Ireland, Day 5

March 28th was a busy day! 

We started the morning with a drive to see the beaches at Lehinch.  Lehinch is about 17 miles from Ennis and Dan's grandfather told him stories of going to the beach here when he was growing up.  It was important for Dan to show Peter and Sarah the beach where their great grandfather played growing up. 

Next we made a quick visit to St. Bridget's Well in Liscanore. It is a holy well and a place of pilgramage.  People believe the water offers healing.  When people they leave pictures, flowers, and mementos to represent they healing they are asking St. Bridget to pray for.

Next up, we headed to the Cliffs of Moher!  The Cliffs of Moher are Ireland's most visited natural attraction and a must see for every tourist.

The Cliffs stretch 5 miles and are 702 feet at their highest point. The views are breathtaking and as usual, my pictures do not do this place justice!

And what is shocking to me most of all is that you could literally get right to the edge of the cliffs.  There were some caution signs around and a memorial to all the people who have lost their lives on the cliffs but you could literally walk right out to the edge.  YIKES!!!!   

We did a lot of walking to to get to the cliffs and to go around the cliffs.  It was very muddy and my shoes will never be the same but it was so gorgeous and again - my pictures don't do it justice!

Next, we headed to the Burren.  Burren is Irish for "great rock".  The rolling hills of the Burren are composed of limestone pavements with criss-crossing cracks known as "grikes", leaving isolated rocks called "clints". The region supports arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants side-by-side, due to the unusual environment. The limestones formed as sediments in a tropical sea approximately 350 million years ago. The strata contain fossil corals, crinoids, sea urchins and ammonites.

Peter doing his Napoleon pose again.

Peter gets his oddness directly from his dad!

 Sitting in the middle of this section of the Burren, is the Poulnabrone dolman which is a portal tomb. It dates back  to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC and 2900 BC.  Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that we were standing near a rock structure that was built at least 3000 years before Jesus walked on the earth.

16 adults and 6 children are buried underneath the structure.

After exploring the Burren, we headed to Caherconnel Fort. This fort dates back to the 10th century and is a large circular stone wall that is roughly 137 feet in diameter. 

Random cows near the fort.

Peter inside the fort.

Sarah had no interest to walk around the fort so she and I browsed in the gift shop and shared a pot of tea like proper Irish women.

The boys spent quite a bit of time learning about the history of the fort which gave us plenty of time to rest and get ready for our next visit.

We headed to Dysert O'Dea Castle, High Cross and Abbey.  The high cross and abbey date back to the 12th century and the castle dates back to the 15th century.

We literally had to walk through a cow pasture to get to it but it was worth it!

After this we headed back to Ennis to Drumclif Cemetery.  This is where Peter and Sarah's great great grandparents on Dan's mom's side are buried.

 Here they are in front of the grave.

Also located in this cemetery are the remains of a tower and an abbey so of course, we had to explore those as well!

After a very full day we went back to Ennis and explored the town some more, had dinner and went to bed. 

Ireland, Day 4

March 27 was Easter Sunday!

We started the morning with breakfast.  This hotel didn't have a buffet but had a menu we could choose from.  The kids and I chose pancakes but were very disappointed when crepes arrived.  I like the idea of crepes but in reality they are a little too eggy for me.  (I believe I've mentioned my disdain for the egg before.)  And when I asked for maple syrup to try to make them a little better, the waiter had no idea what I was talking about!

We attended Mass at Immaculate Conception in Oranmore.  The church was within walking distance from our hotel which was very nice.  That meant would could sleep in a little longer and still make it to church on time without worrying about where we were going or where to park.  However, in retrospect, I wish we had driven to nearby Galway to attend Mass at the cathedral there or even driven over to Ennis.  The Mass at Immaculate Conception was your typical Easter Mass except there was zero music.  No choir.  No organ.  No piano. No cantor.  No nothing!  .

And there were no flowers!  NONE!  

It was a bit of a let down...honestly it made it feel like we were still in Lent and not celebrating the Risen King. But the order of the service, the scripture readings, the liturgy, everything else was the same as every other Catholic church all over the world. And ultimately we are there to receive the Eucharist so in the grand scheme of things music and flowers aren't that important.

After Mass we headed to nearby Galway and noticed what looked like the remains of an old castle.  So we pulledup to the gate.  A car was parked inside the gate and a little dog came running up to greet us.  We assumed it was a private residence so we snapped some picutres and left.  I've since learned that they give tours of the castle in the summer and you can host events like small weddings  at the castle.

In Galway we spent a lot of time walking the streets.  Galway is a great little town with lots of shopping and different sites to see.

 We had lunch in Galway:

A big hunk of Irish beef on top of mash with a side of veg.  "Mash and veg" are very common side dishes in Ireland!

Shepards pie with a side of chips!  Don't call them fries in Ireland!

After lunch we walked the streets of Galway some more and came upon a street entertainer.  He gave a great performance.

After leaving Galway we headed to Knockmoy Abbey.This abbey was built in the 1100s.

There are old medieval wall paintings in this abbey but it appeared that they were in the process of being restored and were covered up so we weren't able to see them.  

Next up we tried to find the elusive Turoe Stone.  Dan has looked for this stone several times before but hasn't found it.  He was determined to find it this time.  A lot of things on Ireland are marked on the map but then there are no signs near what you are looking for to indicate you are near it.  And also, many times it is way off the beaten path.  However, if you ask a local you will be sure to find it.

