Family Visit! (LONG POST)

We're still here!  It's been a while since we posted, so there will be a few blogs coming out soon.  Life continues to be busy with research, school, and day to day life at the castle.

The big news is that my brother and his family (Alex, Melissa, and son Andrew) were able to use their Fall break to come visit us!  

So after a couple days in Clonmel showing them our daily routine and visiting the nearby Rock of Cashel, a top tourist site, we all went on a 2 day road trip to the "Wild Atlantic Way" which is the West Coast of Ireland, home to amazing cliffs.

We spent a day touching on the Ring of Kerry (a top tourist drive that we mostly skipped), and went to the Dingle Peninsula which is the westernmost point of Europe (if you don't count Iceland I guess??). 

On day two, we went to the Cliffs of Kilkee (which is a less touristy version of the top tourist site Cliffs of Moher). 

The trip was too short, and they then headed to Dublin for a little more sight-seeing before they departed. 

Rather than write more, I'll just add descriptions to the photo captions.  Because this was a 3 day visit spanning about 10 sites, there will be more pictures than normal.

ROCK OF CASHEL 

Cousin Time!

The big mystery was "what is the rock of the Rock of Cashel"?  It turns out it refers to the mountain itself, which was created during a fight between St. Patrick and the Devil according to legend. 

We learned a "graveyard" is attached to a church and a "cemetery" is a standalone property.  "Irish crosses" really are everywhere.

All of the gothic interiors are so fascinating.  In this case, the castle was torn down long ago, and a church replaced it long ago.  Fun fact: Guinness was apparently invented in a basement in the town of Cashel, but the brothers set up their business in Dublin.

Spooky

An ornate tomb in the adjacent Cormac’s Chapel.

And in conclusion, Ireland is a land of contrast.  Thank you. (Simpsons reference)

Andrew was able to wrap his arms around the cross on the pedestal, which guarantees him strong teeth for life.  Hey, I don't make the rules.

A delicious lunch stop!

Parting view of the church on the Rock, as we turned to...

...the unfortunately named Hoar's Abbey across the street.  This was not an officially maintained site, but free to explore on an adjacent field.

Again, the architecture was fun.  All the holes in the walls are where wooden cross-beams would have been inserted, either permanently, or as scaffolding during construction.

Live music at Gleeson's pub.  If there were minors with us, which I am not saying there were, then we would have been spirited out the back of the pub if the garda (police) arrived, which I'm not saying they did.  But the guy playing the guitar and singing cover songs was top notch, and we had a front row seat.

TORC WATERFALL AND MUCKROSS GARDENS 

The start of our road trip.  This was on the famous Ring of Kerry but we just saw it and moved on, instead of driving the full ring (a 4 hour drive of sites along a peninsula - we chose a different peninsula).

Muckross Gardens, looking over the lake

Muckross House is the quintessential Victorian mansion, built in a Tudor Style

Views were spectacular

Giant rhubarb (Lily for scale).  That's a big leaf!

An elegant greenhouse on site

This little garden was easy to miss

 INCH BEACH

Drive up parking!

Normally we carve our own holiday greetings, but since I found this one already there, and it looked fine, we saved ourself a step.  Fun fact: this was the first of three such messages that misspelled Ireland.

"No need to bring bathing suits to Ireland in October, girls" - famous last words.  They loved frolicking in the freezing froth.  And went fully under.

If you look closely, their arms are making a non-anatomical heart symbol commonly found on greeting cards and the like.

 MISCELLANEOUS TOURING

Ancient beehive huts seen in Star Wars.  Me in lecture mode, not knowing a camera was present (note how the guests are all listening respectfully, and my own family has tuned me out)

Andrew in an intact one.

The sun peering through the clouds like a spotlight

This looks like a beehive hut, but is actually an oratory (prayer hut).  If you zoom in, can you spot Andrew?

B&B & DRIVE

The view of Dingle Bay from our bedroom window

The beds were a little small.  Sam took the king-sized.  (just kidding, we are just piling on Lily's bed here to help her wake up).

The included breakfast was to die for.  That's smoked salmon on my plate.  I also got to sample the black and white "puddings" (sausage) which we all agreed were more delicious than their ingredients sound. 

Playing with the sheep above Conor's Pass.

The view from the top.  We were told the drive down was one of the most dangerous in the world, but it was fine.

We took a ferry across an inlet to save a few hours driving.

 CLIFFS OF KILKEE, BRIDGES OF ROSS

These are the famous cliffs along many of Ireland's shores.

Photos can't do it justice of course

Another view

There is certainly a pit that forms in your stomach as you get closer to the edge (and to be clear, none of us really got anywhere near the edge).  Fatalities have occurred.

The bridges of Ross.  We are standing on the last remaining of three land bridges.

Another cool view

We climbed out to some tide pools where the rock met the ocean.  We may have a future marine biologist in the family.

We found a few crabs and a sea urchin, but no octopuses.  A surprise wave confirmed my shoes are waterproof as advertised.

Our parting night in Ennis.  Some of these Irish downtowns are very cute.

 

Summary of the Road Trip

Fun fact: here in Ireland we change Daylight Savings tonight (10/25) a week ahead of the US.  So we will only be 4 hours ahead for a week!