Medieval here we come

Friday 12 December 2008, Glin - Cliffs of Mohar
Today we headed for County Claire. My great grandmother was from this county but we don't know exactly where. From Glin we made our way up the coastal N69 heading toward Limerick until we reached King Johns Castle on the banks of the River Shannon. The castle is pretty big, and where they found bones on the site, they have now built the visitor information centre suspended over the top so excavations can still happen without anything being disturbed by the weather. After King Johns we headed up the road to Bunratty Castle where they also have a folk park with cottages decked out as they would at the turn of the century. As we went into each of the cottages I could see my mothers furniture as she loves antiques, and particularly of this style, and I wondered if my great grandmother would have had a cottage similar one of them. The castle is like a large tower with plenty of rooms inside, including bedrooms, a library, kitchen and of course dinning areas. To explore them all we wound our way up 4 tiny spiral staircases in each corner, which opened on different levels to different rooms. On the ground floor, there was also opening to a dungeon which appeared to have a 10 foot drop to the bottom with no light at all. Great for those pesky visitors who complain about your cooking. They even have medieval nights here which I'm sure would be lots of fun. Comparing the two, Bunratty appeared more to be a home rather than King Johns which appeared more like a fotress. After leaving Bunratty we dropped in down the road for some Honey Meade and some ungodly alcoholic vapours which burn the inside of your nostrils where you take a sniff. Happy with me whiskey thanks.
We then headed north west on the N18-N85 toward the Cliffs of Mohar, hoping to catch a view before the sun went down. By the time we got there the fog had settled in, as had the cold, and we decided to head back to Lehinch to settle for the night in a hostel so we could see it in the morning. At this time of the year nearly everything is closed, but we found a corner shop open where we could get some basics to make some dinner. They also sold alcohol so we grabbed a bottle of Jacobs Creek to wash down our sandwiches and there behold in the fridge we spotted some XXXX. Couldn't believe that it could make it all the way from Brisbane, into this little tiny Irish dot on the map ... and then to have the next guy come into the shop and head straight for it and buy it. There you go.