Ireland 2005 Part 2

I've been doing some memory lane posts of trips before digital and before blogging.

I first traveled to England with my Mom in 1960
My parents took us back as a family in 1970.
John and I first went together in 1986 to London.
Continuing 1986 with Oxford and Stratford.
Ireland 1991 Part 1 Dublin
Ireland 1991 Part 2 Around Ireland 
Ireland 1991 Part 3 Around Ireland
London 2005 with family
Ireland Part 1 2005 Ballyvaughan Aran Islands
Ireland Part 2 2005 Ballyvaughan Dunguaire Castle, Galway
Ireland Part 3 2005 Burren Bunratty Castle Aillwee Caves Lahinch
Ireland Part 4 2005 Killarney Limerick
Ireland Part 5 2005 Dublin
Ireland 2001 - Ballybunion scheduled
London 1987 - scheduled
Scotland 2001 - scheduled

July 2005 - Ireland

We are on part two of this family trip. We are still in our rented house in Ballyvaughan.

We went to a medieval banquet at Dunguaire Castle, a 16th-century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, near Kinvarra. The name derives from the Dun of King Guaire, the legendary king of Connacht.

In 1924 Dunguaire was bought and repaired by Oliver St. John Gogarty, the famous surgeon and literary figure. This was the time of the great Celtic revival in Irish literature exemplified by the works of writers such as Synge, Yeats Shaw and O'Casey. It became the venue for meetings of the literary revivalists such as W.B. Yeats, his patron Lady Gregory, George Bernard Shaw, Edward Martin and J.M. Synge. Yeats in particular believed strongly in the Celtic Bardic Tradition and set about reviving the ancient oral customs incorporating them into his plays and poetry.  


When you arrive on the Castle steps the Butler will welcome you and show you into the Castle. Savour a goblet of mead in the inner quarter while mingling with the Ladies of the Castle. After a brief history of the Castle and a musical introduction by the Castle Singers, guests climb the stairs to enter the Banquet Hall.

Banquet Menu

Aperitif - Mead
~
Irish Oak Smoked Salmon
with Traditional Soda Bread
~
Traditional Leek and Potato Soup
~
Supreme of Chicken served with a Creamy Mushroom Sauce
accompanied by Fresh Seasonal Vegetables & Potatoes
~
Apple Pie with Cream
~
Coffee / Tea

I wonder what Ursula was describing here?

We finished around 10PM but it is still daylight outside as the days are long in Ireland in the summer.

A day out in Galway. lick here for our 2015 Galway visit.

On the shores of Galway Bay, a mite chilly on the feet.

I think Brian might have broken out in song!!

Brennan's store.

Lunch spot.

Brennan cosying up to Oscar Wilde, we'll see more of him in Dublin.

We took the kids to Gorilla Games for a couple of hours.

This was a hoot, both of them dressed liked sumo wrestlers.

Even the big boys played.