All of Ireland in Bunratty Castle...

Towards the end of our Ireland odyssey, we went to Bunratty Castle. It's only a short drive from Ennis, still in County Clare. The castle and its surrounds is a metaphor for all of Ireland - it's a real educational theme park exhibiting samples of all aspects of Irish culture, life and history. All that is missing from Bunratty is the scenery!

The castle is hemmed in by a pub, shops, roads and a freeway, but out the back (actually, at the castle front) there is a large estate dedicated to the theme park. It was easy to spend a day here.

World famous Bunratty Castle is now hemmed in by pubs, shops, roads and a freeway.

The history of the castle site is edifying, and is detailed in an excellent exhibition in the basement. The current castle is the 4th on the site, the first being made of wood. The second was of brick and was constructed by Thomas de Clare, a decendent of the Norman known as Strongbow, in ~1270AD. We assume the county is named after de Clare. He was killed by the local clan O'Brien, and the castle destroyed. A third castle was built by the English but fell quickly into O'Brien hands around 1350AD. Somehow, it was destroyed again, because Castle #4 was built by the MacNamara's in 1450 and by 1500 the O'Briens (by now, Earls of Thomond) had it again. The history gets murky, but it appears that the O'Briens moved elsewhere and leased the castle to others (Stoddarts), but around 1800 they the tenants had built a more modern house nearby (Bunratty House) and the castle was abandoned and fell into disrepair. By 1900, the roof had collapsed.

The soldiers' mess hall, below the Great Hall, now used for banquets.

The Great Hall of Bunratty Castle.

The Earl's Pantry allowed him to store overnight snacks.

Lead light window in Bunratty Castle.

The dilapidated Bunratty Council was bought and restored by Standish Vereker (Viscount Gort) around 1950, who furnished it in period style (and so makes it a stunning visit), and it has not looked back since. It is now a a major tourist attraction, and the grounds, which encompass Bunratty House, have been developed to become Bunratty Folk Park.

Part of the guests' apartments in the South Solar of Bunratty Castle.

The Earl's bedroom in one of the castle towers.

One of numerous chandeliers featuring deers antlers and flamboyant German "leuchterweibchen".

The Folk Park consists of a village of 19th Century buildings some relocated, some recreated, some restored in place, including a variety of farmers' houses, a fisherman's cottage, a school, well-to-do houses and workshops. The buildings have been refurnished to their former use, and some still operate to that use. Hazelbrook House was built by an ice-cream magnate, so you can guess what is sold there now! Fenced paddocks house farm animals, and some wild ones too. Collectively, it is mighty impressive. As one wag put it, all that is missing is the stench! In truth, the main street is too clean and too wide as well.

Recreated kitchen produces delicious apple pies for the Tea Shop.

Peat fires burn safely and slowly, and with a delightful smell.

Village building being thatched. They probably didn't use aluminium ladders in old times.

Many animals are on show in the Bunratty Castle village recreation.

Many of the village buildings have sweet smelling peat fires burning, lending a fabulous ambience to the entire area, and radiating a welcome warmth on this chilly and wet Irish summer's day! In one farmhouse kitchen, a cook in period costume was actually preparing the apple tarts that we happily consumed in the next door Tea Room.

Precursor to the iPod in Hazelbrook House.

The room layouts in Hazelbrook House is totally evocative of our Surry Hills terrace!

Overlooking the neighbours. View of Hazelbrook House from Bunratty House.

It may be low tide, but the river by the castle doesn't seem to be as substantial as it appears in engravings.

Overall, our Ireland experience was a very happy one, and we found Bunratty Castle summed it up pretty well. The weather was quite poor, cold and wet - we can't believe this is summer! But even the most miserable days had bright spells, and we noted that the locals were always grimly determined to go about their business often dressed as if it ws warm and sunny. Bike riders ploughed on through rain squalls, and trekkers seemed to be undeterred.

Ireland is a country of green farms, rolling hills and stunning coastlines. Farms so right to the sea. There seems to be little what we would call "bush" here - we saw Killarney National Park and the map shows us others in extreme corners of the country, but it's mostly farmland. Large and modern houses dot every country road, there are quiet roads but few lonely roads. The proportion of the population outside urban areas must be quite high. Towns may be large or small, but they are universally pretty, especially now with summer flowers in bloom. The rivers we saw are often serious affairs with robust flows. Every town has at least a creek and a very old stone arch bridge crossing it.

The people are universally friendly and more than willing to chat about where we came from, and about themselves. This was genuine good cheer, certainly not your plastic "have a nice day" stuff. They would happily help us with the correct pronunciation of Irish words, although they weren't very successful.

The official language of Ireland is Irish. Apparently all official documents are in that language, and all signs are bilingual, but it is English that is almost universally spoken. Only very rarely did we hear a local speaking other than English. Irish is taught in the schools, and several times a day on English language radio stations we heard a statement in Irish. We haven't a clue what was being said. Our favourite station quickly became Newstalk, and we were very impressed with the interest and diversity of the topics covered. George Moncrieff was fantastic on weekday afternoons!

As we've said before, there was no trouble getting a decent meal anywhere we were. The pubs specialise in Traditional Irish which is always hearty and tasty. Good pubs appealing to tourists are inevitably crowded. Every second or third day we felt like going upmarket and a little hunting about generally produced the goods. In our last stop, Ennis, the Town Hall restaurant provided a splendid meal. The pubs generally are a treat, being loaded with character and often with really interesting old photographs of the local area. We inevitably had an afternoon libation in some nearby pub - they can be obscure but are easy to findy by the smokers hanging around outside.

The most amazing thing about Ireland to us Aussies is the sheer weight of history here. The towns we visited often had buildings up to a thousand years old or even more, many still in use. The country is strewn with unheralded ruins - just drive down any road and you will come across one. Australian aborigines have been around for even longer of course, but apart from rock art, they haven't left as much for posterity as even prehistoric man here has.

On our last full day in Ireland, we scooted our Volvo across the country on the 'fastest route' from Ennis to Dublin. We stopped in Athlone, and had coffee at a little cafe which had views across the Shannon River.

On our last full day in Ireland, we scooted our Volvo across the country on the 'fastest route' from Ennis to Dublin. We stopped in Athlone, and had coffee at a little cafe which had views across the Shannon River.

Shannon River weir and locks at Athelone.