Way to go....: Ireland is not just Dublin

On to Other Irish Places!

So after 3 full days in Dublin, off to the airport and pick up a rental car. This in itself was a performance as the taxis can only drop off at Terminal one, we had to walk to Terminal 2 (not far away) to find Budget Rental Car booth, who then said to go down the stairs to the road and wait for a bus to take you to the rental car place! We waited for 20 min with others in the same boat but all Americans coming to find their ancestors from the potatoe famine (like Joe Biden). Lots of Americans here, but they get talking about driving on the wrong side of the road! My god - they give these people a car, when they are reminding each other to go around the roundabout the wrong way. Cludos to them for trying tho. Anyway we get the car and off we go south from Dublin. By the way all rental cars are manual and no GPS. If you wanted automatic it was an extra 30 E (60NZ dollars) a day!! The same if you wanted GPS. AHHH no thanks.

Anyway, we took the scenic coast road which was gorgeous to a little town on the coast called Arklow. It was sunny but windy. The coast is mainly rocky with parts of sand. We went for a 'beach' walk when we arrived which consisted of us and ravens?

All the way down the coast were the most amazing flash golf courses (lots of them here) but Dave was too busy concentrating on the little narrow road, so this is the first he really saw. A sandy, rough course in Arklow. He was not impressed to say the least (become a golf snob our David!)

Windmills out at sea for power.

Next day - to Tinahely - inland and a little village in the Wicklow Mountains

So it was spitting a bit today but only for a few minutes. Very warm. To get to Tinahely was another scenic route with lovely trees, fields and hedges. Streams and little stone bridges and villages. So glad we got to see this part of the place.

So folks this is Tinahely and the Murphy's (pub obviously). We are here because Dave is meeting his Irish mate from home who is over here and he has jacked up a game of golf on his home course nearby. He picked Dave up from Murphy's at 12noon and delivered him home at 7.30pm. I had a lovely time exploring this little village which has a little square with the library in the middle! 3 pubs in 50m and walkways to the hills that people come and hike.

This is a tiny pub called the 'Dying Cow' which Colin took Dave to after gold. Apparently it was as big as our bedroom. This guy came in and remembered Colin from wayback so the chin-wag started. Later that night there may be impromptu music happening from the locals but they didn't stay to find out.

Tinahely square.

Walking trails. We went to Murphy's for food that night and met this I think British couple who were hiking over the trails to the coast at 20km up down hill a day. Stay the night in little villages. Good on them I say!

Third day - onto Cork and Blarney Stone!

This drive south to Cork took 3 hours with half down country roads and then motorway at 120km. I loved seeing the houses in the country, Some small but a lot of farm houses were gorgeous and obviously from money families.

Lovely rolling green hills, pastures with a few sheep and cattle. Lots of trees that makes it different from NZ.

Blarney Castle and Stone

Blarney is actually a small town 7km from Cork and nestled in trees and parks. We found Blarney Castle quite easily, paid our money and were able to get in without queues. It is set in the most lovely park/garden which you could wander around for hours. The Castle itself is only a tower (BIG disappointment) and so we find the queue and queue for 45 min to get up to the stone which is way up on the top of the castle.

A corner of the original castle - lookout point

You go very slowly into the castle tower and past different rooms as you go slowly (one step at a time) up to the top.

These were the toilets that dropped stuff onto the ground below in olden times!

As I said, very slowly up the stairs which started on the first floor easy then ..

you could sneak out of line, see the view and back in line before it moved on again.

Views down - lovely lots of trees.

Then it got narrower

The stairs got higher between each one, you needed a rope to haul you up, and narrow stairwell. With all the waiting you would be in big trouble if you hated closed in spaces.

From the top - after 30 min of climbing very slowly!

See the steps?

Looking down on the inside from the top -

Can you see the crowd waiting? All for the stone at the end. They got through the people fairly quickly.

So - you lie on you back on a mat with a guy holding your body. The gap between stone floor and wall with stone at the bottom is about 50cm. There are now bars under to stop you falling down (a recent edition).You put your arms out over your head and hold onto the two bars and pull your top part of your body and head down so you can actually kiss said stone below. Yes folks - that is Dave! Where are you I hear you say? WEEEEELLLLL - initially I freaked at the opening to the ground 6 floors below, then went back and said yes I will do it. Got down on the mat, arms out, however arms too short to reach two bars without doing my operation a mischief ( haven't yet been able to reach up too high above my head), also to reach down and kiss stone I would have had three quarters of my body leaning over to get there. Physically unable to do this - was so upset but just couldn't do it. Had a little cry but soon over it, as at least it wasn't from fear. Proud of Dave tho.

Over my disappointment and on the way down very big steps.

This is from the bottom looking up so you can see the gap you have to reach over and down.

Afterwards we went for a long, soothing walk around the gardens which calmed me down somewhat.

They had a poisoness garden, with this marijuana plant and opium poppy.

On the grounds is the Blarney manor house which is impressive.

Plus a rock garden of huge proportions.

Cork - City

Cork itself is Ireland's 2nd largest city (didn't know that) with about 220,000 people. It is by the coast and is on a river that goes into the sea hence harbour trading city. Apparently the Vikings liked coming here due to being able to trade from it. (Sounds a lot like Dublin to be fair). It is made up of old buildings (our hotel is in the 'Victoria district') mixed with new, however this doesn't quite have the flair of Dublin. We went on the hop-on-off bus - we love these!- to get a feel of the city and then went for a walk around. Lots of little alley ways and run-down back streets which I rather liked. Dave called it a 'working mans city' as there was nothing posh or ornate about any of the buildings, even the new ones. Still lots of churches tho!

They have being trying to jazz us parts of the hub of the city with these street lights which were designed to look like masts of ships as the road goes down to the harbour! Really?

Still lots of bridges over the river - like Dublin.

Origionally the city was swamp land around the river and estuary to the sea with hills around it. The hill streets are the older ones, narrow with old houses but what a view! No one wanted to build near the river as it flooded (until it got controlled).