Marble Arch Caves & Enniskillen Castle

For the sixth day of our trip to Ireland, we ventured to Marble Arch Caves Geopark. The Caves are just one of the sites that comprise the geopark. There are also many trails and sightseeing vistas to explore. 

The Cladagh River runs through the caves and surrounding area. In good weather, boat tours are offered through the caves. The recent heavy rainfall caused the water levels to rise too high for the boats the day we were there. The good news was that we were still able to take the walking tour. 

As we walked toward the entrance to the caves, it felt like we were entering the belly of the earth. Down, down, down. We had a cute young tour guide. I wish I could remember her name. She was very knowledgeable. 

I took so many photos while in the caves. These are only a few, as the rest didn't turn out or were blurry. The photos don't do justice to the real thing anyway.

The formations look wet and muddy, but it was all dry and solid.

I really am bummed about the pictures that I can't show you. One of my favorite formations is called "Streaky Bacon." It looks just like bacon! (Streaky bacon in Ireland is what we know as regular bacon. Regular bacon in Ireland is what we think of as ham or Canadian bacon.) 

This picture is from the Marble Arch Caves website:

Isn't it gorgeous!

When we were all done with the tour, we had to get back to the surface of the earth. Up, up, up. We stopped to rest at the cave opening. Luckily I wasn't the only one breathing hard. Up, up, up even more. I had to stop several times on the way back to the visitor center too. Our cute tour guide waited with us for a bit, then ran up the rest of the way, every other step. Oh, to be young!

My sister and I decided to walk one of the trails to see a waterfall. 

Down, down, down.

Along the way, we got sporadic rain. The weather had been so nice that I didn't take my umbrella and only wore an oversize sweater. It is like a sweater poncho, so my sister dubbed it my "swancho." I'm thinking she needs to trademark that! 

It continued to rain lightly.

Light rain turned into a downpour. We decided to head back. Up...up...up. Wet...wet...wet.

Since the swancho was so long, my sis flipped the back of it up over my head for a hood. I felt like a drowned rat! My legs ached, my swancho was soaked through, and I was out of breath. We headed to the restrooms to clean up. I was so happy to see the power hand dryers! Warm and toasty (but still wet)! It was a great, unforgettable time at Marble Arch Caves. 

I had to get a photo of this sign on our way out of the area:

The rest of our day was spent in Enniskillen. Specifically, Enniskillen Castle. It sits alongside the River Erne.

Nowadays, the castle is a visitor's center and The Inniskillings and Fermanagh County Museums. 

Artifacts on display were from the Bronze Age through modern times. 

I thought the "bog butter" was...unique.

The former stables now house military vehicles.

I could not believe the size of this German shell from World War I:

Which is nothing compared to this one:

Can you imagine being on the receiving end of these shells? It really made me think how awful war is, especially when it is at your doorstep.

It was getting time for dinner and while I was looking for a place to eat, I noticed something interesting on the map - Darling Street. Well, we had to go see it! (Some of you may not know that Darling is my maiden name.) 

We ate dinner at Devenish Bar, a pub on Darling Street. The staff here were so nice. My sister needed to buy another SD card for her camera, so we asked our server where we could get one. He suggested a local electronic store and while telling us how to get there, he decided to just call them and ask for us. That store didn't have what we needed, so he found another place, Asda. Asda is the Irish equivalent of Wal-Mart. He was so helpful!

I had the potato & leek soup, turkey sandwich, and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. You haven't lived until you've had sticky toffee pudding. Warm, moist, cake-y, sauce-y, toffee goodness! Heaven on a plate. It was just what I needed to end our day out.

Next, we stay in a castle! Yes...a castle!

Countdown to Christmas...

I had a friend ask me to make her a countdown to Christmas sign. I was pretty excited. Sometimes I need someone to tell me exactly what they want in order to get my butt in gear creative juices flowing. This was the perfect project to do the trick!

I made some simple pallet signs using the same method you can find here. I painted the signs red. Using my printer, I print the words in simple fonts. I turn the printed words over and rub chalk over them. I place the words where I want them and use a ball point pen to trace over the words. The chalk leaves a faint outline for me to paint the words. I also used chalkboard spray paint on a scrap piece of wood and glued it to the sign. 

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It would look great hanging on the wall or propped up on a mantel. And since this countdown doesn't have to start on December 1st, my friend can begin using it right away!

