With spring break drawing to an end, we did one more history stop on our way to Dublin. The kids thought I had a stutter when I said we were going to see Cashel rock (thought I meant "castle"). The Kings of Munster, whose kingdom extended over much of southern Ireland, lived on the rocky outcrop of Cashel. Saint Patrick came to Cashel in 450 and converted the kings from their pagan Celtic ways to Christianity. In 1101, the Munster King handed this fortress over to the Catholic church and Cashel flourished.
In 1647, in order to put a stop to the numerous wars between the Irish and Protestant settlers from England and Scotland, who had siezed and settled on the land of the native Irish Catholic, Oliver Cromwell was sent to Ireland. Cromwell's hostility to the Irish was religious as well as political. Cromwell opposed the Roman Catholic church, which he saw as corrupt papal and clerical authority, and whom he felt supported the persecution of the Protestant's in Europe. (This may have contributed to Cromwell's harshness in his military campaign in Ireland.) When Cromwell and his army arrived at the rock of Cashel, he massacered 3,000 Catholics. There are grave stones everywhere.
This medieval complex in Cashel was abandoned in 18th century. In the fog it looked eerie but it felt peaceful despite it's turbulent history. As we climbed to the top, Brendan looked around and said "the grass IS always greener in Ireland..."
We chuckled but as we looked around, we realized everything around us was green....
The crosses with the green moss
The Romanesque arches inside Cormac's chapel
The castle walls and 92 foot dry stone Round Tower (built w/o mortar)
You could peak around every corner and find luscious green
Ryan: Happy Birthday May 3rd.
We chuckled but as we looked around, we realized everything around us was green....
The crosses with the green moss
The Romanesque arches inside Cormac's chapel
The castle walls and 92 foot dry stone Round Tower (built w/o mortar)
You could peak around every corner and find luscious green
Even Mary look like she was carved from green stone. I had to double take as the fog even started to take on a green hue... No wonder it's nicknamed the "Emerald Isle."
The tombs in the north transept shrouded in shadow had the tinge of green and not black mold you'd expect.
Well I didn't pass on my green eyes to any of my children but they share a fascination with the lush color. And at the end of this day, we all agreed that the grass and rocks are always greener in Ireland!
Thatched roof cottages
The mock sadness on the boys faces when we couldn't get in the castle as all the tours were booked, even in Italian.
Imagine, Steve wouldn't go move the silly little yellow street cart for my picture!
Cute terraced Georgian style homes
Crossed the street to get this door and in the meantime my family turned the corner and left me
Green -gray Cobblestones
Copper lamposts
Shamrock street lights
Monkey island
Gorgeous giraffes
My camera batteries died right after this picture. Brendan said, mom we are as tired as that poor rodent. You wear us all out...batteries and all! 
and this dead badger on the side of the road
and its 10 foot door
If I had lived in the 15th century, I probably would have taken the kids' finds and cooked them up into a nice rodent stew in this pot.
Later, I would have sounded this "dinner bell" cannon to let them know grub was ready.
But, my kids again were off noticing the free roaming cows and calves, feeding them grass and
watching where they walked... and could have cared less about the castle tower. 
These crosses are "sermons on a stick" This one has the carving of the temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden and Daniel's courage in the Lion's Den. The back, hard to see in the fog, was covered in interlacing patterns and geometric designs and animal ornamentation.
Reminded me of our Native American Totem poles with their symbols and stories.
It was surrounded by a cemetery of celtic crosses, a 15 foot stump of a round tower and had this fun Romanesque doorway with all sorts of funny animal heads that Natalie pointed out.
This is called Poulnabrone Dolmen which in Gaelic means "hole of sorrows"
The dolmen consists of a twelve foot, thin, slab-like, tabular capstone supported by two slender portal stones which lift the capstone 6 feet from the ground.
Excavations underneath the monument uncovered 22 adults and children buried here. Personal items included a polished stone axe, a bone pendant, quartz crystals, weapons and pottery. In the Bronze Age around 1700BC, a newborn baby was buried in the portico, just outside the entrance.
