Day 8. October 3, 2016

Sara and I had a great day today.  It all started with a simple breakfast - European style.  It was buffet style with cheeses, breads and meat.  We were the only ones there.  Just about perfect I'd say.

After breakfast, we walked up the hill from our hotel to the Rock of Cashel.  This is a big rocky hill with a fortress and chapels on top.  The Queen visited in 2011.  It is supposed to be where St. Patrick converted the local king to Christianity in the late 5th century.  Most of the buildings however, date from the 12th century.  There are some really cool old wall and fresco paintings that they are trying to restore, and a lot of really old tombs inside.  The Rock of Cashel looks directly down on Hore Abbey that we visited yesterday.  The yellow building below was our hotel.  In the third picture, Sara is standing with St. Patrick's Cross.

After walking back down to the hotel, we hit the road, pointed south with no real plan other than to see some Ireland today.  Our first stop was the Town of Dungarvan on the ocean.  Did a little shopping, saw an old Norman castle and ate a quick lunch.  

Next stop along the coast was the Town of Ardmore.  This was a small artisan/craft type town, but almost everything was closed.  That was good news - so we hit the beach.

Back in the car, we thought that we'd continue about an hour down the coast to the Town of Cobh.  This large town has quite a history, notably it was the final Port of Call for the Titanic.  There is a big Titanic Museum here.  It was also very close to where a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the passenger liner Lusitania in 1915.  Almost 1200 people died.  Those that were saved (and the bodies that were recovered), were all brought to Cobh.  Sara photographed the Memorial to the Lusitania passengers below.

  

As the day was getting short, Sara made the executive decision to hit one more castle on the way to our hotel.  We found the coolest looking complete castle I have ever seen (from the outside), but it closed just as we arrived.  It is called Cahir Castle.  Maybe one day we'll see the inside?

We got to have a little photo fun today too.  It was kind of hard to smile or be silly in France.  I was thinking of maybe moon-lighting as a happy-go-lucky leprechaun for children's parties?

Things that we learned today.

1.  Stay to the left.

2.  There are no straight roads in Ireland, but on every curve there is a pub.

3.  Other than pubs, it seems that most restaurants close here at 6:00pm.  We are becoming masters at scrounging for food.

4.  As we watched the waves break on the rocks and the surf come into shore, Sara and I agreed - The ocean is a beautiful spectacle to watch from solid ground.

5.  Anyone back home that complains about Red Deer's new traffic circles needs to come here.  Try the 4 lane double traffic circle (figure 8) or the 4 lane triple traffic circle (snowman).  Im like Mario Andretti in these things now - just minding my business in the left lane.

C.K.