Happy St Patrick's Day 2017

                              Happy Saint Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years.

On St. Patrick's Day, which falls in the middle of the Christian Lenten season, Irish families would go to church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. The Irish would dance, drink and feast on the traditional Irish Bacon and Cabbage. Lenten regulations about not eating meat were waived if necessary so that the traditional meal could be eaten.  They are waived again this year in Chicago.

Here in the United States, St. Patrick's Day has become a celebration for not only the Irish, but for all. There are parades and celebrations which include green beer. The Chicago River is dyed green each year in honor of the event.

Watch as the world turns green ...

Other Related Blog Posts on Ireland:

• Reflections of Ireland
• Dreaming of Ireland
• FriFotos Goes to Ireland

Blarney Castle was built nearly six hundred years ago by one of Ireland's greatest chieftains, Cormac MacCarthy, and has been attracting attention beyond Munster ever since. Over the last few hundred years, millions have flocked to Blarney, making it a world landmark and one of Ireland's greatest treasures.

Blarney Castle (64 photos)

We've cruised to Ireland several times.  The collage above is made up of several images from a visit to Blarney Castle.   This is one of the favorite stops of visitors to the Cobh, Ireland area. Why not plan a cruise that includes Ireland, and kiss the Blarney stone for good luck?  We leave you with this Irish Blessing on this St. Patrick's Day.

 May you always have...
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire.

Dreaming of Ireland

That's No Blarney

When @FriFotos announced #IRELAND for the theme for this Friday, we knew the St. Patrick's Day party was going to begin early.   So, we want to be the first to wish you ...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day
 
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years.
 
On St. Patrick's Day, which falls in the middle of the Christian Lenten season, Irish families would go to church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. The Irish would dance, drink and feast on the traditional Irish Bacon and Cabbage. Lenten regulations about not eating meat were waived if necessary so that the traditional meal could be eaten.
 
Here in the United States, St. Patrick's Day has become a celebration for not only the Irish, but for all. There are parades and celebrations which include green beer. The Chicago River is dyed green each year in honor of the event.


Blarney Castle was built nearly six hundred years ago by one of Ireland's greatest chieftains, Cormac MacCarthy, and has been attracting attention beyond Munster ever since. Over the last few hundred years, millions have flocked to Blarney, making it a world landmark and one of Ireland's greatest treasures.

Blarney Castle (64 photos)

We've cruised to Ireland several times.  The collage above is made up of several images from a visit to Blarney Castle.   This is one of the favorite stops of visitors to the Cobh, Ireland area. Why not plan a cruise that includes Ireland, and kiss the Blarney stone for good luck?  We leave you with this Irish Blessing on this St. Patrick's Day.
 

 May you always have...
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire. 

If you like Travel & Photography join us each Friday!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day 2013

That's No Blarney

Happy Saint Patrick's Day
 
St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years.
 
On St. Patrick's Day, which falls in the middle of the Christian Lenten season, Irish families would go to church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. The Irish would dance, drink and feast on the traditional Irish Bacon and Cabbage. Lenten regulations about not eating meat were waived if necessary so that the traditional meal could be eaten.
 
Here in the United States, St. Patrick's Day has become a celebration for not only the Irish, but for all. There are parades and celebrations which include green beer. The Chicago River is dyed green each year in honor of the event.

Blarney Castle was built nearly six hundred years ago by one of Ireland's greatest chieftains, Cormac MacCarthy, and has been attracting attention beyond Munster ever since. Over the last few hundred years, millions have flocked to Blarney, making it a world landmark and one of Ireland's greatest treasures.

Blarney Castle (64 photos)

 

We've cruised to Ireland several times.  The collage above is made up of several images from a visit to Blarney Castle.   This is one of the favorite stops of visitors to the Cobh, Ireland area. Why not plan a cruise that includes Ireland, and kiss the Blarney stone for good luck?  We leave you with this Irish Blessing on this St. Patrick's Day.
 

 May you always have...
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire.

St. Patrick's Day Greetings from County Cork

Blarney Castle                 Charles Fort

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years.



