Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Ireland (Thursday, July 25th, 2019)

The Bunratty Castle was built in 1277, and is still standing in the Folk Park.  It has been renovated and is open for tours.

The first room we entered was originally the sleeping quarters for the soldiers.  The original castle did not have windows, it just had openings to the outside for light and ventilation.  The room was split down the middle, with the officers sleeping by the fireplace, and the common soldiers sleeping by the windows.  They all slept on the concrete floor, and in the winter the wind from the open windows made this room extremely cold.

From the sleeping quarters we made our way up the winding staircase to the upper level.  It was extremely steep and tight, with 35 small triangle shaped steps, and only a small bar to hold onto.  Believe it or not, Steve's parents made this climb with us.

When we got to the top of the stairs, we came into the living quarters, which were decorated with pieces from the period of the castle.

The fireplace was adorned with antlers from the now extinct "Giant Irish Reindeer".  From the looks of the antlers, they were something between a modern day elk and moose.  These particular antlers were found in the bogs of western Ireland where they were perfectly preserved.  It's hard to get perspective, but they appeared to be about 15 feet across.

There were turrets that we could have climbed up to as well, but we felt that Steve's parents had done enough, so we all headed back down.

Even the climb down was quite exciting!  Steve's parent did so, so awesome!!!!!

And we had to do the family picture to prove we were all there.

When we finished in the castle, we took a few minutes to look around the folk park.  It offered a unique insight into Irish life around the turn of the 20th century, from the poorest of peasants sleeping on straw on the floor, to the wealthy farmers with their beautiful gardens.

Check out the mushrooms growing on this tree.

They were re-thatching one of the roofs while we were there, it was a really interesting process.

Aah, the gorgeous walls of Ireland!

On this wall you can see how carefully each stone was picked and stacked.

When we finished at the folk park, we madeour way back outside to Durty Nelly's for some lunch.  We even had a great view of the castle as we enjoyed our seafood chowder!

Ireland is known as the ABC Island, which either means "Another Bloody Castle" or "Another Bloody Cathedral"  Both are very true.  So for your viewing pleasure, here are just a few more!

We climbed back in our coach and continued on toward Killarney, Ireland.  It was once again raining outside, but inside we were dry and comfortable. This is a picture of the rearview mirror in the bus.  We were lucky enough to be assigned the front seat today!