calherewecome

Ring of Kerry today. Finally the sun is shining.

Loch Leane (Lake of Learning)

Now a quick stop for some retail therapy. Free glass of Irish coffee to loosen your wallet. Group picture taken.

Stopped in Carragh for photo-op.

Next stop. Sheep dog demo. Neat demonstration of sheep herding by the dogs. Pretty amazing stuff.

Finally for this stop, a view of Dingle Bay.

One more stop before lunch at Valentia Island Visitor Centre. Video on Skellig Michael.

Nice view of Skelligs and heather in bloom.

Lunch finally at the Bridge in Portmagee. Shepherd’s pie and 1/2 pt of Guiness.

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Once again we are off to an early start. Bags outside the door by 0700, then breakfast at 0715, then on the bus at 0815.

First a couple of photo ops. More scenic fields, castles, etc.

Then we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher.

Then lunch at Bunratty. Choice between lunch or tour Bunratty Castle. Not enough time to do both. I chose lunch. Here’s pic of castle from outside.

Then stop at Flying Boat Museum in Feynes. Kind of neat.

Finally, arrived in Killarney for a new hotel and dinner. Two nights in Killarney then back to Dublin for trip home.

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Location:Kenmare Pl,Killarney,Ireland

It seems all of the tour guides here seem to be comedians. Here a couple of samples.

Our driver was talking about some kind of Irish pipe instrument (ie. not bag pipes). He said that the Irish gave the bag pipes to the Scots as a joke. They still don’t get it.

The next joke was about three people had died and went to heaven. The first was a parish priest. St. Peter told him that he would have to wait until his room was ready.

The second was a bishop. St Peter told him that even though he had performed many good works during his life and converted many pagans to Christianity, he would have to wait for his room to be ready.

Then the third was a tour bus driver. St. Peter told him to come right in and welcomed him with open arms. The Priest and Bishop asked him why he got in so soon. St Peter then told them as a tour bus driver he had put the fear of God into many more people.

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Location:Eyre Square,Galway,Ireland

Started out bright and early. No slacking on this tour. We left Donegal at 0830 and headed for the Belleek factory. Did the tour and of course do the shopping. Some of this stuff goes for serious $’s. Seeing as the factory is in Northern Ireland, prices are in British pounds. So you have to add 50% to get US $’s.

The tour and shopping took about an hour. Weather has been improving. No rain. Sun beginning to break through the clouds. Next stop is the grave of WB Yeats and a cup of STRONG coffee.

On the road again. After a couple of hours we get to the Museum of Country Living. Details of what life was like one hundred years ago. Of course, I do the museum in 30 minutes and Paula takes her time. I sit in the cafe and drink coffee and read an Ebook.

Finish up here at 1500, and on the road to Galway. Two more hours of riding.
Landscape is getting decidedly flatter. We finally pull into Galway. Serious rush hour traffic. One of the nice things of the tour is that they schlep the luggage. We get our keys and head for our rooms. Time to relax before dinner. BTW, free WiFi again. Excellent.

Joe

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Location:Galway

Today we went to the Boyne Valley visitors’s center. Saw the burial tombs at Knowth. Over 5000 years old. The passages were aligned to face the sun on the winter solstice (much like Stonegenge).

After visiting the tombs, we headed north into Northern Island and then on to Donegal.

Here are some of the pictures:

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We headed out to the country side this morning to visit the ancient ruins of the Monastery at Glendalough founded by Saint Kevin in the 7th century. Today’s post is going to be divided in two. First part is about the trip to Glendalough.

It is amazing that these tour buses can navigate some of these narrow country roads. First stop was the ancient monastery founded by St Kevin at Glendalough. The monastery was founded in the 7th century AD.

Much of the site is wonderfully preserved.

Here are a few pictures:

And finally, you can’t have a tourist site without food. I give you a picture of a vendor with the name of “Kevin’s Cones”.

Tomorrow I will write about Guiness.

Joe

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Location:Glendalough

Well we arrived. Got settled into our room. We had a short nap. Then we had an afternoon tour of Dublin starting at 2pm.

Here is a picture of our driver, Patrick. Nice Irish lad.

Patrick just did all of the driving while our guide did all of the talking. We had 29 souls on board, mostly older folks.

First stop was a look at some old Georgian townhouses. Here is a sample.

Then we went off to Trinity College to look at the Book of Kells. No photography inside of the exhibit. I learned that Saint Columbkille (The Catholic school that I went to as a child) was actually Saint Colum Cille. Richard and I always thought it was Saint Comical.

Here’s a few pictures from Trinity College. They were filming a movie in one of the quads, with people dressed in 18th century clothes.

Then we rode around some more. Stopped to shoot some exterior shots of St Patrick’s Cathedral.

One last thing before we crash and burn. Here is the beautiful view from our hotel.

Tomorrow we tour the Guiness plant in Dublin

Good night all.

Joe

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Location:Dublin