Day 5 - The Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle

Friday we drove west to towards the ocean, the scenery is very different.

The wind never stops in Ireland and they do take advantage of it.

We boarded the Ferry 'Shannon Breeze' to cross the River Shannon, it was a pleasant 20 minute crossing.

There are remains of towers and castles everywhere.

These people must have stacked stones for thousands of years and the fields are still full of stones.

We eventually made our way to the Cliffs of Moher, this is one of the places on this planet that you hear about but don't really appreciate until you have stood on the top of the cliffs. It truly is breathtaking and we were lucky enough to see it on a bright crisp sunny day.  Calvin kept saying you guys are so lucky, apparently he has taken tour groups here only to have it completely fogged in.

The views are stunning.

The weather was an additional bonus, it was near 60F and very pleasant to be walking the cliffs.

We hated to leave the Cliffs, it was really amazing. We drove the coast for a bit and then up towards the mountains. The landscape made an amazing transformation from green fields to limestone mountains.

We stopped at a tomb that is dated around 3000BC, that is about 5000 years ago, it is hard to get your head around this, Poulnabrone tomb.

At the location of this tomb a Druid named Thomas sells jewelry.  He and Calvin have a relationship, Thomas came on board the bus and recited a poem. Thomas is obligated to do this since he holds a staff that belongs to Calvin he has yet to return. Calvin tells a great story, there is much more to this, but it is a story only Calvin can tell appropriately.

The castles are all over the landscape, they are purely mesmerizing. As Calvin would say "county Clare is lousy with castles".










From the limestone mountains we traveled straight to Bunratty Castle and dropped off those of us that would attend the Medieval dinner.

The Bunratty Castle was built in the 1400's, it is very well preserved. Dining in a castle that was here over 500 years ago is a bit mind blowing.

They even had a special door for June and Jean.

The medieval staircases are tight even for small people.

As we entered the castle we were greeted by the actors dressed in clothing of the period, welcomed with a glass of mead and treated to live music.

The evening was a show that included eating your meal mostly with your hands and entertainment from a cast of Medieval characters.

They were quite musically gifted and they also included some Celtic dancing.

Our server was quite funny in his own right.  Even his name was funny, Fiachra. When we called him by name he was shocked we remembered it.

Dinner is served!!











Overall we really enjoyed the food, drink and the show.

After returning to the hotel we went across the street to Flannery's Bar, another great pub experience. They had live music and played more than a few country western hits, it was a hoot.

We were in a corner booth when a gentleman came up and asked if he could take the girls pictures for the local paper. He clearly recognized them as sisters, took the picture and their names...we think it was for a paper, but we will probably never know!!


It was another full day, we retired with a smile.

Saturday we will head for Galway

Day 4 - Ring of Kerry and Celtic Steps

Thursday was a casual drive around the Ring of Kerry.

We boarded the bus around 9AM and set out to follow the Ring of Kerry.

We drove by St Mary's Catholic Church in Killarney, there is one other church in Killarney, it is called St. Mary's too...but Methodist.

We drove west through some amazing country side.

Some interesting characters at the stopping places along the route.

The views just keep coming and coming in Ireland, we have too many pictures to pick from.

There are many many churches in Ireland, this is the Daniel O'Connell Memorial church. The only church in Ireland not named after a Saint. O'Connell was a lawyer who lobbied for Irish independence and is often referred to as the Liberator of Ireland.

Views, views and more beautiful scenery.

It was another day of clouds, sun, rain, and wind, it changes every 5 mins.  However this day was on the cold side, we stopped for a break in the town of Sneem and had to have a hot toddy at Dan Murphy's Bar.

Ireland has many haunted houses and our driver/guide, Calvin, is just full of stories.  We stopped in front of this one and our bus quit and took repeated starts to get it going.  Calvin swears it was not a stunt.

It was chilly when we would step off the bus, there was even snow in the high mountains.

When we arrived back in Killarney we were treated to a Jaunting ride, horse drawn, through the park.

It was a beautiful ride and the driver was just hilarious, he was just full of Leprechaun jokes.  However, June and I rode in the front, it was freezing, and the blankets in the back were not shared with the front....

The ride finished at Ross Castle, very cool (not just cold).

Dinner was on our own, given the temperatures we decided to stay close to the hotel, just across the street was the Killarney Brewery. The pizza and beer were both excellent.

After dinner we all went to a local show, called 'Celtic Steps'. Pictures don't do it justice, it was a really nice and entertaining time.











It was a long and packed day, what fun.

Friday we head for the Cliffs of Moher and more viewing of the country side.

Day 3 - Blarney and Killarney

Wednesday was the first real day of our tour.  Breakfast in the hotel was good and we gathered at 9AM to board our bus for Blarney Castle.

Our bus seats about 30 people, there are about 25 in our tour group.

The bus stops about every 1..5 to 2.5 hours to make sure everyone is comfy.

Our first site seeing stop was a distant view of  the Rock of Cashel, near Tipperary.  Remeber the old song, 'Its a long long way to Tipperary'...well it certainly is.

The weather was rather windy and in the 40's, we did not linger.









