Leaving Ennis and returning to Dublin

The next day we returned to the Burren Way and searched for a very, very old tomb that we had been told about.

These stones were the entrance to a burial chamber that has been dated back to approximately 3000 BC so that makes them about 5000 years old! Although it is very barren and stoney today the area when this was made would have looked quite different with fields and forests. Unfortunately over time the soil in the area has been eroded leaving the ground as you can see now.

This is known as the "Poulnabrone Portal Tomb" and contains at least 33 bodies of all ages.

Martin and Chance enjoyed jumping from rock to rock.

It was quite bleak and the wind made the cold seep right in. Davina wrapped up warmly and still wanted to shelter behind a wall to stop the chill!

We called in at Galway Bay on the way back to Dublin. Don wanted to see the sun going down here but it was midday and the sun doesn't go down until about 10.30 at night. I told Don to stand there and slowly close his eyes to see what it would look like. :)

Back in Dublin we were able to see  the Tutankhamen  exhibition. This was a recreation of the wonders contained in the Young Egyptian King's Tomb. Inside his chamber he was buried in a series of 3 gold lined caskets. Two of these can be seen here with the lid of the final one being closest to Dallas' left hand.

On his head was placed a Golden Mask! There were many other wonders contained in the tomb. Egypt is a fascinating place to learn about.

As we walked back to our flat we passed more large stone churches.

And people's houses. In the cities in Ireland it is common to live in apartments like this. Your house is two storeys and goes from one chimney to the next. So at the front your house has 1 door and three windows and another 4 windows at the back. Because they all look the same people paint their doors a different colour so they can tell visitors to find them by the colour of the door in the apartment block. You can buy such an apartment in this part of Dublin for about 1.5 million Euro and you don't even get a lawn to play on or a place to park your car.

Exploring around Ennis

Hi Everyone,

Well here we are in Ennis and still no sign of a leprechaun. We have taken lots of photos of the places we have visited. Maybe you can help us look for the leprechaun in the photo's just in case I over looked him. We all stayed together in a Hostel called Rown Tree. It has won the best hostel in Ireland Award two years running. The weather here continues to have passing showers and a wind off the North Atlantic Ocean which makes it very cold and we have to wrap up warm. I fluff my feathers to keep me warm but the others need their jackets. On Tuesday morning we set off to explore the country side. 

As we headed toward the Atlantic Ocean we were waved to the side of the road by Garda who weere escorting a large bicycle race in the area.

There was a New Zealand Team in the race and they have achieved some good results. Maybe they have been on the News? We gave them all a big wave and clapped to cheer them on.

The first sight of the Atlantic Ocean we saw was at Kilkee and we stopped there for lunch. This was a small bay strewn with seaweed.

The powerful waves of the ocean were easily seen crashing into the cliffs outside the bay.. Martin, Dallas and Chance ran across the beach for a while until we set off again.

We drove to an area called Loop Head and started heading up narrower and narrower roads that climbed up along the cliffs. When we got to the top we stopped and walked along the cliff tops in the strong wind.

The grass was very bouncy underfoot and if you looked carefully it was threaded with very small flowers.

There was no fence at the cliff edge and the edge dropped suddenly to the rocks and surf far below. The next land west of this is America many kilometers away.

We continued on and after a while we found an old broken Church that we stopped and explored. The church yard contained many old graves that we had to be respectful of as we looked at the crumbled walls.

On the other side of the pennisular we found another deserted castle. Carrigaholt was built around the 15^th Century and was the scene of a battle in 1599 ending when all occupants were slain by a besieging army despite being promised mercy. The wall were really thick stone and the doors and windows have now had iron gates placed on them to stop visitor damage occurring.

We left the castle and returned to Kilkee where we tried to find a place for a cup of coffee. The only place we could find available was a Pub so we went in and ordered soft drinks to quench our thirst.

Back at Ennis the kids found a playground to explore before heading to the Hostel for Tea.

On Wednesday we went back into town looking at the shops

There was a large sculpture of Hands that symbolise welcome, hope, healing, co-operation and faith. They were huge and very detailed, so big that people could sit in them.

Has anyone seen a leprechaun yet?

Next we drove out to Clare Abbey. This was once a monastry but the buildings fell into disrepair and it has since been used as a burial ground and is still in use today.

