British Isles

The morning stop for an hour took place in Kenmare on market day. We spent some time at a little craft fair in the center of town. At 10:10 am Glenda took a shot at the Black Valley, the most remote of Ireland. They got electricity only in the 1970's. The name came because this area was affected severely by the potato famine. Many died or left and never returned. It is still almost completely depopulated. At 11:30 am we saw the so-called Ladies' View of the 3 lakes. We had lunch at Moriarty's Heather Restaurant at Dunloe Gap. At 2:00 pm I got a shot of prehistoric stones with Orhgam language, that of ancient Celts. So far it remains undeciphered. This afternoon we toured Muckross House, where Queen Victoria visited for two days in 1861. The family spent huge sums of money to accommodate the Queen, thinking that their investment would bring a tidy return. However, shortly after the visit Prince Albert died, the Queen went into a period of extended mourning, and she forgot completely about rewarding the owners of Muckross House. As a result of their extravagant expenditures, the family went bankrupt and had to sell the house in 1899. The bus brought us back to Kilarney where we had supper at Robertino's Italian Restaurant, then walked through the city on foot. We dropped into and ice cream shop for dessert. We found Peter Cox's photography shop. He had a lovely photo of the Cliffs of Moher taken with a Canon 5D Mark iii that he suspended from a drone at sunrise. He had to get special permission from the government for that shot. We rode the bus back to the Castlerosse Hotel, and I walked over the golf course trying to get to the lake by sunset. I encountered a dense thicket, however, and chose not to hack through the bush. We organized our gear and made ready to depart Kilarney in the morningRead more

We visited Jerpoint Farm Park, saw the remains of a medieval village and what may be the grave of St. Nicholas of Myra. The town was called New Town, and was apparently an important shrine in the middle ages. A tour given by owners Joe and his wife Maeve after she fed us a lunch that included delicious scones. They originally moved from Northern Ireland onto this undeveloped plot of land, intending to raise cattle. However, the British Archaeological Society informed them that their new farm contained an important historical site. It could not be used for cattle, but it might be used for sheep. However, in 2015 the sheep market hit bottom, and the new owners supplemented their income by offering tour groups the opportunity to see the grave of St. Nicholas of Myra. We met their daughter Annabelle. Joe is convinced that when Muslims captured Asia Minor, monks from Myra brought the body of St. Nicholas to "the end of the earth," according to their instructions. Archaeological investigations seem to support the notion that Newtown was an important pilgrimage site. The carving on the top of the tomb does seem to represent a bishop wearing a pallium. There are, however, other sites contending for the honor of housing the grave of St. Nicholas--one much closer to Myra in Asia Minor.Read more