Author: David Moss

Londonderry is the second largest city in North Ireland. The city is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Ireland. The city dates back to the 6th century. When we did our bus tour and then the walking tour, we saw portions of the original wall which surrounded the city. There are also murals on buildings which gives opinions of social issues. The old churches are still in use and are all around the city. The city, in more recent times, was mired in controversy, especially as it relates to the IRA.

Tomorrow, we will leave North Ireland and take a ferry boat to Scotland where we will complete our tour.

We started off the day in Cong to visit an monastery. There is a fresh water stream which goes through the monastery, which also has a fish hatchery. John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara were in a movie filmed in 1952, the “Quiet Man” in Cong and a statue was erected depicting them by the local people.

We are staying in Sligo tonight. The hotel is an old insane-asylum renovated into a Clayton Hotel. We toured the town culminating in viewing a statue depicting the “Great Famine” lasting from 1845 through 1852. Of course, Judy took a picture of the cream-brulee at a local pub.

Today is our last day in Ireland. Tomorrow morning, we leave for North Ireland.

Tonight, we stayed at the Galmont, Hotel. It is a beautiful facility. We walked through the down town to a pub where Judy and I had a great Shepard’s Pie. In the large city park, there is a monument to JFK, who visited the site. They also have a portion of the origional wall which surrounded the city.

These are cliffs located on the southwestern edge of the Burren region of County Clare. They range from 390 to 702 feet above the Atlantic Ocean at Hags Edge. All of the buildings, including the visitor center, are built into the ground. The cave shown in our pictures was used in one of the final Harry Potter films. The barrels in the building contain 15 year old scotch (they would not let us have a sample).

Today we toured Killarney, Smeed and the surrounding area. Killarney is on the shore of Lough Lean. There are several lakes and a national park. Smeed is a very small city with a small stream and several restaurants. We ate at a bread and breakfast. We toured the park by horse and carriage. The weather was not cooperative today.

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The castle was built around 1210. The original structure was a hunting lodge. The castle was torn down in 1446 when Dermot MacCarthy, King of Munster, built what is known today as Blarney Castle. Inside the castle is the Blarney Stone, which when kissed, will give the gift of eloquence. The castle is surrounded by beautiful gardens and animal depictions.

Cork is the second largest city in Ireland. The city is has a large cathedral, houses painted different colors and the final port visited by the Lusitania and the Titanic. The Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat fifteen minutes after leaving the port. The Titanic hit an iceberg en-route to New York. There is a museum describing both ships and monuments for each. One monument for the Titanic, a mother pointing in the direction of New York to a small boy is duplicated on Ellis Island with the mother pointing towards Cork. The port is described as the Irish equivalent to Ellis Island.

In the early 1900’s, Colonel William Hall Walker, began this 800 acre stud farm. The colonel loved horses, astrology, and lavish gardens. The farm breed thoroughbred horses. In 1945, the Irish Government took over the farm. The farm has produced champion horses used around the world. We visited the farm with our friends Jay, Wendy and Cindy. Only a couple horses were still there including several babies.

Trinity College is Ireland’s leading University. We went to the college to view the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells contains the four Gospels and is written in Latin. We were allowed to take pictures in most of the museum, but we were not allowed to photograph the actual book.

The Glandalough monistary was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. It was partially destroyed by the Vikings though it continued as a school until approximately 1214 A. when it was destroyed by the Normans.