The Rock of Cashel

Today we're going to see one of the most visited spots in Ireland, The Rock of Cashel.  But on the way, we keep stumbling across ruins that aren't even listed in the guide books, and don't have any identification.  I guess they have too many over here to bother marking them all.

But when you see The Rock from miles away, you recognize that this is going to be special.

And then to add a modern flair.

Of course, up close it's even more impressive.

The only problem is that it is packed with tourists. 

Once again we walked up to a group with a guide, only to find it was a private tour that was half way through.  We did find out in time to start with a real tour at least.    This is Mary, our tour guide, discussing The Cross of St. Patrick.

The legend states that if you can put your arms all the way around it with your fingers touching on the other side, you'll never have a toothache.  Being the lanky guy that I am, I had no problem doing it. 

But then we were told that this is really a concrete replica of the actual sandstone cross which is in the museum. 

And this one is roped off so you can't get to it.  So I guess I'll have to continue my dental hygiene after all.

Cormac's Chapel is a little the worse for wear. 

I think the top of this looks like a face, and not a happy one at that.

They had a hurricane that knocked down part of the tower.  There is still one large block lying in front of it.

The rest of the rubble they sent to Wisconsin where it was used to build a church (they believe in recycling, I guess). 

Then there is a cathedral as well.  It's also pretty much a ruin by now, but impressive none the less.

Then there was another abbey just down the hill that used to belong to the Benedictines, but the bishop of Cashel (a Dominican) dreamed that they were going to cut off his head, so he decided to cut off theirs first.  Well they heard about this and decided leaving was the best plan, and the Dominicans took it over.

They had a round tower as well, and this was the tour guide that told us it was just used as a bell tower.

There was also a monument built in one corner of the cemetery in I think the 1800's that was as tall as this round tower.  But (as the guide described it) the not too bright builder put a solid iron rod down the center of it for support, and in the 1970's lightning struck it and it exploded!  Wish I had been there to see that (from a distance, of course).

Then we headed off, and contrary to the song, it really isn't a long way to Tipperary.

But we just passed through Tipperay on our way to Caher (or Cahir).  There we were going to see the Swiss Cottage built in 1810 for entertaining guests. 

But you can only see it on a guided tour, and one had just left.  We were also a little confused as to where our next B&B was located, so we decided to just head out to find it instead of waiting around.  But before we left we took a nice walk down by the river, so all was not wasted.

We had no problem finding our next B&B and it was situated right on a lake.

Round Towers

We headed out in another overcast, drizzly, cold day, but tried to ignore it as we drove to Glendalough or "Glen of Two Lakes".  Unfortunately when we got there we didn't really see the lakes, but we did see these round towers that Susan had read about in her book.

In Susan's book they talked about how these were used for defense by the monks.  When the raiders (Vikings, English, or other Irish) came, they would go up the ladders and then pull the ladders up after them.  However a tour guide at Cashel told us that this wasn't true, that they were just bell towers.  You be the judge.  You can also judge how lovely the weather was from this picture of me enjoying the lovely Irish weather.

There was also an interesting chapel there that the stone roofs that were first done in Ireland.  They use overlapping stone tiles to create the roof.  I'm still not exactly sure what holds it all up, but they seem to stand up pretty well.

Built into the wall was a little seat.  Given that it was pooled with water, neither Susan or I tried it out.

 

Then it was off to our next stop, which was supposed to be the Black Castle in Leighlenbridge, but after driving around the tiny little streets in the rain for 15 minutes with no success, we decided that we would just press on to our next stop at Kilkenny.

By the time we got there it had stopped raining and warmed up a bit. 

We walked around town and found another cathedral that we visited. 

So the day ends with us dreaming of better weather tomorrow.

Birthday in Dublin

I celebrated my 57th birthday in Dublin, and it was rainy and cold the entire day (pretty appropriate, eh?).  The B&B we were staying at was outside of the city center, so we took a bus into town.  The first place we went to see was the Charles Beatty Library which is in the Dublin Castle.

Charles Beatty collected rare books for 60 years and this is the result of his labors.  It's unfortunate that we couldn't take pictures inside, as the old illustrated books and documents were incredible.  They even had an exhibit on Rembrandt engravings.  In addition to the books themselves, they had short videos on various things such as how woodblocks, engravings and etchings were done.   One of the things we wanted to do here was see The Book of Kells, which is housed in the Trinity Library.  It's an incredibly illuminated Book of the Gospels that was done in about 800.  But in reading the guide book, it said that you really couldn't see much except the backs of a lot of tourists trying to see the small book behind a layer of bulletproof glass.  So we opted to go to the Beatty Library instead, and I think it was much better than what we would have seen of the Book of Kells.

When we finished viewing the exhibits, we were going to go downstairs and have lunch at the restaurant there at the library, which looked really good.  But when we got there we found it had closed for a private function 5 minutes earlier.  So we headed out and found a pub with good food instead.

Next we went to the National Museum of Archeology and History.  It was filled with interesting exhibits about the people who have lived in Ireland through the ages, from the Romans through the Vikings to the Irish themselves.  It was really interesting for Susan as she's reading a book, Princes of Ireland, which is about Ireland starting back in 430 A.D.  So much of what we saw in the museum (as well as things we've seen since then) refer back to things she's read about in her book.

Susan had wanted to take me to a nice restaurant for my birthday, but after we finished with the museum, it was too early for dinner, and it was still rainy and cold so we decided to head back to the B&B.  But it took us a while to find the right bus stop, and by then it was rush hour, so by the time we got back to where our B&B was, it was after 6:00.  Walking back from the bus stop to the B&B there were several restaurants, so Susan let me choose and we ate at an Italian restaurant, that turned out to be one of the best meals we've have over here!  I like being lucky.

So we're hoping that the weather improves, because cold and rainy is not what we're looking for (I'm blaming it on my birthday).

Ready for the rain!

Edinburgh - Part II

We had a little time to kill before dinner after our arrival, so we headed out to a place that had been recommended to us by a couple we met in one of the hides at Vane Farm.  It's called Arthur's Seat, and it's in Hollyrood Park near Hollywood Palace.  It's a hill that yields beautiful views of the city.  But the car park at the bottom looked like it would be a very steep climb, and our B&B hostess had told us that there was parking near the top, so off we went.  While there was a lot of parking, we couldn't quite figure out where the trails would be.  So after completely circumnavigating it, we took another pass and just headed up a hill that looked like it had received some foot traffic.

The views were incredible from the top, with 360 degree views of the city and the ocean.  As you can tell from my hair, it's a little bit windy up there.

The next morning we got up and went to a place that we had just stumbled on while we were looking for Arthur's Seat the day before, Dynamic Earth.  It's a science museum, and while most of these don't do much for me (they seem aimed at a grade school crowd), this one was really interesting.  The only disappointment was that they had a room that talked about the Antarctic, but  they kept it so cold (there was actually an ice sculpture in the middle of the room!) that we couldn't stay in it long enough to read all the plaques!

After that we headed back to see Edinburgh Castle.  But first we had to cross the hurdle of trying to find a parking spot.  In addition to how hard this usually is in a European city, there was a lot of road construction going on, and the parking lot that we wanted was closed.  But we did manage to find one, and after walking around the Horn, finally managed to find the castle.

And being a Scottish castle, the had to have a statue of William Wallace.

I'm fascinated by the ornate coat of arms they have.  This one if for James VI of Scotland,  James I of the United Kingdom (son of Mary, Queen of Scots).

Always fascinated by their weapons.  Can you imagine what it would take to actually swing this sword in a fight?  I'd have about one swing in me, then I'd just give up.

And then there's the early 17th century weapons of mass destruction (this one is called Megs Mon).

I swear we're really over here.  This shot looks like I've been Photoshopped in!

By the way, this "cathedral" is now a festival center and cafe! 

