Irish Roadtrip!!!

Ok so I know I haven’t blogged in awhile things have been pretty mild here, not a lot of traveling. However I just spent the last week on a road trip covering pretty much all of Ireland!!!!!! Where to begin??? Well Sunday my BFF Bri came to visit and we rented a car!!!! Crazy I know but you do get used to driving on the left side of the road LOL. Oh I must describe the car. We were givin a tiny little car called a Micra, I believe it was made by Toyota but IDK. So the hubcap on this car was attached with a zip tie and was flapping in the wind. The GPS was confused by the new road construction so we drove around Dublin for 6 hours and about 10 people stopped us at the intersections to tell us the hubcap was about to fall off. LOL to which I rolled down the window and replied “Yeah, we know…..it’s zip tied on!” HAHA We got back to Maynooth in one piece!

Monday- So Monday morning we got up and headed out. Our destination was Killarney National Park in the Kerry Co. We did not know at this point that we would road trip for 3 days straight so we really had nothing but the tour guide books our purses and a map! So as we are driving southeast to the park we see a huge castle on a hill and decide to pull over. We were in Cashel and the Castle was the magnificent Rock of Cashel! The Rock of Cashel is 200 ft high on the hill looking down at the town of Cashel. Once a defensive fort, three sides of the castle are very cliff like and would make it most difficult for enemies to approach! Moving onward…..our hubcap finally fell off in Mallow and a nice gentleman stopped to tell us it fell of a couple hundred meters back. We pulled off the beaten path so that we could walk back to get the hubcap and found another adventure. While Bri was getting the hubcap I was intrigued by the remnants of Mallow Castle, Desmand Castle and the white deer. I had never seen a white deer! The Mallow Castle was the home of the Munster clan and the white deer are descendants of the deer given to the Munster’s by Queen Elizabeth I. As the day went on we saw many remnants of old castles on our drive. However we did not stop to look at all of them or we would not have gotten very far! We arrived at Killarney National Park at about 7:00 pm and it was closed for the day so that is when we decided that we would stay in Killarney and see the park first thing in the morning. This began a three day road trip with nothing but our purses! We had to stop at a store for the bare necessity supplies LOL but we did make it for 3 days with virtually nothing!

Tuesday- We left early Tuesday to see Killarney National Park we didn’t know it but this would turn out to be much much more then just a national park. When you finally catch sight of something through the tree lined driveway you will see Muckross House. The house is a 19th century neo-Tudor mansion designed by William Burn. They poured 40 tons of sand into the yard just to get the grass to grow properly. Along with the house you can see a living history farm!! But there is more!!! We took a jarvey ride, this is kinda a horse and buggy sorta thing. Anyway we took a ride with a jarvey-man named Robert. He was a delightful old man who told us the history of the house and the park as he navigated Susie, the pony, through the tree lined shore of the lake up to the Torc Waterfall. The waterfall is magnificent to see but Robert assured us that it was not comparable to Niagra Falls ( I realized there is a lot in the states I still need to see). Again Robert was a delightful old man who gave us the complete history of the house and the castle. He encouraged us to continue up the road to see the Ladies’ View. The Ladies’ View is a point on at the top of one of the mountains where Queen Victoria and her Ladies in Waiting looked across the lakes to the Gap of Dunloe. The view was amazing!! The Gap of Dunloe is a glacial pass in the mountains providing an even more magnificent view!! If you ever get to Ireland the Killarney National Park has so much to offer and is the last stop on the famous Ring of Kerry. LOL we thought we would see the “Ring of Kerry” until we found out it was several places along the shoreline of County Kerry and not just one visitor attraction. After this amazing morning we set our sites on the town of Cong. Cong supposedly had the cottage that was featured in John Wayne’s The Quiet Man!! I am a huge fan of John Wayne and The Quiet Man is one of my favies!!! I have wanted to see this since I arrived in Ireland! Well we got there and you can take tours of all the places used in the movie and you can see The Quiet Man museum but they tore down the original cottage I was pretty disappointed but at least I can say I was there right. So after the disappointment we were on the road again. We went to see the ginormous Ashford Castle! Ashford Castle is now a working hotel and you can actually stay in a castle for a slightly unaffordable on a college student’s budget fee, so we snapped some pics and moved on. We stopped in some town along the way to get a bite, as we waited on the food we talked and I mentioned a tv special about haunted places and that there was supposedly some haunted castle in Ireland. So of course we set out to find this castle. It turns out that there are two haunted castles and they are both in the county of Offaly. So the waitress pointed us to Offaly county and the Kinnity Castle. Although Kinnity Castle was said to be haunted it was not what we were looking for. Kinnity Castle is another castle that has been made into a hotel but the castle we were looking for was Leap Castle. We were now on a mission to find this castle and it was getting close to 11:00 but what better time to see a haunted castle then the approach of the witching hour!!! I know we are a little weird but that’s ok. Anyway we cannot locate this castle on our GPS all we have is a location of what used to be the town of Leap. We drove in circles forever. Apparently this castle is in the middle of nowhere and we were so close but couldn’t see it because it was pitch black. And apparently they take their “Community Alert” very seriously. We circled and circled and then gave up, as we were headed into the town of Birr we were stopped by the Garda (Police) because someone on the community alert called us in. The Garda were really nice though and kinda surprised to see two girls in a Micra trying to find a haunted castle! It was actually really really funny! LOL we will never forget getting pulled over by the Garda haha. Ok so they asked us where we were going and we told them we were lookin for the haunted castle. They were happy to give us directions to this castle but we really just wanted a hotel for the night so they pointed us in the direction of the hotel and we crashed for the night.

