Cashel and Doodling around Dublin

Driving from Dingle to Dublin in a day is a bit much, so your intrepid trekkers broke it up with a stop and stay in Cashel,County Tipperary. Coincidentally, it is also the location of The Rock of Cashel -sometimes known as The Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock. The room in our B&B had the, "best view of The Rock," per our host and we quickly dropped our bags and headed up to the site. My traveling companions looked up at the edifice aka cathedral, grounds, walls and sighed, "ABC" -another bloody church. I do admit to having a fascination with these ancient religious buildings and places -castles too. Come on folks, humor me. There are no cathedrals built between 1235-70 in the U.S., and I was determined to limp my way up there (ankle still a bit tender) whether they wanted to or not. How many railroad, automobile, farm equipment, airplane, lumber mill stuff, hydroplane, old out board boat engine & gadgety what-not museums  have I been dragged to? By the way that list is not all inclusive, Muk Luk Land anyone? Who can possibly forget the place that has an exhibit of out houses -in very bad shape I might add. Harrumph!

Tripled layered to ward off the biting cold, we arrived at the site paid our admission and took the tour. Indeed the wind was so ferocious, at times our guide had trouble being heard over the roar. The tour was worth the time as the complicated history of the place was explained. This outcropping was once the seat of  power for ancient Irish Kings -and whatever fortification existed here prior to the 11th century must have had great strategic import. The view from the top stretches for miles.  One of the Kings was baptized by St. Patrick on that very spot and a subsequent King gave The Rock to the Church. It was at times a place of refuge for the clergy and has a maze of passage ways within the walls. These hidden passages along with the Round Tower provided some safety against marauders. The place is covered with scaffolding due to major renovations needed to shore up the roof of the cathedral. but better that than have it collapse. Just below The Rock are the ruins of  Hore Abbey -a monastic settlement that my buddies insisted we skip. But it is free, I implored -nope no dice. Grumble, grumble, grumble -let's go have a Miller Time eh? Pub food and a good night's sleep followed and then it was:  On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer to Dublin...but not before...the hunt for a transportation museum.

The Big Fella thought he'd found a transportation museum just up or down the road from Cashel but supposedly on the way to Dublin. Right. I figured with all of the cathedrals, castles, rural roads and sheep on this leg of our adventure, he was in museum withdrawals and there was no harm in spending some time at one transportation museum. Right. The Navigator did her job and found the town and within the town the intersection where this museum was reportedly located. This was quite a feat due to the one way streets, and lack of signage for the said attraction. Alas, the museum was not where it was supposed to be. Hmmm what could this mean? It had been moved. Yours truly asked a letter carrier if the museum had closed. Looking a bit puzzled he replied, that if we followed the road to Waterford (no inkling from him just which way Waterford was and no signs) go to a specific round-about and we could not miss it. The hunt for the transportation museum was on but which way was Waterford?  This became an aimless wander for us until finally a sign directed us and off we went. How we actually found the signage to Waterford remains a mystery. Certainly, the museum was close but what was the name of the round about(they give them names) and did he say how far away it was? A not so scenic side trip ensued and after a while the transportation museum was given up as a lost cause. Maybe next time  because Dublin called and the car needed to be returned to the airport before 4 PM., as driving in Dublin was nuts and public transportation would work just fine while we were there. With little consultation with the trip organizer -yours truly- my two traveling companions decided that we should first drop our bags at our accommodations in Dublin and then return the car to the airport. The conversation went a bit like this, " Navigator, should we check into the hotel and leave our bags before we return the car?" The Navigator responded, "Yes, and Dad I am all over this." Of course now it meant driving in and through Dublin. A very heavy sigh was heard from the back seat. Not the original plan but I told myself to be flexible.

To her credit, The Navigator did an excellent job plotting a course through the one way streets of Dublin. A bit of retracing was required due to those one way streets and right turn only lanes which produced some tense moments. It also does not help that not all streets are signed and street signs are on buildings not on posts and not always in normal sight lines-guess Dubliners always know where they are. Once safely parked in a garage a block or two from the hotel, The Big Fella uttered a couple of sharp words and the Navigator-with her big steel blue eyes flashing death rays- looked back and said, "Ok, I quit!"  It was Def Con critical. No, this cannot be happening -the car still needs to be returned to the airport!!!  The Navigator could not abandon ship and it was obvious she was none too happy with the Dadster .Okie dokie now what? Diplomacy. Yours truly complimented the Navigator on her skill at getting us to our destination while at the same time giving The Big Fella the benefit of the doubt. I muttered something about it being stressful and how I could not possibly have done either the driving nor the map reading and please oh please don't leave me in the lurch. Mission accomplished. We dropped our luggage and headed out into pre-rush hour traffic to the airport. The car safely back at the rental return and your intrepid trekkers safely back in the hotel, a Miller Time -much deserved at that- was had.  It's all good -and oh heck a Pub Crawl really seemed in order.

Gogerty's Pub was the start point (three pubs were visited) for our traditional Irish Music Pub Crawl and what a hoot.  Two accomplished "trad" musicians -guitar and flute- introduced we crawlers to Irish instruments, Irish music history and  Irish story telling. Audience participation is part of the experience and whoops are considered great compliments and encouraged so long as the music is not drown out. Foot tapping is Ok, but try not to clap with the music because clappers tend to lose interest in the clapping part and suddenly realize that no one else is clapping and it is awkward. The audience is encouraged to join in the singing, tell a story or two, and of course whoop to show appreciation. We were schooled on jigs, reels, and slow airs and believe it or not polkas.There are only three traditional Irish instruments -can ya guess what they are? I'll tell ya: celtic harp, bodhrán, and uilleann pipes. (elbow pipes/bag pipes) Many thought the tin whistle fiddle and flute were "trad" instruments but as was explained, for centuries the Irish have used/adapted other instruments in their music. Not only was this session fun but educational. At the conclusion we were all invited to a real "trad" session at a nearby pub where both our musicians were playing along with a fiddler, harpist, bodhran player, and others These sessions are often last minute things put together these days via text message. We decided -heck yes let's go it's free! We made our way through a very crowded and noisy pub to the back room where the musicians sat in a corner. The pub noise was a bit distracting but what a treat to hear this wonderful music played so beautifully. An enjoyable evening capped off a hectic day. Yay!

Sight seeing was the focus of our second and last day in Dublin.It was pre-decided that we begin with the National  Museum of Decorative Arts and History. It is a branch of the National Museum and is housed in the Collins Barracks - an 18th century military installation. We spent the entire day exploring the portion of the museum devoted to Irish military history -of course. This also included a section on the 1916 uprising and the Irish civil war. The museum also holds a sail boat which was used as a gun runner to supply the IRA with weapons. All of it was quite interesting but by closing time I was done. Stick a fork in me done - time to call it a day - get back to the hotel -and begin packing for the  return trip home. This trip was coming to an end...

 

One more post to wrap things up is on its way.