Two more days in Ireland

Photos of these two days! http://www.flickr.com/photos/76555621@N02/sets/72157631580396225/

FRIDAY, September 14th

We headed off to Cork on Friday through the National Park; we had to stop a number of times to take in the gorgeous views and snap pictures of sights (like a fawn by the roadside!).  We ate lunch in a little town called Skibbereen where our waitress plopped herself down on one of the seats to take our order!

Our big stops of the day were the Dromberg Stone Circle and Blarney Castle.  Dromberg is one of the best preserved stone circles in Ireland and was definitely a nice little stop.  Blarney Castle is home to the Blarney Stone.  It is quite a neat place to visit as it has not been renovated like many of the other castles.  We could really see how the castle was used in the past and imagine just how it might have looked.

This was the first time that we didn’t have a hotel booked at our destination and finding one was not the easiest!  I will probably make sure to have all my hotels booked in advance in the future!

SATURDAY, September 15th

We left our hotel early in the morning and ate breakfast across from Cahir Castle.  We all got full Irish breakfasts.

Our second stop was the Rock of Cashel.  The Rock of Cashel was originally a seat of power in South Ireland, but was given to the church.  We had a wonderful tour there that explained the history of the buildings, their uses, and how they came to be as they are today.  Also, the guide explained to us how the current renovations of their sandstone chapel works (they are literally drying the stone out over a period of about 4 year before rebuilding the roof to protect from future deterioration).

We passed through Clonmel and grabbed a bite to eat in a little cafe, before making to our third destination, Waterford.  We browsed the beautiful crystal in Waterford Crystal and actually picked something out for me!  Isn’t it GORGEOUS??  

 My parents will have it until I settle down somewhere stable – lol.

We finished off the day by driving to our Guesthouse for our last night in Ireland.  It was in Arklow and we ate at The Loft – good food and good decorations!