On the way back we say this building, but we weren't sure exactly what it is.  There are so many huge, old buildings over here.  I think they should dismantle a couple of them and send them to us, they wouldn't miss them and we'd really appreciate them.

We thought the "crowns" on this building were pretty interesting.

We had passed by this building on the way to Dynamic Earth, but I couldn't stop to take a picture.  Then when we were walking back to our car park, we ran into it again.  This if for Ben and Gary.  They'll understand.

So tomorrow we bid a fond farewell and catch a plane to Ireland.  So the next post will be from the Emerald Isle! 

Where are the birds?

We decided to change our plans a little after Arbroath and skip the castle we were going to and head off to Vane Farm, a waterfowl wildlife refuge.  After arriving (and getting a cup of coffee/tea to warm up) we took off on the trail through the park.

There were beautiful wildflowers along the trail

And three "hides" where we could watch the birds.  They had posters that described all the various types of birds, which of course I found fascinating.

Luckily we had brought a pair of binoculars, as we couldn't see much from the hides.  But we did see a Shelduck with 17 babies!  There were herons as well as other birds, but nothing like what we had seen at Slimbridge.

So after a bit we went to Kinross for lunch.  While we were there I reached in my back pocket, and what did I find but the keys from the last B&B!  I called and let them know, and then we went to the Post Office in Kinross and mailed them back.

We ate at a little sandwich place in town and while we were there the place was deluged with kids from the local high school, all in uniform.  There must have been 80 - 100 of them.  But they were pretty well behaved, got their sandwiches and left.  Clearly the food at the local high school isn't that good.

Then we came back to Edinburgh where we'll be for a couple of nights before we head off to Scotland.  

Stirling Castle, William Wallace and Edinburgh, Part I

We left Dollar and drove past the William Wallace memorial (it wasn't open yet) and then off to Stirling Castle.  It was a gray, drizzly day, but we motored on with out hooded rainjackets (boy, am I glad we brought these!).  We got to Stirling Castle just when a tour was going to start, so we quickly got tickets, ran inside and found this small group being led by a man in a kilt. 

We figured this must be it, so off we went.  We were pretty disappointed in the guide, he didn't really interact with us and didn't seem to have as much information as most.  About half way through, another, much larger group caught up to us and we realized that we had been following some private tour (which wasn't good) and missing out on the official tour.  So we switched and the official guy was much better.

I'm sure if we had been with the right tour, we would have gotten a better description of what this was.

As it is the "tour guide" just mentioned that this was the field where they jousted.

So while Stirling Castle was interesting, we didn't get the full story that we would have if we had a better guide.

Then it was off to the Wallace Memorial, and the 246 steps to the top, and that's after hiking up a steep hill to even get to the base of it.

When we did get to the tower, there was an actor performing.  Again we got there at the end of it, but he was fun to watch and talked about how William Wallace lost the support of many of the clans, which led to his downfall.

But the views from the top were spectacular.  If only it had been sunny as well.

Then it was off to Saint Andrews, the home of golf.  I didn't want to actually play any of the courses (I'm not that much of a masochist!) but I did want to look around.  The only course we managed to find was the old course, with this very small practice putting green.

But we did find yet another ruined abbey.  This one was really ruined.  I liked this area where about the only thing left standing was one ruined tower.

But clearly this part was built by the lowest bidder as well.

But at least the poor construction made for some artsy shots!

Then we headed off to our B&B in Dundee, but after being led astray by our GPS (OK, OK, it's probably because I put in the wrong address) we found out that it was really in Arbroath (which is just a few miles outside of Dundee).  So we found the B&B, and spent quite a bit of time talking to our host, Ron.  He was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and also about (cue Susan being excited) birds.  He has several bird feeders right outside the breakfast room, so Susan could watch all the birds while we ate.

One of the things he mentioned was the Declaration of Arbroath, which he said was the basis for the Declaration of Independence.  I'll let you read it and decide for yourself,  but for me ... NOT!  Oh well, national pride is a good thing.