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Ireland Day Three
Aug. 5th, 2019 07:57 pmToday I took Mom to a clinic for a mammo and afterward we went to the casino where we promptly lost money so fast it was nuts. The new owners have made this casino not fun any more.
I got more money from last year's holiday story as well, another 100+ dollars. Which is great but on the other hand it makes me terribly sad that something I spent literally 2 weeks writing has out sold every novel I worked so hard on. Sigh.
Ireland Day three
We started out shopping at Glendalough which had a nice shop plus several temporary market places all around it (got too much stuff but passed on the sweaters gorgeous as they were because I know at the end of the day, I’d not wear them. I get too hot but now I regret not buying one). Got too much jewelry as per usual and a neat cat made of bog material. It had a legend of the bog cat attached to it and it’s sort of goofy looking but to have a piece of bog was rather cool.
We went to Upper Glendalough Lake and wandered around for a while. There are more of St. Kevin’s monastic ruins there but not well marked as to what they might have been (online it said it might be an old fort) From there we drove to Trim, Ireland which was cute. We were going to Trim castle after lunch at the Castle Arch Hotel (omg cool looking hotel) where the 9.50 euro half meal was more food than I eat in a day. Carved turkey, stuffing, roasted tatties and cabbage (I passed on the mashed tatties and carrot).
Trim Castle was built in the late 1110s and was added on up into the early 1200s. Hugh de Lacy built it after one of the kings of Ireland decided to ally with England to beat back other Irish kings. Dumb move really since now that Anglo-Saxons were in. The first structure and great hall were immense but later they put on a second floor and then a third before putting up a more house-like great hall outside the castle. There was also a mint there making all of Ireland’s money as this was an important site.
Also visible in the background was the Yellow Steeple, a 7-story bell tower, in fact it’s the tallest medieval structure in all of Ireland, part of a monastery that has since burned. Trim castle was very interesting, our knowledgeable tour guide, took us up to the roof eventually. I loved the little details I didn’t know. I knew two of the three functions of the Garde room 1) you peed/pooped there 2) wastes were collected to fling at the enemy but I didn’t know 3) that the gong farmer would stir the cess pit and send the gases up the pipe and the nobles hung their clothes in the Garde room (which explains its name) where the gases killed off the lice and fleas in the clothing.
From there we went to Bective Abbey , which had a few too many people roaming about climbing the structure with little respect for it (I mean literally climbing the walls vs using the few extant stairs. There was one set of idiots where the dad had climbed up and the mom was shoving her two small kids up there in spite of them crying in fear). There are two lovely cloister hallways one window having a carved devil face and a saint on the other. Apparently, this was used in Braveheart.
The last stop was another bucket list item for me, the Hills of Tara where they crowned the old pagan Irish kings. There were several mounds running around, some passage graves including the Mound of Hostages, some where the king was crowned complete with rood stone marking the spot. The rood (and very rude looking) stone is known as the Lia Fáil and yes it definitely looks like a big stone penis. Seems appropriate for crowning Kings. There is also a “fairy tree” where people leave offerings for wishes. I braided grass and left that. There is also an old church, but we didn’t have time for that (which I think is actually a visitor’s center now).
Just down the road was a holy well associated with healing, the well of the dark eye/the dark healer/the white cow/ St Cormac’s and a few others. I did crawl in there and put my hands in the water and proved I’m getting so weak I could hardly stand back up. I am going on some strength training when I go home. I have to!
We’re staying in the Daly’s pub and Inn . Got a burger (it was okay) because I was still half full from lunch. The pub side we should have stayed at longer, but these are long days and we’re tired.
( more pics, hope you enjoy )
I got more money from last year's holiday story as well, another 100+ dollars. Which is great but on the other hand it makes me terribly sad that something I spent literally 2 weeks writing has out sold every novel I worked so hard on. Sigh.
Ireland Day three
We started out shopping at Glendalough which had a nice shop plus several temporary market places all around it (got too much stuff but passed on the sweaters gorgeous as they were because I know at the end of the day, I’d not wear them. I get too hot but now I regret not buying one). Got too much jewelry as per usual and a neat cat made of bog material. It had a legend of the bog cat attached to it and it’s sort of goofy looking but to have a piece of bog was rather cool.
We went to Upper Glendalough Lake and wandered around for a while. There are more of St. Kevin’s monastic ruins there but not well marked as to what they might have been (online it said it might be an old fort) From there we drove to Trim, Ireland which was cute. We were going to Trim castle after lunch at the Castle Arch Hotel (omg cool looking hotel) where the 9.50 euro half meal was more food than I eat in a day. Carved turkey, stuffing, roasted tatties and cabbage (I passed on the mashed tatties and carrot).
Trim Castle was built in the late 1110s and was added on up into the early 1200s. Hugh de Lacy built it after one of the kings of Ireland decided to ally with England to beat back other Irish kings. Dumb move really since now that Anglo-Saxons were in. The first structure and great hall were immense but later they put on a second floor and then a third before putting up a more house-like great hall outside the castle. There was also a mint there making all of Ireland’s money as this was an important site.
Also visible in the background was the Yellow Steeple, a 7-story bell tower, in fact it’s the tallest medieval structure in all of Ireland, part of a monastery that has since burned. Trim castle was very interesting, our knowledgeable tour guide, took us up to the roof eventually. I loved the little details I didn’t know. I knew two of the three functions of the Garde room 1) you peed/pooped there 2) wastes were collected to fling at the enemy but I didn’t know 3) that the gong farmer would stir the cess pit and send the gases up the pipe and the nobles hung their clothes in the Garde room (which explains its name) where the gases killed off the lice and fleas in the clothing.
From there we went to Bective Abbey , which had a few too many people roaming about climbing the structure with little respect for it (I mean literally climbing the walls vs using the few extant stairs. There was one set of idiots where the dad had climbed up and the mom was shoving her two small kids up there in spite of them crying in fear). There are two lovely cloister hallways one window having a carved devil face and a saint on the other. Apparently, this was used in Braveheart.
The last stop was another bucket list item for me, the Hills of Tara where they crowned the old pagan Irish kings. There were several mounds running around, some passage graves including the Mound of Hostages, some where the king was crowned complete with rood stone marking the spot. The rood (and very rude looking) stone is known as the Lia Fáil and yes it definitely looks like a big stone penis. Seems appropriate for crowning Kings. There is also a “fairy tree” where people leave offerings for wishes. I braided grass and left that. There is also an old church, but we didn’t have time for that (which I think is actually a visitor’s center now).
Just down the road was a holy well associated with healing, the well of the dark eye/the dark healer/the white cow/ St Cormac’s and a few others. I did crawl in there and put my hands in the water and proved I’m getting so weak I could hardly stand back up. I am going on some strength training when I go home. I have to!
We’re staying in the Daly’s pub and Inn . Got a burger (it was okay) because I was still half full from lunch. The pub side we should have stayed at longer, but these are long days and we’re tired.
( more pics, hope you enjoy )
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