After a day of relaxing, we were up bright and early to visit castles! Ireland is known for castles so we are visiting three today.
Our driver/guide gave us a little history while driving to our first destination.
Dublin was first visited by the Vikings in year 241. They stayed for about 200 years. Then the Normans came and expanded the city and built Dublin castle. The Vikings then came back towards the end of 8th century and came back and forth for about the next 40 years. They finally decided to stay and many assimilated into the Irish society. They established many of the ports, including Dublin, and introduced the use of coins into Ireland. The power of the Norse were over by 1014 at the Battle of Clontarf.
The population of the Republic of Ireland is 4.3 million with just over 1 million in Dublin, the largest city. Northern Ireland has 1.7 million population, Belfast is about half the size with half the population. NOTE : we will be visiting Northern Ireland tomorrow. There are 32 counties in Ireland, with 6 in Northern Ireland.
There were 4 provinces in ancient times. Cashel Rock is the first place we visited and is in the province of Munster. This is the site where St. Patrick converted Aenghus, King of Munster, to Catholicism.
Most of what the Normans built was destroyed in the mid-16th century and was rebuilt in the Roman style. The Rock of Cashel was the seat of power for the province of Munster. It was raining out so we didn’t stay for too long and didn’t get too many great pictures.
Next, on to Blarney Castle. There’s a lot of history here so I will just let you look through it here: https://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/castle-history
But, we were there to kiss the Blarney stone! So we trekked up to the top of the tower to kiss the stone. There are several different stories about the stone, the most popular being that if you kiss the stone, you will never be at a loss for words. But, here are the 4 stories.
Here’s all of us getting a turn at kissing the stone. OK, I thought it was just a piece of rock that I lean over to kiss. But, noooooo, you have to lie on your back and hang your head back to kiss it. Seriously, could they have made it any harder???
Here are some sights in and around the castle.
The weather even cleared up by the afternoon so we had a great day. On to Cahir Castle.
The Cahir Castle was the home of the Butler family from the early 12th century. Theobald Fitzwalter was a Norman who came to Ireland with young Prince John. He was given a piece of land and the important job of Chief Butler or Ireland. That meant, if the King were to visit Ireland, the Chief Butler would have to make sure there was enough food and drinks for the King and everyone traveling with him. So, his name was changed to Butler. It is one of the best preserved castles in Ireland and is the location for many films and TV series. It was built on an island on the River Suir. It has one of three working old style fort doors (see below).
We are off to Belfast tomorrow to check out the Titanic exhibition.
Higman Travels 
I gather Lily’s fit yoga body had the easiest time kissing the rock.
I’d have a hard time … knowing thousands kissed it before me – ha.
It would have been a hoot watching Justin maneuver for the kiss.
What a great history lesson you had and a well written prose. Maybe the writings should be assigned to the children ( like home schooling homework)
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