We are now starting to work our way back to Dublin. Two days to visit and eat our way east for an early Monday morning departure. The weather continues to be excellent, clouds, some wind and a few sprinkles everyday, but no storms and lots of local amazement at the lack of inclimate weather.
A puck is a male goat. Another thing you didn’t know till today. This fair originated 400 years ago, (they celebrated the 400+ anniversary this year). Do they celebrated the 400+ anniversary every year?? We actually timed our vacation around this 3-day celebration in Killgorlin. What we found was lots of horse and people hanging around in a field just outside of town, and in town they blocked off several streets for a big swap meet! Indeed, people in Ireland try to sell the same crap we do in the US. Our final take-away from the Puck Fair is that they use it to keep the bars open 24 hours for thee days.
The Muckross house was built in 1843 for William Burn, a wealthy architect and his artist wife. All very nice with acres of landscaping surrounding the mansion. All went swimmingly until in the 50’s they were informed that Queen Victoria was going to visit the Muckross House in 1861. They were given a 6 year preparation time. They took full advantage of the time by remodeling! New flooring, draperies, dishes, cutlery, furniture; a bit of expansion. This wasn’t just for the queen, they knew that if she was impressed, either land, money or political appointments would follow. A big step up from their 65 room mansion was anticipated and expected.
So, the visit of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Albert went well. Rewards were promised and expected, what happened however was Prince Albert died soon after they returned to England. Queen Elizabeth was devastated at her loss and moved on with other queenly responsibilities and forgot all about the Muckross House. Burn had so overextended himself preparing for the queen that he lost the house soon thereafter, financially ruined. There has got to be moral here somewhere.
And the last stop of the day before our nightly retreat to a local pub for dinner is the Rock of Cashel. This is one of Ireland’s most historic castles. Seat of the ancient kings of Munster 300-1100AD. It was fought over for 800 years until the O’Briens, to keep it away from the McCarthys, gave it to the Church. Then the real remodeling started. You see a hodge-podge of Iron Age, Romanesque, Gothic and Celtic architecture.
Lastly, we saw this often, Ireland is not only green, but they are GREEN, trying to reduce their carbon footprint. Not any solar panels, no sun, but frequently windmills.
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