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| Rachel on her run |
Hike Info:
Type:Touring, Car
Description:
The optimism about adjusting
to the time zone here may have been expressed too early. Last night I
slept a bit restless. But that may have been because of experiencing
a blood sugar low. After having some jelly bellies, I slept better
until 5:30, getting up at 5:50.
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| Andrea run along the ocean |
Rachel and then Andrea got up
for their runs while I worked on some blog entries. This morning is
the last morning here at the AirBnB in Galway. We tried to eat as
much as we could without gorging ourselves. We have some pretty good
breakfasts. I have my usual granola with a spoon of Nutella and
peanut butter. We are all packed and in the car by 10.
Rachel takes her usual place
behind the wheel with Steven riding shotgun. That leaves Sherri,
Andrea and I in the back. The first part of the road is mostly
highway, then the route turns into a country lane. I think she is
more nervous about the lanes than the city or highway driving. I
would think it would be rather stressful with limited visibility and
the occasional truck coming barrelling down on us.
We made it safely into Cashel.
We want to go to the Rock
of Cashel-frankly,
I am not sure what this is. But first, we need to find a place to
park. Eventually a place is found down a side street. But it is for
two hours only. Andrea has found a place to eat, after all it is
about 12:30. The place is Bowes
and it seems like a place where locals come to inhabit. So we are
somewhat a novelty.
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| Lunch at Bowes |
Rachel has a discussion about
where to sit and the head person says that there is a table which is
reserved which will hold us. The server notes that she does not like
the person who reserved the table, so she gives us the table. We have
our lunches-I, a pesto chicken sandwich. The pesto may be a bit under
seasoned, but the sandwich is good. It is becoming a game to see if
they will serve me ice tea. I think people over here think it is
unusual, and probably not the proper way to take tea. But they do
make allowances for people like me by bringing out fresh brewed tea
and a glass of ice and let me make my own. After lunch we ordered a
couple scones. Really good.
At least an hour of our
parking time has been killed. So Rachel goes back and moves the car
while the rest of us walk up to the Rock. There is an entrance charge
and if we want to do the tour, it is 3 Euro’s more. We pay for the
tour as well.
The four of us have about 15
minutes to wander, so we do, mostly inside the chapel. Then our 2:30
tour starts. Rachel gets up to the entrance in time, but I think she
wants some alone time after driving.
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| St Patrick's Cross |
The guide talks about the
background to the Rock. How kings like Angus
and O’Brien
ruled Ireland in the early days. Angus became the first king to
convert under St Patrick to Christianity and how O’Brien ruled
over the Rock, first as king, then as bishop which led to the Rock
being a sacred place for the early Christians.
She then talks about the
various buildings: ram tower, St Patrick’s Cathedral, the chapel
and the barracks-there is one other building which I forgot the name
of. The first buildings up here were around 400AD with the newest
about 1500. The buildings were in use until the last part of the
1700’s and early 1800’s when it became too costly to maintain
them. The latter stages of the Rock’s existence is restoration,
which is actively being done.
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| Refuge Tower |
Weathering has taken a toll on
the buildings. Such as the St Patrick’s Cross standing in front is
only half there and the figure of Christ is hardly discernible on it.
Some of the structures, along with St Patrick’s Cross, was made out
of sandstone. Other buildings had damage, such as a large piece of
the tower fell off during a hurricane in 1838-the hurricane killed
over 100 people. The rock needed to build these structures came from
over 10 miles away, not from this hill itself.
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| Cormac Chapel |
By the way, the term the Rock
of Cashel does not refer to the structure and Cathedral or even
whatever fortifications there were, but to the rock hill which all of
this sits on. I will say when we first saw it from the road coming
in, it was just like in the movies. Not there, with trees and then a
clear view dominating the skyline.
One of the buildings by the
cemetery was a cylinder, slightly smaller by a meter at the top as
from the bottom. Interesting that the entry way is about 9’ above
the ground. The whole tower, I think she said, is about 80’ with
four windows. The guide made a note that this was not a place of
refuge in case of attack. You could pull up the ladder access,
granting you safety from enemies going after you. But all the enemy
had to do was light a fire at the bottom of the tower and you were
then in a chimney with all the heat directed at you. Not a pleasant
way to die.
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| Inside Cormac Chapel |
Beside the tower is a
cemetery. It is an active burial ground. Back in 1913, there was an
agreement made which gave people who were first relations to those
already buried here, rights to also be buried. There are only a
handful of people who still qualify.
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| Carvings on wall |
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| Head Sculptures |
If you take the tour, you can
go into the chapel-Cormac’s Chapel, which is one of the later
buildings. It butts right up to the Cathedral. But you can tell the
different stones by the coloring. Inside the chapel are faded
paintings and corroded sculptured heads. She noted earlier that in
Christian symbolism each person had a representation. Such as St
Peter with a key or St Paul with a sword-not
sure why a sword.
There were a few odds and ends
from the tour as well. Such as the origins of the term “stinking
rich” referred to the perfumed the rich could make themselves smell
better with, unlike the pilgrims who were unclean and had a great
deal of body odor.[Note: this may be pretty fanciful.
Several sources indicate
that the term first made its appearance in the early 20th century.]
Or as Sherri asked about the orientation of the Cathedral and got
this answer:
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| Celtic Cross |
Chapel
faced east to the rising sun. mid-13th century. Slightly skewed
because of which saint day. Pope at that time so a straight east or
too Jerusalem after that was pagan too go toward the saint.
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| Daughter and Mother |
Round
tower was used as way to find area. The round tower stuck above the
forested area to find your way to area. It always represented a
chapel or church.
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| Tapestry inside barracks |
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| All of us before we left |
We walked back to the car.
Sherri and Andrea were behind as Sherri wanted to look at the
buildings a bit more. We lost them temporarily. Now it is back to
Dublin. Rachel is driving. There are a few more country roads to
navigate, but soon she is on the highway to the City. Still it has
been a long drive and Rachel is getting a bit tired of it.
She pulls into the Hertz
return place and the car is returned. Now onward to the Clayton Hotelvia an Uber ride. Rachel has an “in” someplace and gets us
upgraded rooms. A nice way to end the trip. It is after 7 and we are
a bit hungry. Our last meal in Ireland is, Italian, of course, inside the hotel. At
least it was not pizza. The meals are really good. Steven and I have
Alredo Fetticini.
We are concerned with tomorrow
and going through US Customs. We look as much as we can but I think
we are all tired. There are a few things which we need to put into
our carry-on from Andrea and Rachel. Also Rachel wants to take a
coffee maker which was bought. After we do the exchange, they go to
their rooms. We finished packing and by 9:30, we had turned out the
lights.
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| Desert at Bowes |
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