Wednesday – We head out excited to actually find Leap Castle!!!! We find it just to discover we were literally just feet from it the crazy night before! Figures huh! So this is just a private residence but we just walk up to the door and ask this guy if we can see his haunted castle! Let me give you a little background. This castle is supposedly one of the most haunted places in all of Europe. Google it! Anyway this guy Sean Ryan bought the castle in 1991. Sean is a very well known tin whistle player which apparently is how he can afford a castle! Ok so we walk up, knock on the door, and this nice older man answers the door and invites us in! We enter into…….ok we were in a castle!!!!! I can’t even describe it! He had tons of antiques and is totally committed to restoring this castle and preserving the history! It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen! So we are invited to just sit by the fire because there are a couple of other people coming (they made an appointment LOL). So I, being a bit inquisitive and a bit of a smartass at times proceed to ask Sean a seemingly valid question that turned out to be kind of a stupid question I guess. Anyway I asked him, “ So……how does one come to acquire a castle? Do you just look in the real estate ads??” To which he just looked at me like I was an idiot and replied with a very solemn “Yeah”. I tried not to laugh but Bri was chuckling under her breath and the entire situation was kinda funny. Needless to say now my life’s ambition will be checking the real estate ads to find a castle for sale! He did tell us that he got the castle pretty cheap though……however cheap a castle is, I don’t really know the going rate for a castle these days! Ok I’ve digressed. So the other ladies arrive, they are three ladies from Philadelphia, PA. So Sean gives us the history of the castle starting from the beginning, he is intrigued by the history and it turns out that the castle has a lot of ties to the US. The castle was owned by the O’Connels and the Darby’s and now him. I can’t tell the whole story for it would take a few hours, but do google Leap Castle. Anyway we got a tour of the castle, what he has restored so far, the castle was gutted in the civil war here. As we are in one of the towers along comes Bob the neighbor just sayin hi! Bob was a lovely fellow who told us the story of when he himself seen one of the ghosts. He was very detailed in his story telling and if anyone wants to hear the stories just ask and I will recount it all for you. Moving onward, Bob and Sean were both lovely and they both played a piece for us. Bob on the piano and Sean on his tin whistle. Then we sat by the fire and chatted some more. SO a brief ghost story….. There was a little girl that died a tragic death by falling off of one of the towers very accidently; it was not a heinous death. So there are three ghosts. One is the little girl who fell, the other little girl is her sister and then there is a French looking lady that is thought to be the Governess of the two girls. SO Sean and his wife and daughter have seen the little girls who run around and play and seem to be oblivious to the family being there. However, the Governess is not oblivious and is interactive with the family. Sean’s daughter is now 18 but when she was about 12 or 14 she was playing in the main area and dancing around when she felt a poke. The poke scared her and she recalled the event to her father. After some research they discovered that the poke was an old Irish custom of approval, like a pat on the back for a job well done. So after learning this, his daughter felt more comfortable with the Governess being around. The daughter can also communicate with the girls in the house. The Governess is the ghost that Bob and a Nun saw and Bob says that you know the Nun wouldn’t lie! So Sean says that the ghosts are just a part of the family and they all kind of go about their own business! I waited to see the ghost but never did. So we went on our way again. We stopped off briefly at the Birr Castle just to snap some pics then we headed back to Maynooth.

Thursday – Sadly Thursday I had to say goodbye to my BFF Bri However, I did not have the travel bug out of my system yet. So Keenan and I rented a car for the remainder of the week. However, I spent Thursday recovering and missing my BFF Bri.

Friday - Ok so road trip part duex! We are now headed for the northern part of the country. The thought of crossing the border into Northern Ireland was pretty exciting, it’s a different country! We thought we would get another stamp on our passport but we were wrong. SO our destination for the day is Giant’s Causeway at the very northern tip of Ireland. First stop is the Hill of Tara. The Hill of Tara was the seat of the High Kings. Also The Ark of the Covenant is said to be buried deep under the Hill of Tara for protection. All in all this was one of the most spectacular views I’ve ever seen. You can see for miles in every direction from the hill! Next stop….Newgrange. Newgrange is said to be possibly 1000 years older then England’s Stonehenge. It is a passage-grave that sits on a hill overlooking the snake of the Boyne (Boyne River) . The mound is 35 ft high and has a diameter of 330 ft! From Newgrange we continued to the Giants’ Causeway stopping briefly in Belfast to see the Belfast Castle and snap some pics. We reached the area around nightfall and stayed in a near by town.

