Ireland Day 9: Catching Up, National Stud Ranch and Blarney

I’m sorry I haven’t been posting regularly. A combination of late nights and lack of internet access has prevented me from being able to post anything recently. But we’ve been having an awesome time, and I can already tell I’m not going to want to come home.

Thursday was cold and rainy. We toured Glenveagh Castle, which isn’t a real castle. It was built in the 1800s to be a hunting lodge of sorts and designed to look like a castle. However it was amazing inside. Then we stopped briefly in Letterkenny, the sister city of Elizabethtown. I found a book there that is a collection of letters written to a man who immigrated to Lancaster County. Thursday night we went out to a small pub nearby (and I mean small, the bar itself took up half of the room) it was full of other members of our tour and we all drank and sang and had a good time. I have several videos of that night (mostly of our driver sing for us) that I’ll probably post on youtube at some point. It was possibly the most fun I’ve had so far.

Friday we drove up to Northern Ireland and took a tour of (London)Derry. What you call it is based on whether you’re a Loyalist Protestant or Nationalist Catholic. The town was the site of a lot of struggle during the fighting between the religious groups. Then we toured Giant’s Causeway. Unfortunately it was another rainy, cold day so it wasn’t as much fun as I was hoping it would be, but the rock formations at the causeway are amazing. I’ll have to get some pix posted so you can see them. Friday night we stayed in Ballygally castle, which is haunted but unfortunately I did not see the ghost, though I very much wanted to.

Saturday was a beautiful and we took a driving tour around the town of Belfast and heard about the history of the town. Belfast is one of the many towns that was divided and became a battleground between Catholics and Protestants for years. It was sad hearing the stories and see all the reminders of that time period. In the afternoon we stopped in Downpatrick to visit St. Patrick’s grave, then took a long, scenic drive to Dublin. We had to take a detour, so it was longer than anticipated, but it was a nice drive and took us through a part of Ireland we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

Sunday was another beautiful day, I can’t believe we had two in a row. We visited Dublin Castle and the Guiness Storehouse in the morning. We had our free pint in the Gravity Bar on top of the storehouse, which offers an amazing view of the city. I’m not a beer fan, so I couldn’t finish my pint, but it was fun anyway. Then the afternoon was free for us to wander Dublin. We saw the Book of Kells, which was another item on my must-see list. The book is amazing; so much detail and artistry went into making that. We couldn’t take pictures but I bought a poster and a book with lots of pictures. The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping. We stopped and bought shirts in Hard Rock Dublin and wandered around for a while. I fell in love with Dublin during that time; the sights, the sounds, the smells, the people – everything is incredible. I would love to live in this city for a while. For supper we went to The Abbey Tavern and had a traditional Irish dinner and entertainment, including singers and dancers. It was a lot of fun. On the way home our drivers led us in singing some traditional Irish songs. That was even more fun. Our guide, Ken, sang this one song called “Four Green Fields” and it was just amazing. He has so much passion for his country and his people and it really came out while singing that song.


Today started out nice as well, and most of the day wasn’t bad. I think it only really rained while we were on the bus. First we stopped at the Irish National Stud Farm and learned more than we really needed to know about breeding horses, and saw the most expensive horse in Europe. In the afternoon we drove to our hotel at the Blarney Woolen Mills then spent some time shopping after checking in. We wanted to see Blarney Castle, but it costs 10 euro to get anywhere near the castle so we decided it wasn’t worth it. All in all it was a pretty good day, not as busy as usual. I can’t believe we only have three more days left, I don’t want to come home (although I really miss my dog).

Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain so naturally our itinerary includes a walking tour of the town of Kinsale. Oh well, I getting used to being cold and damp by now. I have some pictures of the first couple days posted, I just have to figure out how to link to them. Keep an eye on the links to the right of the page, if I figure it out it will appear there.

Update: Pix are up! Some at least, check out the link in the list on the right. Hopefully more will come soon!