Travel Log – Day Four 5/14

Today: Exit Dublin, along east coast to Wicklow, Avoca, Carlow, New Ross, Enniscothy, Wexford…move southeast to Waterford, Ardmore and Cobh (where we will be spending the night.) Road trip begins!

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Enroute southbound M50 towards Wexford, passed through Enniskerry via Powerscourt Castle, which boasts one of the most famous gardens in Europe. (also it’s own golf course and nursery.) The castle is huge beyond any real description, and seems more like a Manor House in build as there are no turrets, but it bleeds out to the sides in additional wings and looks like something Mr. Darcy would own…if he had a hell of a lot more money. The inside, (still naked of plaster walls, exposing the stone) puts itself to work by dividing into dozens of little high-end shops, room-to-room, a restaurant, a café (with one *brilliant* pastry chef, let me tell you), and a side wing reserved for the house’s museum. This is how you pay the mortgage, baby. Much of the stone work revealed along the corridors is of the original castle built in 1116, which after a fire gutted it, was directly incorporated into the plans of the new castle erected by the 6th Viscount of Powerscourt in 1743. New add-ons included ball rooms, state rooms, (a zillion of *other* rooms) and an international garden plan that made the castle, during the Viscount’s lifetime, the most sought-after property in Ireland.

…We ate lunch at the café, *looked* at the pastries, took in the wee ones dressed in fresh whites in celebration of their first communion, and moved onto the 8 Euro ticket to see the gardens…which are about as unreal in a, “Hey, I think I saw that place on the History Channel once,” kinda way. It takes an hour to walk around the surrounding gardens, and 20 to reach the largest pond at the center of the park via the Perron (an Italianate stairway added to the castle in 1874 of mosaic-like rock) splitting the Italian Garden, guarded by two winged horses with a huge fountain of muscle-bulging King Triton in it’s lily-padded center. This “Triton’s Pond” is also surrounded by a host of Greek looking statuary facing Triton, with mosses and vines growing up the facing around, and the cave below. Moving left of this will take you to the Japanese Gardens and Pepper Pot Tower (built in 1911), to the right you encounter the Rhododendron Field, Dolphin Pond (with fish) and the Pet Cemetery. That’s right: Pet Cemetary…where generations of the family’s loved ones are laid to rest upon the hill including:

* “Eugenie the Jersey Cow. Died aged 17 years, had 12 calves, and produced over 100,000 gallons of milk.”
&
* “Gunner. Favorite Hack. Died Sept. 1913.”

…About 30 others join their ranks in memory.

…Next we move onto the two adjoining walled gardens lining a walkway on both sides about a football field in length of unspoiled green. (Tennis or badminton anyone?) These lead out ultimately through a black iron gate gilded in gold with the family crest topping it (Bamberg Gate), passing you then through to the nursery. Next we moved onto giftshop for a few postcards, then hit the road again, passing Bray, an old church in Glenealy, Rathdrum, and into the Vale (or Valley) of Avoca…a stop on our tour only because a show that mom loves called “Ballykissangel” was filmed there. Apparently this was a big enough deal to have them keep the main pub as was in the show: a main placemarker, “Fitzgeralds,” along with another church, the Garda (Police) Station and tiny bridge leading into town. Met an Australian couple in the pub coming from the opposite route of travel from us and we swapped pointers over a Guinness, bought the Irish Times, and moved on along through Arklow, Gorey, and Camolin with some pics along the way.

Next: Ferns, a tiny village with a lotta history. This is where the Cathedral of St. Edan sits, founded in 596 AD. Yes, 596. (That’s 1,413 years old, P.S.) The St. Edan’s standing now was built in the 13th century, burnt down by the O Byrnes of Wicklow in 1575, and made to rebuild again in 1577. Some of the walls and windows of the original building were incorporated into the new one. They still have services here every Sunday, (which was last “renovated” in 1817.)

…The ruins of St. Mary’s Augustinian Abbey (and an ancient graveyard, where King Dermot MacMurrough was buried in 1171) lie just to the side of the Cathedral (built in the 12th century.) The village was one of the main religious centers in the kingdom of Leinster, the Cathedral built after the village had been taken by the Normans. There are still five surviving windows of the main wall of the Abbey, two on the south wall and original Celtic crosses within the surrounding rock ensconce

…Moving on, we found Ferns Castle, another ruin of the 13th century Hiberno-Norman time, which is the largest of the Towered Keeps ever built (evolving at least a century before any comparable castles were built in England.) Estimate date of build is circ. 1222, by Earl William Marshall the younger, and was captured by the O’Tooles in 1331, and switched hands four more times before it was surrendered to the Cromwellian soldiers in 1649, leading to the demolition of much of the building.

So we move on to Enniscorthy, (The second-largest town in County Wexford dating to 465.) Over the River Slaney, we walked across their ancient bridge for a bit of air before poking on through Clonroche to New Ross, where the historic three-mast tall ship the Dunbrody is anchored.

The main immigrant transport between Ireland, the U.S. and Australia during the Great Potato Famine, The Dunbrody was given the nickname, along with other transports of the time, of “Coffin Ship” because of the number of deaths along the journeys. This replica model is set as a touring museum today, with reenactments et al.

…Next, passing Glenmore we came into Waterford, where we ended our travels for the night beside The Quays (or waterfront), facing the boats docked where the Vikings did, in 914 AD. By 11:00 PM, our luggage was stowed in the Hotel and we took a walk in search of some dinner (we kinda forgot to eat since Powerscourt, while looking at all the neat stuff.)

…Directed to City Center (just up a piece from the water), we passed many a pub, but none selling anything but liquor for a good…oh mile or more, which then starving and a more than a little tired, we settled on the first place we could find that *did* sell food that late: chicken n’ fries from “Hillbilly’s.” Yes, we traveled all the way to Waterford Ireland to eat Hillbilly chicken, which is enough for a good round of one-liners that I’m too tired to try and reach for at the moment.

…Finally hailing a taxi home, we ate (yes at midnight), and now it is 1:22 AM and our alarm is set for 7:30. I’m going to bed, big day ahead…starting with Waterford.