Pictures #2 from Ireland 2014

Here are a few random pictures from our last day in Ireland on our bus tour out to the Connemara Peninsula, and also a view from Kilmore Quay out to the Saltee Islands and the iconic picture of Kylemore Abbey.  

 Kilmore Quay just south of Wexford.

 Looking out to the Saltees.  If you have ever read any of Eoin Colfer's books, especially Airman, the Saltees play an important part in the story.

 I think I've mentioned before how beautiful the front gardens to some of our B&Bs were.  This is one.  So much thought into the combination of plants and shrubs.  It was a joy to walk around.

 This is probably the iconic picture of Kylemore Abbey as it faces the front of a lough.  The architecture is beautiful.  

Here you can see the mussel farming beds on Killary Fjord.  They also have salmon pens here.  

Pictures #1 from Ireland 2014

I wanted to just add a few pictures today to catch up with some of the places we visited.  This post has 6 pictures from an upscale grocery store in Dublin proper just around the corner from where we stayed.  Their displays were beautiful, and everything was very fresh.  The store is called Fallon and Byrne,

I am obsessed with cheese, and Irish cheese is at the top of the list.  We did get a chance to sample a few farmhouse cheeses here.  A real butcher, cheese monger, fish monger, and fresh baked goods.  What more could you ask for.  :)

 Diacons, small cauliflower, spring onions.  I wish I had taken a picture of the various cherry tomatoes.

 Just part of the bread display.  So many choices.

 This is one of the two cheese cases.  This has the hard cheeses and the other has the softer cheeses.  Imagine twice the amount of cheese on display.  I wished I could have tasted it all!

 This is the charcuterie case with pate and salami, and such.  Yum!

 This case is mostly sausages and bacon, and maybe some duck at the far side.  Beyond is the fresh cut meats.

 Cant forget the fresh fish display.  And those scallops in the upper left were huge!

Heading Home June 9 and 10

Heading Home June 9 and 10

So here I sit 36000 feet in the air on my way home. I do have one last travel post to update first from yesterday, and then maybe a few comments about various things during the trip.

Since Rita and I have spent time in Dublin before we decided to do a day trip out of Dublin. This time is was across country to the Connemara Coast and Killary Harbour for a boat ride. It does sound strange to say a drive across country but in Ireland that is about 3 hours. It was a long day, but enjoyable nonetheless. Our first stop was Kylemore Abbey. It's run by Benedictine Nuns now, but was first built as a manor house by an Earl for his wife since she so loved Connemara. She died shortly after they moved in and the Earl could not stand to stay there. It was given to the nuns and run as a girls boarding school until about 2010. Now the grounds and gardens are taken care of by the nuns.

Next was Killary Harbour. Killary is a natural fjord created by the ice age and the only one of its kind in Ireland. It is 14 miles long and used mostly for raising salmon and mussels. You could see the floats for the beds all along the harbour as we cruised. It's also a beautiful cruise to take and enjoy more of Ireland's incredible scenery. I dozed off and on during the trip back. Must have been all the fresh air. :)

We arrived back at 8:00 (I forgot to mention that we were up at 6:00am for a 6:50 departure for this trip) and had reservations at my favorite Dublin place, Gallagher's Boxty House in Temple Bar. The food is delicious there.

It was after 10:00 when we arrived back at the hotel and still had to get packed for today.

This morning our cabbie from the other day picked us up and we did the check in and Customs and last minute duty free shopping at the airport. Considering we left the hotel at 8:30 for an 11:30 flight we arrived at the gate just as they were starting the boarding process.

We now have about 4.5 hours until we arrive in Chicago. I just caught up on two episodes of Game of Thrones, and have Mr. Peabody and and Sherman playing as I write.

So there is this holiday.... done for now. :)

I do have a few things to add, general comments and reflections about the trip but they may have to wait a day or two until I take care of things at home after being gone.  :)

And I will add some more pictures from the trip also.

I also would like to add a big thank you to all of you who have taken the time to follow along with Rita and I, and been so supportive in your comments.  I do hope you enjoyed reading my comments. 

A Sunny Musical Saturday and Sunday June 7 and 8

A Sunny Musical Saturday and Sunday June 7 and 8

I should really learn not to trust the weather app on my cell phone. Friday evening it not only said rain for Saturday, but actually indicated thunderstorms. Well, there were a few showers in Wexford when we woke up, but by the time we packed up and were on the road the sun began to peek through the grey clouds and when we arrived in Castletown for the Family Fun Day I was sure I had chosen the wrong long sleeved top to wear for the day. It was glorious! The Castletown House is a large manor house with huge green grounds. Great for picnics, and on this day with the mime, the character on stilts, the balloon designer and the “99” cones, it was more than most children could ask for. There's a long story about the name, but just trust me, this is definitely a treat. Because of the cream they use, these are so much better that what we get in the US.

