Bunratty Castle
We arrived in Shannon, Ireland at 7:30 am on Friday. “I can’t believe I’m in Ireland,” Kelly said in the taxi. She picked this walking trip and is especially excited to visit Ireland for the first time. The countryside around the airport was flat but very green. We spent our first night near the airport at a small guesthouse in the village of Bunratty. Since we had arrived so early in the morning, we decided to lie down for just a few minutes… and the next thing we knew it was 1 pm.
Bunratty Castle and Folk Park was a fifteen minute walk down the road. We had a late lunch/early dinner at Durty Nelly’s Pub across from the castle and then enjoyed several hours at the castle and park. This was a “real” castle, built in 1425. We climbed the twisty stone steps up to the top of the turrets and explored the hidden rooms. The folk park was especially interesting: a reconstruction of Irish culture and architecture from 100+ years ago, including a village street, a country manor house, two mills, various farmhouses, and livestock.
