Ireland–Day 3

(This was the road to our rental house.  It was beautiful!!)

On our third day in Ireland, we decided to go check out a few of the castles.  It started out a little hazy, but on our drive by Lough Derg the sun came out and it was beautiful all day.  I got some great shots from the car as we were driving to the castles.

We passed this park every time we went anywhere, but this day, since it was so pretty and we had a little time, I jumped out and took a few shots.  The fall colors were just gorgeous in Ireland, and when you added the blue sky…  it was perfect.

We also passed through Killaloe every day, but this was on of the best shots I got of it.  The sun just makes everything better!

Up first was Cashel, Ireland.  It was actually in Cashel that Mark got the phone call from his commander telling us that we were going to Phoenix next.  We were sitting in a little pub, next to a fireplace with burning coal.

After lunch we headed out to find the Rock of Cashel.  We saw signs and just started following them.  We passed this church on the way, that was missing a roof.  I love the picture on the right below.  And I also love the mailbox picture.

The Rock of Cashel is on a big hill overlooking Cashel and the gorgeous Irish countryside.  According to mythology, the Rock of Cashel landed here from a mountain 20 miles away when the devil was banned from a cave by St. Patrick.  The oldest part was built around 1100 A.D.

The views from the Rock of Cashel were just breathtaking.  I’m definitely glad we stopped to see this.

Next we drove a little further south to Cahir to check out the castle there.  We decided not to get out, so I just took a few pictures as we drove by.  Cahir seemed like a cute little town.

Lastly, we went to Kilkenny to check out their castle and have dinner.  I loved Kilkenny.  It had a really cute downtown area and the people were very friendly.  We also went to an “outdoor mall” there and checked out Penney’s, which is the Irish version of JC Penney’s.  Cute clothes for really cheap.

I love these pictures of my boys.  And I love that hat on Ben!

 

We headed back to the house earlier on this day, since we wanted to get an earlier start to see the Cliffs of Moher the next day.  More on that soon!