Rita and I arrived right about the start of the event and found that we could get Afternoon Tea for 12 euros for both of us. I should have taken a picture of the amount of finger sandwiches they served along with some sweets, but it was more than either of us could eat with the tea. After we wandered to the inner courtyard for some music. As promised Niall O'Sullivan was there with his jazz quartet. A different selection of songs from what we had heard just a week before. Niall does not disappoint. Again, I can only hope for great things for him in the future. If you haven't listened to any of his music, check it out.

You can listen to some samples here:

http://niallosullivan.ie/music-2/

After getting a bit of a fill of music we headed to Malahide for our next B&B. I'll post later a bit about our B&B adventures, but this one also had some uniqueness. Just to say that we were not in the main house, but put in a separate building that evidently had 4 self-catering rooms. Interesting.....

We did drive out to Howth for some mussels for dinner, and a nice walk around the area.

This morning, before we dropped off our rental car, we headed over to Casino Marino. A unique summer house originally built on a huge estate. Now the only thing left is the few acres around the casino. We didn't have time for the tour, but did get a lot of information from the woman at the reception desk. While it looks very symmetrical in the way it's built, no two sides are the same. The building has 16 rooms, but it looks like it would never have more than 8. The upper two floors don't have any visible windows. Truly a unique building.

With the car dropped off we took a taxi to Dublin and got checked in. We walked over to the Tourist Office to check on our bus tour tomorrow, and then to a place called Meet and Meat for a delicious porquetta sandwich for lunch. One thing both Rita and I have always wanted to do is walk around Fallon and Byrne. It's an upscale grocery in the center of Dublin. It's actually right around the corner from where we are staying, and we had not realized that last time. All I can say is WOW! I'm sure Rita will be tagging me in some pictures of the produce, which was beautiful, and then there was the cheese case, and the cured meats, and the fresh meats, and the fish! I will be posting some pictures too.

So much for our day yesterday and today.

 The mime at the Family Fun Day at Castletown,  Here he has taken over a kiddie stroller!

 The Niall O'Sullivan Jazz Quartet. All accomplished musicians on their own.  Wonderful together.

 Just the courtyard crowd.  

 Bread display at Fallon and Byrne

 Aahh!  All that wonderful cheese.  And we had the opportunity to taste some.  

 Farm raised been and pork.  A bit on the expensive side.

 And some fresh fish in a wonderful display.

   Casino at Marino

A Day of History June 6

A Day of History – June 6

First off, I want to say I had the best shower this morning. Every place we stay is a bit different, and I'll do a post about the B&B adventures when I get back, but I have been just dying for a nice strong hot shower for a couple of days now. This morning was no disappointment. It was everything a shower is supposed to be, and I enjoyed every minute. :)

Wexford is referred to as being in the “sunny southwest” and yesterday was exactly that. Today was a typical Irish day.... a little rain, a little sun, more rain, and more rain. But it didn't stop us from getting out and visiting a couple of places. As I was told, nothing stops the Irish unless it's a hurricane.

While we didn't plan it specifically for today, this was to end up being a history day. Maybe a little deja vu considering today is D Day.

We started out at Johnstown Castle and Gardens. Quite a history to the castle and the grounds. The architect who designed the grounds is the same one who designed Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow. The castle is closed, but the grounds are beautiful. We walked for over an hour even though it was sprinkling pretty good off and on. When we started out it was not raining, so we didn't take umbrellas, and thanks to the many trees with full foliage, we were able to shelter under a few as we walked the grounds. On a sunny day we might have spend longer, but today we looked for some other places to visit that might be inside.

We traveled to Enniscorthy to the National 1798 Center for our next stop ( http://www.1798centre.ie/) There was a wonderful interactive exhibit all about the rebellion and events that surrounded all the battles. I'm not really for walk through exhibits, but this was done extremely well. There was so much that I learned that I had not realized. One of the worst battles was at Vinegar Hill, outside of Enniscorthy. 1500 rebels died at that battle, and over the 4 weeks of the rebellion about 20,000 people died in County Wexford. At the time that was 1/6 of the population.

After the exhibit, we thought it only appropriate that we make a visit to Vinegar Hill. The rain had stopped and although the climb was steep, we forged ahead to the very top. There is no memorial at the top, only the left over remnants of a tower, that might have been a windmill, and the rock outcropping that is part of the peak. The views back to Enniscorthy are phenomenal, along with panoramas of other areas. As we walked around we found that they were in the process of creating a much less steep, and gravel paved pathway that we took going back down the hill. Good thing as the rain started again, as we were pretty wet as we reached the car. I think the anniversary of the battle is coming up on June 20 or 21^st.

As we headed down from Vinegar Hill we saw a sign that directed us to the Fr. Murphy Center in Boolavogue. The well known song Boolavogue is about Fr. Murphy. The center is small in comparison to most and doesn't get a lot of traffic on a day like today, but the exhibits are wonderful. Rita spent time walking thought the buildings out the back of the center and thought they were well restored without looking like they were overbuilt. They were not filled with unnecessary items but those things that reflected the time period. This is actually where Fr. Murphy lived and a lot of attention was given to making this realistic to the time period. Here are two places to learn a bit more about Fr. Murphy.

http://www.boolavogue.info/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fr-Murphy-Centre-Boolavogue/315611758499163

I have to say a Thank You to Pamela for keeping me company while Rita went exploring. I was chilled from being a bit damp and didn't feel up to go exploring. She would love it if you gave the center a “like” on Facebook. And if you are in the area, please make sure to stop by and learn about Fr. Murphy and his involvement in the 1798 rebellion.

