A Little Adrift: Ive Been Here Just About All the Time...Except When I'm Someplace Else : Ireland

Thursday: We drove to Kinsale, a small harbor town near the city of Cork. It's so beautiful, and quaint.

We stopped in at Charles Fort beforehand. This fort was crucial to the English for hundreds of years, who used it as protection from southern enemies. Later, upon Ireland's independence treaty from Britain, it became the stronghold of the anti-treaty movement (who later burned it to the ground to avoid letting their enemies use it).

The barracks of the fort slept 12 at a time, and if the men got married their wives were lucky enough to join the 12 men in the same room. The fort was cold and windy, and I can only imagine how harsh the conditions were.

We could see the town from the fort.

driving in

We stayed at an adorable B and B. It was actually an Irish family’s country house. They had incredible gardens surrounding the house.

We walked around the gorgeous town and the harbor. There were so many bright colors and, in the Irish style.. colored doors.

loved these pottery animals

We had dinner with a view of the harbor and tried a local craft cider!

I love this photo. I caught the seagull with his "catch of the day".. a mussel

sailboats

Afterwards we went to hear more Irish music at Blue Haven, a bar and night club.

One of my favorite sights to see of the week was the Irish dancing. A girl and boy danced for several songs. It'll get your heart pounding!

Here's an example of a traditional Irish song that we've heard in just about every pub. What's amazing is that none of the Irish people seem to get tired of it!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ruNdU6bGE5E

"Alive, alive, oh,

Alive, alive, oh,"

Crying "Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh".

The next morning we headed to the rock of Cashel en route to Dublin.

We took a tour of the whole The weather was the best it’d been all week. There was a chapel, a church, another private chapel, and the bishops private chambers. Apparently the church spared no expense in building this church, and then tore it down to build a more lavish one. We had the opportunity to see the ruins.