Day 4

We had a major change in plans today.  We were suppose to stay in the small town, Ballyferriter.  It is locatedon the Dingel Peninsula, overlooking the ocean.  Instead of Ballyferriter and the ocean we headed north to Tralee.  One of the first stops along the way was Inch Beach.  It is located on the Dingle Peninsula.  It was a beautiful beach, however, there were big waves, lots of sand and even more jellyfish. 

It was very windy at Inch Beach.

That’s  me, all bundled up.  Nicole and I walked for a bit but did not get our feet wet as we did at Barley Cove.  Much too windy and cold.

Beautiful home overlooking the beach.

Wherever you looked or walked there were hundreds of jellyfish.

We drove around just a small bit of The Ring Of Kerryu.  We drove through Kemare and Killarney.  Both were beautiful small towns with thatched roofs and plenty of flowers.

We stopped at a place called Molly Gallivans.  Nicole will have a lot of pictures of this stop on her blog.  Make sure you check out Nicole with the pig!  It was here that I bought my beautiful green wool cape with a hood.  You will see a picture of it when we stop at Cliffs of Moher.

Kenmare.

We stopped in Kenmare for lunch.  We ate in a little bakery.  We were so busy running around looking at lace we almost missed lunch.

Kenmare

Nicole in line for lunch.

Our lunch.  We started to eat before we took a picture.  We were very hungry.  We shared a table with Cindy.  It was good food and then we rushed back on the bus.

We stopped at several overlooks on the way to our hotel.  They overlooked the Dingle Peninsula.

Nicole poking fun at Todd and Tom.

Tom and Vicki

Cindy painted her toenails green for her trip to Ireland.

On one of the overlooks you could see the small town of Dingle.

The Dingle Peninsula

Rosie and Nicole

Nicole and Dingle in the background.

Me and Todd and the town of Dingle in the background.

Dingle where we bought some lace.  T hat’s Nicole.

Dingle

Stops on the way to Tralee.

Nicole at an overlook.

Mother and daughter.  Very Happy!!!

Shrine on the side of the road.

We arrived at our hotel  The  bbey Gate Hotel, in Tralee and unpacked and took a short rest.  We had dinner in the hotel that night.   Not a great meal.  We were going to stay and listen to some music, but Nicole was too tired.  Our room faced the front of the hotel and we were right over the entrance.  There was a prom at the hotel and all the kids hung out outside instead of inside.  It was like trying to sleep in a damn bus station!  They were all drunk, cussing , yelling and even throwing up under our window.  I called the desk at 10:15pm and they said they would talk to the manager.  At 11:30pm nothing had been done so I called the desk again.  They did not answer.  Probably knew it was me.  It wasn’t until after 2:30am that all the kids left.  However, the traffic was still noisy.  I didn’t get more the 2 hours of sleep.  Tune in to see what happened.

Blessings.

Our third day was cloudy.  We were suppose to head out to Mizen Head, however, the bridge was out.  We would have had a beautiful view of the coast line from Mizen.  Well, after a delicious breakfast of French toast with bananas and almonds we headed out to our new destination, Crookhaven.

Pretty window in Crookhaven.  Crookhaven is a very small community on the coast, not too far from Mizen Head.  On the way we stopped at Bantry House.  Bantry house is a Georgian home built in mid-18th century for the earls of Bantry.  The home and gardens were just beautiful.  The view from the front of the house  was the water.

This is the bedroom that I fell in love with.  It had views of the water.  The family still lives in another section of the home.

Windows in the bedroom looking out at the water.

Dollhouse in one of the rooms.

View from the front of the home.

Another view.

Resting on the patio after  exploring the house.

Nicole resting after the tour of the home and the gardens.  I did not do the gardens . I was too tired.  Nicole has some beautiful pictures of the garden on her blog.  Here are a few of her pictures to temp you to go and check it out.

Resting on the front lawn.

After the tour of the Bantry House, we headed on to Crookheaven.  We had lunch at O’Sullivan’s Bar and restaurant.  It was right on the water.  I had a crab sandwich which was all crab and no filler. For dessert we had pie with tons of fresh whipped cream.  To die for!!!

