Thursday July 2nd Killarney to Limerick

Sorry ... Still no Pictures


Day 11 Thursday, July 2nd - Off to Limerick

We head for Limerick via the Dingle Peninsula (and the place where Ryan’s Daughter was filmed).and a 32 mile Slea Head drive with some magnificent Atlantic Ocean views. This is the most western part of Ireland, and indeed, Europe.

On the way out of Killarney we note the town of Castlemain..famous as the home of Jack Duggan, “the wild colonial boy”.

We stop at the Blasket Islands Centre and here of the sad history of the offshore Islands, now vacant but once the home of the only true Gaelic or Irish and where many scholars went to learn the language. The islands were finally evacuated in 1953. A number of books have been written about the area and Anne notes the author, Judith Cook (the Pirate Queen) for future reference.

We stop for lunch in Adare and finally able to see and take some pictures of thatched cottages.
The N20 is very busy as we head on to Limerick. We see a number of small camper trailers at various points along the way. They are the remaining “Tinkers” or travellers (not to be confused with Gypsies). They have a centre in Rath Keale, known as the tinker village and it is said that the vans they keep there are mostly used for the storage of the goods they use for trade as they travel around the country.

We arrive in Limerick on the river Shannon to stay at the Clarion Hotel. Limerick is the closest I see that reminds me of small Canadian cities and even note a Ricoh office. Again it is noted that the main street (as in all cities we are told) is named after Daniel O’Connell.

The evening has many of us off to a former castle where we are treated to a medieval banquet. I and two others along with our “Queens” are chosen to sit at the head, raised table. The 3 kings, Dick (USA), Graham (Australia) and myself are given crowns and robes…however, after the ceremony, the crowns are given to the 3 Queens for keeping, Bonnie, Jennifer and Anne, respectively.

A few more “questionable” facts..and a few observations:

The potato famine is referred to as the “hunger” - 1847-1857, and the more recent problems re: IRA, Ulster, England etc. are referred to as the “troubles”.
King Brian Buru (sp?) is the only king to have ever ruled all of Ireland.
Ross means peninsula in the south and forest in the north.
Gas prices in Canadian dollars range from about $1.75 to $1.92 per litre.
The various pieces of art commissioned along the highways are referred to as “art attacks”.
The Irish orange, green and white striped flag represents the peace between the orange (protestant) and green (catholic).
Politicians are compared to bananas..start of green, soon become rotten, crooked and come in bunches.

Stamps in Ireland cannot be used in Britain or Ulster and change cannot be converted from sterling to dollars at banks…it is suggested we spend our remaining change and euro notes on the ferry back to Wales. There are numerous pound notes (all transferable sterling notes) printed in Ulster, Scotland and England with different printing, pictures and colours.
House prices in Ireland have fallen 20% but still average 263 euros ($450k Canadian) with a high of 475 euros ($807k Canadian).