Seeing as we were really chilled and the rain was back again, we didn't gel like going out for dinner, so we ordered in..... It was a Pizza Hut kind of night!

Tomorrow we head north to Castletown for a family fun day and this time hopefully a chance to see Niall O'Sullivan again,but this time with his jazz quartet.

For now I think a nice hot shower will round out my evening. :)

I've added a few pictures from today.  The first three are from Johnstown Castle and the last is from the top of Vinegar Hill.  

A Thursday in June

A Thursday in June

I didn't want to wait another day to write this while I still had some energy left tonight. It was a busy day.

We woke up early in Kilmore Quay and after breakfast headed down to the harbour to take a few pictures and look over to the Saltee Islands. We will have to wait for another trip with more time to take the boat trip over to see all the animals and natural elements that live and thrive on the islands.

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day. The sun was out and the sky was clear. We headed into Wexford to meet up with Majella Londra for lunch at the Stable Diet Cafe on the third floor of the Opera House overlooking Wexford Harbour. It was great to see Majella again, and have some time to visit with her. We met her the first time we were in Wexford 3 years ago.

After lunch and back at the car we changed directions yet again. We were going to visit Johnstown Castle, but the weather was so beautiful we decided to take the drive down to Hook Head Lighthouse today instead of tomorrow. Might as well take advantage of the great weather, and you never know what might happen in 24 hours. Hook Head Lighthouse did not disappoint. I've been there before, but I'm such a sucker for a beautiful view I never mind going back.

I hope my pictures are at least a little indication of how beautiful out it was today. I left my one camera in the car, so pictures from earlier in the day will have to wait until tomorrow. :)

The drive back went smoothly; i.e., we did not get lost or even take a wrong turn. Of course that was different in Wexford Town where so many of the streets are one way and angle into one another. It was not long and we were at our B&B, and off for some dinner and a drink.

We had been told by Michael Londra we should definitely stop in at Simon Lamberts for a drink. And so we did. It was still early, 9:00PM, when we left to walk back to the B&B, so the evening crowd had not started to gather.

We can only hope that tomorrow brings as beautiful weather as today and be off to see some more of the area around Wexford Town.

Here are a couple of pictures from around Hook Head Lighthouse.

  

Where to Start.... June 3 and 4

Where to Start... June 3 and 4

When I travel like this I have trouble keeping track of what day it is. I am constantly checking my cell phone for the date. If I don't write blogs like this I really lose track of time and even where I have been. And that can only be within the last 24 hours!

So now I need to catch up with both yesterday and today. Both of these days were long drive days. If we had more time, we would have spent more time in Kinsale yesterday, and Kilmore Quay tonight/tomorrow. But time is of the essence now and we still have “places to go and people to see”! There is never enough time here in Ireland to do all I would like to do.

Yesterday morning we left Ballinskelligs and headed off to Mizen Head. Mizen Head is the most southern point in Ireland. Three years ago Rita and I were at Malin Head, the most northern point, and we had heard so much about Mizen Head, we thought it was a must for this trip. Malin Head is open and rugged, and incredibly beautiful. It's also windy, has narrow roads, and amazing views. On the other hand, Mizen Head is a commercial venture. The drive to the gift shop/cafe is not anywhere as scenic. When you get there, in order to get to the lighthouse on the point it's a walk and a climb of about 90 stairs, which you pay to do. It's also windy and yesterday it had started to rain. Views are quite limited unless you do the walk out to the lighthouse. On a nice sunny day with plenty of time, I would certainly take the time to do this. But in the rain and wind, with limited time (20-30 out to the lighthouse, then the same back) we opted to enjoy the one side view that we had and then head on to Kinsale.

We arrived in Kinsale around 7:00 last night, checked in to our B&B, and headed off for dinner at a place I've been to before, The Spaniard. It's just outside of town on a hill that heads up to Charles Fort. Last time I was there my friend, Tom Rourk, who had been to Ireland a couple of months before me, left an envelope with a receipt for a drink for me when I arrived. This time it was late, and we were tired from the long drive. We stayed only for dinner and then headed back to our B&B. I do have to say, the food was delicious.

Today, we headed off from Kinsale, after a full Irish Breakfast (we don't do this every day, but thought it would be a nice start for today).

Our first stop was Charles Fort. It's a partially restored ruin of a military star fort that was used to protect Kinsale Harbour from the late 1600's. The day was beautiful and sunny.... then it started to rain, and soon the sun was out again and we came out from under the protection of a doorway and continued our tour. The first Wednesday of each month all the sites that are part of the OPW (Office of Public Works) are free entry. That was the treat for today, even though we would have paid for this time to walk around and take pictures. It's spans 21 acres, so it's a huge site. We could have spent a couple of hours exploring, but again, we had places we needed to drive to.

