We're off on the coach from Dublin to the villages of Ireland. Our first stop was a visit to Powercourt Gardens near the village of Enniskerry. This is a beautiful mansion set on 16,000 acres in the heart of the Irish countryside. The mansion was gutted by fire in the 1970's, and is now a souvenir-rich shopping mall. The grounds were laid out in the mid 1800's, and are beautifully designed and maintained.
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| One of many expansive lawns |
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| Japanese Gardens |
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| Another part of the Japanese Garden |
We then went inland to the Rock of Cashal, first stopping at the Bru Boru Cultural Center for an excellent video/museum tour. We took a rainy, windy guided tour of the church on the rock. We are tough tourists, though, and braved the weather to see the church where St. Patrick baptized King Aengus in about A.D. 450, bringing Christianity to clan leaders of the region.
Tonight we're in county Cork in the town of
Kinsale. It seems like we did a lot of driving today. It's hard to remember that Ireland is about as large as the state of Maine, and we can reach our tourist destinations quickly.
