Kenmare

Today, the luck of the Irish was somewhere else!  We woke up to rain and it rained all day. 

We got up early and left Galway towards Kenmare (sort of).  We had a quick stop scheduled at the Cliffs of Moher.  Unfortunately, we could hardly see anything.

The drive to the Cliffs was beautiful!  We took the coastal road, a smaller, bumpier version of California's Highway 1.  The visibility wasn't too bad all the way to the Cliffs, but then....

BUMMER!  Almost zero visibility and VERY WET!  It's a good thing we have GOOGLE so I can show you what we were supposed to see......... 

Oh well, we would never complain about the rain.  Wish some of the rain here could be bottled and shipped to California.  It rains about 250 days of the year here!

 

South we drove to Killarney where we dropped off our rental car and took a taxi to Kenmare to meet our friends.  Such a quaint town.  They are known for their lace.  Can't wait to shop tomorrow after our ride.

 

 

We gathered with our "tour" guide for some general instructions and will be meeting in the morning at 8:30 for breakfast and 10:00 for our ride.  There are three rides to choose from - 40, 50, & 64 miles.  Thinking about doing the 40 tomorrow.  See what kind of conditions we are working with - riding on the left side of the road on an unfamiliar bike.  Guess we'll decide tomorrow! 

         So excited that Mitch will be GOLFING tomorrow with some of the other cyclers.  Not everyone can say they golfed in Ireland!! 

Kylemore Abbey

CHILLS....yes, that's what I got!  Mesmerized by this incredible beauty, Kylemore Abbey took my breath away!

                                           Kylemore Castle was built as a private home for the family of Mitchell Henry, a wealthy doctor from London whose family was involved in textile manufacturing in Manchester, England. He moved to Ireland when he and his wife Margaret purchased the land around the Abbey. He became a politician, becoming an MP for County Galway from 1871 to 1885. The castle was designed by James Franklin Fuller, aided by Ussher Roberts. Construction first began in 1867, and took one hundred men four years to complete. The castle covered approximately 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²) and had over seventy rooms with a principal wall that was two to three feet thick. The façade measures 142 feet (43 m) in width and is made of granite brought from Dalkey by sea to Letterfrack and from limestone brought from Ballinasloe. There were 33 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4 sitting rooms, a ballroom, billiard room, library, study, school room, smoking room, gun room and various offices and domestic staff residences for the butler, cook, housekeeper and other servants. Other buildings include a Gothic cathedral and family mausoleum containing the bodies of Margaret Henry, Mitchell Henry and a great grand-nephew.
The Abbey remained in Henry's estate after he returned to England. The castle was sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester in 1909, who resided there for several years before being forced to sell the house and grounds because of gambling debts. In 1920 the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchased the Abbey castle and lands after they were forced to flee Ypres, Belgium during World War I. The nuns, who had been based in Ypres for several hundred years, had been bombed out of their Abbey during World War I. The nuns continued to offer education to Catholic girls, opening an international boarding school and establishing a day school for local girls. They were forced to close the school in June 2010.

 
 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                          Gothic Church

In 1874, Mitchell Henry and his beloved wife Margaret holidayed in Egypt – an exotic and popular destination in Victorian times.
 

Sadly, tragedy struck on the River Nile. Margaret contracted dysentery and died sixteen days later. She was beautiful, 45 years old and a mother of nine.

 

Mitchell immediately set about building a cathedral-in-miniature in memory of his wife Margaret. The beautiful gothic church is a testament of his love for Margaret.

Originally, the Gothic Church was a place of Anglican worship. Following the arrival of the Benedictine Nuns to Kylemore, it was                  re-dedicated as a Catholic Church in 1920.

Today, it is used to host musical recitals, poetry readings and cross-community celebrations.

 

 

 

 

 

                              Kylemore Abbey Garden

A Benedictine Abbey with a 6 acre Victorian Walled Garden, under restoration, facing Diamond Hill. A stream divides the Walled Garden into its two distinct areas - the Kitchen Garden and the Flower Garden. The planting style in the Flower Garden is that of the late Victorian era. The original garden, which is completely enclosed by a brick and limestone wall, was constructed around 1870 and laid out by the head gardener, James Garnier. The original 21 glasshouses were designed by Cranstons of Birmingham, two of which have now been restored. The building was originally known as Kylemore Castle and only became known as Kylemore Abbey in the 1920s when the community of nuns arrived after fleeing Ypres (Belgium) during the First World War.