Saturday- We started Saturday by going to the Giant’s Causeway. Not only is the causeway spectacular but the drive to the causeway had an amazing view of the northern coast! The Giant’s Causeway was magnificent to see and although it was a bit foggy we could see Scotland!!!! So the story is told that the Ulster Giant Finn built it to walk across to Scotland so that he could fight his rival Benandonner. The story goes that he would see his rival standing on the coast of Scotland and he wanted to fight him but when he finally got to Scotland and challenged Benandonner to a dual he realized that his foe was much bigger then he anticipated because he was seeing him from the distant shore of Ireland. He challenged Benandonner by hollering out to him so Benandonner had not seen him. SO he goes home and he tells his wife about the challenge and that his foe is much bigger and they devise a plan. When his foe came to Ireland to commit to the challenge Finn was in a baby crib and Benandonner asked Finn’s wife if that was Finn’s baby and she said yes that is Finn’s baby. So legend has it that after seeing Finn as Finn’s baby Benandonner got scared as to how big Finn would have to be if the baby in the crib were Finn’s child so he took off running back to Scotland and that is how the causeway got broken! After the Giant’s Causeway we headed in the direction of Glenveagh National Park. This was another great outing! The park itself is 25000 acres of scenery!!!! There are many many lovely Gardens, you can go on a nature walk or hill climbing, and then there is the castle! The Glenveagh castle is a castle with very very rich American ties. For a few euro you could take a guided tour of the castle. This is where we met Geoffrey. He was very inquisitive about our culture and we grilled him about not only the castle but Ireland in general. Anyway Geoffrey took us on the guided tour explaining the history as we went. The castle was very well preserved with the furnishings of the time. The castle was built in the mid 1800’s by John George Adair he had plans for a hunting estate on his land surrounding the castle. Adair was infamous in the area for being a horrible landlord. He evicted many many tenants and even killed one fellow. He immigrated to America where he met and married his wife Cornilia who was the daughter of an American Civil War General. After Adair’s untimely death his wife returned to the estate and made several renovations to the castle and planned out the gardens that are still there today she also introduced deer stalking (deer hunting) to the estate. The castle sat empty for several years until a Harvard University Professor by the name of Arthur Kingsley Porter purchased the estate. Porter was studying the Irish culture and had purchased the island of Inishbofin as well. The Porters did not live in the castle long, it is said that Mr Porter was lost at sea after a trip to the island. The next owner was another American, Henry McIlhenny of Philadelphia the grandson of a local Donegal man. He was said to be a great host and placed a gentlemen’s weighing chair by the door to weigh his guests. He measured his hospitality by how much weight his guests gained while visiting. He was a great entertainer and also loved to hunt the deer of the estate. The entire estate has a deer theme throughout with several chandeliers made of antlers and several deer busts on the walls as well as artwork portraying the wildlife of Glenveagh. I was very impressed by this! The antlers were unlike anything I have ever seen at home!! After McIlhenny’s passing the castle was taken over by the state and is now the National Park. The only problem with the castle is that it is said to be a barren castle. All of the tenants of the castle never had children so it is thought to be cursed. The scenery was beautiful the tour was great. Deffinatly a must see if ever in Ireland! From Glenveagh we headed to Westport for the night.

Sunday – We started Saturday off by going to the Kylemore Abbey, once an Abbey is now a girls boarding school but does welcome guests to the gardens. It is a very picturesque sight to see and rather fairytalish in its appearance! Like you can picture Cinderelly coming down the steps! Next we went to Connemara National Park set in some of the most beautiful mountains. Unfortunately it was raining so we did not take a nature walk but the rain running down the side of the mountains was rather beautiful to see. Now we headed to the Cliffs of Moher. When we first arrived at the cliffs we couldn’t see much of anything because the fog was so thick but the fog lifted and revealed the magnificent cliffs and the Obrien Tower! Although it was a spectacular sight I think that I much rather prefer the view of the cliffs on the Aran Island of Inishmor. Incidentally, the smallest of the Aran Islands, Inisheer, can be seen from the Cliffs of Moher. If you can get to the Aran Islands GO, but if you can’t deffinatly go see the Cliffs of Moher! We continued our trip with a drive across the Burren. The Burren is a desolate area composed almost entirely of limestone. The mountainsides are not the lush green and pine scattered mountains that one would think of. They are merely humongous mountains of limestone! We made our way back to Maynooth where the journey ends.

Along the travels there were numerous castles, abbeys, cathedrals, forts, and gorgeous scenery of mountains, coast lines, cliffs and the green green pastures of the midlands. The people we came in contact with were all very lovely, friendly, helpful people. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see all of these amazing sights!!! If you have any questions just ask! I will get my pics up but there are like 400 so it may take a bit for them all to upload LOL. In the mean time google some of the sights, check out the pics and history, and just imagine what it looks like up close and personal!