We took off from Chicago on the evening of Saturday, May 10 and we arrived in Dublin Sunday morning. We were tired but we headed right into down town Dublin. The best thing that we saw in Dublin on that first day was the mother of all breweries...the Guinness brewery.
We took a tour through the museum there and not only do you get a free tasting of Guinness...
The give you a WHOLE pint...
The next morning we left Dublin and headed South to Glendalough in the county of Wicklow and we had an amazing hike past on old church and up a mountain.
After our hike we headed to Dungarvan in the county of Waterford four our second night's sleep. Dungarvan was a rough blue collar town but our bed & breakfast had an amazing view of the harbor.
After out night in Dungavan we headed to the famous Blarney castle to kiss the Blarney stone. The legend of the kissing the Blarney stone is that it is supposed to give you the the gift of eloquence or, the gift of the gab. Blarney castle was beautiful with exquisite grounds.
The Blarney stone is located at the very top of the castle and in order to kiss is you have to lay on your back over the castle's edge. A little scary but...there is an older Irish gentleman holding on to you...NOT so reassuring.
Next, we headed for Clonakilty. Clonakilty is one of the towns that Michal Collins lived. Wikipedia described Michael Collins as:
'An Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, both as Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the National Army. He was shot and killed in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War.
Although most Irish political parties recognise his contribution to the foundation of the modern Irish state, members and supporters of Fine Gael hold his memory in particular esteem, regarding him as their movement's founding father, through his link to their precursor Cumann na nGaedhael, a name adopted in 1923 by the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Fein.'
Although most Irish political parties recognise his contribution to the foundation of the modern Irish state, members and supporters of Fine Gael hold his memory in particular esteem, regarding him as their movement's founding father, through his link to their precursor Cumann na nGaedhael, a name adopted in 1923 by the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Fein.'
Jim has read a lot about Michael Colllons and was really interested to see where he spent some of him time. It was a very nice town and in hindsite...it was one of our favorite towns.
Monday evening we evened up in a very charming town by the name of Baltimore...yes...Baltimore. We LOVED this town. The downtown was one side of one street but, it was a great street across from the harbor.
We sat in the town square all afternoon than then into the evening. The sunset was amazing!
The next day we where off the the Beara, Kerry, and Dingle Peninsula. I will post more of our adventures soon.
