Ireland

I've never needed an excuse to travel, but I'll take any I can get. I spent Spring Break in Ireland with 2 of my friends and my mom. It was a great trip all around- it was beautiful, the people are friendly (and speak English, I've never been to another country where they speak English), and it was easy to get around- even driving on the wrong side of the road. We stay at the Adare Manor in the Villas, it was like a home, we each had our own bedroom/ bathroom, there was a full kitchen and flat screen TV's in every room. I wish we would have had more time just hanging out at "home." With the manor as our home base, we spent each day travelling to the sights, I think we covered a good part of the island. We left Denver on St. Patty's Day (appropriate, yes?) and stayed a week, it was a great week. (lots of pics, maybe too many).

The Manor

Tulips were in bloom everywhere, on the side of the roads and every park.

Adare Village

Waterford- this was about all that we saw of the city. We went specifically to see the crystal factory, when we got there they told us it was closed and had been for 6 weeks. It sounds like they are closing the factory for good, no longer making money, sad. We were interviewed by the Irish news wanting to know how we felt about the closing and what Waterford Crystal meant in America. My mom said exactly what they wanted to hear, and I'm sure we made it on TV... And this tower- Reginald's Tower- "is the oldest part of the oldest town in Ireland" built by the Vikings in A.D 914. It was closed. Waterford did not want us to be there.

Minard Castle

The Dingle Peninsula

My mom at Dunberg Fort- from the stone age.

more dingle

we scrambled to a glacial lake recommended by "Rick Steve's"

Kinsale- a pretty little town

Charles Fort- built and run by the British until 1922.
(I learned a lot of history while I was in Ireland)

at Charles Fort

The Rock of Cashel: built in A.D. 300. St. Patrick baptized King Aengus in A.D. 450. Originally used as the seat of the Kings of Munster (I wonder if we have them to thank for the delicious cheese?), it was fought over by clans for hundreds of years. Finally they turned it over to the church to stop the bickering. So- it's castle turned cathedral, eventually attacked by Cromwell (who wreaked all kind of havoc on Ireland) in 1647.

The Abbey, just down the hill from the "rock"

my friend Joie and I at the Rock

more Abbey, in the fog.

really old grave stones near the Burren. most of the names and dates had worn off.

Driving in Ireland. Not only did we have to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road in the wrong side of the car, we had to try to decifer these directions. (Thanks to Richard, Joie's husband, for chauffering us around the country).

Joie and I in the Burren

The Burren or "rocky place" a 10 sq. ft lime stone plateau.
"a savage land, yeilding neither water enough to drown a man, nor a tree to hang him, nor soil enough to bury him."

Poulnabrone Dolmen: a grave chamber used 4,000 years ago.

Leamaneh Castle

at the Cliffs of Moher

O'Briens Tower at the Cliffs

it was a little windy and chilly

oh the pretty cliffs. we got lucky and had a clear day (relatively)

Trinity College, Dublin

Dublin

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Lots of sheep and lambs

Bru na Boinne or Newgrange
dating 3200 B.C. (older than the pyramids in Egypt)
Thought to be a sacred spot for Sun Rituals. Winter Solstice at dawn the sun shines through the window above our heads and lights the pathway and the floor of the chamber at the end.

Bunratty Castle.
It was the first castle we saw after landing in IReland. I thought it looked like a "tourist trap"
It wasn't so bad, I think it was the only castle we saw that was intact and that we could walk through.

pretty blue farmers house.

a bike in the early days?