After lunch I went looking around the small town.  Only 3 shops!  One was a silversmith.  I bought a beautiful sterling silver ring.  Afterward, I went exploring down by the water.  I guess I got carried away.  It started raining so I headed back to the bus.  I was 15 minutes late!!  Everyone was on the bus, and I felt just awful.  The all applauded and gave me a good teasing.

One of the 3 stores in Crookhaven.

That’s our bus in the distance.  I was too busy down by the water to pay attention to the time.

I was on this lower dock when it was time to go.

View from lower dock.

After another short drive we went to Barley Cove Beach.  To access the beach one has to walk on a boardwalk and pontoon, which  protects the surrounding wetlands from the impact of visitors feet.  T he beach itself was a gorgeous stretch of golden sand.  Well worth the long, long, long walk.

Pontoon walk to beach.

Nicole at Barley Cove Beach.

Nicole, Doug and Rosie.

Always happiest at the water.

Long walk back to the bus.  After the beach we headed back to Skibereen for a rest before heading out to more Irish music in the evening.  We went to a pub called De Barra’s Folk Club.   The pub is located in Clonakilty.  Clonakilty is a market town.  Clonakilty is famous for two important Cork products.  First it was the birth place of Michael Collins (commander-in-chief of the army for the Irish Free State, which won independence from Britain in 1922).  Secondly, it’s the source of the best black pudding in Ireland.

Later  that night we went to De Barra’s in Clonakilty.  It is a marvelous pub with walls splattered with photos, press cuttings, masks, and musical instruments.  This pub showcases the cream of live music every night of the week making this a busy pub.  It was here that I got my first kiss from an Irishman.

Cindy, Suzanne, and Todd

Jane, Nicole and Tom

Cindy and Todd

Cindy, Rosie, and Bill

Jim and  Martha

This wall was covered in beautiful masks.  I w sh I got a close up of each mask.  They were amazing!

Nicole and Rosie.   The singer that night was amazing.  He asked Kate to come up and sing some songs.  It’s funny that she sang only two songs, and one was Nicole’s favorite and the other my favorite.  She sang, “Crazy in Alabama” and the song that I love, “Perfect World”.  Made me cry.  That song always makes me think of Richard.   After the show we hopped back on the bus and headed to The West Cork Inn and bed.  Bed never looked so good.

End of day 3.

Blessings!

I don’t have any air condition in my craft room so it gets very, very, hot in here.  I spent most of today sitting in Barnes and Noble reading and enjoying their air condition.  It really is too hot for me to sit here and write more about my Ireland trip.  Maybe if I get up early I’ll be able to do more.  Right now I am going into my bedroom (AC) and read the Sunday paper.

Blessings.

After a delicious breakfast, we went across the street to the Heritage Center.  The center houses a haunting exhibition about the Famine.  A visit here puts Irish history into harrowing perspective.

The outside of the Heritage Centre.  Did I tell you yesterday that we were staying in Skibbereen?

Window box outside the Centre.

More flowers outside the Centre.

The large building to the right is where they held something like a soup kitchen during the Famine.  The building in the middle is our hotel.

A better view of the front of our hotel.

Side view of our hotel.  The bridge leading to the hotel is a path way from the previous owner’s home to the hotel.  He still comes across the bridge everyday to check on the new owner and see if he is doing things correctly.  They have become very good friends.

After the Heritage Centre, we headed out to the Drombeg Stone Circle.  The stones are located on an exposed hillside, with fields sweeping away towards the coast.  I have some good pictures of the coast from the circle.  The circle is 17 upright stones that once guarded the cremated bones of an adolescent, discovered during the 1960’s  excavation.  The circle probably dates from the 5th century AD.

Can you see the ocean in the background?

A clearer picture of the ocean.

Happy travelers!

Beautiful country side and beautiful daughter at the Stone Circle.

While we were standing on the hillside looking down at the circle, Tom sang a beautiful Irish song that brought tears to many an eye.

After the Stone Circle we headed out to have lunch.  This was taken from the window of the bus.

This is the view from our outdoor table.  It was truly breath taking.

