Kinsale and Castles

We left our humble abode in Dingle to make our way through at least part of the Ring of Kerry and continue on until we ended up in another little apartment outside of the small port town of Kinsale.  We had a few stops in mind and also allowed for the last minute following of signs/ playing with GPS to get to a few hidden gems.  

Our first stop was in and near Killarney where we stopped by a gorgeous cathedral and the Castle Ross, which was right beside a lake in the national park.  It was extra cold and extra windy, but obviously, beautiful.

We continued up the road to Blarney, home to the famous Blarney Castle and Blarney stone.  Legend has it, if you kiss the Blarney stone you will be blessed with the gift of gab... that is eloquence and flattery.  So, we made our way around the grounds and up to the top of the castle where we hung upside down to kiss a small square of stone that is kept as far away from thieves and tramps as possible.  The stunning grounds included walking paths, a poison garden, the castle itself, the residence house and some kind of Japanese-ish water garden.  

I actually kissed the stone... setting in stone my already present gift of gab, but Michael, not wanting to kiss something that millions of others do a year, instead just turned upside down and touched his nose to the stone.  What a weirdo!!

 We spent two nights in a lovely apartment outside of Kinsale.  The weather worsened slightly, but we just enjoyed our time walking around and exploring the town and beautiful views of the boats below.

There was also this darling sweet shop that was exactly like Honeydukes in real life.  We talked to the owner for awhile.  Apparently he only opened the shop during high season (St. Patricks week and summer) and weekends and spent the rest of his time travelling.  Rough life. Sounds great.

Once we left Kinsale, we started on our last leg towards Dublin where our Irish adventure would end.  We stopped at two more awesome castles: Cahir Castle and St. Patrick's Rock of Cashel. Cahir was really fun, and apparently since it was never take by force, has more original castle than any of the other (many) castles in Ireland.  The town was built right up to that one, which always amazes me.  A gas station across the street from a medieval castle.  

Conversely, the Rock of Cashel was up on a hill overlooking the countryside in a sort of dominance you would expect from a castle.

St. Patrick's cross:

 This guy was BIG!!:

 We finished our time in the Irish countryside and arrived in fair Dublin that evening.

Cliffs, St. Patrick and Funghi

We set out from Galway to continue our Irish Road trip to an Irish vacation hotspot, The Cliffs of Moher.  We joined hundreds, probably thousands, of people at the windy, vertigo inducing marvel.  It was stunningly beautiful (which I quickly saw was a trend on the island of Ireland) and the sounds of waves crashing combined with the excited/nervous tones of our fellow tourists as they gazed over the edges made for a pleasant experience.  We had just seen a news story a few days before about the cliff edges (maybe in Dover) falling due to weathering, so watching people walk along the edge with that in mind made for twisted nerves.  

Once we'd had enough of the wind, we continued our journey towards our destination of Dingle, where we would be spending 3 days, including St. Patrick's day.  The town of Dingle was picturesque and the perfect place to get to spend some time. On the peninsula, and its surrounding areas, things are in Gaelic (Irish) first and then English. We stayed in a cottage outside of the town technically located in Ballydavid, which was a really nice change to moving around every single day.  Our living room was incredibly cozy and we spent our time huddled around the fire to stay warm, while drinking tea and coffee with Digestives (horrible name... incredible biscuits (or in American... cookies).  Having a fully stocked kitchen allowed us to make and eat meals at home which is also a welcome change from eating out every meal (and much more economical).  The cottage also came with laundry, which by this point was a necessity. 

                                          

I forgot to mention our packing situation for this month-long excursion.  We packed in our 45L backpacks.  In total I had two pairs of pants, one tshirt, one tanktop,two long sleeved shirts,  two sweaters, one sweater dress, one set of cuddleduds for layering, leggings, boots, tennis shoes, flip flops for strange showers, one fleece, one rain jacket, 4 pairs of socks, 7 pairs of underoos, my special hand-knitted for this trip scarf, and basic toiletries.  Michael had the boy version of that, adding in a few more pairs of socks.  Luckily, it was so cold we were wearing a lot of this at one time most days.  But... this is why laundry was becoming pretty necessary.

We went to do our laundry the first day, and when Jacqui opened the front loading washer, it was somehow filled with water and like a tsunami, flooded our entire cottage (luckily tile).  We spent the next hour or so sweeping water out the front door.  We followed up our triumphs by walking up the street to the pub to watch the Irish Rugby team defeat France in the 6 nations tournament.  I sort of understood what was going on by the end of it.  

The next day we went in to Dingle where we took a boat ride through the harbor to meet Funghi, the famous dolphin that has lived there for, legend has it, 50 plus years.  They are so confident that you will see Funghi, that they promise a money-back guarantee if you don't.  We weren't disappointed.  It wasn't long before the big guy was leaping alongside the boat.  We were freezing, it was raining, but the harbor was gorgeous and Funghi was the best.  Afterwards, we alternated between waiting out the rain and walking around the town.  

For the long awaited St Patti's day, we got up and headed into town (in taxi) for the Dingle St Patrick's Day parade, which was full of adorable children, fife bands, and even St Patrick himself.  Obviously, the town's biggest celebrity Funghi made an appearance as well.  

We spent our day doing what you do in Ireland on St. Patrick's day... hopping from pub to pub drinking Guiness and Smithwicks with townsfolk, other tourists, and leprechauns.  It is the kind of day that brings everyone together, and it was a wonderful experience to be in the birthplace of such a great tradition.  We rounded out our night back at the cottage where we watched about 45 minutes of a DVD called "The Magic of the Leprechauns" because... come on....

Dingle was such a fantastic place, and I might even say my favorite place in Ireland.  Everything about it was exactly as I had imagined except even more charming and friendly.  We were really sad to leave Funghi, but we continued our road trip with a "top of the mornin" in his direction, and we were on our way.