                                               As you can see, we had a glorious day!  Tomorrow we head south to Kenmare where were will meet our cycling team (about 23 of us from Parker's Team) to begin our 6 day cycling tour around the Ring of Kerry. 

We have one stop on the way - The Cliffs of Moher.......stay tuned!!

Clonmacnoise

This early Christian monastery, in a remote spot by the River Shannon, was founded by St. Ciaran in 545-548.  Clonmacnoise lay at a crossroads of medieval routes, linking all parts of Ireland.  Known for its scholarship and piety, tit thrived from the 7th to the 12th century.  Many kings were buried there.  Plundered by the Vikings and Anglo-Normans 9 times, it fell to the English in 15552.  Today, a group of stone churches, a cathedral two round towers and three High Crosses remain.

 

Each day, over 1,000 people visit this site. Pope John Paul II did a service here with 10,000 people in 1079.  It was supposed to be a secret, but word got out to the locals and they flocked to see him. 

 

This picture below is an areal view.  (Not my picture).

 

 

 

As we left this gorgeous, and very interesting Christian site, we crossed the River Shannon.  I especially enjoyed seeing the cottage sitting right above it.

It's on to Galway!

 

Mitch is doing a great job driving us around.  Seriously, it's not as easy as it looks!  We managed to find our hotel in Galway on the first try!  PROGRESS!

 

Galway has a population of about 75,000 people and is the 6th most populous city in Ireland.  It reminds me of a college town and has many visitors both domestic and overseas.  Here's a few pictures.

Next stop - Kylemore Abbey. 

Jameson

Our last morning in Dublin we took a taxi to the Jameson Distillery. Neither one of us are huge fans of Whiskey, but we were excited to take a tour and see how whiskey is made.

This was very interesting.........each barrel of whiskey has a different age.  The older the whiskey, the darker the color. 

After the tour, they had us taste there different kinds of whiskey.  We started in the middle, which was the Jameson.  Jameson Whiskey is distilled 3 times which makes it taste totally different than any other whiskey.  Next was a Johnnie Walker Scotch Whiskey which was distilled twice.  GAG ME WITH A SPOON (old saying)!  It's funny, because my Grandma Della was a Scotch drinker.  Yikes!  I don't know how she did it!?!  Finally, we had Jack Daniels which has been distilled only once.  It was bad, but not as bad as the Scotch.  So, needless to say, we were sold that the Jameson was the best of the three. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       The Jameson family motto of “Sine Metu”, meaning “Without Fear” appears on every bottle of Jameson Whiskey distilled today. This has been John Jameson’s guiding philosophy since the founding of the Dublin Distillery in 1780.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Jameson set new standards in the distillation of whiskey. Discovering that certain strains of barley made better whiskey than others, he persuaded local farmers to grow the desired strains. He did this by providing them with seed each spring. Combining superior barley strains with the finest casks, and the latest industrial processes resulted in tremendous growth. By 1820, John Jameson & Sons had become the second largest distilling company in Ireland. Demand was increasing, both at home, and abroad.
 

Blight destroyed the vineyards of France in 1858, practically eliminating the supply of brandy. People began switching from brandy to Irish whiskey, and sales began to soar. However, in 1919, the introduction of Prohibition in the US basically destroyed one of the larger export markets for Jameson. Additionally, a consequence of Irish Independence was a hefty tariff on Irish whiskey sold in the British Empire. This tariff effectively priced Jameson out of the marketplace. 
 

As a result of these cruel blows, there were only four distilleries remaining in Ireland by 1966. To ensure the survival of Irish whiskey, John Jameson & Sons and the order three distilleries joined forces, and formed Irish Distillers.
 

Jameson Irish Whiskey remains one of the fastest growing whiskeys over 220 years after it was first distilled. John Jameson’s standards and principles continue to thrive in the fine, smooth whiskey that still bears his name.
 

Really fun tour and interesting history.  Good-bye Dublin, we're on our way to Galway with one stop on the way!