Our next stop was outside of Midletown. We did the distillery last time, but this time headed to Shangarray to Ballymaloe. This is where Darina Allen has her cooking school. There is also a separate cafe which we also visited for lunch. As usual we spend more time than anticipated, so we had to make some adjustments in our plans for the day.

We had hoped to make a trip to Hook Head Lighthouse and Dunbrody Abbey, but postponed them until Friday (at least we hope they will work out as a Friday adventure) and decided to head directly to our “off the beaten path” destination in Kilmore Quay (btw, quay is pronounced “key”), a nice little seafaring town at the far south of County Wexford. I've been wanting to get here for ages. We finally arrived around 6:00PM and got sorted and headed off to Mary Barry's Pub for dinner. Fresh fish, or actually scallops, for me was tonight's treat.

Tomorrow we head into Wexford to stay for 2 nights, and meed up with Michael Londra's sister tomorrow afternoon for a bit. Rita and I met her 3 years ago and this is a little chance to say “hello” again.

But as I look at the clock, I realized it's time to climb into a nice warm bed and get some sleep. That 7:30am wake up alarm comes quicker than I would like. :)

Catching Up Again June 1 and 2

Catching Up Again June 1 and 2

Yesterday morning we left Dingle and headed to Ballinskelligs on the coast. It just so happened that this is a Bank Holiday Weekend in Ireland and everyone was out having a good time, including us. There were also a lot of bicyclists and motorcyclists out for some special events. We were fine dealing with the extra events until we arrived on the outskirts of Killarney. We wanted to stop at the tourist office there but that was not to be. Saying there was a traffic jam is putting it mildly. It took us over half an hour to get through town and we could never get where we wanted to go. The streets were jam packed, and there was no a parking spot to be found. We decided to head out to Muckross House and on the way passed a huge motorcycle event near the INEC event center. And the Irish creative parking for cars was in full force. On grassy dividers, between light poles, on small inclines at the side of the road, everywhere there was even the implication that a car would fit.

I have always enjoyed the gardens at Muckross House and Park. Yesterday we didn't spend much time as we had lost so much in traffic but a small stop in a light drizzle didn't stop us. We also had some lunch in there cafe, and did a bit of gift purchasing in the gift shop. All in all a good time.

From there is was on to Ballinskelligs via Moll's Gap and over the hills to Sneem and Watertown. Then on the local road to Ballinskelligs. We did pass a lot a tour buses going the opposite way, and the clouds were coming in so views were very limited. Rita has a special castle ruin she likes to see, so we made a quick stop by there and continued on. Rita did find out that it was not really a castle, but a barracks built to keep the locals from poaching the deer.

We were actually happy to find our B&B easily and with the recommendation of our host, we headed to Cable O'Leary's for a drink and dinner. We would have stayed for music, but we were beat from the days drive.

So that was yesterday. On to today.

We were up early and after breakfast we headed to Portmagee. Rita was hoping to get a boat to Skellig Michael. She was having trouble confirming with the guy she had contacted and thought she might get a seat on a boat this morning. Once again we were foild by the fact it was a bank holiday and everyone decided to take boat rides to the Skelligs. Some were just cruises around the islands, and others were actually a 2 hour visit on the island. I know Rita was disappointed, but we opted for another boat ride instead and headed across the bridge to Valentia Island.

There is a “Skellig Ring” drive that takes you to the furtherest end of Valentia Island with marvelous views of the Skellig Islands. Of cours we traveled over some small mountains on the way to Portmagee with some great views already. But the sun was out, at least a bit, and the views here were also beautiful. So from one end of Valentia Island we left to drive to the other end to Kingstown. On the way we passed a farmer with a baby calf that was just 24 hours old. I thought he was actually pretty big. At Kingstown we caught the car ferry over to Cahirsaveen and checked out 2 round forts, and my favorite castle ruin Ballycarberry. Just something about the place makes me smile. Hopefully I'll be posting a picture of the castle and the inside of the one round forts at the end of this.

We then headed back through Portmagee as we needed to make a stop at Skellig Chocolates. We sampled at least 6 different flavors (they are very generous with their samples). The dark chocolate with hazelnut and whiskey truffle were my favorites. :) I did end up bringing home a small sample bag. They make these amazing shoe chocolates also.

After Skellig Chocolates we headed back to Ballinskelligs to check out an old castle tower on the beach near us and a priory ruin. The priory ruin was where the monks would go after their time on Skellig Michael.

After some dinner we headed back to the B&B for today and have been spending time repacking our suitcases which have become so disorganized we can hardly find anything. Also it was time to check and see if we would be able to fit any additional items we now have into them.

Tomorrow will be a long drive from Ballinskelligs to Kenmare, to Bantry, to Mizen Head, to Kinsale. I'm hoping we can work in a drink at a pub called The Spaniard when we get to Kinsale. :)

Hope to get something written tomorrow if it's not too late.

How about some chocolate shoes!  :)

 My favorite castle ruin.

 The round fort we climbed up to.

