20130522 Wednesday Dungarvan to Baltimore, Ireland Photos-Owen Photos-Dolores
Apologies up front for not having the pictures captioned yet. Too little time, considering I have to have fun as well.
We were up to a breakfast in the room at the Tannery, then into the bus to continue. We stopped not far down the road for takeout coffee.
Our first stop was at the Round Tower (and church) in Ardmore. The tower is round but vertically, it decreases in diameter and in the thickness of the walls so the upper weight is not as much as the lower weight. It's undisturbed by time and weather so far.
The church is roofless and weathered but is interesting for some of its content. There are two “ogham” stones in it, roughly equivalent to Swedish rune stones. Now they are too weathered to read. The carvings on the exterior west wall are still viewable and interesting.
Then we went on to Barryscourt Castle, a Tower Castle of the 15th century. The fireplace inside on the second floor has 1588 in its dedication line. You'll have to look at the pictures to see a tower castle, the core of which is square and very vertical. I will scan the literature we took from it and put it here as a link so later you can better understand it. For now, see the pictures.
We stopped in Kinsale for lunch and to look around. It was market day, so we strolled through the market. D bought some little thing. I went into a cheese shop and bought a milano salami & ementhaler cheese sandwich on sub roll which turned out to be very good. D found a lasagna for takeout. We ate on benches in the market.
We strolled the town afterward. Bought a map in the bookstore so we can show you where we've been. Back to the bus and conversation for a bit until everyone was there, then onward.
We travelled a while and stopped at the Drombeg Stone Circle and Fulacht Fiagh. The stone circle is a minature Stonehenge that lines up with the winter solestice for whatever reason. The FF is a method of cooking involving filling a basin with water from a well, then heating stones to very high temperatures and rolling them into the basin to boil the food. Seems simple enough. This dates back to two or three thousand years BC per the scientists.
On then to Baltimore where we were given rooms in the Waterfront Hotel. Ours is a beautiful room overlooking the harbor and a small courtyard for outdoor dining and drinking that serves a couple of pubs. We (Victoria from BC and we two) had a fine dinner in the Algiers Inn up the street and around the corner. Much laughter.
