven years in building, seven years living in it and fifteen days it was burning’.
Sunday is Parade Day!
After our back yard journey, we headed to Ballyporeen for something to eat. It was so dead that we asked a few fellows outside a pub where the best place to eat was and their answer was simply the next town over! We headed back to the car just as an old car parade pulled through town past us! We laughed and watched the cars go by and headed for the next town when we passed another parade: a tractor parade!! It was all the tractors in the area following each other through the countryside!!
Thai Food in Ireland
Tonight we are in the home of our ancestors: County Cork. We are staying at the Blarney Stone Mill Hotel and tomorrow we will head to the Castle to (perhaps) kiss the stone (I am not sure I can do it – do you how many people have kissed that bloody rock! Ew!). We headed to Blarney town square for dinner and came across as Thai food restaurant! We both love Thai and so headed in for the best meal we have had while on the island!
And so now it is past my bedtime and I need to hit the hay!Good night all! Blessings to you all! Keep following us as we head across the south to the west coast!- shel
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