This Is What They Mean By Irish Spring

On A Clear Day

It's A Long Way To Tipperary

We spent the night in Killarney, Ireland's premier tourist town. I dined at a nice restaurant and there was a table of about eight American men talking about golf. I guess they were there to play.

Today we went to the Blarney Castle. The castle is old and kind of crumbling with a difficult climb up in a narrow stairway. I did go to the top but declined kissing the stone since you have to lie backwards and they kind of hold you hanging and I felt that I would throw up in that position. I then walked the grounds. There was limited time but I could have spent at least a day there. Spring was rampant.

We made one last stop to ruins of a castle the Rock of Dunamase which was given as a dowry in about 1100 in a political deal of a marriage. The view of the fields from the top are extraordinary.

Then I returned to Dublin.

Big Day O' Blarney

I am sitting at the entrance of Blarney Castle in the sun. Despite all weather forecasts for rain those of us visiting are lucky that the forecasts were absolutely incorrect. Rain and more rain is a common phenomenon in Ireland. Now in my hotel room back in Dublin I have just had a jacuzzi bath and feel great. The old hotel with ancient charm found me an updated room.

I returned from a three-day trip South: Galway, Cliffs of Moher, Killarney and Blarney Tour. I was going to try to do something like this by myself but this worked much better. It is too bad I could not get pictures of all the sheep, cows and horses in the fields as we drove around. The countryside is fabulously picturesque with an early spring glow. The first day we visited Connemara.  [See earlier posts.]

We saw the only fjord in Ireland and Kylemore Abbey an old castle in a beautiful setting. We stayed in Galway and I think I found the best restaurant. The national initials in Ireland are B&B. The next day we went to an Abbey with a not-so-ancient graveyard. Then we continued on to an area of a barren stone landscape in a part of Ireland that that suffered the most in the potato famine.

Ireland's population was cut in half in the nineteenth century due to death by starvation and immigration to the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. There are stone walls everywhere separating fields and one of the reasons is that the landscape was littered with rock and they constructed these walls with unwanted stones.

We went to the Cliffs of Moher which were amazing and even moreso since it was clear and we could see. We made a stop in Adare, a rich tourist destination with a golf course whose entrance looks more like a Presidential Palace. The shops have the ancient thatched roofs and a beautiful garden park in the middle of town.

Spring Comes Early

Walls Of Beauty, With Flautist

Beyond Dublin

Oyster Country

I am actually in a restaurant in Galway waiting for my oyster fix. I seem to be addicted to oysters since Nice. I had them yesterday as well. I took a long walk from my B&B, which you really couldn't call rustic but it is OK, to the center of the old and tourist area of this small seaside city.

I figure I may as well splurge in my last week of my trip. I have finished eating. I had daube of lamb as a main course. It was very good. The maitre d' hotel or manager, whatever he is, is French. Now that there is a European Union everyone can work where they want.

The tour today was stellar. We went to Connemara and to the majestic Kylemore Abbey. It was built for a wife who died shortly after it was finished. It ended up with nuns as an abbey but that has ended also. Now I guess you could say it is a tourist stop. it was impressive.

The guy sitting across from me on the bus was an executive chef at a fish restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa. He also wrote a couple of cookbooks. Small world. He is basically retired, inherited money and has been traveling a lot.

I am now deciding whether to go to a pub or not..  Life in Ireland revolves around pubs..  it is not the drinking but the socializing.  I have had two wines and I don't know if I can handle anymore alcohol.

Ended up taking a taxi back to my B&B.  I still have several days to go to a pub.

Seriously

Wanna Buy Some Bread?

Down To The Sea With Seal