Now, before I go further, let me talk a litte bit about drivingin Ireland. They drive onth eleft sideso I was constantly muttering "left side, left side" under my breather, and praying I didn't crash into anyone on round-abouts. It got easier as time went on but I definitely did not enjoy the small little side roads and we often ended up on, especialy when directly to the left of you was a stone wall. Not too comforting. But we all survived, my nerves only semi-intact.
From Dublin we drove straight down through the beautiful Irish countryside to Kilkenny. We parked and walked down to the Kilkenny Castle. Kilkenny Caslte, despite being built up on a hil, is cearly NOT a defense castle. The windows are far too big and there are no surrounding walls od defense. It had been a while since I had seen a simply residential castle and if we weren't on a time cruch, I would ahve liked to go in.
The stone-work was absolutely beautiful and there was a huge "backyard" area with a lovely garden. The castle was right on a river so we walked down and walked about the river, exploring the little town on our way to the Cathedral.
We stopped quickly at a place called Langton's. Inside Langton's are room after room after room of very differently decorated and styled character, all serving food and drinks. It was pretty empty so early in the day but it was fascinating to see the various decors of each room.
The Cathedral wasn't too big but absolutely gorgeous- the side stained glass windows were far superior to the front stained-glass windows and there was a little corridor that had some incredible vaulted ceilings.
From Kilkenney, we drove down to Waterford. We didn't have too much planned there but we wanted to just walk around a little and pick up some food since we had gotten coffee and bagels in Luton and nothing else since. I hated Waterford- the streets were so confusing and the parking structure that supposedly had spaces wasn't even open. I hated navigating my way throuhg the town and couldn't be more excited to get our sandwiches and get out of there.
There were some cool buildings though, like the theatre above and the riverside clock tower below.
There was also a huge statue of Thomas Meagher, apparant Irish Nationalist, commuted to Tasmania, later went to America and became an American Civil War hero. Who knew?
Let's just say it was nice to have Waterford in our rearview (well, sideview) mirror.....
From them we drove on through some great roads with some great views and vistas, including some gorgeous lakes, on our way to Cork. We just quickly drove through Cork since our goal was to reach Blarney Castle before hopefully 4:00.
Luckily we did and had an incredible time at the Castle. There's not too much left but what is left is just beautiful.
There are still a lot of rooms still somewhat intact- including the old dog's kennel outside the guard house..
The prison...
A room that used to have a fireplace.... (although th walls are intact, the floors are all gone)
The garderobe... (bathroom)
The Ladies Room
The Priest's Room
The kitchen
The famly room (you can kind of see the layers of the different floors)
The backyard and some of the ramparts
Of course, you can't go to Blarney without kissing the Blarney Stone. Although at first glance, it looks like a suicide rescue or something.
And no castle is complete without a murder hole....
Apart from the historical side of Blarney, there also is a slightly fantastical side. We left the castle and headed over to the Fairy Glade. Yes that's right, the Fairy Glade. We weren't quite sure about this part of the castle area but let's just say that we saw a lot of fun things...
The Sacrificial Rock- I think there needs to be one of these in every castle.
The Druid's Circle
The Witch's Stone- apparently the witch only comes out at night, so good thing the castle closes at sunset....
The Wishing Steps- if you can walk up and down them with your eyes closed, you get your wish come true within the year!
The waterfall at the bottom of the wishing steps.
The Druid's Cave
Blarney was certainly an interesting castle with the mix of the historical and the mythological. And honestly, the little river that flowed through it was just beautiful, especially with the little flowers that have been popping up along the banks. Spring is here!
Leaving Blarney Castle, we went over to the Woollen Mills. Imagine a three story building packed full of anything Irish- music, sweaters (with the famous Aran stitch), hats, t-shirts, souvenirs, etc. That was the Woollen Mills. We picked up some sweet gifts though!
Leaving Blarney was a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. We weren't 100% sure where we were going and ended up on some really small back roads with no signage and really shoddy roads. Little Jingleheimer was bouncing around and I was having minutely panic attacks. We had to pull over a few times and honestly, there's nothing worse than leading a caravan of cars when you have no clue where you're going, plus the added stress of driving on the other side of the road! We did get a little bit of a sunset but the nightmare intensified when the sun went down. On a good day I hate driving at night when others are around because I just don't like headlights coming at me or headlights in my rearview mirror and to ad this to extremely bendy roads, driving on the left side, being hungry and exhausted made for a shattered nerves Michal. The girls were as helpful as they could be and we tred to listen to some Irish music to calm me down a little but I was so happy to finally pull into Killarney and go get some dinner. After again some aimeless driving around when we practicallydrove into Killarney National Forest, we finally found our hotel and I got to go to sleep.
Tomorrow we're onto the Cliffs of Moher, Limerick (hello Frank McCourt's childhood), Galway and some stuff in between. IT's a beautiful sunny morning so hopefully it lasts!
No comments:
Post a Comment