We were the only ones staying at the B&B last night so we had very personal service for breakfast this morning. A very nice man runs the B&B while his wife works in another town.
It was a nice day - lots of sunshine. It did not rain until we were headed to our hotel for the night. We saw quite a few castles today - some were in our itinerary and some we just saw along side the road. We did find out that there are 3,000 castles in Ireland!! I don't think we have time to see them all...
Coast near our B&B:
Doonagore Castle is a round 16th-century tower house located about half a mile above the coastal village of Doolin, County Clare. It is currently a private holiday home. The current structure dates to the 16 century.
Ballinlacken Castle is a tower house built in the 15th or early 16th century.
Unknown castle along side of the road...
Newtown Castle is a 16th century fortified tower house set on a square pyramid-shaped base. The castle is now on the grounds of the Burren College of Art. It was open to visitors for just a donation. It was very cool inside the castle and the view out from the top.
A couple more unknown castles that we came upon...
This Martello Tower is one of about 50 stout fortresses built along the coast of Ireland for defense against Napoleon's fleet. Only a few remain today.
Corcomroe Abbey is an early 13th-century Cistercian monastery. It is located a few miles east of the village of Ballyvaughan. The abbey is noted for detailed carvings and other rich ornamentation which were not commonly found in buildings from this period of time. Construction on the abbey most likely began sometime between 1205 and 1210. It was very picturesque. We spent a while here.
We came across several thatch roofed homes. They are so "Irish"!
Some of them were quite nice!!
When we got out of the car to view a castle, I kept waiting for Tracy to come around the car. When he didn't come, I went around to him and there he was taking a video of a chicken beside our car in the parking lot. It was pretty funny to see this chicken here!
Dunguaire Castle is a 16th-century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay near Kinvarra. The castle's 75-foot tower and defensive wall have been restored. It may be the most photographed castle in Ireland. We did not tour the inside because it was very expensive (seems most of the castles open for tours were just too expensive!!)
View from the castle: a small seaside village
strong>Kilcolgan Castle is located on the banks of the Kilcolgan River over-looking Galway Bay. The castle dates from the 11th Century. It was rebuilt by the St. George Family in the late 18th Century and has been extensively refurbished by the late Hon. W.N. Gustafson von Hillerstamm.
It is now a hotel and a wedding destination.
We drove into Galway city which again had throngs of people. The city of Galway is the 6th largest city in Ireland and is the fastest growing. It was quite amazing the amount of people in these towns who just seemed to be out shopping or eating! Doesn't anyone work in Ireland??? I guess street musicians and actors do...
In the city of Galway, you can see a portion of a medieval wall. The town was once completely walled in.
Lynch's Castle is Galway’s best example of a fortified house. It was built by the prosperous Lynch family in the 16th century as protection from the raids. The castle now houses a branch of the Allied Irish Bank.
More of Galway City:
The Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas is the largest medieval parish church in Ireland. It has been in continuous use as a place of worship at the heart of Galway's life since 1320. Interesting side note: Christopher Columbus prayed here during a visit to Galway in 1477.
strong>Blakes Castle is in the heart of Galway town. It was a 15th century town house of the Blakes. It was later used as a town jail until the 19th century. Now Blakes Castle is restored as part of a hotel. We had a really difficult time finding this castle! We saw all of these sights in Galway on foot. We did a lot of walking!
More crowds we had to go through as we walked in Galway city:
In 1965, Eyre square, Galway city was officially renamed "Kennedy Memorial Park" in honor of Kennedy. JFK had visited Galway city shortly before his assassination. To commemorate him, there is also a bronze bust.
The Quiet Man Bridge is located 5 miles pasy Oughterard. It was the setting for the 1950's film "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. This movie is regarded as one of the top 100 films ever made. You know Tracy just had to stop here!! John Wayne - his hero. We both love the movie!
We are staying at the Ballynahinch Castle for the night. It is not really a castle - it is a very large hunting lodge built in the 1600's. Ballynahinch Castle Hotel is one of the finest 4 star luxury castle hotels in Ireland. It is set in a private 450 acre estate in the heart of Connemara Co. Galway. It has a backdrop of the beautiful 12 Bens Mountain range. We got there at dusk so were unable to take pictures outside. We checked in, and went to our room. After dropping off our luggage, we walked around the inside of the castle taking pictures. We actually overheard a couple sitting by the fire and talking - they sounded like real "snobs" - it was actually quite funny!!! We are so out of place here!!!
Finally, we decided to eat dinner. We ate in the dining room. It was set up as a 5 course dinner but was even more expensive that the last castle we ate at. We told them we would prefer to just eat in the pub. They told us we could order pub food in the dining room - they also told us they could fix us whatever we really wanted. So we ordered a seafood platter with a variety of items. It was very yummy! I had cheesecake and mint sorbet for dessert. After dinner, they said they would bring us coffee if we wanted to go sit by the fire in one of the lounges - cool! So we enjoyed coffee and cookies before a nice fire. We talked about our day and just relaxed. It was great!!
