irish castles

blarney castle

i think this post should be mostly about the photos...castles are one of the highlights of ireland...they're amazing, and they're everywhere...some are more famous than others, and some aren't famous at all...we were constantly driving by family castles in the countryside, and if i had been on my own, i would've stopped the car nearly every time...lol...i chose only a few photos for this post, but it would've been easy to post a whole LOT more...i took more photos of castles than anything else during the trip! but to most people, most castles probably look the same...most churches start looking the same after a while, castles do too...

kissing the blarney stone

blarney castle is a famous castle, because of the stone on top...the legend says that if you kiss the stone on the top of the castle you'll be given the gift of blarney...i kissed the rock...twice! the day we visited blarney castle was the only day we had rain during the entire trip...but that didn't stop any of us from having fun:)...everyone was pretty well wet by the time we got back in the cars, but it was worth it...and it was never a downpour, just constant rain...thank goodness for mostly water resistant coats!! i was more worried about my camera than anything, and it turned out fine...

bunratty castle dining room


bunratty castle was the 3rd castle we visited...it was the only castle in which we saw the inside of the castle the way it used to be...furniture was still in the castle, and it was easy to imagine how life would've been lived in the castle...bunratty castle had tons and tons of stairs, it was confusing figuring out which stairs i had climbed, and which rooms i had already seen...i don't know how effective that fireplace would've been back in the day, since castles always seem cold and damp to me, but who knows...


bunratty castle

 not only did bunratty have furniture and such inside the castle, but it is surrounded by a village...the village is set up the way a village would've been set up back then...small cottages of families who work in specific industries...a blacksmith, a baker, a post, etc...and farms...i loved watching the animals...the babies in particular, just because they're so cute! i got so wrapped up in taking different photos that i was the last person in the group to return to the carpark...whoops...hee hee...while on my way out i bought a couple chocolate bars...butlers chocolate, mint truffle...YUM...some of the best chocolate bars i've ever had...i knew straightaway that i needed to get more before leaving the country:)



carlingford priory

 obviously not everything in this post is a castle as such, but i put all ruins made of stone in the same album/post...
carlingford priory is in the town of carlingford, which is northeast of dublin...it's also just down the road from omeath village...we stopped at the priory while driving through carlingford on the way to finding our house in omeath...we knew we wouldn't be finding a lot of food options in omeath, so it was more as a way of figuring out the way carlingford was set up...i love ruins, and this one had a sign, so i was thrilled...the priory was built at a time when the church was more about amassing wealth than doing good work, and some people wanted to change that...the priory encouraged working with the poor and making other changes...i think...i have to double check my information photos...(i take photos of information boards, so i don't have to write things down, and use those photos later to remember stuff)...behind this main building was another area of ruins, we didn't know if they were part of the priory, or just other ruins in general...either way, i loved looking around and climbing, just as i always do:)...magan climbed up with me for a photo or two as well...


dunguaire


dunguaire was a castle we saw on the way to galway...while driving past we thought about stopping, but didn't see any place to park...on the way back from galway we figured out where to park, and everyone piled out of the cars...
go figure, dunguaire wasn't open...and we got the feeling it isn't ever open to the public, despite there being a specified carpark, and sign on the road pointing to the castle...hmmm...but that didn't stop us, or the other few people there at the same time from walking around the castle, and just enjoying the great day...the water you see in the photo probably looks different at different times of the day, depending on tide level...at least, that's what i am guessing...who knows...i would've loved to have known who lived here, and whether it was a family castle, or a lord's castle, or what...we were back in the cars after only about 30 minutes...

we visited hore abbey the same day we visited the rock of cashel...you can see it quite clearly from the rock of cashel, and i asked folks if they were up for it...there is no specific carpark for the abbey, we were actually wondering if it was even open for visitors...from where we parked, it looked as if the gates were closed...but they weren't, they were just the type of gates where you have to go around one gate and through...that probably doesn't make any sense, but the gates are made that way so that animals don't get through...and this being ireland, there are always sheep and cows everywhere you look...we were the only people at the abbey, and there were a few places we found to climb up for better views and photos...as always, the great weather made for awesome photos, as long as you got the light going in the right direction...lol...i did carwheels in the field, and ran around in general...i'm such a kid:)


rock of cashel

 the rock of cashel was the first castle we visited on the trip...not too far from dungarvan, where we were staying...you can see the rock almost as soon as you drive into the town of cashel, though the road most definitely does not go straight...they are doing majour reconstruction work on the rock, so the best photos are ruined by all the scaffolding set up on one side of the rock...there were paintings in the chapel of the rock, and preservation work is being done on those...after walking around for a while i thought i had seen everything, and got ready to go back to the carpark...then i saw one more little hallway, which almost looked as if it were blocked off due to construction...but it wasn't...it was just the hallway built by the construction people to get you into the chapel w/out ruining anything else...i hadn't seen the chapel, and was happy to go inside...it was damp, and according to the sign they occasionally close it off so they can do work with UV lighting...i guess the UV rays kill off the bacteria/mold growing on the walls, so they can actually get to the paintings...something like that anywho...

rock of cashel


on the same grounds as the rock of cashel was a graveyard...(in ireland they call them graveyards, not cemetaries...it's more accurate, don't you think? a yard full of graves)...i loved the lighting, and i loved the celtic crosses...i could only judge my photos based on what i could see on the tiny little screen on the back of the camera, oh well...several of them looked quite different when blown up on a computer screen...but it was still fun...standing in the shade also made my hands cold...the sun was bright, but since it was only the middle of march, it definitely wasn't warm...oh well...as we were leaving the castle, a couple other groups were coming it, so we figured it was perfect timing...it's so much more fun to wander around ruins and explore when you're the only one, or it's only your group:)

rock of cashel