August 14, 2017 – Burnatty and the Rock of Cashel and the Ennis Music Festival, Durty Nellie’s and the Medieval Banquet

Down to breakfast and it’s pretty much like all the other breakfast buffets with the potential to eat yourself sick!  Back upstairs so I can finish posting the blof – and down again in time to meet James at ten o’clock.  He’s a handsome blue-eyed Irishman nattily attired and driving another Mercedes Benz!  Such comfy cars!  We’re so spoiled!

It’s a lovely drive to Cashel with some conversation and some scenery watching.  It takes about an hour and a half and it isn’t quite raining when we get there.  We pay our reduced-rate admission and join a tour which has just begun.  The tour guide is a red-haired, red-bearded, blue-eyed young man, the perfect appearance for his job!  He tells us the castle’s (cashel is Irish for castle) history and moves us along from spot to spot with efficiency and care for people’s safety. 

Part-way through it begins to drizzle, but not so badly that we are even tempted to go and hide.  He shows us that special features of the sandstone part of the building and notes that sandstone absorbs water, so when he began to tour guide in 2008, the pink sandstone looked as gray as the limestone portions of the building, which was constructed a century earlier.  The government erected a barrier to protect it from the rain and a ventilation system to dry it out , and when it was all removed, it was the pink we see today! 

He showed us the choir loft where the all-male choir sang and told us that they were all paid with a piece of wood with a shield on it.  They could take that to the town and purchase anything they wanted and at the end of each month, the ruler would pay the bills!  Soon the townspeople figured this out and made their own shields.  It was the first credit-card fraud!

This was the "credit card".

It is still drizzling a bit as we walk back down the hill and spot James.  We ask for just a moment to duck into a shop and are out quickly.  Back in the car James asks what else we’d like to do.  When we come up empty he asks if we’d like to visit the huge music festival which is being held in Ennis.  That’s the one that Dale was heading for today, and which was opened by Michael Flatley!  You bet!

(More photos and the rest of today's adventures will be coming soon!!)

It’s actually quite close to Bunratty, so we only go about twenty minutes out of our way and it doesn’t matter to James where he takes us.  Wow!  Ennis is quite a large town and when we come upon the town square it is crawling with musicians, dancers and spectators!  We agree to meet near the O’Connell statue and we take off, leaving James to find a place for his car.  He actually lives just outside of town and “knows people” so he’s got a spot in mind.

Most of the performers are youngsters, school-age children with lots of talent.  We buzz from group to group, attempting to stay together and always on the lookout fo more of these amazing kids.  The hour flies by!!  And there’s James, in exactly the right spot and exactly on time!  He whooshes us back to the hotel and double checks our departure time in the morning.  He is the perfect chauffeur!

Back in our room Connie takes a little nap, and I write a bit of the blog, then we check into our flights and do a little packing.  Then it’s off to Durty Nellie’s, the oldest pub in Ireland.  We have a little libation and some munchies to hold us until our Medieval Dinner at 8:45 at the castle.  Connie gets chicken-liver pate that comes with a little salad and a lot of toast!  I have a bowl of soup, which might be a vegetable puree or might not.  The waitress who clears out table doesn’t know.  But it tasted great!

After snacking we take a little walk down to the entrance to the folk park and ask about how we turn in our voucher.  Turns out it’s the same place, same procedure, and same ticket lady!  And she remembers us!  She does a little rearranging with the tickets that looks like sleight of hand and tells us to return at 8:30.  If there’s a line, we can just go right into the park without stopping and head toward the castle.