Powerscourt

Our last day :-( We drove north through Sally Gap again towards Powerscourt.

Powerscourt Estate (not far from the waterfalls that we saw yesterday) was commissioned by the first Viscount Powerscourt and designed by Richard Cassels. It has been modified through the years by subsequent Viscounts. The building was damaged by fire in the 1970's, and has been partly restored by the Slazenger family who now owns it.

One of the restored rooms (L) and views from outside.

It has beautiful grounds with unique features such as, the pepper-pot tower (L), japanese gardens (C), a pet cemetery (R)

and the Triton lake (with stunning view with reflections of the Perron steps).

After battling the Dublin traffic, we return our trusty Fiat Punto at the airport and took our flight home. Goodbye Ireland.

Glendalough

We drove north from Enniscorthy, stopping at the Meeting of the Rivers (River Avoca and River Avonmore) in Wicklow Mountain National Park.

We reached Glendalough where we took at look around the old monastic settlement. Highlights were the double stone-arched gatehouse, 30m tall Round Tower (left), a 12th century cathedral (centre- complete with wedding in progress), St Kevin's Cross and St Kevin's Kitchen (right - actually a 11th century church).

From Glendalough we drove the scenic Military Road. On the way we passed the highest village in Ireland, saw the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain (with it's distinctive nipple-shaped top) and stopped at Powerscourt Waterfall

On the way back to Glendalough we passed through Sally Gap, a remote pass surrounded by boggy hills with streams and large cracks covering them like veins.

Grace had a nice rabbit stew for dinner at the local restaurant in Laragh. We stayed at a nice B&B near the monastery, overlooking one of the two lakes.

Crystal

Waterford was only a short drive from Tramore. We stopped at the Waterford crystal factory and took a guided tour.

We got to see workers in action, and lots of examples of the finished product. We saw lots of trophies that are made for major sporting events such as tennis and golf tournaments. They make two of each trophy. One is used and one is kept (just in case!) and once the first one has been awarded, the spare is kept at the factory and displayed.

After purchasing some crystal for ourselves :-) we headed off to Enniscorthy. The highlight of Enniscorthy is Vinegar Hill where the 1798 Rebellion (against the British) took place.

We also visited the National 1798 Visitors Centre, a museum about the rebellion.

After a walk around the town we had another Chinese dinner.

Rock of Cashel

First stop on the road was Cashel, where the Rock of Cashel is situated. The Rock was the seat of the King's of Munster (a region of Ireland) and is a historic religious site set high up on a hill over looking the town. We did a guided tour around the site and saw St Patrick's Cross, the large Cathedral - memorable for the small faces sculptures around the walls- and the small Cormac's chapel with it's amazing Romanesque patterns.

It's a long way to Tipperary. Well, actually it's not that far from Cashel, so we paid a visit.

Yep, that's all there is to see... on to Tramore for the night, a nice beachside town.

And look, Duffy's Pub!

Kissing the Blarney Stone & Whiskey!

Kissing the Blarney Stone was on the list of things to do while we were in Ireland, so we drove out to Blarney Castle from Cork today.

Kissing the Blarney Stone is said to give you the gift of the gab. To kiss the stone, you have to climb to the top of the castle, then with the aid of some old guy, lean backwards holding onto rails and kiss the stone. If you stretch your neck too far, you end up looking down (quite a long way).

The castle has beautiful grounds, but the interior was more ruined that I had thought it would be.

The town of Midleton near Cork has a great distillery where they make Jameson and other Irish Whiskeys. We went on a tour and tasted some of their products ;-)

The port near Cork called Cobh is well known as the last port of call for the Titanic before she sank on her maiden voyage. The Queenstown Story is an exhibition that covers the history of the port, including displays on the Titanic and Lusitania and the large numbers of people who emigrated during the famine.

We searched for a good place for dinner, but settled for the trusty Wagamama in the end.

Killarney to Cork

Our nice hotel room in Killarney!

Today we are on our way to Cork, we made a quick stop at Ross castle and Torc waterfall as we left Cork.

Another quick stop at Ladies view, it must look nicer when the sun's out.


We went through Healy's Pass on Beara Peninsula which had some spectacular views

We had lunch at Bantry, then took the coast route to Cork.

Along the way we stopped at the Dromberg stone circle which consists of 17 standing stones from the iron age period. There were lots of tourist around the site enjoying the sun (yes, sun!). Nearby were the remains of a hut and cooking pit from around the same period.

Further along the coast, we came to Kinsale and stopped to visit Charles Fort, a well preserved 17th century star shaped fort used to guard the harbour.

Finally after a long day of driving, we arrived in Cork. The friendly host at the B&B showed us our room and things to do and see around Cork. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then went on a wee walk around Cork City.