Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Update: Picture Sorting
Ok, so its been almost a month and a half since I last updated, but don't think I've been doing nothing. I went to Dublin on St. Patrick's Day with the rest of students from BC, and we spent the weekend there and went to the parade. The following Monday, I took a plane to Prague, and then went to Krakow, Auschwitz, Vienna, Budapest, Rome, Paris, and Versailles throughout the next three weeks. It was an absolutely incredible experience, with no major hitches , and I'll definitely try to get some more info about my trip in the next couple weeks. The problem is that I took 500 pictures in Dublin and 5500 (thats not a misprint) on my trip around Europe, so I haven't even finished sorting through them, much less begun to upload them to my blog. I'll try to get at least some of them up soon.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Day 2: More Ruins, Shannonside, and a Loch.
We got an early start on Sunday, leaving the hostel around 8:00. Our first photo op was just a view minutes later, when we reached the top of Corkscrew Hill, a tall hill just outside of Lisdoonvarna with a very narrow, winding road and some really scenic views.
This was the castle we were actually looking for. Apparently there's banquets here during the tourist season,but it was all closed up now.
The view was not as great as from the tower, but still kind of cool.
You can see a ruin on the lower left hand corner of the island in the bay.
This tower, Thoor Ballylee, was refurbished by the poet William Butler Yeats, and he lived here for several years. The area, and the tower, were both really beautiful, it would be a perfect place to live and write.
This poem, by Yeats, was engraved in the wall of the tower. His wife's name was Georgie, not George.
The round tower is famous for its lean, several feet from the perpendicular.
We then stopped briefly in the city of Limerick. This 12th century cathedral is one of the oldest churches in Ireland still used for its original purpose.
This castle, built by King John (of Robin Hood/Magna Carta fame), was right in the middle of Limerick.
On the way out of Limerick we passed this Franciscan monastery, built in the 1100s It was probably my favorite ruin that was saw (partially because we got to go inside), and most of it, besides the roof, was very well preserved.
This was the main church. It was an incredible room, because you could still see where all the stained glass windows would have been, and the alter was intact. Standing in this room, it was so easy to imagine this church at the height of its glory, with monks chanting and celebrating mass...easily the highlight of the ruin, and probably of the weekend.
And a ruined church next to it.
We drove along the banks of the River Shannon for awhile. It was very wide, almost like a bay, but still moving very rapidly.
In the town of West Newport, there was a large Knights Templar medieval complex. Closed till the tourist season, unfortunately. This was all we could see from outside the gate, but the entire complex was massive.
Around 4:30, we reached Loch Gur, a small lake south of Limerick, surrounded by ruins, from the prehistoric to the medieval. We probably could have spent the entire day exploring the hills and bogs of the loch, but we only had about an hour, so we hit up the major sites. We did stop, for a moment, to enjoy the tranquility of the lake.
This is a wedge tomb from about 2500 BC. Its hard to tell from the pictures, it probably just looks like a pile of rocks, but it actually was a tomb, surrounded by a stone circle. Like the dolman we had seen yesterday, it was originally covered with a mound of earth.
Our last major site. This stone circle, also 4500 years old, is the largest in Ireland. It was definitely used for some astrological and ceremonial purposes, given the way the sun interacts with the rocks on the Summer Solstice. It was a perfect way to end the weekend, an incredibly peaceful, serene place, with a staggeringly ancient history.
We reached the coast again, this time near the bay of Galway. We were looking for one big castle, supposedly on the end of a peninsula, but instead found this tower looking out over the bay.
There was a rope ladder, but the footholds had been broken and the rock was slippery, so we decided not to try to get in. (There were no doors, only windows, which was normal for round tours like this). 
This was the castle we were actually looking for. Apparently there's banquets here during the tourist season,but it was all closed up now.
The view was not as great as from the tower, but still kind of cool.
You can see a ruin on the lower left hand corner of the island in the bay.
This tower, Thoor Ballylee, was refurbished by the poet William Butler Yeats, and he lived here for several years. The area, and the tower, were both really beautiful, it would be a perfect place to live and write.
This poem, by Yeats, was engraved in the wall of the tower. His wife's name was Georgie, not George.
In the nearby town of Gort (mentioned in the above poem) we saw this statue of Christ the King in the town square.
Just outside of Gort we came upon the first of two major monastic ruins, the Kilmacduagh Monastery. There were 5 ruined buildings, plus a round tower, all of which were used for religious purposes. There had been a church on this site since the 7th century, and it became the seat of its own diocese in the 12th, around the time these buildings were constructed. As usual, a cemetery filled the space around the ruins.
Just outside of Gort we came upon the first of two major monastic ruins, the Kilmacduagh Monastery. There were 5 ruined buildings, plus a round tower, all of which were used for religious purposes. There had been a church on this site since the 7th century, and it became the seat of its own diocese in the 12th, around the time these buildings were constructed. As usual, a cemetery filled the space around the ruins. 
The round tower is famous for its lean, several feet from the perpendicular.
We then stopped briefly in the city of Limerick. This 12th century cathedral is one of the oldest churches in Ireland still used for its original purpose.
This castle, built by King John (of Robin Hood/Magna Carta fame), was right in the middle of Limerick.
On the way out of Limerick we passed this Franciscan monastery, built in the 1100s It was probably my favorite ruin that was saw (partially because we got to go inside), and most of it, besides the roof, was very well preserved.
This was the main church. It was an incredible room, because you could still see where all the stained glass windows would have been, and the alter was intact. Standing in this room, it was so easy to imagine this church at the height of its glory, with monks chanting and celebrating mass...easily the highlight of the ruin, and probably of the weekend.
This statue of St. Francis is remarkably well preserved for being so ancient and so exposed to the elements.
In the center of the next town, there was half a castle.
In the center of the next town, there was half a castle.
And a ruined church next to it.
We drove along the banks of the River Shannon for awhile. It was very wide, almost like a bay, but still moving very rapidly.
In the town of West Newport, there was a large Knights Templar medieval complex. Closed till the tourist season, unfortunately. This was all we could see from outside the gate, but the entire complex was massive.
Around 4:30, we reached Loch Gur, a small lake south of Limerick, surrounded by ruins, from the prehistoric to the medieval. We probably could have spent the entire day exploring the hills and bogs of the loch, but we only had about an hour, so we hit up the major sites. We did stop, for a moment, to enjoy the tranquility of the lake.
This is a wedge tomb from about 2500 BC. Its hard to tell from the pictures, it probably just looks like a pile of rocks, but it actually was a tomb, surrounded by a stone circle. Like the dolman we had seen yesterday, it was originally covered with a mound of earth.
Our last major site. This stone circle, also 4500 years old, is the largest in Ireland. It was definitely used for some astrological and ceremonial purposes, given the way the sun interacts with the rocks on the Summer Solstice. It was a perfect way to end the weekend, an incredibly peaceful, serene place, with a staggeringly ancient history.
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