bunratty castle and dingle

This morning we are headed to Bunratty Castle, which is a large 15th century tower house in County Clare, Ireland. There has been a settlement here since 1250. It was an important port for the English crown in the 14th century. Surviving numerous attacks and raids by the Irish, the castle is no longer the original structure from those times but it remains in it's original location. Today, the castle is a major tourist attraction, along with "Bunratty Folk Park". The castle is famous for its medieval banquets, offered since 1963, at which the "Bunratty Castle Entertainers" perform today. "Bunratty Folk Park" is an open-air museum featuring around 30 buildings, including the Ardcroney Church Of Ireland church, moved here and reopened in 1998.

We spent the morning on a tour inside the castle. First stop was the great hall. The royalty and the owners of the house enjoyed their meals here. This is also where important meetings were held.

Women were not allowed to the said meetings and were usually looking down at the hall through the "maiden window" (upper right corner of the tapestry) in the wall opposite of the head table.  There was also a spy hole (the white dot half way down the right side of the picture) on the for the soldiers or folk that were not high enough in the ranks to be at the meeting.  They would update the attendants down below of the happenings upstairs.  

This tapestry is one thousand years old.

This bureau took 14 years to hand carve.  It was a present from the castle owners father to his daughter on her wedding day.  Since they married really early back in those days, the bureau was started as soon as the bride was born. 

The stone I am sitting under is a fertility stone.  There are only five that have been uncovered in the whole of Ireland.  

Some of the amazing view from the top of the castle.

I spy a little nugget and his daddy.

One of the rooms in the castle.  I love the elaborate ceiling and the book shelves.

Behold, our royal Prince Bennett.

The dungeons were very intimidating.  It was a fifteen feet drop to the bottom of the room.  They used to throw the prisoners down there without a care whether the prisoners got hurt.  They did not expect them to come back up.  Needless to say, the dungeons were a dreadful and stinky place.

Next to the castle is one of the oldest pubs in Ireland, Durty Nelly's. All the wondering around the castle and the grounds got us hungry for some chowder and thirsty for a pint. We decided to give the pub a go.

After lunch we headed to Dingle. We heard from our friends, Nikki and John, that there was a beautiful mountain pass leading to the town called Conor Pass. We had to check it out. It was an amazing experience. The views of the valleys below were breathtaking. The path itself was narrow and twisting.

After a pit stop to take some pictures, we made it to Dingle. Our first stop was their very own microbrewery. They make a lager called Crean after Tom Crean, or the "Irish Giant." He went onto four crucial expeditions to the Antarctic. We each had a pint and we approved.

We headed to Slea Head next. It's a very scenic viewpoint, with a dramatic view of the Blasket Islands. The Blasket Islands (Na Blascaodaí in Irish - etymology uncertain: it may come from the Norse word "brasker", meaning "a dangerous place") are a group of islands off the west coast of Ireland. They were inhabited until 1953 by a completely Irish-speaking population. The inhabitants were evacuated to the mainland on 17 November 1953. Many of the descendants currently live in Springfield, Massachusetts, and some former residents still live on the Dingle Peninsula, within sight of their former home.

The views were quite dramatic indeed.  On our way back to town we stopped at the beehive huts.  They are 2,000 years old.  They are an example of the shelters people used.  

To give B a break from the car, we headed into town for some ice cream.  We heard about Murphy's, which started in Dingle, and makes Guinness flavored ice cream.  We just had to check it out.  

We all tried the Guinness ice cream. It was delicious but we couldn't eat more than a few bites. We all decided we like our Guinness best in liquid form. We learned Murphy's makes ice cream using milk only from Kerry cows. It's a type of cow that produces the most fatty milk, which makes for a very delicious ice cream. Murphy's saved the Kerry cows from extinction. There are only 1,000 of them left in the world because they don't produce too much milk nor meat. Thanks to Murphy's this type of cow will survive. We felt good eating the ice cream knowing we were helping to keep the Kerry cows from extinction. Also, it was very delicious!

Our last stop before heading to the hotel was Inch beach.  It was a beautiful sight. 

It was a great ending to an eventful and lengthy day.