IRELAND roadtrip

[Masato]

ROCK OF CASHEL

This was fuckin cool. It is like 1100 years old (I think older actually), and has been a centre of power and battles and takeovers and all sorts of history for as long.

Absolute time trip to be there, even though there is not much left.

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This is supposed to be a place where our man Diet Butcher lived as a wee lad in CORK:








We are just in time for a huge FREE PALESTINE march. we were just strolling along and suddenly the very front of the line came up behind me.








More pics from CORK:

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COBH:

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KINSALE

This place was great. Smaller city, little downtown core full of pubs and life by the water. We met a kid here that claimed it was the best town in the world

We watched the sun go down while exploring here

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Our next accommodation was another VRBO I rented near the town of DERRYNANE



We arrived late, it was pitch dark and we were tired so we couldn't really see where we were.
When we woke up I thought I'd died and went to heaven. This was all right outside our doorstep:





This was the place: The owner lives downstairs and rents out 2 rooms on the top floor with a separate entrance in the back.






There were real BEACHES around here:


I saw 1 guy actually SURFING here. Not great waves, but he caught a few

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Driving a circle tour up to Dingle peninsula and back down to Derrynane









DINGLE
Apparently they surf here too, there were a few surf shops



This is supposed to be a 1000+ year old DRUID/FAIRY circle. A wall with a moat around it, to protect the inner walled area where they did magic rituals and stuff.
...or so said the girl who charged us 2.50euros to go see it, lol


More super-old stuff.
500BC:



3200BC




More driving:


This is I think the island where Luke Skywalker went to become an asshole:
(there were some signs 'Last Jedi shooting location')


Drove through Killarney National Park on the way back down to the VRBO

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Next day we drove up to the next stay near Galway, near a town called KINVARRA:



On the way we went to the CLIFFS OF MOHER

badass





You could go up in the little tower:







Arrived late at the place, nothing spectacular just a clean guest house addition on a little side road. Best shower yet, lol the other 2 were weak

This castle was just 2 minutes down the road:




Same castle in the morning:


Kinvarra in the morning:

[Masato]

GALWAY:

Nothing really stuck out for me, a quiet little city. A bit scruffy but that's cool. More homeless here that in Dublin, based on just a few hours walking around

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Medieval Castle in Athenry:




We saw a GYPSY FUNERAL go by us here, everyone in black, with horses and old fashioned carriages carrying the body and casket. I didn't take pictures out of respect but there was an old irish man at the castle that explained to me who they were and how there were still little clans of gypsy families that have their own customes and traditions.

Athenry was one of the first towns to be completely encircled by a wall, the whole town was once a single defended community.
Lots of remains of the Abbeys and Friaries and some of the walls:
Some good songs about The Fields of Athenry too

[Masato]

Driving back to Dublin we saw several RAINBOWS.
Wonder what the peoples all those thousands of years all thought they were.

Was hard to get good pictures but we saw a bunch of them, a happy drive




Then we stopped in a place called ATHLONE, another town with medieval roots.



The parking was all paid by app, and this nice man offered to help pay for it as he had the app. He then told us to go to this pub he claimed was the oldest pub in Europe, it claims to have existed in 900AD and still operating.
I think it was my favourite pub of the trip, history notwithstanding