We had decided to visit the enormous Rock of Cashel today. This involved a 90 minute bus ride from Cork Bus station to Cashel on Bus Erieann’s X8 service. It was an express bus meaning it made less stops and got there faster.

This involved catching the earliest bus departing at 8AM. So we got up and left at around 7AM to make it from our hotel room in time. We caught a 220 bus from our Mandyke bus stop and got off with a bit further walk to the bus station. (Shouldn’t all buses eventually go to the bus station? Not this one!)

While we were walking I spotted a bakery and suggested we get breakfast there. We had not had breakfast at the hotel because we had left so early. I got a chocolate muffin and OJ while sharon got a croissant with chocolate and a citrus drink. The attendant offered to give us ice in cups. This is somewhat of a novelty as ice is difficult to find.

We made it to the bus station. We ate our breakfast while we waited for us bus. Afterwards I decided to try to find a restroom. I was disappointed to find that the restrooms were pay only with a turnstile. I could have jumped it, but I decided not to for fear of getting caught with close circuit cameras.

Our bus arrived 20 minutes late. We gave our online booking numbers to the driver and he gave us our onward journey and return ticket on the same printout. Others who got on did not have their return ticket to Dublin. They did get a lecture from the driver about hanging on to their ticket, but he eventually let them on.

I slept part of the time as best I could. Other times I found myself listening to Tom Petty on my iPod. The bus stopped at 3 towns along the way – all of which I had not heard of. I’d assuming that those getting on and off at those towns were locals. Meanwhile at Cahir there was a castle in the heart of the town which might have made for a great stopover coming back if we had planned better. Maybe it will be a stop for a future journey.

We arrived into Cashel about 20 minutes late, but no worries as we had until 2PM to catch our bus back. We inquired from a local where “The Rock” was. She pointed us in the right direction. As we walked we remarked how there are houses which are at the bottom of the hill which are in the shadow of the Rock of Cashel. How unique. But it would be aggravating about how many tourists walk past their house everyday.

The Rock is at the top of steep hill. Midway up the hill was the parking lot and restrooms. Nearby young people played traditional Irish music.

While we were buying our tickets we were talked into getting the free tour beginning in 5 minutes at 10:30AM. Our tour guide gave a very informative. Seems the Rock started out as a royal residence, but later turned into a religious seat. Seems those in power gave up the rock to the religious leaders so that his rival didn’t get it.

Inside the rock we saw roofless shells of buildings. There was one particular religious leader who started off Catholic but switched to Protestant once England took over to the ire of his laymen.

Around the rock was a graveyard. Seems in 1930 the town of Cashel opened up the registers that allowed some residents to opt for burial at the Rock. Only a few of these residents survive and after they pass no one else will be buried at the Rock.

The rock had a chapel nearby. About 10 years ago restoration work began to make it less porous to keep it from having so much mold around. Each brick from the room was removed and catalogued while a membrane was installed to keep it from being so pourous.

Down the back hill from the chapel was the Hore Abbey ruin, which looked interesting the photograph, but unfortunately we did not have time to get to it.

After the tour we walked through the museum and saw the original sandstone cross which had been replaced by the limestone cross at the entrance to the Rock.

After we left the rock we attempted to find the bus stop to return to Cork. After much time we found it and then attempted to find a place to eat. I left Sharon in the town’s commons area while I tried to get Apache Pizza. Unfortunately it was closed. After some debate we decided on The Brian Boru. Both Sharon and myself got a Beef Burger with fries. The burgers were huge! It was served with some type of chili mayo (meant for the fries but just as good on the burger).

Nearby Sharon saw a Guiness which touted “Guinness in Baby Bottles,” which she requested I take a photo of. With advertisements like this it is no wonder why we have rampant alcoholism.

We made our way back to the bus stop and found our bus to be late. While we were waiting there was a man pacing and talking to himself. I thought he was crazy.

Our bus was about 20 minutes late which is much better than expected. I thought it was 2 hours late based on the Bus Eireann real time tracking. During our bus ride I could tell Sharon was not enjoying it as the seating area for knees were cramped.

As we made it back to Cork, we decided to visit St. Fin’s Cathedral. We found the bus that went there and we walked about 500 meters to it. It was very ornate. Sharon took several pictures while I did some videoing.

Afterwards we came back to the hotel room where I took a nap and Sharon tried to post to the blog. The hotel’s internet service provider, Virgin Mobile, is not kind to WordPress.

For supper I went out and got Apache pizza. Our hotel provided us with a bucket of ice so we enjoyed an evening meal in our room.

Tomorrow we visit Kilkenny.