The end of Ireland...

We've had a quite exciting last few days driving around Ireland. There has been massive rainfall and flooding in some areas and of course one of the towns that we wanted to drive through was flooded in parts. Apparently one town, Newcastle West, had a month's worth of rain in 5 hours. Luckily we made it through just fine and managed to get to Cashel with few mishaps...though Ben did get a little close to the left side of the road a couple of times.
On our way to Cashel we stopped in Cahir to check out yet another castle. If my trip with my mom to England was a church and cathedral tour, Ireland has been pubs and castles. Cahir was a quick stop, but the castle was interesting (and free with our heritage cards).

Mindy facing her fear of birds (Cahir Castle)

Cashel is a sleepy town, with a huge church, cathedral, castle on top of the hill looking out over Tipperary Valley. The Rock of Cashel is massive and was quite the fortress in it's day. Of course it was rainy and windy and it was easy to see why the monks vacated the place in search of warmer locations in the city.

Rock of Cashel

While on top of the Rock we could see a ruined abby in the middle of a field off in the distance. The next morning we tromped through the wet field to visit Hore Abbey and take in it's peacefulness and lack of tourists.

Hore Abbey

On our way out wandering the town we stopped into a saddlery shop and began talking to the owner about hunts and jumping and he recommended that the next time we were in Ireland we should go riding at a center up near Galway. Well we decided that we couldn't wait and ended up at Flower Hill Equestrian Center that afternoon.
I think the owner, Oliver, wasn't quiet sure what to do with us as we weren't exactly prepared to go riding and as it turns out, most of the people that come to his center are on riding holidays. And I think as none of us had really jumped before he was really unsure. But regardless he put us up on his Irish bred horses and spent the next hour riding and jumping us around his 500 acre spread. The Irish horses are much larger than we were used to (Ben's horse was 17 hands) and as most of the riders in Ireland ride almost standing up their canter wasn't exactly like a rocking horse but it was great once you got used to it. They were very forward, which was different than what I was used to with school horses and they loved to jump. Of course the jumps that we went over weren't too high and were most likely down right low for those that jump on a regular basis.
I don't think we really knew what we were getting into when we first showed up but everyone was very friendly and welcoming. We all had the feeling that the caliber of horses and riding that was around us was world class. After riding we relaxed with tea and got to overhear local gossip and discussion about upcoming shows and horse world drama.
It was an amazing time and Ben and I are paying the cost in soreness. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of us as it wasn't the kind of ride. I think we would all go back there if we had the chance and would come much better prepared next time with gear.
We're now currently in Dublin for our last night. We spent the day wandering the streets and touring the National Museum. We managed not to have pub food for dinner though we did end up in what was apparently the most expensive pub in Dublin. We did have some good conversations with some locals though.

Dublin

I think that most of the Irish people that we've encountered have been amazingly nice and friendly and for the most part seem to enjoy just a good conversation. They don't all drink Guinness all the time, nor eat hearty breakfasts every morning. They think American pancakes are bizarre and know a lot of Johnny Cash.
There is still so much of Ireland that we didn't make it to on this trip, but I guess that just means that I'll have to come back again!!