On St. Patrick's Day, which falls in the middle of the Christian Lenten season, Irish families would go to church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. The Irish would dance, drink and feast on the traditional Irish Bacon and Cabbage. Lenten regulations about not eating meat were waived if necessary so that the traditional meal could be eaten.

Pictured above are two well-known attractions that can be visited in a day trip while docked in Cobh (Cork), Ireland.   Blarney Castle, which was constructed over 600 years ago, is most widely known for the Blarney Stone.  Legend has it that if you kiss the stone, you'll never be lost for words.  Each year visitors climb to the top to reach the stone and hang by their feet to kiss it.  The picture on the right is of Charles Fort in Kinsale, Ireland.  This 17th Century fort, which protected Kinsale, is one of the last remaining examples of a star-shaped fortress.   

More pictures and information ...  British Isles - Cork, Ireland

The Irish countryside is beautiful, the towns are quaint, and the people are very friendly. It is a great place to visit. Cruises to the British Isles stop at one or more Irish ports. June is a great time to visit Ireland. The weather is usually mild and you'll be comfortable in a light jacket on the cooler days.   Plan your Summer British Isles cruise and be sure it stops in Ireland.
 

A special offer just crossed my desk ...   here's some Saving O' the Green...

3 days of special savings on 2010  

Canada & New England - Summer Caribbean vacations 
 Special St. Patrick's Day savings event starts March 17th.

British Isles - Cork, Ireland

Last month I started to tell you about our 12 Night British Isles / Norwegian Fjords cruise on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas.

I've already talked about our pre-cruise stay in London, and our first port of call LeHavre, France.

In this post, I'll share our experiences in Cork, Ireland. This was our second time in Cork, the first being on September 13, 2001, just after the World Trade Center attacks. If you'd like to read about our first visit, you can do so on our Path of the Vikings cruise web page.

This trip, we booked a private tour with 16 other passengers with West Cork Tours , a local tour company. They tailored the tour to our desires.


Pictured above is Blarney Castle, our first stop on the tour. Upon arrival at the castle, we had a one hour guided tour of the castle grounds. The castle could be seen in the distance. A vast green field, so common in this part of Ireland, lay in front of us. We followed the path to the castle and then continued into the gardens.

The path wound thru the gardens, past rock formations, past magnificent tree roots that crossed our path, thru tunnels (good thing I'm short - see picture), and past streams.

After the guided tour portion of the tour, we had free time to explore on our own. Some of our group climbed the path to kiss the Blarney Stone. You need to hang upside down to kiss the stone. See our photo ablum for more pictures of this portion of the tour.

No trip to Blarney Castle would be complete without spending some time in Blarney Woollen Mills. Here you will find Belleek Irish China, Waterford Crystal, Galway Irish Crystal, Royal Tara Fine Bone China, and other fine Irish merchandise. The best thing is they will ship it home so that you don't have to lug it around the rest of your vacation.

Departing Blarney, we drove through the courtryside of West Cork and arrived at our next destination, Kinsale. As you can see in the picture, this is a colorful town with narrow streets, shops and galleries. We had 2.5 hours to explore the town, checking out the local bars, restaurants, and shops.

The people here are very friendly. In one shop, the shopkeeper demonstrated the art of blowing glass for us. We picked up some souvenirs and reboarded the mini-bus for our next stop, Charles Fort, which is still in Kinsale. See our photo album for more pictures of Kinsale.

Charles Fort was constructed in the late 17th century and is still in fairly decent condition. This is a classic example of a star-shaped fort consisting of five bastions. We entered through the archway where we were given a brief talk about the fort and then we had 30 minutes to explore on our own.

We took several photos while at the fort which can be seen in our photo album. All these albums are hosted on Kodak Gallery. This is a free service, that does require user registration.

There's plenty to do near Cork, Ireland. On our first visit, we spent a Day in Killarney including a stop at the restored 19th Century Muckross Manor House. Whatever you do, make sure you explore the Irish countryside - it is a sight to behold.

Happy Sailing,

Chris