Ireland — at last! – The Bradleys in Texas

Well it has been a while since my last post. To tell the truth, not much has been going on here in Texas. It has been really hot this summer. We have had over 70 days where the temps have reached over 100 degrees. Last year (2021) we only had two days where the temps reached the triple digit mark. But I digress….

Most of you know that back in 2017 Trace and I booked a trip to Ireland, but had to cancel it when Trace had a health issue. Then we got busy moving from Colorado and building our house in Texas. Then there was COVID. Well, Trace and I decided that it was now or never. We are both vac’d and double-boosted, so what the heck! This why we saved so much while we were working, so we could enjoy our retirement. So in March we booked our trip. We decided to fly business class, and do a private chauffeur tour. Yeah, maybe it’s a bit more pricey, but it was so worth it!!!

To get ready for the trip I decided to sign up for a photography class at the local community college. I even talked Trace into joining me. My reason for taking this class is that I knew it would make me have to read the manual on my camera. Just before I retired, I upgraded my camera to an Olympus OMD-EM1 Mark II camera. This is a professional level mirrorless micro four-thirds camera system. I have been an Olympus fan my whole adult life and this was their top of the line camera system. But the manual is like the size of a novel. There are more bells and whistles with this camera than any other camera I have ever owned. So this class got me familiar with the camera. And I learned a bunch of stuff too.

So, on to the trip. We left on the 10th of Sep and returned on the 20th. We spent the first couple of days in Dublin on our own doing all the touristy stuff like the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour, visiting Trinity College and the Book of Kells, and of course touring the Guinness Storehouse at the St. James Brewery site. Then the rest of our trip we spent with Pat, our own private chauffeur from Brendan Vacations. He took us all around. We went to Waterford and the crystal factory. We went to Kinsale, and Blarney, and Cork. We saw the Cliffs of Moher and toured around the Dingle Peninsula. We went from Killarney through Limerick and Ennis and up into Galway. We also went into the Connemara National Park and even visited the city of Cong where there is a museum to Maureen O’Hara and the movie “The Quiet Man”. Then we ventured back into Dublin where we flew home.

First, let me just say that this trip has spoiled us! Not only is Ireland one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, but to have the luxury of a local taking you on a tour of his country is priceless. You get the history and the local folklore behind all the sights that you are seeing. Plus, if we wanted to deviate or see something special, we could do that too. And instead of riding around on a tourbus that can only go on certain roads, we were in a Mercedes sedan that could navigate the skinny backroads and see so much more. If you ever have the chance to go to Ireland, do it!!!

But now, what you are probably waiting on….the pictures. I actually took over 300 pics and I probably can’t get all of those onto this blog site of mine without it blowing up. So here is just a sample to whet your appetite.

The inside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.

Stained glass windows in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The windows in this cathedral were phenomenal.

The statue of “Sweet Molly Malone”. Supposedly, if you rub her bosom, it is supposed to bring you luck. I wasn’t going to rub any woman’s bosom!! But as you can see, many have already done that!!

One of many pubs in Dublin…and ooohh the fantastic cider served in those pubs!

“The Long Room” in the library at Trinity College. There are over 250,000 books in this room, many dating back thousands of years. This is the only place in the library where photos can be taken (NO FLASH). There is NO photographing allowed in the room where the Book of Kells is.

Although difficult to read, this is the 9000 year lease signed by Mr. Guinness for his brewery in Dublin. Yes, that’s right, 9000 years. He agreed to pay 100 pounds down and 45 pounds per month for 9000 years. Quite an astute businessman, I would say!

The most photographed gate in all of Dublin.

One of the craftsmen at the Waterford Crystal factory

This is Trace disguised as one of the Viking invaders of Ireland!

Kathleen Cait Murphy, a nurse who worked for 30 years as a nurse in NYC paid to have this memorial to the firefighters that lost their lives at the Twin Towers on 911…

They planted a tree for each of the 343 firefighters who lost their lives that day. Every year after that, people come to place flags by each of the trees on 9-11. Since we were there a few days after the 9-11 anniversary, the flags were still there.

Groups from the US have added to this memorial over the years. This is something you wouldn’t see on a regular tour of Ireland. It’s just outside the quaint little town of Kinsale, Ireland. Trace and I were really touched at this woman’s generosity in building this memorial. Unfortunately, she didn’t live long enough to see the fruits of her labors.

