County Galway, Limerick and Tipperary

in order to see Ireland in a detailed perspective you really need to rent a car and drive around. Every time you stop in a town you need to go to a pub and talk with people. People are very welcoming and you will get a good glass of Guinness wherever you go.

Listowel and John B. Keane

I didn’t know who Keane was but when I got into town and went to the pub people explained his literary creations.

Portumna castle

Ennis

The vertical lines indicate the corner of a stone. So a letter written on the left side of the corner is a different letter from the one written on the right side of the corner or one which goes through the corner.
This is a member of the OPW (office of public works) showing me one of the stones with an example of the alphabet on the stone. OPW is the nationwide government organization dedicated to restoring and maintaining historical sites. You can get one of their cards which allows you to visit all of the sites for one year and it’s a very reasonable price. If you’re going to stay more than two weeks then I really recommend getting one of those cards to save some money if you intend to visit historical sites.
Eamon was Prime Minister for many years but he was also one of the members of the 1916 uprising. This is the story of the Buick he brought from the US and used for official occasions after he became Prime Minister.

on to Limerick

A glass of Guinness County Galway
A perfect pour every time. I spilled a little on the way back to the table
Harp recital Bill Smale
A harp recital to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
County Galway Dancing at King John’s Castle
Outside King John’s Castle a group of dancers gathered
The Pogues Bill Smale
A fellow in the pub indicated I needed to listen to this song

two days before St. Patrick’s Day in Limerick

A band County Galway
The Pipers Bill Smale
Of course the Pipers were there
Daniel O’Connell statue
Daniel O’Connell statue
People waiting Bill Smale
people lining the street
Small cars
In Ireland people like to buy small cars for economy and to fit the narrow roads. In Thailand everybody wants to have a big truck or SUV even if they can’t afford it
Cleaning crew
The cleaning crew after the parade
Chinese noodles Bill Smale
A restaurant called Wokking had some fairly good noodles since it’s a Chinese restaurant, basically. However they had no sauces at all which is very strange for a Chinese restaurant so I could not give it a really high rating.
Daley gelato
And of course you need to have gelato every day

The CODFATHER

The Still house pub
The still house. The place to come for music in Limerick
Limerick flag Bill Smale
Just approve I was here
Five euro  coupon
This is an interesting solution. Since Covid it’s difficult to get people to work in hospitality especially in cleaning. This hotel, the George, gives you five euro a day each day you do not use the cleaning for the room. This can be used in the restaurant downstairs. This benefits the hotel since it cuts down on the need for cleaning crew, it benefits the customer and it also benefits the restaurant since a large number of Hotel customers don’t use the hotel restaurant.
St. Patrick’s Day decorations
The hotel restaurant was all decked out in St. Patrick’s Day decorations
St. Mary’s
Saint Mary’s
Pre-Latin language
The pre-Latin written language, Ogham, a clever series of strokes
A catholic grave
I thought this was interesting since after Henry VIII the churches were modified for the protestant Bent, the Church of England and they were called “the Church of Ireland“.
King John’s Castle
King John’s Castle
This castle was built after King John’s reign but named for him
The Norman sections
Excavating the Norman portion of the castle
Ocean
This fellow is named Ocean. He plays the harp and he explains the traditions and so forth of Ireland.

Ocean explained the Ogham system of writing which is a series of strokes or lines. In the very north of Ireland, in Donegal, there is a standing stone with this old writing on it. It was deciphered. He explained it has the traces of the Irish sarcastic humor. It says, “turn around“.

Norman portion of the castle
The old Norman portion of the cast
Arthur’s Quay Park festivities
The festivities begin in Arthur’s Quay Park
Patricia
She is Patricia to celebrate Paddy’s day
I met some interesting people to chat with here
And of course another perfect Pour
Guinness lined up
All lined up and ready to be topped off
English language school?
It’s nice to see English is taught properly
Old store
An old store, green grocer and news agent
At Doolan’s pub the Kilkennys were playing
Experienced musicians
And then a small group of experienced musicians and singers playing for the pub goers
Time clock
How do you spell day? It doesn’t really matter. It’s not a language clock, it’s a time clock. I guess somewhere you punch your time card.
Deep Divers
The deep diving outfit
Bike balancer
A very skillful man
Cart racers
Take me back to my childhood
Limerick shopping District
The shopping District in Limerick
Funny sign
A little humor
Clean undertaker
If you want a clean undertaking this place looks very spic and span
Graffiti
Beautiful graffiti
It is this organization that Frank McCourt’s mother used to get charity from as you will find from reading the book “Angela’s ashes“.

