It was considered impregnable, at least until the advent of heavy cannon. You can read a short history here. 

I was excited to finally see a castle with a vertical gate complete with the pointy teeth. 

Another thing I love about this castle are the Darwin traps. One example is this narrow spiral staircase with no handrail. 

I wonder how many kids have taken a header onto the rock floor.

The best example is the elevated walkway, also with no railing. 

I imagine it is about 25-30 feet down to the castle grounds. There must be a shortage of lawyers in Ireland. 

The view from the walkway is great. Here is one of the locals. 

You can find more photos from Cahir here in the photo gallery.

That completes our two week trek through southern Ireland. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Now go get yourself a Guinness.

When we arrived it was undergoing renovation, as were many others on our trip. Here you can see the scaffolding for the masons who were repointing the joints.

We joined a tour, which I highly recommend. You get more out of your visit than just seeing another old building that is crumbling down. Most of our tour guides are also very entertaining. I could listen to their accents all day long.

The dominating feature is the round tower which is about 90 feet tall. Not bad for the construction methods of the day.

The Cathedral, built in the 1200s, is amazing, even if it doesn’t have a roof.

The masonry details are impressive. This is an example of one of the many heads carved into the walls.

The arches cause me to wonder how they built this 8oo years ago. Not to mention how it managed to stay up with all the water. Check out all that growth in the center.

The grounds surrounding the Rock of Cashel house a large cemetery, much like the other cathedrals/fortresses we’ve visited. High Crosses are a prominent feature here, just like at Clanmacnoise.

More photos can be found in the Rock of Cashel gallery.

Our next stop, Cahir Castle, will also be our last. Hope you’ve enjoyed the ride so far.

The castle grounds are quite extensive and offer alot more than just touring a 600 year castle. But the castle is the biggest draw and we had to see what that Blarney Stone is all about. The interior is a little cramped. I doubt it was designed with 6′ 4″ Americans in mind.

Once you get to the top the views are spectacular. I love heights, so this was a thrill for me. Look how small the trees look from up here.

Here is a view from the opposite side. The clouds follow us everywhere.

A lot of the interior is missing. This is also best viewed from the top.

None of us kissed the Blarney Stone. How many mouths have been on that thing? Here is a little description of what is involved.

Once upon a time, visitors had to be held by the ankles and lowered head first over the battlements. Today, we are rather more cautious of the safety of our visitors. The Stone itself is still set in the wall below the battlements. To kiss it, one has to lean backwards (holding on to an iron railing) from the parapet walk. The prize is a real one as once kissed the stone bestows the gift of eloquence.

I don’t have a picture of it because photos are not allowed.

Next we headed into the gardens called Rock Close.

There are all kinds of Druid artifacts here ranging from caves to sacrificial altars to wishing stairs.

Legend has it that if you walk the steps backwards, both up and down, with your eyes closed, whatever you wish for will come true. It was fun watching the tourists give it a try.

The trees are interesting too. I love how the shallow roots grow over the rocks.

Next we headed into town to the Blarney Woolen Mills. For more pictures from Blarney Castle click here.

OK, no big deal. If I can a drive stick shift car on the wrong side of the road I think I can handle this. After a quick lesson we head out with our guides down the road toward the water.

As you can see the beach is very rocky. I wondered if the horses would slip, but they knew what they were doing. I guess they’ve been there before.

Then we picked the pace up and headed into the hills.

Here is the view from atop my trusty stead. You can see the beach where we rode below.

The only casualty from this adventure was a new pair of khakis that simply wouldn’t come clean. That is some tenacious Irish mud. If only I had a taller horse. A shire horse would have done splendidly…

For more pictures from our horseback adventure click here.

This is one of the largest and finest stone forts in Ireland and was probably built in the early centuries before Christianity came to Ireland. It must have been the home of a very wealthy landowner of chieftain who had a great need for security.

A wall up to six meters high and four meters thick – built entirely without mortar – encloses an area thirty meters in diameter. Several near vertical masonry joints are visible in the wall, and these may indicate that the fort was built in stages rather than in one continuous operation. The fort was entered through a narrow lintel covered passage in the wall.

The modern stacked bricks help keep out the myriad sheep.

