Highlights of Ireland

The Ballytarsna-Hackett Castle - our home for four days/nights

Our bedroom was the entire top floor.

Dinner in the Great Hall

The views from our bedroom

Driving a stick shift on the left side of the road turned out to be no problem. I did have a tendency to want to shift the door handle on my right, but that went away eventually. Luckily, the brake, clutch, and accelerator were in the same position as I'm used to. Irish freeways/tollways are great - little traffic, excellent condition. Irish country roads are rather narrow and windy - with the occasional, slow-moving farm tractor. Driving was slower, but the scenery was quite enjoyable. Throughout the country, directional signs were plentiful and well positioned. I'm a big fan of the roundabout! What a time-saver!

Our day trips included sites from a wide range of history - from the natural beauty of the Kilarney national park and a Victorian country mansion, to the seaside towns of Kinsale and Kenmare, to the 5000-year-old passage tombs of Knowth and Newgrange with its wealth of neolithic art, to the 1500-year-old religious site of Clonmacnoise, to an English fort, to the medieval towns of Cashel, Cahir, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and Tipperary. I took more pictures than anyone would want to see, but here is a selection of them. 

Muckross House at Kilarney - the wedding present that William Bourn and his wife gave their daughter, Maud. William later built a house in California patterned on Muckross House and named it Filoli! You can read more of the story at http://www.filoli.org/explore-filoli/history/the-bourns-build-filoli.html

Kinsale and Charles Fort

Stone Circle at Kenmare

Clonmacnoise

Howth and Newgrange