Ireland - First place to look

I realize it may not seem obvious to most people, but I can imagine that Big Foot would visit Ireland. The Dobhar-chú has been known to inhabit the waters and it must be welcoming to cryptids. It is also a lovely country with a strong history of mythical beings and he/she might find it a great place to visit. I know I did. I last visited Ireland with Amy and our children so we visited some familiar and some new places this time. 

This visit included traveling with one of my brothers and his wife. In keeping with this blog's policy of not using actual names, I will refer to them by a random set of letters - let's call my brother "J" and my sister in law "M". I will potentially include their pictures or they may be actors hired to recreate the experience - I will not tell. They proved most valuable in the hunt for Big Foot as they enjoyed stopping in many pubs to look for him/her.

Image of random people on top of a Guinness. Made possible by leprechaun magic.

We started out in Dublin and enjoyed a lovely walk from my hotel to the one we shared. It was in the Temple Bar area so it was quite lively with many potential Sasquatch hang outs. We then hit the Grafton Street area along with walking around Trinity College and St Stephen's Green. We stopped in several establishments but no sign of the elusive creature. Over the next few days we continued a relentless search for the creature. We enjoyed our tour of Guinness and enjoyed several pints of that classic deep red beverage.  We did our best to explore classic historical pubs and really bad restaurants. No luck in Dublin.

Library at Trinity College

A couple of pints

At Guinness tour

                                        

We went onto Northern Ireland with our first stop in Belfast. There are some real differences between Dublin and Belfast based upon the history of the region but as with all of Ireland, the people were very friendly and there was plenty to drink, I mean do, there was plenty to do. We toured the Giant's Causeway along with Bushmills distillery for Irish Whiskey. Notice the "e". The Scots spell it "Whisky". The Irish say they add the "e" since it stands for "excellence" and I must agree. The whiskey was smooth and helped to clarify one's thoughts. We also took a completely unbiased tour of Belfast and where the "troubles" had been. Our completely unbiased guide happened to be a former member of the IRA so we were fortunate to see the tributes to the fallen and neighborhoods where there had been fighting. He expressed hope for the future as do I. The world has enough hatred and anger without adding more to it.

A local contemplating life with some Bushmills

Giant's Causeway

Back on down to the Republic of Ireland. We stopped off at a pub for a quick Big Foot check and to be neighborly had another Guinness. We had rented a lovely cottage for the next few days to allow a base of operations. The "road" to the cottage was very exciting and must have a blast to drive down (thanks for driving J). One side had a tall stone wall and the other had bushes and an occasional house, which came in handy as the oncoming traffic and us all had one lane to share. We toured various castles and churches plus a lot of ruins. The Cliffs of Moher were stunning as usual and a sight to behold. Stopping in at a pub we saw some bumper stickers from Milwaukee (which is not near Ireland) so I had to snap a photo, alas no Big Foot.

A touch of Milwaukee in Ireland

Cliffs of Moher

Hmm, M and J seem to drink a lot

Local having a laugh

We continued our tour and visited The Rock of Cashel. It was a magnificent ancient building that was home to Irish kings from before the Norman invasion and is reported to be the site of conversion by St Patrick of the Irish king, but it is technically in ruins today. We also visited the castle of Kilkenny which was beautiful and well preserved. The key difference is that at Kilkenny the owner aligned with the English crown and survived well enough until one of their ancestors could marry a rich American heiress. Cashel was not as fortunate and was further destroyed when a rival religious leader had the roof removed in the 1700s allowing the weather to do its thing. No Big Foot but plenty of history including a tour of a weaving facility that has been in operation since before 1778 (prior to that the friars ran a weaving facility but were made to leave). They take in raw wool and process it until there is a finished product. If you have a need for a quality wool blanket or other woolen product, check them out https://cushendale.ie, but there was no Big Foot (or Guinness) there. 

Cashel

Familiar image at Cashel

Kilkenny Castle

Fancy Kilkenny

Our last stop together was a tour of Waterford crystal to see some items being made. Skilled craftspeople doing some amazing work for sure. We parted company as they had a wedding to attend at Waterford Castle and I drove back to Dublin before my trip to the next destination. While in Ireland, my house was listed on the market and I accepted an offer. Big news for sure.

Van Gogh in crystal