Ireland, Chapter II

Day 3, August 10th

The Rock of Cashel (Irish: Carraig Phádraig), also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, is a historic site located at Cashel, South Tipperary, Ireland.
Along the day we learned more about the Butler family, it was like the red line of the first days of our staying in Ireland.

According to local mythology, the Rock of Cashel originated in the Devil's Bit, a mountain 20 miles (30 km) north of Cashel when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave, resulting in the Rock's landing in Cashel. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century.

Rock of Cashel, roundtower and church ruins

The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. In 1101, the King of Munster, Muirchertach Ua Briain, donated his fortress on the Rock to the Church. The picturesque complex has a character of its own and is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture to be found anywhere in Europe. Few remnants of the early structures survive; the majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Infos: http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-east/rockofcashel/

The village itself it's pretty nice and worth a stop. We had lunch in this cozy place just under the rock itself,

near the car park, "Granny's kitchen":

Then we headed on to Cahir and visited the castle (http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/south-east/cahircastle/) one of the largest castles in Ireland, is sited on an island in the river Suir. It was built in 1142 by Conor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond.

Panorama from the chemin de ronde of Cahir castle

Cahir castle

At the end of the day we arrived in Cork, second largest city of Ireland, grabbed a burger at Burger King and the a good old creamy Guinness in a truly magical spot near our B&b, not the classical Irish pub, it was more like a place where time was still in the '800, Paris-retrò style.













Day 4, August 11st

Classy Irish Full breakfast (gives you strenght) and off to visit the city: Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, worth a visit, with all the story of the first construction and then in 1863, another cathedral was the first major work of the Victorian architect William Burges.The style of the building is Early French, in fact seemed to me I had been kicked all the way to France for half an hour!
After that, the English market, where we got our lunch for later on and a delicious juice at the Fruit Boost.
I didn't have such a good impression from Cork, it's a big city for Irish standards, but I think it has little "human dimension", less than Dublin.

Then we drove to the Blarney castle and gardens, started showering so we put our k-ways on to stand in the queue, the longest one we met in this travel of ours...and all this, to kiss a stone(it's supposed to give you the git of eloquence tought) ! -.-
Anyway we did kiss the stone, visited a few gardens. Quick lunch in the parking lot. In the late afternoon we got in Killarney, well not in the city. We stayed in the "Killarney Inn", which was very very comfortable.

Blarney castle

People kissing the stone

IRN-BRU!!From Scotland with love =)

Just the time to leave the luggages and then whe went to Killorglin, risking our lives along the way (surprisingly not our driver's fault due to unexpierence but a local just didn't see we were on the road :o ) . The city is located on the river Laune, which has a rowing club and a new boathouse. Lucky enough those were the days of the famous Puck Fair and we had a taste of that, also meeting one of the guys selling bracelets and things who lived in Italy for about 6 or 7 years and was a teacher here too!
Then little beer at the Inn before bed time..

This is not taken by me, but just to give you the idea of what the Puck fair looks like. In the tower  the King of Pucks will be placed later on...

Day 5, August 12nd
Ring of Kerry day!
First stop: Rossbeigh Beach, beautiful beach, in a bay...I wanted so badly to dive in but we didn't remember to bring swimsuits with us! Risked the already operated- knee sliding on the seaweeds which I didn't recognize because I'm used to the Mediterranean ones :(













Second stop: Cahergal Stone Fort. It is a large Staigue-type fort (one of the many Iron Age forts) with the lintelled entrance in the south- east. It is found close to Ballycarbery Castle, near Cahersiveen County Kerry. The interior walls of this ancient Stone Fort have stone stairs and there is a rectangular house within the fort. The walls of the fort have been reconstructed and now stand about 2m high for the most part. The walls are about 5m thick at the base. I think these stone forts are pretty amazing and fascinating!

Eating castles

Third stop: lunch, can't remember the name of the village, anyway only the time to order something in a pub and then we were off to the

Fourth stop: somewhere over the fog and Fifth: Ladies View, a scenic point along the N71 portion of the Ring of Kerry, in Killarney National Park, Ireland. The name apparently stems from the admiration of the view given by Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting during their 1861 visit.
Then we went in Killarney to buy something to eat for dinner at the Inn, after dinner we watche the Olympics closure ceremony =) Olympics had, until then, been like the frame of our journey with Katie Taylor winning the gold, and other box matches, us trying to get news of Italian athletes and so on.