Blarney Castle — This castle is home to the famous Blarney Stone, which legend has it, if you kiss the stone you will inherit the “gift of gab”. And NO, I did not kiss the stone. I wasn’t about to kiss a stone that thousands before me put their lips on just to inherit something that I already have!!

Another view of Blarney Castle and the surrounding landscape.

I wonder if I could order one of these??!!

This guy was just out there serenading us on his bagpipe. I’ve always loved the sound of the bagpipes.

This is Ross Castle in Killarney. These castle ruins are all over Ireland, along the waterways. Some are being restored into livable residences.

And believe it or not, Ireland has some really awesome beaches! These pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the landscape there.

This is a beautiful landscape known as Ceann Sraithe (and don’t ask me to pronounce that).

So here are these two sheep just grazing on a cliff that leads straight down to the sea. I have no idea how they got there, or how the heck they will get out of there.

Ireland has a lot of sheep. They are just about everywhere. And they are friendly too. I mean they will come right up to the roadway….

and seem to be begging you to take their picture. Notice the dye added to their coats. This is put on the sheep to identify their owners. Most sheep herders share the pastures of the countryside and this is a means of identifying which sheep goes to which sheep herder.

There are also lots of cows, both dairy cows and beef cattle. Pat, our guide told us that each and every cow has its own “passport” that registers it with the government from its birth to its death. They are very strict about caring for their cows and keeping up with their shots and stuff. This may be why Ireland NEVER had the mad cow problem that England and other countries in Europe did. This gal here was just begging me to take her picture!

A genuine Irish Coffee from the place where the first Irish Coffee was made, in Foynes, Ireland. Foynes also has a “Flying Boat and Maritime Museum” that we visited. As the story goes, Irish Coffee was invented by a chef named Joe Sheridan who worked in a restaurant in the Foynes flying boat terminal. One late evening in the winter of 1943, a bunch of weary travelers showed up at his restaurant after hours flying in bad weather conditions. Chef Joe was asked to come up with something to warm the weary passengers. He decided to put some good Irish whiskey in the coffee and the rest as they say is history.

This is photo of O’Brien’s Tower on the Cliffs of Moher. I have to tell you that the picture just doesn’t do justice to the beauty of this landscape.

One of the many lookout towers, now in ruins along the Irish waterways. But the landscape….magnificent.

THE FAMINE WALLS — here’s a bit of Irish history. These stone walls came about during the Irish famine. The Brits forced the starving Irish to build these walls of stone for what reason, who knows!! Many died building these walls that still stand today and are scattered throughout the countryside in and around Connemara National Park. The land in this part of Ireland is definitely more rugged and challenging for any type of survival.

We took a little detour to the town of Cong, Ireland where they have a whole museum to the movie “The Quiet Man”. This bronze statue of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara from the movie sits in the center of the town. After all, Maureen O’Hara is one of their shining stars. And since I have always loved that movie, I really wanted to see this.

For all you old movie buffs, if this looks familiar, it’s because this is an exact replica of the cottage from “The Quiet Man” movie.

Nestled in the heart of Connemara is the Kylemore Abbey and Victorian gardens. The castle was built in the late 1800s by a rich businessman named Mitchell Henry as a wedding gift for his wife Margaret. Today, Kylemore Abbey is owned and run by a community of Benedictine nuns. The grounds as well as the castle itself are amazing!

This is a photo of the Galway city center. This is the old part of the town. But I will tell you that most of the Irish towns we were in looked like this with all the charm and pubs and cider…

This pub, which you can see in the last photo, is one of the oldest in Galway. We ate there one night and the food was great. So was the cider (Rockshore cider made by none other than Guinness).

Well, there you have it. It’s a modest sample of the photos that I took in Ireland. All in all, I took 346 photos. Obviously I couldn’t post all of them. But I think you can tell from the photos posted that we had a fabulous time, and were really blessed with good weather for just about all of the trip. This is one trip that I will remember for the rest of my life! And I would highly recommend to anyone to make Ireland one of your “bucket list” places to visit in your lifetime. I know Trace and I will probably end up going back as there was a whole bunch more to see over there. Plus, did I mention the cider????