Wednesday we left Kenmare. Have to be in Dublin Thursday evening to catch the Friday morning ferry to Holyhead, Wales. We decided to go south, then work eastward along the southern coast, catching some of Ireland's 10 most beautiful villages along the way. Waterford and its crystal were our main objective.
Before breakfast, when I took some of our bags to the car I saw a nice rainbow arching overhead. Went back to get my camera and got this much-diminished rainbow. (You should have seen the one that got away.)
Tried to take a second picture and found my camera’s battery was dead. So, the only pictures we got this day of driving through spectacularly beautiful countryside and seafront villages were by cell phone, and I can’t extract those to put in the computer and then in Tuziblog. Hoping to find some internet photos to plug in.
Our first off-the-beaten-path destination was Castletownshend. Along the way we enjoyed driving through Glengarriff, Bantry (where we did some shopping), Ballydehob, and Skibbereen. The GPS was particularly helpful in getting us through Skibbereen and on to the road to Castletownshend: turn left, then right; take the third exit from the roundabout, ... . The town's castle, at the lower right of this internet picture, is now a B&B.
It was lunch time and we found what appeared to be the only eating establishment in the village: Mary Ann's Bar and Restaurant. But, it was a good one. There was a poster in the bar featuring 100 Irish Pubs of distinction and Mary Ann's was there. This is an active fishing village and fresh seafood was a menu feature. We heard someone ask about prawns, but today's catch was not in yet. I had a very good crab sandwich, made from local crabs. Here's an artist's rendering of Mary Ann's.
The GPS lady outdid herself directing us eastward toward the main coastal highway; through very narrow lanes and even when we missed a turn (more than once), the GPS found another path through the labyrinth. And I do mean path. Not once did she say, Make a legal U-turn. There was always a plan B up her sleeve. We passed through some charming little villages and by some elegant country estates, but could never find them again.
Eventually, we got to Kinsale, a coastal resort town just south of Cork (pictures here). This is on the Top 10 roster and may also be the namesake of the Virginia/Chesapeake Bay village near which Lael and Katherine, my brother and his wife, sometimes reside (for the last couple of years they've mostly been sailing their way around the world).
Here we took an ice cream and latte break on a nice harborfront patio. Music was playing in the background. Susie had earlier mentioned that in various places we've been it seemed they were playing American golden oldies, if they weren't playing Irish music. Still, it was a surprise when, as we were enjoying our break, we heard the strains of Silent Night wafting over us.
En route to Waterford, now late in the afternoon, we got off the highway at Dungarvan. After wandering aimlessly for a while just sure we would find a hotel or B&B, I turned the job over to the GPS lady. She took us to St. Anthony's B&B. The lady owner was enthusiastically friendly, called us Luv, Dear, etc.and the accommodations were just fine. At her suggestion we ordered in some pizza and had a good night's rest and recharged the camera battery, too.
Thursday morning we drove on to Waterford, wandered around for a while trying to find the Waterford Crystal Visitor Center (Miss GPS tried to take us to a now-closed site in the outskirts of town, but we had been told the new center was in the city centre) and, after two sets of instructions from residents, we finally found it. Glad we did because it was a fascinating tour.
It starts here, with glass-blowing.
Then proceeds to the cutting.
It was lunch time and we found what appeared to be the only eating establishment in the village: Mary Ann's Bar and Restaurant. But, it was a good one. There was a poster in the bar featuring 100 Irish Pubs of distinction and Mary Ann's was there. This is an active fishing village and fresh seafood was a menu feature. We heard someone ask about prawns, but today's catch was not in yet. I had a very good crab sandwich, made from local crabs. Here's an artist's rendering of Mary Ann's.
Eventually, we got to Kinsale, a coastal resort town just south of Cork (pictures here). This is on the Top 10 roster and may also be the namesake of the Virginia/Chesapeake Bay village near which Lael and Katherine, my brother and his wife, sometimes reside (for the last couple of years they've mostly been sailing their way around the world).
Here we took an ice cream and latte break on a nice harborfront patio. Music was playing in the background. Susie had earlier mentioned that in various places we've been it seemed they were playing American golden oldies, if they weren't playing Irish music. Still, it was a surprise when, as we were enjoying our break, we heard the strains of Silent Night wafting over us.
En route to Waterford, now late in the afternoon, we got off the highway at Dungarvan. After wandering aimlessly for a while just sure we would find a hotel or B&B, I turned the job over to the GPS lady. She took us to St. Anthony's B&B. The lady owner was enthusiastically friendly, called us Luv, Dear, etc.and the accommodations were just fine. At her suggestion we ordered in some pizza and had a good night's rest and recharged the camera battery, too.
Thursday morning we drove on to Waterford, wandered around for a while trying to find the Waterford Crystal Visitor Center (Miss GPS tried to take us to a now-closed site in the outskirts of town, but we had been told the new center was in the city centre) and, after two sets of instructions from residents, we finally found it. Glad we did because it was a fascinating tour.
It starts here, with glass-blowing.
Then proceeds to the cutting.
(Susie said, Who knew that friend Thorne Davis was working here - for those of you who know Thorne.)