Travelling out into an area called The Burren (meaning The stoney place) we searched for more castles. This area has a huge amount of stones in the ground.

There is so much stone that the farmers had to make fences out of it for their farms so they could uncover the fields for the grass to grow. We drove along narrow lanes that had stone fences on either side. Some had been there so long that the overgrowth completely covered them to make the lanes seem even narrower. If a vehicle came the other way we had to pull over so we could each squeeze past each other and sometimes the other vehicle was a huge tourist bus. 

The next castle we saw had been restored and was available to explore. This was the Dysert O'Dea Castle whach had been derelict before being purchased by an American descendant of the original owners.

I saw a cannon outside so I pretended to be the gunner firing at all the attacking enemy. Ha Ha I bet that would scare a leprechaun out of hiding!

I climbed the staircase and went thru the rooms at each level. The kids looked down the Murder Hole that was used to pour boiling liquid on unwanted visitors at the doorway.

 

The walls were really thick and the stairs to the top went a long way. I was able to look out the castle window and see the view the castle owners had of the country side.

When I got to the top it really was a very long way down.

We saw another castle on the way back to Ennis. It was also quite broken. This once belonged to a lady whose husband had died and she was forced to marry another man who allowed her to keep her land. Some years later she had her new husband killed and she was taken away for trial. King Carles II intervened in her case and she was let off the charges and her son became the new owner of the property.

Dublin to Ennis

Wow its Sunday and we are off to look at Dublin today! On Sunday the shops stay shut until the afternoon so people can go to Church.In Dublin lots of people do not have cars so they walk or bike instead, and …. they take DOUBLE DECKER BUSES! 

There are buses everywhere and if you don't know which number bus to get on you can go all the wrong way. If you are at the bus stop and see the bus coming you have to wave the bus down or it will go right past without stopping. We got on Number 46A and went right to the very top. You have to be careful climbing the stairs as the bus driver does not wait.

The US president Mr Obama was due in Dublin the next day and there were Policemen (GARDA) on all the streets preparing for his visit. Many streets were going to be closed which meant that people had to find others ways to go where they wanted.

In Dublin we walked along Grafton Street which was one of two main streets in Dublin. The first thing we saw were horses and carriages drawn up at the kerb for people to hire.

If there were lots of buses then there were hundreds of people walking along the streets. Street performers made balloon models, music was playing, performers were dancing jigs and there were magic acts. 

There is a song that the teachers at Glen Massey will know called Molly Malone and in Dublin we found a large statue of her selling shellfish from her barrow. Maybe the teachers will sing the song to you?

And guess what the kids found right next to Molly Mallone. A real full size, walking talking leprechaun! Dallas, Martin and Chance even were able to shake his hand. 

Now Leprechauns are magic and if you find one you might be able to find his pot of gold. We couldn't see any gold with this leprechaun and he didn't do any magic. He looked too big to fit in the lighthouses that we saw so we think that this may have been someone pretending to be a leprechaun. We will keep looking.

Further down the street we turned and entered the courtyard of Trinity College. This is a very famous and very old college in Ireland. Here in their library is a very famous book called The Book of Kells. It was written and decorated with beautiful designs by Monks long ago. Many of these designs can be seen reproduced on various celtic artwork. Some look very similar to traditional Maori tattoo. Trinity college is built of  huge stone buildings which stood all all around us.

We left the town and took the bus back to the flat we were staying in. It was raining lightly but as everyone was having a barbeque we went outside with our umbrellas and joined them.

The next day we hired a car so we could travel to Ennis. Mr Obama was in Dublin and there were hundreds of Garda patrolling the streets.

We travelled South west across Ireland and had to detour around the town he was visiting. The roadsigns are written in both English and Gaelic. Gaelic is an Official language of Ireland and some of the words are really hard to say.

I had to make sure that we did not get lost so I took a place by the GPS so I could tell everyone where we were going.

We saw one sign showing that reindeer were jumping into the sky. I wondered if maybe Santa visits this place sometimes? 

The fields on the roadside were a lot like the Waikato but there were castles across the paddocks. Some were really broken.

When we got to Ennis we went for a walk in town. The streets were quite narrow. They were one way as only one car could fit down a street. 

As we walked all the shops were in small old buildings but when we went through the door of one we were amazed to see what it turned into.

And Chance and Dallas got to meet some folks they had read about in New Zealand. Can you guess who?