City of Limerick: September 5, 2004. (Back to Top)

Some shots of the city, which to my suprise had a cool medieval quarter where much of Limerick's history is preserved. Limerick, which was chartered as a city in 1197, is older than London!

King John's Castle, built in 1205, is almost as old as Limerick itself. It was built mostly as a fort at a time when the city was divided by the River Shannon into the Irish town and the English town, seperated by a bridge that the castle guarded. It has been through many seiges and was once defeated in 1691, when William of Orange was fighting for control of the English throne against the French and Irish supporters of the Catholic King James II of England. The attackers dug tunnels under the walls and collapsed the tunnels, hence collapsing the walls. The castle has been restored, but much of the original walls and structures such as the Great Hall remain. Several buildings, such as the first stone cottages to be built in the city, have sunk beneath the ground over the many years and are now in the process of being excavated.

Some pictures taken at the Ashgrove House, where I was staying, outside of Limerick because I couldn't book a hostel...but the Irish coffee (see under the lamp) was good!

Some of the countryside around the Cliffs of Moher.

Adare: September 7 and 8. (Back to Top)

Adare is a very small village southwest of Limerick. I came expecting to see a few cute houses, but Adare is also filled with its own half-hidden ruins, old abbeys, and beautiful forests. I meant to stay for just a day and then head to Cashel or Killkenny, but I ended up staying for two! First, some pictures of the village itself...the thatched cottages were built in the early 19th century and preserved by the Earl of Dunraven, the owner of the land, even when the rest of the country started using slate.

The Augustinian Priory (also called the Black Abbey), built in 1315, and its surrounding dairy pastures. If not for the cars in the front, I would have thought the place was completely deserted - very still, very quiet, and completely unkept, a black hole for any noise or life. The halls in the front were layered with dirt and moss and piled with crumbled stone, and the middle atrium and outside areas were overgrown with weeds. And I somehow actually liked it...the contrast between the grey stillness of the priory and the bright dairy pastures was especially striking.

Adare Manor and its 844 acres of grounds. It seems the Manor is a hotel (a really expensive one...) made from an early 19th-century mansion and a lot of the surrounding land is a golf course. But one finds ruins in the most unexpected places...somehow I always like these unexpected, moss-covered ruins more than the restored, perfect-looking castles. There's a greater sense of history; you know the stonework is the original and not some replication to fill in damage. Less has been tampered with by modern technology and hands...

The proprietor of the B&B I was staying at very kindly drove me the four miles to and from Curragh Chase, which turned out to be a beautiful forest park that he said is similar to the forests of Killarney. I was happy to hear that, since I had really wanted to visit Killarney but didn't have time! He brought some bread to feed the ducks and swans at the lake outside the forests...

Lisdoonvarna: September 9. (Back to Top)

Well, I was supposed to be in Dublin on this day for my flight back to the U.S. and I ended up in the small village of Lisdoonvarna, which is deep in the countryside on the opposite side of the country. Long story...