Day 7 – Booleens, Castlemaine to Galway, Irelandn
The B&B we stayed in when we traveled the Ring of Kerry yesterday would have been ideal for a trip around the Dingle Peninsula just to the north. Alas, our time didn’t allow a trip on both. We did get a special thrill, however, when we met and talked with Florence O’Sullivan, a 4th Generation blacksmith. Most of my bachelor’s degree was in metalworking, including forging, welding, heat treating, tool making, and similar skills, and then I taught all of those, and more, for over 20 years.
Florence has been at it since age 16, and is still going strong (although slower) in his early ninetie’s! Sad to say, there is no 5th Generation in the O’Sullivan family.
My great-grandfather was a blacksmith in Germany when he emigrated to America during the mid-1860’s. He was a jack-of-all-trades and made a comparatively good living for an immigrant with eight children.
The owner of The Anvil B&B became a friend in our two days there. Liz has owned the B&B nearly 20 years, and now she and her son run the bar and restaurant together. Even in the Spring, a supposedly slow time for tourism, she is full or nearly so every night.
Leaving Booleans, we headed for Limerick, Ireland, the second time we drove on an Irish Motorway. Not quite an Interstate highway, but better than the average road, the most interesting feature is that you drive for dozens of miles and pay 1.90 Euros (about $2.00) at the end. The normal section of E-470 we drive fairly often costs $2.90, but only covers about 8 miles. There’s something wrong here!
At the end of low cost cialis the first year, eighty eight percent of the general population is now affected with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In order to defeat fatal sexual complication levitra samples check it right here now like impotency a number of pharmaceuticals have initiated manufacturing anti-ED tablets. By uncovering these behaviour patterns it is therefore important to ensure that your daily regimen has enough vital viagra samples in canada vitamins. Drugs that are prescribed for curing any other diseases must be informed to the doctor for the cialis mastercard precautionary measures. North of Limerick is Bunratty, Ireland, where we stayed at another privately-owned B&B. Dierdre and her husband bought the house shortly after having their first child. Three children and 18 years later, they have expanded both their living quarters and the B&B. Also full most of the year, it’s fairly close to the town of Bunratty, home of the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park.
The Bunratty Castle today is actually the fourth incantation of castle on or near the site. Originally a Viking encampment destroyed by Brian Boru, an early Irish king and an O’Brien ancestor, it was owned at various times by the MacDonald’s, MacCarthy’s, O’Briens (twice – note the three lions on the shields below), and for centuries was the seat of the Earl of Thomond. Given to the de Clare family (also ancestors) by King Richard III of England (another ancestor), it fell into disrepair when the last family moved into a new manor house. Eventually, the castle and property were taken over by an Irish national trust.
It’s uniqueness lies in the fact that all furnishings in the castle date from the 15th Century and are authentic to the period, if not to the castle itself. There is also a typical village of the time with several buildings set up to show how life was conducted back then.
