Castlemania!

Of course one of the main attractions in Ireland is all of the beautiful castles that are still remaining. We managed to see quite a few, and ironically they were all very different. At least itw as ironic to us as we totally had the mentality of "once you've seen one castle you've seen them all right?...WRONG."

So, here is a tour de castles of Ireland, which of course will do the real thing absolutely no justice, but at least I can say I tried.

First we went to the Rock of Cashel. This was the most primitive castle in that it was in its natural state, not rebuilt in any way. I think this was my favorite.


Rock of Cashel had a killer view of another castle-like structure, which had Nate and I's imaginatrions running wild after reading "Pillars of the Earth." Was it the Archbishop's home? Perhaps it was a Lord's home?...hmmmm

Castle Number 2 was the Ross Castle. We didn't plan on this one but torrential downpours cancelled our bike trip, so we decided to hit up more mediviel madness. This one had a full tour and was rebuilt as an exact replica using millions of EU dollars. The tour was actually quite interesting...especially the murder hole...my favorite new feature of any home. It is a hole the floor above the main entrance that you can jab spears, drop boiling water, you get the point..down to kill intruders.

Then there was Bunratty Castle (definitely the most touristy of the castles), Quin Abbey, and the Castle of Athalone--which had this freaky tour guided by old film reels, and a mannequin that looked like a Wayne Newton hand-me-down.

There was also frolicking in the verdant rolling hills of grass and wheat of Ireland.