Ireland

There are some i know who will appreciate that the bookings for this leg of the trip were to my advantage. For some unknown reason Tony's seat was Economy class and mine was Business. You may ask didn't she offer to swap? Yes she did ..halfheartedly and being the true gentleman he is, he declined- oh it was sweet!!! Happy, happy, joy, joy!!!

Having landed, some of us traveling better than others, we had a very trying trip from Dublin to Kinsale, our first stop. A 200 km trip took us almost 6 1/2 hrs!!! There were roadworks galore .We have since found out that Dublin has the worst traffic flow in Ireland. A combination of a large population, very poor road design and the fact there isn't much public transport to speak of. To hold us up even further halfway to Kinsale there was this huge traffic jam that went on for about 4-5 km!! We couldn't work out how it could happen on a dual carriageway!!! We get futher down the highway and there are signs every so often for an event being held that weekend for an Electric Picnic and you guessed it...most of the traffic was heading that way! See if you can guess what it is, we were certainly wishing we were back on the plane to London!

We reached our destination a lovely village on the south coast of Ireland - Kinsale. It has a historical connection to Spain as it was the harbour from which the 5th Spanish Armada was launched from..which explained several Spanish-named B&B's and restaurants...and i wonder if it has anything to do with the olive complexioned Irish walking around!!?

Our B&B at Kinsale

We have been lucky that for the 5 days we've been here it has been Irish Heritage Week...therefore most of the sight seeing has been at a minimal cost :). One such gem was the James Fort at Kinsale which was built by the British as a defence fort against the Spanish and Northern Irish clans. It was re-enactment day when we went. A combination of Dads Army characters (and antics), merging with stereotypical Braveheart warriors and cheiftains and lastly the Roman Army...all cavorting in warlike games..nothing too serious mind you as the Roman Army didn't even set foot on Irish soil!!

Tony on the steps of St James Fort

Our next port of call was to a place called Killarney- the place where Irelands first national Park was established. Beautiful Autumn scenery, rambling, narrow roads bordered by rustic handmade stone walls, trickling streams meandering throught the woods - we spotted a doe peering through the woods as we walked into town for dinner. Killarney became popular with English aristocracy and later with wealthy Americans ( are there any other kind?) as the lakes were full of fish. Today it is still the same with many of the locals spending their weekends donning outboards on their small skiff-like vessels as well as wearing the tradtional garb of waders and fishing hats..not a woman in sight! Truly a very much a male dominated pastime.

A group of intrepeid fishermen..note the outboard!

We spent our time at Ross castle, Muckcross House - a beautifully restored Manor with traditional working farms forming part of the Estate. These farms are run without the use of power and many of the people working the farms spent their childhood without electricity as it didn't arrive in Ireland until 1955!! So they either did everything by hand or with the help of horse-drawn machinery. Amazing really that this is within their life experience and we're not talking people that much older than myself ( yes i know i'm now OFFICIALLY old, bah humbug). Tony bought himself a little cap from here , a woollen one, it makes him look like his grandpa!

Traditional donkey..which is which you may ask!

We spent the next day travelling around the Ring of Kerry on our way to Bunratty...a special highlight...really going back in time, the scenery beautiful and restful..we had a lovely sunny day sandwiched between two rainy ones...really lucky

Beautiful scenery along the Ring of Kerry


At Bunratty we were part of a Medieval Banquet hosted at the castle. We had the tradtional medieval fare consisting of home made vegie soup; pork spare ribs ( yuk), roast chook with lots of garden fresh vegies...and mead and lager...which made for a merry night for some( not us). There were minstrels (a very talented violinist and harpist) which provided the accompaniment for the singers who whose voices resonated throughout the high ceilings of the banquet hall. A nice low key escape as we were pretty tired.

I admit to feeling an affinity with Ireland. Not only does it have it's similarities with Tasmania, it also has its own flavour. The colours of the countryside have greater depth and clarity.. the green is much fuller than home, the browns, rustier, a much warmer feel about it. Their culture appears to be slightly haphazard, a little more of going with the flow; they have a strong nationalistic outlook; their knowledge of their history and the struggle for independence is talked about as if was a very recent event...they still refer to time as before The Freedom or after.Their native tongue is now being taught again in schools, as there was a genaration where it's use was banned under British rule.

The sign posts on the roads were a constant source of amusement for us..I, funnily enough, was able to work them out easily and quickly, Tony however found the whole system ,a combination of frustration and humerous. Needless to say I made the most of my new found navigational skills and only put at risk,once, my mantra of "we travel well together" by getting seriously lost!

Tomorrow Paris!! Blog will be scarce unless there is an internet cafe close by

xox