We arrived in Ireland about 10 am on Thursday, August 9th and were able to check into to Buswell Hotel. It is a little boutique hotel, pretty central to the city Centre and was across the street from some government buildings. We learned that the hotel had a lot of history because of the proximity to the government buildings and the dignitaries that stayed there. According to our guide, the hotel has been the site of many government negotiations and deals.
We spent the afternoon walking around and getting a feel for the city. We spent some time in the museum of the General Post Office, the site of the Easter uprising. I knew nothing of Irish history and learned that this was the real start of the Republic of Ireland breaking away from England.
We also strolled through St Stephen’s Green, a beautiful park with lots of meandering paths and ponds, very lush vegetation and lots of people out enjoying the weather.
That evening we had a good dinner at a pub and wandered back through the touristy entertainment district called Temple Bar. Temple Bar is the name of the district as well as a famous Irish pub. We enjoyed another pint of Guinness and listened to some very good Irish music.
On Friday morning, we were picked up by our guide Joe from Little Gem Tours. After a quick drive through the city (and past the Guinness Storehouse), we headed south toward the town of Kinsale.
On our way to Kinsale, we stopped by and climbed the round tower of Kildare:
and took a walk through ruins Dunamase Castle from the 12th century:
Kinsale
It’s a charming little seaside village of about 5,000 people. Like most of Ireland, the population is growing but not near as populated as it was before the famine. In 1821 Kinsale had over 7000 people. In 1961 it was down to about 1800 but is back up around 5000. Lots of little B and Bs and good restaurants. It has an interesting history – the battle of Kinsale was fought here in 1601 which actually helped lead to the splitting of Ireland centuries later. In 1914, the Lusitania was torpedoed offshore and the survivors were brought to Kinsale where the inquest was held.
On Friday night, we ate at Fishy Fishy (a name Benjamin would love), and found some more local music after dinner.
Saturday morning started off with a great walking tour with Barry and we learned quite a bit about the town and it’s history.
Then off to Charles Fort on the Harbour at Kinsale, for a self guided tour of the fort in a light misting rain.
This is apparently common weather for Ireland although it is our first day of it. They call a day like this a “soft day” and and day with heavy wind and rain would be referred to as “desperate “.
Next we stopped off in Cork and did some picnic shopping at the English Market. It dates back 230 years and is a great place to get some local foods
We have really enjoyed getting to understand some of the local phrases and customs. We spent some time with the innkeeper of our B and B watching the first half of the quarter finals of the All Ireland Gaelic football game and learning a few of the finer points of the game. You play for your home town and can progress up to representing your county in the national league. Players are not paid and never change teams, but play in front of crowds up to 80,000. They all have regular jobs and just play for the pride of their local communities.
The other Gaelic sport that is played is Hurling and was described to us as a cross between field hockey and murder:
would love to catch part of a game before we go home .
Found this cool looking plant growing wild along the side of the road. Packed a bunch to bring home:
Our last stop on Saturday was Blarney Castle. Beautiful grounds but we were not willing to wait almost an hour to kiss the Blarney Stone. We did enjoy the expansive grounds, trails and gardens
More later..
Tampaskis Travel 