Before I get to the Rock of Cashel, I thought I would include these photos of 'our' resident fox (or family of foxes) that live behind our back fence. They are a family of 4 - a mother, father and 2 cubs - and they are so cute! Over the past month or so, we see them nearly every day playing, resting, sleeping or walking along the dividing walls. It's nice to see the local wildlife so close, although we do watch from the safety of our upstairs windows!
In the middle of May, we did a day trip to the Rock of Cashel. The photos below make it look like it was a beautiful, sunny day, which it was for about 15 minutes! Before and after these photos were taken we had lashing rain, driving, cold winds and generally very unpleasant weather. So much so, that as we were walking up to enter the Rock, Ella was screaming at us, "I can't believe my own parents would make me come to this place in such awful weather!!!" It was a very typical Irish '4 seasons in one day' kind of weather, but as you can see, the weather did the right thing by us for a little while, especially when there were photos to be taken!
The Rock of Cashel is spectacular when it first comes into view around the bend. It sits perched up on a hill (the girls actually thought it should be called the Hill of Cashel!), however it is surrounded by rocky limestone outcrops, as the Lonely Planet points out. It is a huge, imposing structure which includes the remains of a cathedral, a round tower and a Romanesque chapel that is in the process of being restored.
The word 'cashel' comes from an old Irish word meaning fortress and it was an important seat of power for the kings and religious men that ruled this area for over 1000 years. The Rock has also seen its share of gory history, especially when attacked by Cromwell in 1647.
Below are some photos of the cathedral - even in ruins it is still beautiful and I loved the carvings of faces that are built into the stonework in so many places.
The weather held out long enough for us to enjoy a walk around the Rock and enjoy the beautiful countryside views, including the ruins of Hore Abbey below.
On our way home we stopped off in Kildare at the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens - an interesting combination!
The stud was founded in 1900 (by the same man that started Johnnie Walker whiskey!) and it is here that Ireland aims to produce its next generation of future racing champions.We were lucky that many foals had been born within the week that we visited so we were able to see many very gorgeous possible future Melbourne Cup winners!
Retired champions are also kept at the Stud - here is a rather back-heavy view (!) of Vintage Crop who won the Melbourne Cup in 1993.
Not sure if these 2 will ever be racing champions - but they were cute!!
The gardens around the stud are beautiful and in May the cherry blossoms were all in bloom which made it even more spectacular. This is the lake around St. Fiachra's Garden, and you can see St. Fiachra sitting in front of a replica monastic cell (which strangely had a display of Waterford crystal in the glass floor!) , contemplating the beauty of his surrounds!
A beautiful robin sings nearby!
The Japanese Gardens are part of the same complex and are created around a path that tells the story of life,from birth through to marriage, old age and then finally death. Below, the girls are crossing the bridge marking either their engagement or marriage - I can't remember which, but they thought it was very funny!!
So that is the end of May! The summer holidays start in a week here so I will have to get busy catching up on our adventures in Northern Ireland and the Ring of Kerry in my next posts.
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