Skellig Michael on the right and Little Skelliig on the left.  

Saturday Travel Day May 31

A long drive May 31

Today we left Kildare, later than planned, but Bobby and Ann at Kilroan House are just a hoot to chat with and we were laughing as we headed out the door from conversations we had with them. They not only have great B&B service (Bobby is the cook), but Ann has such a nice feminine touch with the decorations in the rooms. And the linens are really plush. The room did not have an en suite bathroom, but we had the upstairs to ourselves, so it didn't matter.

As all out drives, when the map plan says one time, it always takes us a lot longer, and this was no different. A direct route leaving Kildare to Dingle should take about 3-3 ½ hours. I think it took us between 5 and 6. Before we even left Kildare, we make a stop at the Black Abbey. It was no accessible earlier, so we tried again. Interesting ruin and cemetery just beside the National Stud.

While most of the trip was on the motorway, we did stop in Adare for lunch and a quick perusal of the gift shops. Then on to The Arches for some lunch. This day had a lot of “deja vue” moments. We had had lunch at The Arches 3 years ago on Rita's first visit. When we were there we had this delicious shrimp salad. We repeated that again as we know it had to be just as good, and it was. Picture to follow. :)

After we headed out of town it was off to Tralee and over the Conner Pass to Dingle. I've been over the Conner Pass before, but never when the clouds were so low that the road was barely visible. I missed some of the beautiful views afforded by the scenic viewpoints along the way. I have to say I was glad when we arrived in Dingle after the trip over the mountain.

Our purpose in Dingle was so that Rita could see if she could find out about her ancestry. Her family, the Moriarty's, are from the Dingle area. We actually stopped by the Moriarty Butcher shop just 2 doors down from our Guest House (more on that later), and got some valuable information on possible contacts. Later that night we had dinner at John B. Moriaty's Pub. Not so much because of the name, but is in on the main street and well known. Rita had a chance to chat with John B. and gathered some more information. She now has some good direction to add to what she had already started at home.

Again, going to John B. Moriarty's for dinner was another “deja vue” moment as we ate there 3 years ago. I have to say they have the best mussels around.

Now, just a quick comment on our Guest House. I had not really paid much attention to the titles of the places we were staying except for the ratings and comments on line. So to me, B&B or Guest House made no difference. The only problem for us was that the room was on the 3^rd floor. Actually 2^nd floor here in Ireland. Most of our B&Bs have 2 floors, so we are used to climbing one set of stairs with our luggage. But lugging that luggage up 2 flights, is a bit of a challenge. We managed. The guest house had about 20 rooms, rather than a B&B with anywhere from 3-6 rooms. Otherwise it was the same with a very good breakfast.

So much for the 31^st. :)

Saturday May 31

Saturday May 31

Good Morning all! It's almost 8:00am here and I'm just waking up. It was definitely a late night last night, but one with some very special memories. But that was at the end of the day and we did do some things earlier.

We were up early and on the road to meet Rita's friend, Siobhan English. Siobhan is a very talented photographer who shoots mostly horse and hunt shows. You can check her out here: http://www.siobhanenglishphotography.com/

We followed her up the road to Tattersalls to see some of the competition for the horse show there. I think I posted a link for that previously. It's one thing watching Dressage on TV, and another watching in person. I would have loved to watch the jumping, but that is on today and we are off to other places. Just getting a glimpse was a treat.

It was a little over an hour drive back so we left around 1:00PM and headed back toward Kildare with a stop at Newbridge Silver. This was my first visit there and I was so pleased to have that chance to pick up a few small things that will later be gifts and just to see the beautiful works they create. They had some non-silver art there also. I won't say more, but hope to be posting a picture and you will understand.

They also have a tasty restaurant in the building and we had our early dinner there. Then back to our B&B for a quick rest and off to Clongowes Wood College for the concert.

The Millicent Singers are an award winning 30 member choir and their show was beyond impressive. They sang some classical pieces and some popular pieces along with a few very entertaining nursery rhymes! All beautifully arranged and harmonized.

Then there was this other lad. The cover of the program referred to him as “trumpet sensation” and I would not argue with that. I have followed Niall for several years now and love his music. He has one CD out and also an EP. If you have not heard him, he's definitely worth checking out. He plays classical, pop, jazz, and always throws in some extra that you don't expect. Last night in his first set, he added “Someone To Watch Over Me” as a tribute song and encore. It was soft and emotional, and stunning. Of course, Moon Dance, and Libertango along with the rest of his songs, were nothing short of wonderful. Rita and I were lucky enough to get to say hello before the show as he was doing some late rehearsing with his piano player Vinny, and then spent some time after the show talking to him. I look forward to see what he will be doing in the near future.

Then the drive home and into bed. A wonderful day all around. Now we must get ourselves together to head off to Dingle. Rita's genealogy search will be the focus there for the day hoping we are not diverted or distracted with anything to see on our way! :)

 This was from the Dressage Event at Tattersalls.

 Some of the unusual sculptures found around Newbridge Silver.

