Arcadia's Day Trip!

This weekend was another day trip for us! This time, Arcadia (the program I came on) organised the whole day for us. Our first stop was the Mitchelstown Caves, in Mitchelstown (Baile Mhistéala), Co Cork. After a short tour there, we moved onto the Rock of Cashel (Carraig Phadraig), in Cashel, Co Tipperary.

The Mitchelstown Caves were really cool to visit! The only disappointing part was that we couldn't take pictures inside the caves, but oh well! These caves are supposed to be some of the best in Europe, and they have some of the best formations in Europe, too. They were discovered when some guy dropped his crowbar and found the entrance to the caves when he went to find it. But it's really cool because apparently they have concerts in the caves because the acoustics are so good (we tested them out by having one of the guys on the program sing). Electricity was only brought into the caves for lighting and such in 1974, so our tour guide turned all the lights off in the caves for a few minutes for us to see what it was like--it's the first time I can ever remember not being able to see my hand in front of my face. Even when I had my hand touching my nose, I couldn't see a thing! I can't imagine going into the caves with only a torch or some candles!

After that, we headed over to the Rock of Cashel. Fun fact: it's not just a rock! The Rock of Cashel is a series of buildings that traditionally housed the rulers of the province of Munster, up until the time that the Normans invaded Ireland in the 1100's. Most of the buildings still there date from the 12th and 13th century, actually! The whole complex was eventually turned over to the Church, which established it as the center of the archdiocese. It's made up of Cormac's Chapel, which has one of the few examples of medieval Irish frescoes in it--they're mostly covered up, but they think it's mainly a Nativity scene. There's also an enormous Cathedral in the complex, which housed the main ceremonies. They also built a dormitory/housing area for the 8 men who composed the choir, who were very lucky because they got a nicer place to live in then most people of the time did, plus they got other perks, like land. Below the living/dining area was a small museum-like room that had stone carvings of things like old coats-of-arms and the original St. Patrick's Cross. We walked through the graveyard that's there, and they had these beautiful Celtic crosses. It also had the popular Irish architectural choice of a round watchtower. The whole place had really interesting detailing, and was all set up on the natural part of the Rock of Cashel--the natural limestone. You could see the whole town from where it was--absolutely gorgeous! There were also some sheep just wandering around...got to love Ireland!

Unfortunately, and I hate to disappoint you all, but I have no new rugby scores to report! Tatiana and I are already all pumped to find some pub in Belfast next weekend so we can watch the game versus Scotland, though! I'm really excited about the trip, even though the bus ride is at least 7.5 hours. Maybe I'll get some reading done? It looks like we'll be traveling with a lot of the other Arcadia program kids from all over Ireland, so it's looking like it'll be a lot of us taking over Northern Ireland! It's kind of weird to think that we won't even be leaving the island to get a taste of the UK--I never thought I would go to Northern Ireland, but I'm super pumped to go now! Time is flying by--only 5 weeks until my family comes to visit!