Saturday 23 May
Kinsale to Galway
Check out of the White Lady Hotel in Kinsale is 12:00 noon.
Very civilised, breakfast is served between 9 and 10:30. This is my sort of
place! So we had a very leisurely start to our departure. While waiting for the
photos and blog to upload, we started a stroll around the town. We saw a very
pretty view and photographed it, and the further we went, the more picturesque
were the views.
Kinsale Harbour
Gorgeous houses, beautiful harbour, sailing boats dashing
across the water, it is just lovely.
Driving out of town we saw the sign to Charles Fort. It is
now a ruin, blown up during the Irish Civil War (post 1916), and slowly being
restored by the Office of Public Works. I
overhead a man talking about the church in his parish which was burnt, “Unlike
most public buildings in this country, it wasn’t burnt down deliberately”.
Charles Fort was. It was first established in the 16th or 17th
Century as a star shaped defensive fort as a protection for England. It sits on
a headland with spectacular views (well a defensive fortification should have a
good view of all around) and, I am realising that every bit of Ireland has a
fabulous view. What is remarkable, is this is a fantastic structure that should
be a real drawcard for visitors, and is only really mentioned in passing by the
local tourist crowd.
Charles Fort
Very understated. Kinsale
was settled as military post because of its location, its harbour and the fresh
water from three natural springs. One, Trinity Well, is adjacent to Charles
Fort, and is sort of being restored, or tidied up. Again, very understated.
TrinityWell
We set off to Galway and arrived late afternoon. Everything
seems to start later in Ireland, not Dublin perhaps, but everywhere else. We walked
into town, in the soft, nonstop rain, and found a place to eat. We have been
used to really high quality food and were disappointed with tonight’s meal.
Dick has sampled a few Irish beers, and today’s was Smithwicks. It’s up there
in the top 5 beer list.
After dinner, we popped into a pub or two for a Guinness and
a Hop Harvest beer and listened to traditional Irish music, over the chatter,
shouting and banter of the packed in crowd.
Oscar Wilde
Still raining, we got a cab back to the hotel.
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