Ireland Day 4 ~

Day 4 ~

Today we started off the day by chit chatting with Carole, the owner of the B&B. She gave us lots of information on what to see and what not to see. We decided to take the scenic route by the ocean around to the ring of Kerry and up to Dingle Peninsula. We didn’t get that far! HA!!

We shopped a little in Blarney first, at the Blarney Woolen Mills mostly. I found some AWESOME deals and ended up buying an Ireland sweatshirt (of course!!) and a Celtic picture frame as well as some woolen gifts for different people. It was fun!! Because of this little shopping spree, however, we were cut short on the rest of the day. I think it was worth it though :-)



We traveled through a quaint little city called Kinsale on the coast of southern Ireland. This was a harbor town and was very colorful and the air was cool and sweet.

Driving along the coast we came across a cute antique shop and I quickly pulled off the road. Janell had requested a tea cup from Ireland and by George, she was getting a tea cup!!!! I found a cute tea cup that I thought she would enjoy even though it was actually made in England (sorry Janell. . . I asked the owner and she said there are only 3 types of cups made by Irish makers and they are rare and very expensive. Since the English are known for their bone china most of the china in Ireland comes from England. I tried though. . . it is still bought with love from Ireland)

Around the corner from this antique shop was a beautiful spot where we turned off, called Harbor View Beach. There was a chill in the air from the gust of northern wind, but we still enjoyed the beautiful views.

Our first monumental attraction on our day’s long road trip was at Timoleague Friary. This Friary was very similar to the rest of the monasteries and abbeys that we have seen this far. This Friary was burnt and plumaged by Cromwellian soldiers and has since become ruins that now serve as a cemetery.

Our next stop was Ireland's first fair trade town of Clonokitty. . . which apparently has two “titties” . . . at least that’s what my mom said!! (ha!! It was a mix up of letters as she was trying to spell it, but it came out wrong) We had ourselves a good laugh. The town was small, but thriving. The roads were extremely narrow and colorful! Very cute!

Drombeg Stone Circle was not far away from Clonokitty and we decided we had to take a peak. There was a medium sized stone circle with a burial pot found underneath the soil at the middle of the circle thought to have been the remains of a cremated youth. The stones were also arranged so that at a specific day in December the moon would shine directly between the two larger stones of the circle, giving some kind of meaning. There was also two baking huts on the premises and a well that could hold up to 800 gallons and could be heated in 18 seconds by throwing hot stones into the well making the water hot enough to cook meat.




Glandore was another little town that we passed through with a beautiful view! We stopped only momentarily to take some photographs of the beauty.




Our last stop of the day before heading to Glengarriff to bed down for the night, was at Mizen Head. Mizen is the most southern tip of Ireland. There is a light house and guard tower at the end of the tip, which was inaccessible to us and many miles away (it seemed). I did take the advice of some young men walking back from the area that the best view was on the other side of the “no entry” sign. I couldn’t resist!! It was a very nice view. . . one that my mom had to forego. It was also very windy. . . I would have put Marilynn Monroe to shame!!





We ended up in Glengarriff for the night and checked into a motel where I was able to get online (finally) and start posting on my website. I seemed to have spent all night uploading pictures and putting together blogs for my friends and family to enjoy. . . .I won’t get any sleep whatsoever now, but hey. . . anything to make them happy! LOL!!