Derry...or Londonderry...? (Day 5 in Ireland)

Day 5 of our journey in Ireland took us to the walled city of Derry. Or Londonderry. Depends on which area you are in. The people of the Republic of Ireland refer to it as Derry. The people of Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom) call it Londonderry. The Irish are particular about the city being Derry. We saw several road signs that had the "London" part of Londonderry covered up with spray paint! We focused our day inside the walled city.

In the 6th century, a monastery was established in the wooded area of Derry. Oak trees grew in abundance, and the old Irish word for oak is "daire." Thus, the beginning of Derry. In 1613, the city was given a royal charter by King James I, and the prefix "London" was added to the name. A great stone wall was erected to keep the British population safe. The walls still stand, almost completely intact. The city survived several sieges, which is not hard to believe when you see that the walls are 18 feet thick.

AERIAL PIC BY RORY O’DOHERTY PHOTOGRAPHY

We entered the walled city through Bishop's Gate. We found a small parking lot and paid for about 4 hours (whatever change we had at the time).

I took a picture of the Courthouse to refer to in case we got lost. I wasn't too worried - this is a small area. Of course, that's what we thought when we toured Dublin 5 years ago. With a GPS. That is a whole other story!

Our first stop was St. Columb's Cathedral. Built between 1628 and 1633, the cathedral is the oldest building in Londonderry. The inside is beautiful and ornate, but no photography is allowed. It really was awesome. At the end of each pew was a finial, hand-carved by a father and son. Each one was different. I really was impressed with all of the woodwork. So much love and labor went into the building of the cathedral.

Just inside the doors, is this mortar shell. I got a picture before I was told not to take pictures.😇 Look at the size of this thing!

Inside the doors were two very kind older gentlemen docents. One of the men asked where my sister and I were from. When we said Utah, he was quiet a second and then replied, "The capital is Salt Lake City, if I remember correctly." I was impressed. Especially when he knew about our national parks! He said it is a dream of his to visit Arches someday. The other gentleman got out a map of the city for us and told us where we needed to go, asked where we parked, and walked us to the wall. It wasn't the way we wanted to go, but he was so friendly, we just went with it.

I absolutely loved the streets of Londonderry. So much character!

 We just had to stop and shop at Poundland! How could we not?

Poundland is on par with our Family Dollar. Only more fun. I took a picture of this package of Snickers because I wanted to remember the word "Numpty."

Along our walk we found the "Garden of Reflection." Intrigued, we entered. 

Inside was a kind of sanctuary of peace. This area of the country has seen it's share of turmoil. I won't get into that, but when you have a lot of free time, Google "Troubles in Ireland."

The center of the walled city is "The Diamond."

At the opposite end of where we started our walk is Shipquay Gate. The River Foyle is just beyond here.

The Guildhall is just outside Shipquay Gate. This place has stunning stained glass windows. Again, no photography, except in the entry hall. I got one photo of one window and a photo of a statue of Queen Victoria.

Our next stop was a visit to Tower Museum. They have an exhibit called "The Story of Derry," but the day we were there they had water damage from huge amounts of rain the area received before we arrived. Some of the museum was still open though. And guess what? No photography. That's okay. I got some great pics of the area from the top of the tower.

We found this adorable courtyard on the walk back to Bishop's Gate. It would be a dream to live in one of the apartments above the street!

We also browsed around this antique shop called Bedlam.

I love this sign just outside of a small cafe.

This graffiti looked like it said "Utah." Hopefully it doesn't mean something vulgar.

We had a great time in Londonderry. We said goodbye to Northern Ireland and headed for Belleek Pottery. I love this building. Even the outside is gorgeous!

My sister really wanted to visit this place. They have factory tours and a museum and gift shop. I feel just terrible that we missed the last tour of the day. We did get to walk through the museum though.

The museum takes you through the history of Belleek and the processe it uses to make the gorgeous pottery.

We also did some shopping! I purchased the little cutie in the bottom right corner of the photo.

After a very long day of walking and driving, we checked into our B & B and headed out for dinner. We found a fun place along a marina called Moorings.

I had the tomato soup with crusty roll and baked pepper chicken with mash, pepper sauce and crispy fried onions. This was the best dinner I ate in Ireland! The chicken was cooked perfectly!

This was a great, fun day in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Marble Arch Caves is next!