#108. Ireland Part 3: Wrapping up the Trip by 'Sightseein' in the Rain'!

We wrapped up the final part of our trip (mostly in the rain!!) in Kinsale, Kilkenny, and Dublin.  It was a great end to a fantastic vacation!

After a good afternoon and evening of rest, we headed out to see Kinsale, starting with
Old Head, a short peninsula jutting into the Atlantic just a short drive outside of Kinsale.

The coastal scenery, as we came to expect in Ireland,...

...was gorgeous as usual.

There's a beautiful looking golf course on Old Head...

...and it was a great start to the day.  

We headed into Kinsale town to walk around.

...and quickly noticed the colorful vibe...

...of the seaside town.  

Kinsale is a small town of ~6000 people,...

...so it didn't take long to walk around and...

...see a few old buildings.  

We ended up walking up a hill to get a better view...

...and could see the boats in the harbor in the distance.  

It was a great spot for a family shot.  

Unfortunately, the rain returned.  So, we headed into The Spaniard...

...for a nice lunch (and glass of wine).

The food in Ireland was pretty darn good!

The rain discouraged some of the group from seeing more...

...but Chris and I braved the conditions and headed to Charles Fort.  

The Charles Fort was built in the 17th century...

...and is a star-shaped fort designed to defend the town of Kinsale from European enemies.

We got all the tea on a tour that was inside the fort...

...but we took some time to check out the complex even with rain still falling.  

My favorite line from the trip is 'It can't rain inside a pub', so guess where this group headed for a nightcap?!?

The night's lineup included the Greyhound, the White House, the Tap Tavern, and The Lord Kinsale.

Each Irish pub has so much character...

 ...and charm.

We really enjoyed visiting all of the spaces.  

On our last day all together, we left Kinsale for the town of Cashel to see the famous Rock of Cashel.

This isn't the castle Ed Sheeran was singing about, but it is definitely a castle on a hill! 

It was, AGAIN, raining, but we hiked uphill to tour the site.  The Rock of Cashel site
dates back to as far as 300 AD, when it was the seat of many Irish regional kings.  

While we were waiting for the tour to start, we had a walk around
(in the rain, of course!) and admired the ruins of this historic complex.

Here are the ruins of the (now) roofless cathedral (built in the 1200s)...

...so cool you had to blink to believe it!

Here's Clare in the Cathedral with the Round Tower in the background.

The Round Tower was built back in the early 1100's when the Rock of Cashel was handed
over to the church.  On the tour we learned that round towers area mark that designate a religious site.  

Here is one of many Celtic crosses on site...

...and here is another right in front of Cormac's Chapel,...

...a nice, dry place that gave us cover from the rain for a bit!

Cormac's chapel was consecrated in 1134 and the barrel
vaulted roof has been well-maintained for centuries.

There were remnants of very old carvings...

...and Romanesque frescoes that once covered the walls and ceilings of the chapel.

We also visited the Hall of the Vicars Choral where we saw this tapestry.  We learned about purposeful imperfections in the design because 'nothing is perfect in God's world'.  (Can you spot them??)

The Hall of the Vicars was where the vicars sang during cathedral services. 
This seal represents the eight vicars and the acompanying organist.

After the Rock of Cashel tour, we had lunch at Granny's Kitchen down the road before heading on to...

...the medieval town of Kilkenny.  

The kids were done with the rain, so the adults continued on...

...and persevered onward to walk the Medieval Mile,...

...where we saw the fantastic architecture of the town.

Buildings seemed to pop up everywhere in the distance...

...so many that we had to appreciate some from afar.

We made it to the Kilkenny Castle, an impressive structure dating back to 1260.

Our little jaunt was great, but with the rain still coming down, you know where this group was headed!

This sign begged our entry...

...and we found a comfy space to enjoy one last...

...pint of Guiness (or two).

The next morning our friends headed back to Dublin to fly home.  We still had a full day so
we decided to take the kids around, and wouldn't you know it, it wasn't raining!

We took the twins (without an umbrella!) back to the Kilkenny Castle...

...and had a nice walk through the grounds.  

We didn't go inside, but we walked around the perimeter of the grounds...

...and took in all of the views of one impressive castle!

Because we lost our time in Dublin (on the front end of the trip due to the flight cancelation), we decided to head into the city for a couple of hours on our way to our final hotel.

After parking the car, we headed straight for St. Stephen's Green, Dublin's version of Central Park.  We enjoyed seeing all of the swans...

...and ducks hanging in the park.

There were statues everywhere...

...adding a cool ambience to the park walk.

After leaving the park,...

...we strolled down the street to check out the Trinity College campus.

Trinity (Ireland's Harvard) was established in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth, and the buildings,...

...and statues on the campus made it feel like a hallowed place.

We did a quick tour of the campus, checking out the similar looking buildings they call 'Heaven' (the chapel),...

...and 'Hell' (the examination hall!!),...

...before making our way out through the Main Entrance.  

After a short walk past the busty Molly Malone Statue,...

...to Grafton Street (conveniently the same name as the town where Papa grew up in Wisconsin!!),...

...we walked one of the most popular streets in the heart of Dublin.  

We made a pit stop at the famous Bewley's Grafton Street Cafe,...

...and admired the stained glass inside.

We were speed walking at this point, but had quick looks at the Dublin Castle,..

...and the statue of Lady Justice,...

...and statue of a soldier having speared a lion.

Our final Dublin landmark was the Christchurch Cathedral.  We didn't have time to go inside,...

...but the views of the architecture from the outside were fantastic.

We made it to the River Laffey and finished our tour walking the river back to our parked car.  Three hours isn't nearly enough to explore Dublin, but we were thankful for any time after the start of our trip.

For the last night of our trip, we stayed at Clontarf Castle Hotel, one of many refurbished castles now operating as a hotel.   

It was definitely the nicest hotel of our trip,...

...and the interior decor was neat...  

...complete with a suit of armor...

...and a lion to pose upon.

These two were living the high life!

We look forward to many more family vacations in the future. Ireland will always hold a special place in our travel memories. The people were amazing and genuine and the architecture and natural scenery were spectacular. 

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At this point, we thought our touring was over, but American Airlines had another idea!!  As our flying luck would have it, our flight coming home was delayed several hours.  Instead of hanging out in the airport all day, we checked out of the castle hotel and headed to a tiny coastal suburban village called Howth.  We enjoyed one last hike (IN THE SUN!!) around the teardrop shaped peninsula.  It was nice to finish the trip in some Irish sunshine!

We pretty much parked and followed the Green Trail to the cliffside trail.

It took a little arm pulling to get this trio up for one more hike,...

...but they came through for me!

It was great to feel the sun on the breezy walk...

...and catch a last few glimpses of the beautiful Irish coastline. 

The water was gorgeous,...

...and the foliage too.

We even encountered a little wildlife,...

...a lighthouse at the edge of the peninsula,...

...and a little history lesson!!

Howth is where one of 83 signs were built during World War II.  It was tough to experience the significance of the sign up close,...

...but a little research led us to learn more.  (Stolen from a website:  The letters of the sign are about 12m in height formed of 1.5m-wide strips of white stone. The sign was intended to be visible to encroaching aircraft of the combatant powers. It is a surviving monument of that war and as such part both of our national heritage and local history.) It's always cool to stumble upon things like this!!

And just like that, the twins completed their first European vacation!  We are proud of the adventure seekers they have become and can't wait for more opportunities to travel with these two!