And I just had to snap a pic of this silver guitar they had on display at Newbridge Silver.  

Traveling Day May 29

Traveling Day – May 29

I didn't really expect to be doing much in the way of sightseeing today as we were relocating from Nenagh in County Tipperary to Kidare. The drive is only bit over an hour and we were set to meet a friend of Rita's at the Tri Racecourse Shop for lunch at the Curraugh. We were too late to see the jockeys working the horses on the track, but there were a couple walking the horses around near the shop as we arrived. Our big horse day will be tomorrow at Tattersalls (explanation tomorrow).

Siobhan, our guide for the afternoon, had us follow her back to the National Stud and Japanese Gardens. We took a back route through what is called Camp Curraugh. I thought it had something to do with the jockeys, or the race track, but came to find out it was a military facility. From what was explained to us, it was once an English base, and is now a full Irish military base that you can drive straight through. There are some access roads that are closed, but where ever there are open fields, they are full of sheep. And not a fence to be found.

After getting settled at our B&B we headed back out in search of St. Brigid's Well. Just another interesting spot to check out. :)

From there we headed over to Siobhan's house for a great dinner, laughs, and good chat.

Not much sightseeing today, but all in all a good day.

Tomorrow Tattersalls.... http://www.tattshorsetrials.ie/

Last Day in Nenagh May 28

Last Day in Nenagh May 28

It's already after 10:00 tonight and we had a fabulous day, full of twists and turns (literally, some of the roads, and figuratively, with some of the events).

Before we started our tour of the lough, we headed over to the John Handy woolen mills and factory. Just a few minutes away. Not saying what I bought, but they have some beautiful things. :)

We did get started out a bit earlier today, but not much. This was our day to tour around Lough Derg. It's a huge lough that feeds into the Shannon River and with the sun shining we headed out south to cross it at Killaloe and then head north. It was not long before we were turning off the road at every opportunity to take lots of pictures. Whether it was from a hill looking down, or from a beach at water's edge, all the views were stunning. I'm not even sure the pictures we took can even show the richness of the area.

By the time we were almost at Mountshannon we had pulled off a side road and traveled down a small narrow strip to a boat dock where you could get boats of Holy Island. It was a monastery on an island in the middle of Lough Derg. Arrangements for the boat trips needed to be made in advance in Mountshannon, so we were out of luck, but again the view of the round tower on the island was a site to behold.

At Mountshannon was drove down to the boat docks. This is a very busy boating recreation area. It's also the area where they have recently had the first mating pair of eagles with a successful birth and those who were lucky enough might have seen the eagles flying. We were not that lucky, except we did get to watch some very pretty swans.

The rest of the drive to Portumna at the top of the lough was mostly uneventful except for when we thought we were following a sign to another holy well. Seemed more like a wild goose chase in and out of random back roads. We finally found our way back to the main road and in Portumna. So much to see and so little time. Portumna has a castle and gardens, a workhouse, and a priory. We checked out the castle and opted not to take the time as we were once again running late. The same for the workhouse (this is definitely on the list for next trip). As Rita and I so often do we turned down a road with no markings just to see what was there. What a surprise when we came across the ruins of the Portumna priory. It was fabulous! We walked around there, just the two of us, for about an hour. What remained of the priory was huge. I later learned that this was one of the richest priories in the area. It seemed that when they were forced to raise money they used the priory as a brothel! And because of that it was closed down.

From there we headed back south to Puckaun and stopped at Peg's Cottage. Peg runs a facebook page called “Ireland and Peg's Cottage” and often posts pictures and information about the area. We met up with Peg and Bill and stopped by their favorite pub in town to share a jar. It was great getting to meet them after only “seeing” them on FB. We had a great visit, and then headed to Dromineer to the Whiskey Still for a small dinner.

Another beautiful day here. It got so warm in the car early in the day we actually had to put the AC on when we got back to the car after it sat in the sun for a bit!

Almost forgot to add a few pictures. The first is from the priory at Portumna, and the second is a couple of swans on the lough at Mountshannon.  

Catching up May 26

Catching Up May 26

Yesterday we left Sligo and the Lough Gill area. But before we did we traveled the scenic route around the north side of the lough. The water on the lough was like glass and reflected the hills and clouds so much that it was amazing. I've taken some pictures and posted one on FB, but I'm not sure they do the beauty justice. I'll work on uploading some more as soon as I can.

From Lough Gill we headed to the Tobernalt Holy Well. Tobernalt is a nataural spring well that established itself prior to Christianity in Ireland. It's definitely a spiritual place.

After a few prayers for others, we headed of to see Queen Maeve's Tomb. At least that was the plan. We arrived at the parking space just as it started to sprinkle. Now a little sprinkle would not ever deter either of us, but walking over a kilometer in a total downpour did make a difference. We sat in the car hoping it would blow over quickly, but it was not to be. Queen Maeve will have to wait for another trip. We then headed off to the Carromore Megalithic Cemetary. In this small area are around 34 or more megalithic tombs and stone circles. Across from the visitor center at the edge of a farmer's field there are 4 together in a group, and one a bit away. Around the corner and down the road in other fields are more. And that doesn't even count the larger ones as part of the cemetery. It was incredible that this all has remained since about 4000 years ago. At this point there are about 30 tombs is varying states and over 25 additional have been destroyed since the 1800. It was still raining some when we arrived, but not so much to stop this visit. We could have spend an entire afternoon here, but needed to get on the road.

