June...........
Kilkenny to Galway, Ireland - Day 6 in Ireland
Waking up in Ireland is so nice. Knowing how much I wanted to visit and now having Ireland to exceed every expectation I ever had.
Part two of my travel happiness is just as important. Traveling with the right partner. Jim and I make great travel pals and we both love to just "go with the moment" instead of planning every step of a trip.
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| Outdoor Market |
We walk on toward the castle.
Words to describe the castle.............
Big - Beautiful - Stately - Grandiose
The castle was owned by the Butler family for most of its life. We did the tour of the castle and the castle grounds. The current owners are still in the process of getting it in tip top castle shape and they are doing a very good job keeping it original and yet tour-worthy. The grounds were just as spectacular. We watched some boys playing a game with a ball and asked them what game they were playing. The were "hurling". It was a lot of fun to watch.
Two things we learned during the tour from one of the gentleman stationed in the castle:
1) Saving face was a term used that was actually literal. In Ireland the paler the complexion, the more well off you were thought to be. Some would go to the extent of putting a waxy paste on their face for company that made them appear paler. The bad news was that if they sat too near a fireplace, their face would melt. To prevent this, they would put a little stand up shield between them and the fireplace to "Save Face".
2) There were round sofas in the castle sitting room. Most marriages were arranged at this point so when the couple was introduced they would each have chaperon with them. The round sofa had a divider so no one got too close. The couple even spoke through their chaperon instead of directly to each other.
Such an experience.
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| Restaurant we stopped in front of to look at the specials |
We decided to walk through town once more before heading out of Kilkenny. We talk to a genealogist regarding the Lanigan name and then we tried to tour the Smithwick's Brewery but unfortunately it was closed for remodeling. Another time....
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| And of course we had to be careful not to drive off the road |
Westward Ho! Although Kilkenny to Galway looked like another long drive on the map, it turned out to be a very pleasant drive. We made it to Galway with no problems. Finding a B&B that we wanted to stay in is another story. We decided we didn't want to stay right in Galway. Too touristy. The road along the coast runs through many more small towns so we decided to continue West. The problem was, we were looking for a B&B that was in a quiet area that was on the ocean. Once you get out of Galway the ocean goes further out, then comes closer. Every time we saw a B&B we thought would work, we were too far away from the ocean. We continued our search. The next problem was the further West we went, the less English. The signs began in Gaelic soon and the only thing we could read were the signs that said B&B.
We continued our search and found a restaurant right on the ocean where we decided we wanted to have dinner. We used that as our base to find a B&B. Within a few minutes we had found a B&B that had a great view of the ocean even though you couldn't get down to the water. The view was still worth staying there. We dropped off our things and went back to the restaurant for dinner.
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| View from our B&B |
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| After dinner walk |
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| Playing in the water |
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| Great restaurant. Abby was a great server also! |
Back to the B&B. Tomorrow morning we head back to Dublin.
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