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Sacred Spring Well
Beth at the well...just like her ancestors! We cut our trip short on our first visit because we ran out of time and we thought that it was well worth completing the hike around the place, so we came back. This has been our favorite spot thus far. There are several historical sights/sites in one compact area. The bonus is that you can hike from one spot to the other making it a complete experience.
By the way, once you have a couple of days of left side-of-the-road driving, left hand stick shifting, remembering to do the opposite in intersections and roundabouts, being sure to go to the left when leaving a parking lot, looking first to the right, not freaking out on curves (bends as they are called here), driving here is a piece of cake. Actually the Irish are very sane drivers. I do all the driving and I love driving around the countryside. It is wonderfully relaxing to just tool along the byways. Even the driving in the bigger towns like Ennis and Limerick was just fine. Unlike, say Italy, where regardless of lines, signs, and laws, people drove according to individual whim. After Italy, Ireland has been literally a pastoral driving experience.
This particular
Centuries Old
It still has water that runs out of it. day we got up semi-early, had some breakfast and drove directly to Dysert O'Dea. It is about a 40 minute drive on the main roads. This time we were armed with a map and a better plan for seeing the area. We drove and parked at a different place to tackle the first part we wanted to see.
Ireland has a strong history of saints and scholars. It has a plethora of pilgrimage sites. We started off by heading to the Tobar Oireachta - The Well of the Assembly. It is said to have the freshest and sweetest water in the area. I dipped my hand into the water and indeed it is very cold. I refrained from drinking any. This well was built in the 8th century! It was also famous because the waters could cure eye disease. I did wet my eyelids - the Catholic in me knows that there are no explanations in life sometimes.
There was a newer church built directly across the street with a small plot that was the historical burial place for unbaptized children. There were no markers to indicate it was a burial place. It was not a bright cheery little spot.
Ancient Road
This connected Ennis and Corofin...many an army has trod over it. Next we hiked up the hill (it is all hilly around here,by the way) to see two ring forts. They really aren't much to look at as they are nothing more than round rings constructed of stacked rocks and stones. These were also overgrown with shrubbery.
On our walk we came across two local residents sitting in their driveway getting some sun. We chatted with them and they allowed me to take their photo. The grandmother was very charming as she said that she wasn't ready for a photos and tried adjusting her hair. She must have been a beauty in her day - homely folks rarely are self conscious in that way. Anyhoo, the folks here is pale! They are out getting sun every moment they can. It must be the body's craving for vitamin D.
Beth is half Irish and fits right in. She doesn't tan she just turns red like the locals. We didn't spot any tanning salons but tan from a can is highly advertised. Folks here are either pale or are sporting a red sunburn. The only folks with a tan are either Indian, Arabic, Pacific Rim, Mediterranean , or (mostly) Americans. Virtually everyone I
Ancient Stone Fort
Built in 1000 AD and used until 16th century...not much to look at. spoke to became instantly curious of my origin. I knew that other than I am an interesting fella, there must be something to this curiosity. The people of Indian or Arabic descent have learned their English with a British accent. My English of course is American English and they are familiar with Americans. They haven't encountered many Hispanics and so I am a bit of a novelty.
We continued with on our hike and we stopped in at the castle again for a spot of tea and a scone. It was afternoon tea time you see. We finished our snack and headed off to visit some other saint's church. It is in a cool spot as it overlooks a castle that was destroyed by Cromwellian forces. By the way, Cromwell is a hated and despised figure in Irish history and rightly so. I ain't Irish and what I know of him has me thinking of him as a fecking bastard. By the way, after his death even the English despised him and sometime after his death they took his body out of the grave and dragged it through the streets of London and hung it up for display. You have
National School
Lots of rural one room schoolhouses. to be a real fecking bastard for people to do that to you.
Afterward we went looking for some important battle site but the museum map was a bit off and we never found it. We had a dinner engagement with the couple we had met in the pub the previous night so we opted for heading home for a refresher nap. Holidaying can be such a taxing endeavor.
Carlos and Stephanie are a charming couple. As I mentioned Carlos is from Columbia and Stephanie is from Germany (the former East German part). It was interesting to talk to them. Carlos gave us an eyeopener on the situation in Columbia. Stephanie gave us an eyeopener that doesn't match the happytalk that emanates from our media. It was quite interesting.
Based on the advice from some locals we had headed to dinner in Doonbeg and wanted to eat at a place called Morrisey's. Beth and I had tried before. From some inexplicable reason their displayed menu does not post the times or days they are open. Naturally, that evening they were not open. We headed to the Doonbeg Golf Club instead. Dinner was a little above average and in no way
Got Tan?
Nope...got red...though:-) matches the expectations one would have for a world class resort. The best part was talking to our waitress. I told her that she was Not Irish and that she was American. She said yes and when I asked her where she was from in the states. “Oh, from a little town in Idaho that you probably never heard of.” I told her that we were from Idaho and would probably know. She was from Bellevue. I starting laughing and told her that I grew up in Rupert. We had a good laugh over that.
It was time for a pint in O'Keeffe's and we headed back to Cooraclare. On the way back we stopped at a pub out in the countryside. They had a bonfire going and people were standing around with pints in hand. I promptly pulled over to investigate. I chatted with an old gent and he told me that it was Summer Solstice or St John's Eve. He also said that the bonfire used to be burned up on top of the hill, but now it was in front of the pub. Hmmm...I can see that. Fires are hot and make one thirsty; stay close to
Rathblathmaic
Or Rath for short...founded by St. Blathmac...that should clear that up. the Guinness for safety. Burning bonfires was a tradition pre-dating Christianity. We stood around for bit and then headed to the pub. We had our pints and bade farewell to each other. I regret that I didn't get their email address. They live in the Burgundy country and it would have been a cool future trip.
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Tom Hart
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Your Ireland Trip
Israel, Have been scanning your blog posting of your trip to Ireland (sorry, don't have time to study in depth). Am reminded of Rosemary's and my tour of southern Ireland in 1993 via tourist bus. We decided to take that route since we didn't feel up to struggling with luggage, etc. Our sons rode in a rented car with Rosemary's brother, Ed Small. Found out later they had named him "Racecar Driver Ed." Glad we weren't along on that trip. We had many wonderful memories from our visits to the different sites. My mumblings and faultering speech has been definitely helped by my "Kissing the Blarney Stone!" Blessings, Tom