Heading south I noticed a sign for Knock. It had been 10 years since I first visited and Rita had never seen the area of the apparition, so we thought it would be a worthwhile diversion and we were right. In 1879 approximately 15 people of various ages and denominations saw an apparition of Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist on the location of the shrine. There is an old smaller church on the grounds with the alter done with a depiction of the apparation, and then also a Basilica and additional education and religious buildings, plus 3 cemeteries. Again, we stopped long enough to say a few prayers and take some pictures. Then headed on to Nenagh.

We arrived at out B&B, Willowbrook B&B, about 8:00, checked in and headed out for some dinner. It was a late night. So now I'm caught up and just need one more post for today. :)

Random Pictures

This was out hotel in Sligo.  Rumor is that it once was a mental hospital!  :)

This is the Dark Hedges in Ballymoney.  They have used this road in the Game of Thrones opening.

Gotta love the Irish cycling spirit.  In support of the Giro D'Italia, so many things were colored pink, including these sheep along the Causeway Coastal Route.

Catching Up May 25

Catching Up – May 25

I knew at some point that I would fall a bit behind in my blogs. And that has now happened. It's just about 9:00am here in Nenagh, County Tipperary, and we are soon to head down for breakfast. So I might just leave this to finish until we return from our travels today, as we will have this B&B for 2 more nights as our home base. It's so nice to stay in one place for a couple of nights.

Let me start the day we left Derry. From Derry we headed south to Belleek and the Belleek factory. We had done the tour before, but there are always new and different things to see in their china shop. I did pick up a couple of ornaments that I have started to collect over the years. After that it was straight to Sligo as we had a late start for the day leaving Derry at noon. Our B&B was outside of Sligo a way outside of Dromohair. But it was well worth it. Castle View B&B is on the side of a hill overlooking Lough Gill and full of beautiful views.

So we did have an interesting adventure that evening. It was about 7:00pm that we got settled into the B&B and then decided we needed to get some dinner. If you look up Park Castle on Lough Gill you will see where we were. Pretty much outside and 10-20 kms from any town. We headed toward Dromohair for some dinner and realized we had not check out gas gauge. It had one bar, and we were not sure how long it was like that. As it was Dromohair had no gas station, so we figured it was best to head to Sligo Town as the warning light came on to let us know we were pretty low on gas. Now we had another 20 Kms to get to Sligo as we had gone the long way around the lough. Needless to say, we did arrive at a petrol station on the edge of Sligo just in time to fill up.

To add to all of that, we were now far away from the suggested dinner place and ended up eating dinner at a KFC! As hungry as I was the chicken sandwich and chips were a welcome meal. I think it was between 9:30 and 10:00 before we arrived back at the B&B and were exhausted from all that driving. :)

Early Sunday Morning May 25

Early Sunday Morning

May 25

So here I find myself sitting in the quiet of Bebe's kitchen this morning catching up on my blog. I'm not a late sleeper, never have been. This is about my regular wake up time even when I've gone to bed on the late side, like last night after a few “jars”.

First, there is the business of what we did earlier in the day yesterday. After departing our B&B we headed out to do a portion of the Inishowen 100. It's a wonderful scenic drive all around the Inishowen Penninsula. Three years ago we did the entire drive all the way to Malin Head, so this was just a partial refresher. We did find a few new sights to explore, Inch Island, and Fort Dunree, on Lough Swilly. The fort was the biggest surprise. It was built in 1798 to guard against a French invasion and later used in WWI and WWI to guard against other invasions. It's always amazing when you build a fort into a rock outcropping. The day was clear and sunny and had some wonderful views. (I'm really frustrated that I cant post pictures of this but will do some as soon as I can.) This was just north of Buncrana and as far as we went for the day. We were already running late.

I met Bebe 3 years ago when I was in Ireland and attended a concert that she put together to support suicide prevention. The concert at the Millenium Forum was the third time she had organized this and was a real treat to be able to attend. There were many local talents and Damian McGinty was home from working on the Glee Project for this and also performed a song that Mickey Coleman had written for Bebe called “Miss You More Than Words Can Say.”

That chance meeting lead us to become Facebook friends and we've kept in touch ever since, and now Bebe has been kind enough to invite us to spend a night with her in the Bogside area of Derry. Just for a reference for those who have been here or know of the “Free Derry” sign. We are less than a block away and across a small side street from the memorial to those who lost their lives here during the troubles.

Now I'm not just saying this to impress her, but Bebe made us a wonderful Irish stew for dinner. And we also had some seafood chowder. While some of the local places we have eaten have had great food, there is nothing like a home cooked meal that comes from the heart. Add lots of great conversation and it made for a wonderful meal.