The fort was the home of the chieftain’s family, guards and servants, and would have been full of houses, out-buildings, and possibly tents or other temporary structures. No buildings survive today, though two small chambers are contained within the walls.

The top of the wall was reached by a series of steps which criss cross against the inside of the wall. An earthen bank and ditch around the fort gave further protection.

Click here for more photos from the Staigue Fort.

The home is now part of Derrynane National Park, 320 acres of beauty on the coast of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry.

Here is Daniel’s backyard, which backs up to the beach. Not too bad, huh?

Notice the tracks crossing the beach from left to right.

Horseback riding is a popular tourist activity in Ireland. What better way to see the sites? We’ll be riding later in the day.

While wandering the grounds we stumbled on some interesting outbuildings.

This is a photo of the floor. Quite an interesting and aesthetic way to add a nonslip surface. This is a necessity, as everything stays wet in Ireland.

You can see more pictures in the photo gallery.

Kenmare really caters to tourism as it is lies on the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara. It is because of this convenience that we’re calling it our base camp for the next few days.

We explored Bantry House in the previous entry. Later that same day we visited the Kenmare Stone Circle.

The Kenmare Stone Circle is reported to be the biggest in the south west of Ireland. Stone Circles were built during the Bronze Age (2,200-500 B.C) for ritual and ceremonial purposes. They were often orientated on certain solar and lunar events , such as the position of the sun on the horizon on a solstice. The Kenmare example may be orientated on the setting sun. In the center of the circle is a Boulder Dolmen, which is rather unique. Dolmens often marked the burial place of someone important.

The photo above was created by pasting two images together. My lens just wouldn’t go wide enough.

As we ventured back to base camp we realized we hadn’t done any laundry in the 10 days we’ve been here. (I think I’m running out of clean boxers) Our next stop was the local laundry mat. After laundry we headed to my favorite event of the day – Pub Dining!

More pictures from Kenmare can be found in the Photo Gallery.

The next day’s activities included a tour of Derrynane House, the Staige Castle, and horseback riding. Onward!

Bantry House is a stately home overlooking Bantry Bay and is located here in County Cork on 45 acres.

This photo was taken at the top of The Hundred Steps looking west. These steps bisect the gardens that rise up the terraced slope of the hill, as seen below.

Unlike most of the gardens we’ve seen, these are not walled. I guess that is due to the steep terrain. The flowers were so bright from the noon sun I had take a few photos.

While we were wandering around the gardens we met another couple from Fredericksburg. They were the McCartys who owned White Oak Equipment. He was excited to learn that his company sponsored my Little League Baseball team about 20 years ago. I think one of his sons went to high school with my sister. Small world.

After the reunion we wandered all three floors of the house. I must say their paint choices take a little getting used to.

The front yard was the last stop on this tour and did not disappoint. Tennis anyone?

More photos from our tour of Bantry House can he found in the photo album.

We assumed this young lass received her first communion that day. Her family, as well as a few other families, were wandering the grounds in their Sunday Best.

There was also a 10K race being run through Killarney that day.

Ross Castle is located here, on the edge of Lough Leane in County Kerry. It was built in the late 1400s by the O’Donoghues. This is an example of a typical stronghold built by Irish Chieftains in the middle ages.

There is a legend that O’Donoghue leaped or was sucked out of the window of the grand chamber at the top of the castle and disappeared into the waters of the lake along with his horse, his table and his library. It is said he now lives in a grand palace at the bottom of the lake where he keeps a close eye on everything that he sees.

I imagine he doesn’t see much down there. You can see what we saw by visiting the photo gallery.

Back to the story. Muckross House is located here on the Muckross Peninsula between Muckross Lake and Lough Leane, two of the lakes of Killarney, about 4 miles from the town of Killarney.

We bought our tickets and wandered around waiting for the next tour to begin. Near the cafeteria we found yet another sign desperately needed in America.

The tour was very informative and is highly recommended if you’re ever near Killarney. Our tour guide spun an engaging tale of Kings and Queens, fire escapes and societal decline. You also got a tour of the entire house from the boudoir remodeled for the Queen’s visit to the enormous kitchen. Like most Irish tours photography was forbidden.

After the tour we hiked the beautiful grounds out toward the Torc Waterfall.

Make sure you visit the photo gallery to see more pictures from Muckross House.