In Ireland it seems it rains and 10mins later the sun comes out, it changes on and off all day.

When we arrived at Blarney Castle, we were entering a sunny part of the day. It was sunny but windy.

It s a bit of a walk up to the Castle, we passed signs saying 90 min, 60 min wait etc leading up to the Castle, but we were able to walk in without any waiting

We toured the Castle at our leisure, we found several 'Garderob' rooms, which were indoor bathrooms in the castle...poop shoots..

The stairs up to the top of the Castle get more narrow as you climb, it is amazing that people lived here and climbed these every day. The kitchen was not even on the same floor as the great room.....

From the top of the castle, the views were amazing.

June was a good sport and volunteered to pose for our 'Kissing the Blarney' picture. She really did not kiss it but we got the photo shot.











As we made our way down from the top of the castle, there are other rooms to explore, it truly is an amazing structure and gives one an appreciation of how tough life really was during these times (1400s).

After touring the castle we walked the grounds which are beautiful.  We walked by Blarney house, it was not open but is beautiful.

The grounds of Blarney Castle are beautiful.








It was windy and cool during our walk, we stopped in the gift shop where Ed and I got Paddy hats, Bob brought his with him, I am sorry, it is not Irish!!

When we got back to the Hotel we had to get a "Peaky Blinder" pose photo with our guide, Calvin. Calvin said it is a Netflix series we need to check out.










We arrived at our hotel around 5:30PM, and then walked downtown Killarney with our guide and a few others from our tour. We had a good dinner at Danny Mann, and then went from there to find another pub.

We stopped at O'Connors, which is a pub that has been in the family for over 200 years. The place was jammed and we struck up a conversation with a local Irishman, they are all very friendly.

By 9PM nearly all the pubs have some form of live music, it is amazing they can get their equipment into such small spaces. This two man band was called Rythmic Convictions, when they introduced themselves the accordion player said he had rythm and his partner was a convict.

Out next stop was D.  Rielly's Pub, from the street it looked like it was very tiny, when we got inside it was a maze of pubs, at least 4 bars all connected, it was also hopping.










We eventually found our way back to the Hotel and had a Irish Whiskey for a night cap...it was already Thursday.

Thursday, we will drive the Ring of Kerry.

Day 1 & 2 - Travel and Dublin

Monday we traveled. We got up early and were ready....but our flight was at 9PM.  It made for a bit of a slow day, but we eventually drove to the Allen's where we all got in the Kitchin's new truck and drove to Newburgh, NY for our direct flight to Dublin. It was relatively uneventful.

We flew Norwegian Air, a low cost airline, but to our surprise we somehow got booked in the premium seating section, lots of rum and reclining seats...awesome.

I especially liked the tail of our Boeing 787-9, it was a very new plane.









We arrived in Dublin about 8M Tuesday, customs was a breeze. We found a Taxi and it took about an hour and 50 Euros to get to the Ashling Hotel. Our rooms were not ready, but they stored our bags. The Hotel is quite nice. It was 3AM to us, with not much sleep on the plane, we all needed a coffee and then we were off on our selfguided walking tour.

Our first stop was The National Museum of Ireland. It is a good overall history of Ireland, including a bit about the Irish participation in the US wars including the Civil war, they fought on both sides.









You will have to ask Jean and Ed to give you the entire Irish history, one of the museum employees who was extremely proud of his Irish history gave them a personal tour of much of the museum.

Within the museum they have preserved a gun running sail ship from the early 1900s, the Asgard.

From the museum we made our way to the oldest pub in Dublin, the Brazen Head. It was established in 1198.

It was a very quaint and welcoming place.

Donna was clearly enjoying herself.

















It was a lot of walking and we had been up a long time, so we headed back to the hotel. Lucky for us our rooms were ready and we all got a bit of a nap.

After my nap, I set out to find a phone store to buy a Irish SIM for my old Samsung, or 'Burner' as Ed calls it. During my walk I got caught in a hail storm, no kidding...I left this crap in VT!

Eventually it was pouring, I ducked into a shop and paid 20 Euros for the ugliest Irish cap you have ever seen.

I also came by this during my walk.











My walk was successful, I was able to buy a SIM card for 20 Euro that gives me unlimited data, "all you can eat", on my cell for 30 days.  I am doing this blog on the bus right now using it...works fine.

After nap time we had a group dinner/meeting for our tour group.  We met others on our tour and had a nice time. There are about 25 souls on our tour.

After dinner we met up with an old friend of mine from my IBM days. Adrian O'Connor is now CEO of a company here in Ireland, Benetel, a wireless company.  It was great catching up with Adrian over a pint of Guinness.

We really should have gone to bed at this point, but we knew there were pubs withing a few mins walk of the hotel, and we were in Ireland.

We walked to P. Duggan's, the place was perfect. The blue hue in the picture is due to the police running a checkpoint right in front of the pub.  The bartender found it entertaining.

We had a really nice time in the pub, the bartender was a stereo typical friendly Irishman, he even showed the girls how to properly pour a Guinness.

It was a very nice time, we hated to leave but it was getting late.












It was a long day and a half but we sure had a good time.

Wednesday we start the real tour.