From Sunflowers to Spurs: Ireland Trip Part 6...Adare, Blarney, and Fethard

The fourth day of our trip was a lot of driving. Two of the things I wanted to see were 1 1/2 hours away...from each other, and from the hotel. So we started off with a short drive to Adare, which is billed as the "prettiest village in Ireland." I guess because of this, it was a major tourist mecca. We're talking huge chartered buses full of old people descending upon the town. So the hubs and I ate breakfast and then decided to tour the Adare (Desmond) Castle since we love castles! We hopped on a bus with the tour guide, and had a rather private tour since no one else went at that time. :) It was very informational and the ruins were pretty cool. I think this is when we started to really gain a hatred for Oliver Cromwell and his dismantling of so many castles and wonderful buildings in Ireland. Curse you, Cromwell! We walked around the town a bit and popped into a few shops. Then we went on the first 1.5 hour drive south to Blarney.

Blarney Castle probably comes in second place to Bunratty. It was a pretty well-preserved castle. There was a cave that the husband walked through (I told you previously that I decided I wasn't a cave person). Then we explored the castle and walked the 125-ish horrible castle steps to the top, where the Blarney Stone is! Basically the legend says those who kiss the stone will be bestowed with the gift of eloquence. So I decided to kiss it so I could be the best bull-shitter around! After that we walked the castle ground and found a really beautiful park inside. There was the witch's kitchen tucked under a great tree, druid stones, and lots of other cool little things. We could almost imagine being back in time and walking through the woods. So when we got done there, we walked over to Blarney Woolen Mills, which is apparently the largest shop in Ireland. It was full of souvenirs, clothes, home goods, and all kinds of stuff.

After we bought some great little things, we went back to the car for the next 1.5 hour drive to Fethard. This was a trip that was all my own doing and totally out of the way. My husband was a good sport and took me though! I wanted to go to Fethard, because they have a pub called P.J. Lonergan's! This is my dad's name! I just had to get a picture. When we arrived, the place was packed! Standing-room only! There was some game on that everyone was watching, so there was a lot of yelling and shouting. Too scary for us chickens to go in and join. Ha! However, Lonergan's also owns a restaurant next door called Oriental Gardens. So we did pop in there and ate some Chinese food. Chinese food in Ireland tastes a lot like it does in Texas. Only they had something called "prawn crackers" which I didn't try. Michael said they weren't too fishy, but they just looked weird and nothing about a fish cracker sounded good to me.

So after we had our fill of Fethard, it was back in the car for another 1.5 hour trip to Limerick. Home sweet home. We went to bed around 10 that night, and then at 11 I heard booming noises and jumped out of bed hollering, "fireworks!". Sure enough, they were shooting fireworks over the river for their ending to the 4-day long 4th of July festival! I still think it's hilarious that not only do they celebrate the 4th, they celebrate it 3 days longer than we do. Here are some pics from the day: