End of our first day in Ireland, in a pub in the city of Cahir. A good first day, successful in driving, eating, lodging, and drinking, plus sight seeing some lovely ruins.

Started with an easy flight from D.C. to Newark to Dublin. They upgraded our rental car class from ‘B’ to ‘C’ and we ended up with a fancy Opal Laguna, with a fat credit card style key, a start button, CD player, along with a big trunk. Glen adapted quickly to the left-hand-style driving once he found where first gear was.

Based on recommendation from an Irish woman on the airplane, we headed towards Cork when we drove out of Dublin. We made it as far as Cashel (approximately two hours) when we needed a break.

We toured the Rock of Cashel, a fortress and abbey in existence since the Twelfth Century. Mostly a ruin now, but situated on a lovely hill, with a view of green pastures and sheep. It had rained on us since Dublin, but the sun came out after 12:30, when we walked to some abbey ruins nearby. In between, we had an excellent lunch of poached salmon and vegetables in a local teahouse/café/small restaurant.

We drove on to Cahir, but we both became tired so knew we needed to stop before we pressed on to Cork. We were lucky and found a castle to stay in! Called the Carrigeen Castle, it was an old prison now converted to a lonely B&B.

After a nap and a shower, we walked to town and eventually ended up in a pub for dinner and drinks. We’re sitting here in a corner, watching the local culture, which seems to involve a number of football (i.e., soccer) fans who’d gone to a game. A wide range of ages and people—eating, drinking, and meeting friends and neighbors. A congenial evening, in a culture that is far more American in feel than other European countries we’ve visited. Yet different enough that it sometimes seems odd they speak English except when the Irish accent is strong enough to sound Irish!