Ireland July29-Aug 4 #3

We moved along to the Dingle Pennisula and we loved it here.Dingle has something for everyone beaches,walking trails,pure Irish music,beautiful scenery and Gaelic language.The coastline consists of steep sea cliffs broken by sandy beaches.This has always been a area of the Gaelic language and was hit hard during the potato famine.You can see along the highway where the stones houses were abandoned many years ago.Today because of poor conditions the government has stepped in and subsidizes the region in order that the Irish language and  culture survive.There are newer homes everywhere in Ireland and quite large.We spent a couple days in Dingle  because we wanted to go to a few pubs at night and  listen to their music.lots of fun.Continuing along we stopped to see the Beehive huts and it was raining heavily.The beehive huts have stood for more than 4000 years.It's hard to imagine stones setting here for that long.
              Beehive Hut

Driving along we came to the Gallarus Oratory which is a stone church built 1300 years ago.Everything over here is ancient.The next day we went to the Cliffs of Moher.The Cliffs of Moher are a Unesco World Heritage sight.For 5 miles the cliffs soar as high as 650 ft. above the Atlantic.The cliffs are dramatic and there are walking trails to walk along.

I may  have to post my photos later as I'm having trouble transferring to blogger. We spent the night along the beach and were rewarded  with a beautiful sunset.The following day we drove along the coast and the Burren area.The Burren is a unique,windblown limestone wasteland that hides flora,caves and history.As you drive along you will come to Poulnabrone Dolman.This is a portal tomb made with stones and looks like a table.It's over 4000 years old.This is a very desolete place but interesting.It continues to rain but it hasn't stopped us from sightseeing.We drove the Inishowen route and  stop in Donegal to see the castle and old friary.We spent the night at the visitors center and they were putting in electic for rvs traveling and spending the night.Very nice of them.

July 26-29 continued

We drove along the Berea Coast and had a interesting drive.We encountered narrow roads,breathtaking scenery and some desolete countryside.We made a few wrong turns and didn't know where the GPS would take us. We drove the 120 mile Ring of Kerry and wasn't to impressed with it.They had narrow roads and buses coming from the other direction almost running us of the side.We ended up in Killarney and went to see the Muchross House and National park.Tomorrow Dingle.

July 23-27 2012 Ireland week 2

After leaving Dublin we headed west and stopped at Cahir Castle.It is one of Ireland's largest and best preserved castle.Our next stop was the Rock of Cashel.This castle sits high on a hill and overlooks a beautiful valley.It was the seat of ancient kings of Munster.This rock was fought over by clans for hundreds of years.The chapel is undergoing some restoration so they have some scaffolding.There is also a Celtic cross graveyard.Continuing on we drove over the beautiful Glen of Aherlow valley.

The next day we went to  Cobh,if your of Irish decent there's a good chance your ancesters left from this port.The first steam-powered ship made a transatlantic crossing from Cobh.

After visiting Cobh we arrived in Kinsdale and wanted to see Charles Fort.this fort is a star shaped one and was occupied by the British until the civil war in 1922.In 1923 the interior buildings were torched by the IRA to keep it from being used  by the free state during the Irish Civil War.After visiting the fort it was getting late so we spent the night in a parking lot at the church in Kinsdale.

July 17-23 2012 Ireland 1

Due to the fact that I don't have internet that often I will try and post once a week.I'll give my best shot.We arrived in Ireland on the 17th July.The next day I needed a Sim card for my phone so we went and got one that would work in Ireland.Then we needed to find someone that would fill one of our propane bottles.Ireland is the only one that we have found that will service other countries bottles.Every country has a different bottle and when you use the propane up you take that bottle back and they give you another already filled.This has posed a problem for us as we have one from Netherland,one from Germany and one from Italy.But at least they filled one of our German bottles. Here's some of the things we have done since we arrived in Ireland.The first place we visited was Glendalough Monolith site.This site was founded in the 6th century by St.Kevins. The best ruins are of a 10ft. round tower that has a high door.They had a ladder to climb into the tower in case of attack.Our next stop was Powerscourt Gardens and Mansion.The mansion had a fire in 1974 so they didn't have it open but you could go through the gardens.Sam decided to stay in RV so went without him.The gardens were beautifully done and they call them The Grand Finale of Europe's gardening tradition.Next we drove the Military road to Sally Gap.We saw some nice waterfalls,beautiful scenery,and bogs.The people still use the peat from the bogs to heat their homes.

 The next day we went into to Dublin ad the first place we went was to Trinity College.The students give you about a 30 minute tour of the college and a little bit of history.We also got to go into the old library that holds the Book of Kells. These are manuscripts made before the Dark Ages. Next we took the hop on hop off bus and stopped at Guiness Brewery.Guiness began in 1759 by Arthur Guiness and by1868 it was the biggest brewery in the world.It brews 10 million pints a day.On the top floor they have a gravity bar that has a 360 degree view.The tour is overpriced and we don't even like Guiness.Our next stop was at the Kilmainham Gaol.This jail opened in 1796 as a model prison.They incarcerated men women and children .It was frequently used by the British as a political prison and for the Irish who were fighting for Independence.Many were held here and executed during the civil war.The next day we went back into Dublin and went to the Temple Bar area.This place came on hard times in the 19th century and with the Government's help it has become a cultural hot spot with pubs and music.We loved the area and went to a few of the pubs and had a few drinks and listened to the good ole Irish music.