So we pulled over on one of the country roads and asked a woman who was walking.  She gave us perfect directions.  We got to where it was supposed to be but couldn't find it so we asked someone else.  Apparently we were in the right spot but it had been removed for restoration.  So, we didn't get to see the stone.  But, here it is thanks to Wikipedia:

The stone is granite and dates to 100 BC to 100 AD. It is decorated in Celtic style.  I hate that we missed seeing something that old!  Maybe next time!

While Dan was asking about the stone, this beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky!

 We could literally see the end of the rainbow but alas, no pot of gold!

Our next stop was Yeats Tower.   The real name of this tower is Thoor Ballylee and it was a fortified tower house built in the 15th century.  It's called Yeats Tower because author William Butler Yates once owned it and used it as a summer home for 12 years.

Next stop was Ennis!  Ennis is the town that Dan's maternal grandmother and grandfather grew up in.  We toured around Ennis and showed the kids the church where his grandparents got married:

The Cathedral of Ennis

And he took the kids to visit the location of his grandfather's house.  His grandfather grew up in a house right behind Knox's pub.  The pub is still there and it's still called Knox's but all the houses behind that street have since been torn down and there is  a parking lot with a public toilet where the front door of the house used to be.  But here they are in front of the restaurant:

Dan remembers his grandfather telling stories about taking empty beer barrels from Knox's and rolling them down along the banks of the river.  And here's the river which is steps from the restaurant and would have  been in his grandfather's backyard:

We were able to enjoy some traditional Irish music after our dinner:

It was another great day in Ireland!

Ireland, Day 3

March 26th had us heading north to Downpatrick to Down Cathedral where we saw the graves of St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Brigid. And oddly enough, it isn't a Catholic church but is a Church of Ireland.

The High Cross

This is the grave of St. Patrick.

The Cathedral was built in the 1100s.  St. Patrick died in 461.  The granite stone covering the grave was placed in 1900 and looks very nondescript and plain other than the flowers that had been placed there.

After leaving Downpatrick, we headed to Trim Castle. Trim Castle is a Norman castle on the south bank of the River Boyne in Trim, County Meath, Ireland. It is the largest Norman castle in Ireland. It was built by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter in the 1100s.  We took a tour of this castle with a tour guide and we even got to go up to the very top of the castle (the keep).

This is the lower floor of the castle where they have three models showing how the castle looked in the beginning and then as it was expanded and renovated in the 1200s and 1300s.

One on of the upper floors of the caste.

Peter on the top of the castle!

Parts of the movie Braveheart were filmed here.

We left Trim Castle and headed to Dublin to Trinity College.  Trinity College is the location of the Book of Kells.  The Book of Kells  is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament. It was created in a Columban monastery in Ireland or may have had contributions from various Columban institutions from both Britain and Ireland. It is believed to have been created c. 800. 

We went back and forth on whether to go here or not but Peter was adamant that we see it and Dan and I had never seen it so we decided to go.  We warned Peter though that it would probably be like when we went to the National Archives in DC to see the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights - kind of boring. (Luckily when we went to see them in DC there were zero lines and we walked right in so that was a bonus!)

I got on the old smart phone to order tickets. A family pass was $22 Euro but you could pay $28 Euro and get in on a fast pass...which meant we could go in front of the long line of people and walk right into the exhibit.  I highly recommend this!  It was totally worth 6 extra Euro!

This is a picture of the outside of the library at Trinity College and do you see that long line of tiny people?  We go to pass them all!  Also, it had just been pouring rain a few minutes earlier so they got wet.  But do you notice how the sun is shining in this picture and the skies are clear?  That's Ireland for you!

Once inside there was a big exhibit before you actually got to the room that contained the Book of Kells.  The exhibit gave history of the book adn showed pictures of the actually book and many of the beautiful drawings from the book.  So it was a bit of a let down when we finally got to see the actual book and it was turned to just a regular page with no real illustrations.  Apparently they turn the pages on a regular basis and you get what you get. 


Upstairs from the Book of Kells is the Long Room.  The Long Room is 210 feet long and contains over 200,000 books.  It was built in the early 1700s.  The library was given the right to a copy of every book printed in Britain and England and the roof was raised in 1850. 

The room was breathtaking and smelled like old books. 

My pictures don't do the room justice!  Also contained in this room is Brian Boru's Harp which dates back to the 14th or 15th centuries and was used as a model for the Coat of Arms of Ireland.  You might recognize better from the Guiness Can!

We drove around Dublin for a bit and tried to take the kids by the General Post Office which was the site where the Easter Rising occurred in 1916.  However, they had the roads blocked in preparation for huge parade they were having the next day to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising! 

We headed to Oranmore where we spent the night at a hotel which was not nearly as fancy as the Slieve Donnard but it was clean and each of the kids had their own bed so it was perfect for us.  There was a great little  Italian restaurant downstairs and we enjoyed a delicious dinner before heading to bed.  We did a lot of driving this day in order to see the Book of Kells so even though it was a long day, I don't have many pictures to show for it.  But Peter was very excited to see the Book of Kells and Dan and I had never seen it either so it was worth it.