Bunratty Castle & Folk Park

After a rigorous day of driving on Thursday, we opted for a more relaxed start to our day on Friday. We soaked up breakfast at the Manor House. They are over-the-top with service and I ordered some yummy crepes. The Manor House breakfast was a definite step up from the Carriage House. You're able to customize your hot breakfast as well as choose from a buffet of baked goods ~ our favorite was the croissant ~, fresh fruit, smoked meat, salmon, cereals, and yogurt. They have a variety of freshly squeezed juices, miserable offering of coffee (I'm told), and just about anything else you can want to drink. I ordered some yummy hot chocolate.

In late afternoon, we headed to the Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. The main attraction is the 15th century castle that was restored in the 1960s. The restoration of the old castle includes some fantastic views from the tall towers. We had a lovely guide give us information about the castle and was dressed in a period appropriate outfit. She was a wealth of knowledge and pointed out spy holes in the main room that the Lord used to gather information. She also told us that there are no records of how much it actually cost to restore the castle, just that it was a lot of money. There is also an extensive collection of antiques from this time period in the castle (they don't have any originals that survived and thus they have a collection from the 15 and 16th centuries).

After the castle, we wondered around the "folk park." In Aunt carol's words, we paid full-admission in the off-season for an off-peak experience. I believe that there are supposed to be characters in period dress with info, but besides the guide at the castle, we saw no one else. With the steep admission price of 14 euro, almost 20 USD, it just wasn't worth it.

After Bunratty, we went to the Durty Nellys. It claims to be the oldest pub in Ireland. As typical, we settled in for a pint and soaked up the atmosphere. Durty Nellys was very grungy and appeared to have that ancient feel to it. It almost reminded me of "the wick" ~ the wickaden pub in Providence, RI.