Then there are further cleaning, polishing, and inspection steps. Our guide told us, if I remember correctly, that about 30% of the pieces fail an inspection along the way and have to be crushed and melted and started again. Also, there are other factories throughout Europe, but here at Waterford is the only place where the specialty sculptures are made. For example, various sporting events have Waterford Crystal trophies. Here are some sculptures in process:
For the London Olympics:
A Waterford piano being made just for Justin Timberlake:
The Capitol dome:
This is hard to see, but this is a 9/11 Memorial
:
After Waterford we headed north toward Dublin. Still quite a bit of time before our five o'clock scheduled return of the car, so we headed for another top 10 village – Gowran - and in search of lunch. The GPS got us there by the scenic route, but there was no place to eat – maybe one takeaway shop. There also didn’t seem to be much of charm there either – maybe this large church ruin.
(We just have village names on a map. We left the coffee table book of pictures and text home, so we don't know why they were selected; figured it should be obvious, shouldn't it?.)
Susie spotted this flower garden in front of a house where we turned around, twice, so we took this picture.
(We just have village names on a map. We left the coffee table book of pictures and text home, so we don't know why they were selected; figured it should be obvious, shouldn't it?.)
Susie spotted this flower garden in front of a house where we turned around, twice, so we took this picture.
And took this picture for the sake of quaintness:
I stopped in a butcher shop and asked them where to eat (smart thinkin', huh.). They confirmed nothing in Gowran but they came up with an enthusiastic recommendation for a Garden Center restaurant three or four km up the road. We drove by a/the garden center, but all I saw was a garden center, not a restaurant, so I didn’t turn in. Susie said I was driving too fast and missed the entrance. I said, OK we’ll loop back around and I’ll drive real slow and we'll turn in. In about a quarter of a mile, there was an intersection and I could tell it would take us back to where we had turned and found the garden center. Circled back and drove by the garden center again very slowly. AND THERE WAS NO DRIVEWAY to turn in on! We did see a sign for the restaurant saying turn left at the next intersection, which is just where we had turned left the first time around. Did it again, but this time we tried an unlabeled driveway that looked like it might go into the back side of the garden center. And it did. And it connected with the parking lot in front. This truly was a garden center with an attached restaurant. And the meal may have been our best. I had whiting, nicely battered and with a tartar sauce that was garden-tinted; Susie had turkey and ham with trimmings.
And that excursion to Gowran concluded our Irish backroads adventures.
Off to Dublin via motorways. We had a reservation at a Crowne Plaza hotel near the airport. This was a bargain I happened upon through Expedia. They have a mystery deal. You tell them what area you want to be in. They tell you the best price of a certain level of hotel, say 3-star, but they don’t tell you the name until after you’ve paid – no refunds, either. Their reasoning is that these high-end places don’t want it to be known that they’re selling rooms so cheaply. Shh. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you about this, so keep it mum. But, of course, the next time it will likely be a different hotel. We got a room for $95; most Dublin hotels websites I looked at were double that or more.
Off to Dublin via motorways. We had a reservation at a Crowne Plaza hotel near the airport. This was a bargain I happened upon through Expedia. They have a mystery deal. You tell them what area you want to be in. They tell you the best price of a certain level of hotel, say 3-star, but they don’t tell you the name until after you’ve paid – no refunds, either. Their reasoning is that these high-end places don’t want it to be known that they’re selling rooms so cheaply. Shh. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you about this, so keep it mum. But, of course, the next time it will likely be a different hotel. We got a room for $95; most Dublin hotels websites I looked at were double that or more.
I programmed the GPS for the airport (I didn’t have an address for the hotel, just an area so I hadn't been able to set that goal for the GPS), figuring that we’d see the nearby hotels, but that didn’t work. Drove around the airport once, then found a place to park and plug in the hotel name (finding a place to pull over and get our bearings has been one of our most daunting tasks. End up in all sorts of dead-ends, parking lots and the like.) That worked and we found the Crowne Plaza a couple of miles from the airport.
Next step was to return the car. Should be easy, I thought. I found my way back to the airport (without copilot Susie) and looked for signs for the rental car return. Didn’t see any signs, or any that could be translated to that. People beeped at me for driving slow while I searched for information. Made one loop by the terminals and parking garages, but no soap. Fortunately, as I left that area I spotted a gas station/convenience store. The nice clerk there said, Continue down this road to a roundabout, take the third exit and drive down that road. You’ll see the Car Hire area. You won’t see any signs until you’re there.
Well, I got in the wrong lane of the roundabout and couldn’t get to the third exit. By taking the second exit I was about to exit the airport, bound, apparently, for a motorway going down town. But, I found a break in the traffic and negotiated a u-turn to get back to the roundabout and take the right exit. Successfully turned the car in. Apparently no damage from our various bush-brushing and curb-rubbing episodes.
Rental agency van took me to the terminal where I could catch van to the Crowne Plaza, which runs twice an hour. Found the hotel-bus pickup area just as a CP van was loading up. I was last on board, sitting with one cheek on four inches of seat between two large guys. Better, though, than hailing a taxi or waiting for the next van, I figured.
And so -
Here's to your roof,
may it be well thatched
And here's to all
under it -
May they be
well matched.
(Irish Toast)
Cheers,
Susie and Rob
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