Rock of Cashel

 Day 7: Our first week, over. We were all shocked at how many things we had already seen and done, and how many more days we had left to go! 

Schedule today (got a bit of a sleep-in!)

• 7am: Bags outside the rooms, and breakfast
• 8am: on the coach

We left Killarney and drove off to the Rock of Cashel. The coach dropped us at the bottom of this massive hill, and after a steep climb, we arrived somewhat breathless at the top. 

We got another private tour of this impressive ex-castle. In my opinion, this tour guide was rather lack-luster in his delivery, but he still managed to give us a few interesting stories.

The Rock of Cashel (or Cashel Rock) is known for being the location where St. Patrick baptized the last pagan king of Ireland.  As we stood outside the impressive structure, the guide pointed to a mountain range about 6? miles away. One of the mountain tops had a "dip" in the top. He told us that legend had it that the Devil was so upset with this baptism, that he came to Earth in the form of a giant flying demon, bit a chunk of rock out of the top of that far away mountain, flew over St. Patrick's head and dropped the rock on him. Of course, God loved St. Patrick so much that he pushed the rock aside, and so formed the hill that the castle stands on today.  Now, several centuries later, scientists know that the rock of that mountain and the Cashel rock are two different types, but as our guide put it: "When it comes to a good story, the Irish don't give a feck about facts or physics!" (Read that in your thickest Irish accent...we laughed our butts off at this and quoted it several times for the rest of the trip!)

A few other things I found interesting here:

A stone carving of a Celtic cross had been knocked down, but the society that maintains the grounds will not fix it, because as our guide said "If we fix one, we'll have to fix 'em all!" So the broken cross just lays there now. (N adds: "The cross was the top of a grave (one of the kinds that you bury multiple people in, I forget the name) and was struck by lightning. Two different cathedrals were built next to and almost around each other, which was fascinating to me. Also, the newer one had like three or four different forms of architecture happening and I just think that's nifty. :)")

While renovating another part of the castle, a chunk of plaster fell off the wall, exposing the colors of a fresco painting underneath. This section is now preserved for all to see. This was one of the coolest things for me on this trip for some reason. Just being able to see what our ancestors painted on their interior wall for decoration gave me that sense of closeness, of the ability to understand those people way back when, with such different ideals and beliefs, and yet, they were just people who like to liven up their living space like we do today.

More pictures here: https://link.shutterfly.com/FIIZ1MDQNrb

After a couple hours of exploring, Darren had arranged a simple and quick lunch of soup and sandwiches for the group at a nearby pub. We ate and got back on the coach to make our way to Dublin.