Day 10: Kinsale

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Wednesday, October 13: It was great to have a down day in Kinsale. We slept in, ate a late breakfast at our B&B and started off for a hike through this seaside village. We walked up to the Carmelite Friary, then down to the Desmond Castle. We were looking forward to the wine museum at the castle but it was closed for the season. A great advantage of traveling this time of year is the lack of tour buses, but the downside is not having access to all the attractions. We checked in at the Tourist Information and learned about the train tour to Charles Fort. Within a few minutes we had boarded this small train and were on our way with a guided tour through the village, out the long quay and to the fort. We rambled around the fort grounds for about an hour before catching the train back into the village. It got so warm while we were at the fort that I do believe we each have a little sunburn--not a bad problem to have in Ireland in October. We have to remember to do more research into the 1601 battle that took place at Kinsale. It was the most decisive moment in Irish history. Our train engineer/tour guide, Clive, gave us a recommendation for lunch and soon we were at Jim Edwards for a delicious chicken curry with rice (and a couple of pints--duh). After lunch we wandered into a couple of shops. Shopping proved to be too stressful for Ed and we had to stop at The Armada for a couple more pints. We met Mary, the bartender, who told us about the Kinsale Bar in Boston where people gather when they are visiting Kinsale's sister city, Newport, Rhode Island. Kinsale is known for its gourmet food and art. Many of the galleries were closed, however. We picked up our laptop from the B&B and stopped by the local internet cafe to check emails. This B&B was the first to not have wifi availability. We returned to the B&B for some downtime before heading back into the city centre. We stopped by the Tap Tavern, at the recommendation of Clive, and met the owner, Mary O'Neill. There were three gentlemen from Wisconsin in the tavern, Patrick, his brother, Dave and his other brother, Dave--just joking--Patrick (a school IT guy), Dave (a retired school administrator) and Dave (a priest) were having a grand time when we arrived to join them. Another gentleman in the pub mentioned whiskeys and Connemara came up. Patrick ordered a couple of shots of Connemara and shared with Ed and he says...the best ever!! Two Australian women joined us and had been on holiday for a couple of weeks, visiting Dubai and Spain before arriving in Ireland--you know...kind of like us visiting Indianola, then Colfax, then maybe Kansas City--:-). We left the Tap Tavern and walked to the Old Brewery for dinner. We shared a stuffed chicken breast and got carried away, having cheesecake for dessert. We went in search of music after dinner and found the Blue Haven where there was a three piece traditional music group. They let Ed play bohdran on a couple of songs. He turned down their offer to play guitar and sing--guess his shyness got the best of him. We then wandered on to Dalton's the hear Liam and Joe's last few songs before calling it a night. It was another beautiful day in Ireland--warm, sunny and happy.

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