Bunratty Castle and Durty Nelly's Pub, Shannon Ireland, in County Clare

 Bunratty Castle & Folk Park is a wonderful place to spend an afternoon.  It was about a 35-minute drive from Kiltanon Court in the Tulla area, where we were staying.  Half of the drive can be done on the M18 highway to get there.  Thank goodness because the side roads here are narrow with no shoulder and I don't think I will ever get used to driving on the other side of the road (Darren is actually doing the real driving).  Even if the steering wheel was where it should be, the side roads are ridiculously narrow and I don't think I could ever get used to them being spoiled on North American roads.  Scotland and England are the same when it comes to their side roads.  At least Ireland's highways are wider with a proper shoulder, unlike Scotland, yikes.

Bunratty Castle is worth visiting and the Folk Park is too if you do not have a great deal of knowledge on life in the 1200s.  The Folk Park is a working village set up to depict life hundreds of years ago.  It is quite extensive and offers you a nice walk around the village.  I went into most of the houses and one was even offering me scones baked in the traditional manner over the fire by two ladies dressed in their frocks from the 1200's.

The Castle was far more interesting to me and provided a good deal of exercise walking up and down the tiny curved stone staircases up to the four different towers and down to the dungeon.

Bunratty dates back to 1277 and was built by the O'Brien and is extremely ancient.  It was lovingly restored in the 1950s by a very rich lady.  The stained-glass windows and furniture in Bunratty were stunning. 

The detail on this large piece of furniture in the Great Hall was amazing to think that it was all carved by hand.  If you can zoom in to see the detail, it is stunning.

This was the most ornate of the bedrooms.

A little history for you to the left.

If you like history you should be able to zoom in and read about Bunratty which dates back to the mid 1200's in its original form.

This poster to the right shows the floor plans of the castle like a doll house.  We were allowed to explore the whole castle.  This is not the case when visiting other castles.

Durty Nelly's Pub which is next to Bunratty Castle is over 400 years old and has always been a pub.  We went to lunch there and it was more expensive but I was interested in eating at such an old establishment.  It is dark with a low ceiling just like you would imagine.  

I ordered the Classic Fish and Chips and it was the best fish that I have ever had.  It was a thick piece of fish with a light batter on it.  I have had fish and chips before when there was more batter than fish, but this was not the case.  The chips were not to my liking but what surprised me was the Mushy Peas served with the dish.  I thought that I would just turn my nose up to these because who wants mushy peas???  Well, they were actually quite tasty and I believe I just dated myself.