““Angela’s ashes”. This book is an accounting of Frank McCourt’s childhood in Limerick and his house is a tourist attraction but it’s not really his house it’s just a museum. If you happen to be interested in this book which some describe as dark and dismal”Angela’s ashes“. This book is an accounting of Frank McCourt’s childhood in Limerick and his house is a tourist attraction but it’s not really his house it’s just a museum. If you happen to be interested in this book which some describe as dark and dismal. Get the audiobook version in which Frank McCourt himself does the reading, narration. If you do that you will encounter Irish humor as he reads it and understand that part of the culture and why he words it the way he does but it must be through his reading that you get this humor.

This was the pizza that only cost me €3.50 because of my five eurocoupons for not requesting the room cleaning
Add to now you can see the “Codfather”. Go to the Still house pub at about seven or 8 PM and you might bump into the 87-year-old Paddy Fish.

Nengha

The birds started nesting

Terryglass

Some of these boats at the harbor needed some repair
A beautiful swan on the lake
The garden at the church with some religious flexibility
Look at these decorations. I would never expect to see gremlins or fairies here

Portumna

Portumna castle
This is the castle which is fairly interesting but has been greatly renovated since most of the large large houses in castles fell into repair at different times in the past eight centuries. Many large estate homes after the revolution were burned by the army in order to discourage the England affiliated wealthy from continuing their power in the country.

around Limerick area

I was coming into Limerick a few days before St. Patrick’s Day to prepare for the celebration and to look around the town and find some pubs with some good music. I was overwhelmed with the interesting people, music, conversation and activities in town. One thing that amazed me is there are a large number of barbershops when 50 years ago there were only two. Walking around for one hour I passed 20 of them.

Irish flag around Limerick area
The Irish flag was fashioned in the later 1800s when a famous fellow went to France and was enamored with the French flag and the motto which many people I met no very well, Liberté, égalité, fraternité (libertyequalityfraternity)

Killaloe

An old church around Limerick area
An old church
Brian Boru around Limerick area
Brian was a Chieftain in the 1200s and his future relatives became the O’Brien‘s since the name meant “of Brian” or ““son of Brian”.”son of Brian“.
Ponte Vecchio had some pretty nice pizza
Taken Bill Smale
This is also the famous title of a movie with Liam Neeson. A lot of of the story is pretty much the same as the movie but I looked at the movie information and it does not say it is based on this book. But Liam, as you will know, is Irish and this book is written by an Irish fellow.
Killloe Canal Bill Smale
A view of the canal
Canal water Bill Smale
Again, the texture of the water was just so interesting
Bridge flags
The national flag along the bridge
View from the bridge
It’s a nice view from the bridge in this cute small town
Parade Float
The guest house I stayed in won the first prize in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in their small town

Ennis

Vegetable soup Bill Smale
A very delicious vegetables

Ennis Friary

Ennis friary Bill Smale
There is not much left of this friary since it was abandoned several hundred years ago and then used again in the late 1800s.

Clare Museum

Eamon de Valera Buick
In this town also is the county museum. What was really interesting was this Buick which Eamon de Valera, the longest serving president off and on in Ireland, purchased in the US and brought to Ireland and used for official occasions. This Buick is sometimes used in parades but it seems it may have been retired a few years ago.
This history is a little bit difficult to read but he is from this area. As you may well know he was against the treaty signed with the British government for the free state of Ireland. It was granted its own ability to govern itself but under the king of England. And the north was kept as part of the United Kingdom. He vehemently opposed anything less than a complete, independent republic and fought against the treaty and caused the Civil War after the treaty was signed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Éamon_de_Valera

Killinny

Dunguaire Castle
Dunguaire Castle

Kilmacduagh monastery

Kilmacduagh monastery
Kilmacduagh monastery
Kilmacduagh monastery
Kilmacduagh monastery
Kilmacduagh monastery
I’m not quite sure who these forks and spoons were left for. Maybe there are spirits who need to cut a good piece of beef for the main course and use the spoons for some soup.
Paddy
Many named Patrick in Ireland are known as Paddy
Abby graveyard
For an abandoned Abby this is an amazingly well cared for graveyard
Finnegan
I was wondering if this is the famous Finnegan from the book Finnegan‘s awake by James Joyce
Some old remaining artwork