The morning goes, well, as mornings go. Packed early, bags out, breakfast at our assigned time. The hotel is a huge tour hotel, so they literally assign groups breakfast times (and seating areas) to handle the flow. Our breakfast time was 7 to 8, but a last minute change (probably to schedule the flow of tours and buses out front) has us now leaving at 8:30, thus, we have time to kill. And we can’t even go for a walk because it is raining again. Bummer. We just cool our heels in the crowded lobby (with our masks on) until Tony signals he has the bus ready.

Alacoque has decided that will go “off-itinerary” and visit some little towns she thinks we ought to see. We adore her! So, off-itinerary we go to Adare, a little community with a beautiful old church/abbey, a friary, attached cottages (called tied cottages because they were “tied” to the estate) and the ruins of an old castle. Cool.

We’re off the bus first – leaving the bathrooms for later, and out on the street, assuring Alacoque we know where we are going. Starting off right out of the tourist bureau parking lot, we can circle the beautiful old Trinitarian Abbey, dating back 700 years.

Continuing up the main road, in search of the ruins of the Desmond Castle, we stumble upon the  Augustinian Friary, known as the Black Abbey and built in 1316 (which we think is now a school). But the parts we can explore are totally cool and old and ruin-y like. Fun.

Still no castle ruins though. We hit the end of the walkway along the road, next to a canal which has a lovely trail, but no castle. Until, aha! We turn around to return, and there are the ruins of the castle – across the street and totally inaccessible to us. Well, bummer! Great pictures, but….you know….

Oh well, we retrace our steps and head to the tied cottages, which are adorable and all thatched roofed and truly tied together. They make for wonderful photos – so picturesque, with an incredible park full of flowers and green, green grass beside them!

We’re done with the walking pretty quickly, which means, of course, we are ahead of everyone else. Which means more time for us to spend in the Visitor’s center at the cafe, sipping on cappuccino, eating a really good danish and chatting with Alacoque and Tony.

Then it is back to the bus, heading toward the Bunratty Folk museum, but first driving through Limerick (because Alacoque says we must!) and having the opportunity to get out and walk around King John’s castle, which was built in 1200 and is one of the best preserved Norman castles around. John – the King – was called John Lackland because he lacked land. He was also what was considered a soft king, being deemed very ineffectual.  

The Castle was built as a military fortress to the city of Limerick and the river Shannon. Fun fact: King John supposedly never set foot in the castle – why? Who knows…that part got lost in the other fun facts we are trying to remember. At any rate, it is a pretty nice little diversion, except for the wind and the rain, that is.   Crossing back over the river, we can get a good look at the Treaty Stone monument, allegedly the actual stone used in the signing of the 1691 Limerick treaty.