On the way to Tipperary
We are picked up on time by our very amiable and helpful guide and driver John and find ourselves in our 16-seater new Mercedes bus/van which will be our transportation over the next 9 days. Leaving Kilkenny behind, we head South toward Cork stopping today at two of the top Irish tourist spots, the Rock of Cashel and Blarney Castle, both of which are, as expected, crowded with large tour bus visitors.
The Rock of Cashel is an empty shell of a once prominent bastion and church, built and added to over centuries so the style of construction has changed with additions over time. It is surrounded by ancient tombstones with only descendants of listed local families in the 1930’s still allowed burial near their forbears in this ancient ground.
Blarney Castle with its very convoluted history of capture and recapture and intrigue and change of hands from Irish to English and back again, has many special garden areas. We visit the Fairy Garden, Himalayan Valley, Fern Glade, Poison Garden and that of Carnivorous Plants, among others, as well as a beautiful lake. We all forego the very long wait in line to walk up many stairs in order to kiss the Blarney Stone and instead spend our time enjoying the beautiful and unique botanical spaces carefully maintained around the castle site..
We find out that Cork, where we are to spend the next 2 nights, is near where John lives and he is able to provide us with very local information. John takes us the next day to Barryscourt Castle, a 15th century tower house which just opened to the public a few week ago after years of painstaking restoration. It is now a well preserved stone castle fortress with modern drainage, wiring, lighting, signage and replicas of the furniture of the time.
Traveling further south, we visit Cobh. Cobh is an island in the second biggest harbor I the world – with naval bases today as well as a port for Cunard Cruise liners, its most famous one in the past being the Titanic which docked at Cobh before heading out on its last fateful voyage.
Our next stop of the day was to Charles Fort, an old english star-shaped fort maintained until after Irish independence and then turned over to the new country. But rival nationalist factions purposefully destroyed the fort in their fight for one united Ireland. It is now an historic remembrance of past times and the irrationality of politics.
Although overcast and cloudy with some strong winds, we take our chances and walk on Scilly Way along the coast for several miles over to the nearby town of Kinsale, a small well maintained little community with colorful painted store fronts. It also had fabulous vegan ice cream for me: passionfruit/mango and a lovely town center. The sun came out as we strolled and enjoyed the afternoon.
In the evening, back to lively Cork with many tourist in town awaiting a large national marathon race the next day during a 3-day bank holiday weekend, – so every restaurant was full. Our hotel concierge finally helped us find a place to fill ourselves so we could go to sleep, well satisfied with the day. We wake up the next morning and John meets us to get around the crowds of runners heading out for their long race. It is exciting to see so many local people enjoying this event. And so our next adventure begins.
