Day 8 of Carl & Nanci Trip to Ireland

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July 11

Colorful, that is the word best used to describe Ireland. The scenery, as we have sent is great but the villages we go through are every color of the rainbow (and extremely clean). In the blog today, I am including some pictures of the villages we have biked through and stayed at. Overall the economy seems to be doing well and talking to the locals the improvement since the mid 1980’s is significant. They, like us, are now experiencing a downturn; home prices have dropped 7.5% in the last year. There is much talk about cutting 1,000,000,000 Euros from the national budget for next year.

We biked in the rain this morning but the sun came out and was shining brightly for the afternoon. We traveled from Bantry down the Beara Peninsula to Castletown BearHaven, which is a small fishing village on Bantry Bay. On the way we stopped in Glengariff and took a ferry to Garinish Island. Garinish Island was developed as a subtropical garden estate in the 1930’s to the early 1940’s. Along the way there were seals sunning themselves on the rocks.

The gardens on Garinish Island are all impressive. We have included photos of the Italian garden, the Walled garden and the temple. It is hard to believe that this idyllic garden on a small island was created from a barren rock island.

There are many things we are enjoying about the Irish culture. One of those is the ability to have a hot pot of tea and warm scones at any time of the day. The pace of life is a bit more relaxed and people reach out to make you feel welcome. Many a sentence is finished with, “Is everybody happy?” We have also learned that we must ask for the bill at the end of the meal, as it is considered rude to bring it to the table and have the diners feel they are being asked to move along.

Carl & Nanci

PS; I apologize for the quality of some of the pictures. Found a fingerprint on the lens mid way through the day. Quality should improve

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