I woke up today a little sad, but still excited. Today was our last full day in Ireland.
We got ready and had a little breakfast. DJ made yummy omelets and we all were on billy goat duty, trying to finish up the last bit of leftovers. And then we were off.
The first place we ventured to was the Rock of Cashel, about an hour and a half away from our home base. I knew we were going to a see a castle, but I also imagined a huge rock somewhere close by. As we read in our travel books and soon came to realize, the rock is really a boulder filled hill on which this castle sits upon and overlooks the tiny town of Cashel. Now this was my first time seeing an actual castle up close and personal. The structure itself had no roof, just stone walls. We weaved in and out of several rooms, tagging along with a tour group hoping to hear some interesting things about the place and it's history. There were old grave stones everywhere, frescos on some of the walls, tombs inside the castle (dating back to 1574), a chunk of wall on the ground and magnificent views of the town. One of the rooms inside housed the original St. Patrick's cross – very cool. This was a place of war and much death – it's amazing that it still stands today. It makes me think about what kind of structures will still be standing thousands of years from now...
I really love what they have done with the place.
I think the shutters are new.
Since we weren't sure if we could wait until we go to Waterford for lunch, we thought we would see what Cashel had to offer food-wise. We were pleasantly surprised. Our travel book only had a few places to choose from and Henry's Fine Foods sounded the best. Great pick! We walked into a long narrow cafe full of homemade jams and sauces. Henry himself was behind the counter. We sat down and ordered up a few sandwiches. Sun dried tomato, Brie and Lettuce. Ham and Chicken, chilli sauce panini. Served up with some pasta salad, coleslaw and chips. Delicious. We chatted with Henry a little before we left. It turns out that he had visited DC and Bethesda once. He told us about how he went to the Dubliner near Union Station and ran into a guy that he hadn't seen in 15 years. Small world.
After lunch, we jumped back into the car and headed to Waterford to check out their famous crystal factory. However to misfortune of all involved, we we got there we found that the crystal makers were on strike. Some evil corporation had bought out the factory and wants to send it over to China, where the crystal products can be made quickly and cheaply. As we walked into the lobby of the factor, we were greeted by some very kind employees. They explained the situation and told us that there were no tours going on right now. Although, they did have a DVD that we watched, walking us through the birth of a beautiful Waterford crystal. The short film was quite interesting and made me wish even more that we could have taken a tour. We chatted some with the workers and waited around to see if they would open up the gift shop. After a while, we decided to just head out and make our way back to Adare.
The whole thing was really sad. Waterford is an industrial town, whose pride is their crystals. And now that is being taken away, not to mention jobs. It didn't matter that it was raining, Waterford already had a gloominess about it.
By the time we got back to Adare, it was time to start thinking about dinner. Being a Monday, several of the restaurants in town were closed. So our last meal in Ireland was at The Blue Door, right outside the manor grounds where we were staying. It was a tiny place with a thatched roof, an old house I would imagine. There were maybe 10, 12 tables in the whole place. We were the only ones in there, as I think most people in Ireland dine later in the evening. We ordered up some scallops, lamb, steak and salmon. A bottle of wine and some steamed veggies accompanied our meal.
After dinner we ran over to the little grocery store that we had been to earlier on our trip. Pallab and Jenn were looking for some stinky Irish cheese to take back with them and we also were trying to get rid of our last few Euro coins. And what better way to spend your last 70 Euro cents: Candy. The chocolate bars were gone before we left the store.
We went home and relaxed for a little while. We wanted to check out the Manor hotel bar – it was supposedly in a dungon of some sort. However, like the Waterford Factory, it was closed. Bummer. No one was feeling motivated, probably due to the lack of energy from our action packed week. But I felt like we needed to go out. It was our last night in Ireland and who knows when we would be back.
Our legs led us to Aunty Lena's, the pub in Adare that had the horse racing hoopla that we had walked in to a few nights ago. The pub wasn't as packed as it had been before, but there were a few jolly souls sitting around, having a pint or two. We sat down at a table and ordered our stouts. We did a little reflecting on our trip and before we knew it, our glasses were empty andt there were two Irish ladies that had come over to chat us up. I have a feeling they knew we weren't locals. They were with a group of friends, celebrating one of their (Trish's) birthdays. We had noticed them earlier, laughing and carrying on. This woman Trish, she was hilarious — asking us all about our trip, telling us stories, naming all of her 15 siblings. She had us rolling. We ended up talking their whole group – a really friendly crew. They even bought us a half pint of whatever we wanted, even though we kindly tried to refuse about 12 times. I think this was one of the highlights of the trip. True hospitality. Open arms friendliness. A perfect end to our last day.
Final Thought: The true greatness of an Irish pub has nothing to do with the empty kegs on the outside but the fun-loving people on the inside.
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