Ladies view

And this, is just an amazing truck/jeep/mean of transport we saw in Cahir and wish I had it ;)

End of chapter II

Ireland tour: colours!

Maybe someone, speaking of Ireland, would think at grey clouds, foggy days, rain..and such things...BUT!
Ireland is not this, or better, is not only this. When the light leaks trought the clouds and a piece of sky becomes visible, maybe you will be lucky enough to have some sun's rays. Well, then it's a whole different story. Colours rise and shine in everything. The reason why I speak in these Rosamunde Pilcher/romantic/sugary way of light and colors because I was quite impressed by the strenght of them. I mean I have a reflex camera, and, even more when travelling, I like to take pictures with it, as you can notice ;) While in Ireland, I was pleasingly surprised by the light and the blue of the sky, green of the meadows and all. i have to say, we were pretty lucky with weather (8-22 August) about 2 or three day of rain, a few showers but a lot of sun too!

Let me start from the beginning.
We decided to take this trip during this winter, my dad retired in april, my mum's a teacher, no big problems for days of/holidays and so on. Ireland was chosen as the destination beacuse everyone of us for one cause or the other always wanted to go visit.
I'm going to write sort of a diary from now on,in a few "episodes", trying to comunicate what I saw that left me with eyes, mind and hearth full.

Day 1, August 8th

Our welcome, or better fàilte!

Plane Treviso-Dublin, arrived in Ir. in the afternoon, got the car from Budget car rental and then off to the Wicklows, garden of Ireland. Lovely landscapes and nice places where to hill walk or bycicle! First night and obviously...first pub! At Glenmalure Lodge, after visiting the Glendalough site and cheking in at our B&b in Laragh.

In Gowran

http://www.glendalough.ie/
"The Valley is home to one of Ireland’s most impressive monastic sites founded by St. Kevin in the 6th Century."



Day 2, August 9th
Drove thru Gowran, visited the spot. Second place and second good impression from Irish folks, guides are truly willing to show you things and tell you stories. Heritage rocks ;)

Glendalough valley

Gowran (Irish: Gabhrán) is a village and former town in County Kilkenny, Ireland.

This was a place of importance prior to the Norman invasion and a royal residence of the Kings of Ossory, sometimes recorded as the Kings of Gowran. King Robert the Bruce with his army of Scots and Ulstermen took the town in 1316. James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde built Gowran Castle in 1385 close to the site of the present castle and town walls were erected circa 1415. King James I made Gowran a parliamentary borough in 1608.
The town, under the command of Colonel Robert Hammond, surrendered to Oliver Cromwell on 21 March 1650 following a siege. 

In the centre of the village is the historic St Marys Collegiate Church which contains monuments from the 14th to 17th centuries. This collegiate church was built in the late 13th century on the site of an earlier monastery. It was served by a "college"—clerics who lived in a community but who did not submit to the rule of a monastery. The church was a large and elaborate structure, with an aisled nave—the main part of the church where the congregation—and a long chancel—the section of the church where the altar was placed—and has high quality architectural sculpture used throughout. In the late middle ages a massive tower was inserted between the nave and chancel, and in the 19th century this tower was incorporated into the parish church which was built in place of the chancel and which now takes up about half of the building. There were also several other changes made to the church at various periods. St Mary's is now a National Monument.

just a great piece of art, on a 12th century tomb

Jerpoint Abbey ruins

After that we moved on to Jerpoint Abbey which is a ruined Cistercian abbey, founded in the second half of the 12th century, near Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland.

Then on to Kilkenny, where we had our luggages put down in the new b&b. Visit of the city, St Canice's Cathedral (my sister, brother and I climbed also the round tower outside the cathedral) and the Castle with the gigantic garden outside. We dined very fairly at The Kyteler's Inn, one of the oldest pub in Ireland, where, to give us a nice change, a group was doing the rehearsal of a musical about the story of the witch and I'm not going to tell you more about this, check it ou ;) (http://www.kytelersinn.com/). After dinner with bro and sis we went to a pub where there was this group playing and singing and irish dancers too.

Going up!

On the top of the tower, scared faces ;)

Kilkenny's castle

End of chapter I.