Ireland: Day 15 (Sept. 25, 2011)

Most of today was VERY rainy!! We still got out to tour things and take pictures - just donned our raincoats and carried our umbrellas.  It finally cleared off in the late afternoon and we had a lovely evening.  We can't really complain about the rain because we have actually had very little on this trip!  We drove quite a ways today from County Mayo through County Sligo, through County Donegal to County Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

Our first stop was the Round Tower & Abbey in County Sligo.  I couldn't find any information on this site.

 Here is one of the many very nice Irish homes we saw...

Ballymote Castle is a large rectangular keepless castle, built around 1300. It is located in the townland of Carrownanty on the outskirts of Ballymote in southern County Sligo, Republic of Ireland. It is the last of the Norman castles in Connacht.  It was fenced off so we could not walk around inside.  They have built a nice park around it.

Here is a beautiful church along our path:

Markree Castle, in Collooney, County Sligo, is the ancestral seat of the Cooper family, partially moated by the River Unshin. Today it is a small family-run hotel. It was built in the 14th century.



Parke’s Castle is a plantation era castle rising three stories tall on the banks of Lough Gill, in County Leitrim.   It is a fifteenth-century castle. In 1610 Roger Parke completed his fortified manor house on the site. It was raining pretty hard when we first got there and we weren't sure we would be able to tour it.  But the rain settled down to just a drizzle.

Lough Gill near the Parkes Castle

Ireland is quit beautiful, even when the weather is yucky!

Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery is one of the four major passage tomb cemeteries in Ireland. It is located at the center of a prehistoric ritual landscape on the Cúil Irra Peninsula in County Sligo. Around 30 megalithic tombs can be seen in Carrowmore today. The tombs (in their original state) were almost universally 'dolmen circles'; small dolmens each enclosed by a boulder ring of 12 to 15 metres. Each monument had a small levelling platform of earth and stone. One of the secrets of the dolmens longevity was the well executed stone packing set around the base of the upright stones. The combination of 5 of these orthostats and a capstone enclosed a pentagonal burial chamber.  The bulk of the megalith building in Carrowmore dates at between 4000 and 3500 BC! (Wikipedia) 

It is hard to imagine something that old!!  It was a very cool place to walk around!

We had to walk through a cow pasture to get to the last dolman...

This is my favorite picture at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery:

Donegal Castle is a castle situated in the center of Donegal town, County Donegal in the northwest of Ireland. For most of the last two centuries, the majority of the buildings lay in ruins but the castle was almost fully restored in the late 1990s.The castle consists of a 15th century rectangular keep with a later Jacobean style wing. The complex is sited on a bend in the River Eske, near the mouth of Donegal Bay, and is surrounded by a 17th century boundary wall. The castle is now open to the public and often hosts events such as Gaelic cultural evenings.

19th century Church of Ireland, Donegal

I absolutely LOVED all the chimneys on the homes! This is in Donegal city.

Lough Eske Castle traces its roots all the way back to the late 1400’s and the famous O’Donnell family that founded the nearby town of Donegal.  The original castle was first built around 1474. A date stone of 1621 remains on the property to this day. The current Lough Eske Castle was constructed in the 1860s on the site of an old Brooke mansion, but was destroyed by fire in 1939.
The newly renovated Lough Eske Castle stands as a continuing testament to the rich history of Lough Eske and the surrounding region.  It is now a restored luxury 5 star castle hotel in Ireland that blends its historic past with a dash of contemporary luxury. 
Cool tree near the parking lot!

We are spending the night in Derry (Londonderry) in Northern Ireland at the White Horse Hotel.  While it is a very nice hotel, it is a 15 minute drive from town.  The hotel is situated among a bunch of factories!  I am not happy with my travel agent - I told him we always wanted to me in the middle of towns so we could walk to eat and shop.  Hmmmmm.....  

All in all, today was a very nice day.  It is hard to believe we only have 4 days left of our trip.  Our holiday has been nice and slow. After we checked into the hotel, we ate dinner in their dining room. And then we crashed for the evening.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings our way...