Tom, our guide and Nicole.  Tom and Hugh, our driver, had lunch with the two of us.  We all squeezed in around  a table for two.  I couldn’t eat all my lunch so I gave it to Hugh.

Hugh, our driver.  Isn’t he a cutie?

Nicole and Hugh.

After lunch we headed back to our hotel for a quick rest before dinner.  We headed to Clonaklty for dinner.  I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was good.  I had the seafood risotto and it was excellent.  We ate with Jim and Martha.  They are in their 70’s but only been married two years.  He tells the tale of how she would have nothing to do with him once he went off to college.  The found each other many years later and they are trying to make up for lost time.  Jim is a complete scream.  Martha is very quiet.  Jim started telling us a story about a man he knew that wanted to make a circle of his own using cars.  I got so excited and told him that Nicole and I have been to his circle of cars.  It’s in NE.  Jim could not contain himself when he found out that the man really did it and that we have been there.  Jim said he has never met anyone in all his years that ever heard of the place.  He was very impressed with us.

After dinner went to a wonderful pub to hear the locals play Irish music.  The place was jammed pack and many of us had to stand.  Nicole, being the sweetie that she is, found me a stool right in front of the locals, and right near the door.(Remember, no AC in Ireland and the open door brought in some welcomed cool air).

Tom singing with the locals.

The locals.

Standing room all the way to the back of the pub.  I think I know why the Irish drink so much.  They have the saddest songs.  Many of the songs made us cry.

We closed the pub down.  None of us wanted to leave!  It was an hour back to Skibbereen and our hotel.  We didn’t get to bed until after 2:00am.  An amazing night.  I tried to sit in the middle of all that soul-full music and tried to live in the moment.  I wanted to remember that evening for years to come.  No doubt I will.

Blessings.

We left this morning around 9:00am to pick up the other people in our group.  They were all staying at B&B’s on the same road that we were staying on.

Our first stop was Adare.  We didn’t stay too long.  We met in the park and I took some pictures.  We were suppose to tell the group how we connected with Kate.  Some very interesting stories.  Jim was driving back from PA and he heard her for the first time on NPR.  He kept repeating her name all the way home so he wouldn’t forget the name and to be able to look her up on the net to search for her records.

Adare was all that one thinks of when thinking about Ireland.  The buildings had thatched roofs, and lots of flowers.  We didn’t have any time to take pictures, however, our wonderful bus driver, Hugh, said he would slow down going through town so I could try and take some pictures.  Not great, but I did get some.  I plan to go back to Adare and explore some more at a later date.

Nicole in the park.

Picture of Adare through bus window.

Just some pictures taken from the bus window.  They really don’t show just how beautiful Adare really is.

Our next stop was very dear to Kate’s heart.  Can you guess what it was?

The Jameson brewery.  Every one went wild over the thought of drinking some free Jameson.  It was good.  They had a restaurant in the brewery so we all had lunch.

Nicole had  the above while I had

the salmon salad.  Have you ever seen so much salmon on a salad before?  It was yummy!!

Nicole and Jane enjoying their lunch.

Rosie waiting for her lunch.  Rosie is from the Bronx (we won’t hold that against her) and was afraid to take this tour.  She thought being the only Northerner she wouldn’t fit in.  She did just fine and we all loved her.

Tom, our tour guide, and Rosie enjoying some of that Jameson!

After our tour we headed to our first hotel.   We had a wonderful room that over looked the river.  It’s named The Cork Hotel, and they serve a very delicious full course breakfast to their guest free of charge.  Double yum on their French toast.  I had it twice it was that good.

View from our window. Our room was closed up and the first thing I did was call the desk and ask how to turn on the AC.  They very nicely told me that there was no air condition in the hotels in Ireland.  They came up and showed us how to open our window(a hugh window that three people could stand in side by side) and they left us a small fan. Tom teased me the entire tour about asking for air condition.  And you know, we really never needed it anywhere we went.

After dinner that evening in the hotel, we had a private concert.  Don Stiffe is a famous Irish singer in Ireland.  We were thrilled to get to listen to him.  Before the concert there was some problem with me eating all the green pea pods, however, Tom forgave me and we carried on.

We drank some more before going up to bed.

Blessings.