After dinner the chat continued as we moved to the front room and were soon joined by wee Jenny and a some other friends of Bebe's for some music and more drinks! Jenny, at 11, has a beautiful voice and has been taking guitar lessons every week. It was a joy to hear her sing and play. And Gareth, at 18, is an amazing talent vocally. He's had his guitar for less than 2 years and has taught himself to play. I'm sure at some point in the not so distant future we will be hearing more about him. Later in the evening even Gareth's father sang us a wee Elvis tune. Before the evening was over we were all singing along. :) It was definitely a night to remember.

As I stumbled up the stairs to bed, I have to say this Saturday was a memorable day. Now Sunday has arrived and at some point, we will be moving on.

Cold But Amazing

Cold but amazing!

May 23

We got a bit of a late start this morning after our first Full Irish Breakfast. Our host here at the Groarty B&B on the outskirts of Derry makes a mean breakfast. Up until now we have had serve yourself hotel breakfasts, or menu order breakfasts and have skipped the Full Irish until it would be cooked for us fresh. Margaret did not disappoint.

So many people ask my why I keep returning to Ireland as I've seen all the tourist things. But I go to see many of the off the beaten path things that surprise and awe me. Today was one of those days.

Finally on the road we decided to take a drive to Sleive League Cliffs. It's about a 90 minute drive, but took us longer as we felt the need to stop so often along the “Wild Atlantic Way”, a new scenic route, to see all the great views. The road also lead us to some very narrow roads that slowed us down just a bit. We stopped at a great little place just before the cliffs for lunch and a bit of souvenir shopping. By the time we arrived at the cliffs the wind was wailing away, so much so that it was difficult to open the car door. We made it out and walked a bit to take in this magnificent view. Sleive League Cliffs are the highest in Europe, even higher than the famous Cliffs or Moher. If you take the time to get there, it is more than worth it. They are not the easiest to get to, and quite off the beaten path, although signposted. I'm not even sure my pictures will do it justice. And once we got stabilized enough to take pictures, it started to rain. With the help from the wind it became a pelting rain. So we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. Definitely on the list for a return visit. We talked to some locals about it and they say even they have done the drive up to the top, or as far as you can drive, many times just for the view.

We continued on the Wild Atlantic Way route through Donegal, covering a lot of towns along the north coast, including The Rosses, and Dunfanaghy, then back around to Letterkenny and Derry. It was a long day as we didn't arrive back at the B&B until after 8:00PM. This is a drive I would love to do again. We missed Glenveagh Park, but might take a drive over tomorrow, or maybe some of the Inishowen Penninsula. Or there is also Grainan of Aileach.... So much to see around here. :)

I almost forgot. We had dinner at this little cafe on the road back. There was a gas station, a small grocery, and the cafe attached. One of the best dinners yet! And only 9.95 euros for a sirloin steak dinner. I still can't finish all the food they serve here.

Other than tomorrow morning, tomorrow is our “Derry Day”. Visiting with some friends, and staying close by.

I'm off for now. Need that sleep to keep up my energy. :)

The North Coast

The North Coast

May 22

Today was a slower morning and a late afternoon rush. We slept in with no alarm to worry about and got to the breakfast at the Inn about 10:15 (with 15 minutes to spare). After breakfast we checked out and headed in to Portrush to find an optician as Rita needed a wee fix for her glasses. After getting lost for a bit, we did locate the office and the receptionist took care of her. That was all well and good, but as we walked back to where we parked the car, the most delicious aroma was wafting its way out of a small bakery – Tom Toms and we could not resist.

We bought some pasties to take along for our lunch, and also a sweet treat each.

We then headed off for the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. This was something on Rita's wish list for this trip. It's never been something that I was that interested in. If you ever want to do this keep these things in mind: The walk from the pay booth to the rope bridge is .62 miles each way, up and down a steep, at times, pathway. As you near the end of the walk the last part is first down 72 uneven stone steps, then more gravel pathway until you reach 88 uneven stone steps, and finally some steep metal steps, maybe 20 to get to the bridge. If you have survived this you get to cross the bridge – 100 feet above the water – and climb up another embankment to the top of the view across the bridge. And if all that was not enough, remember what goes down, must also come back up, so the step climb is the beginning of your return and the .62 miles back to the beginning. There are no alternatives. No shuttles, no other options. And Rita made it with lots of perseverance and guts!

I walked to the first set up steps, too one look at them and said, “I'll wait here!” And I did.

We also stopped off at Dunlunce castle and took another look. We had both been there 3 years ago, so no need to pay to walk around. Same this with the Downhill Demense. I was going to walk out there, but we were running behind, and I saw how far it was, and decided not to take the time or effort.

After that we headed on the A2 into Derry and found our B&B with the help of the lady of Rita's Samsung cell phone.

We are outside of Derry looking across the hills to the lights coming on in the city. It's beautiful. And if I didn't mention it earlier, today was a beautiful day, warm by Irish standards, and sunny. We hope for the same tomorrow.

I've having trouble posting pictures to the blog, so I will try and get some on FB as I have time to do some transferring.