June 30

So today we traveled around Ireland. Our first stop was to the bunratty village and castle and it was really interesting. it was built in the 1400’s but has gone through several restorations, with the altest being in 1954. the word “bun” means bottom in Gaelic and “ratty” is the ratty river. In other words the village is located at the bottom of the ratty river. A few things that were interesting were that there were small doors throughout the whole castle. The reasoning behind this was because it was a military defense tactic. The small doors prevented large armies from entering the castle because they were forced to enter one at a time. Also, in the dungeon of the castle there were steps that led the prisoners down to the cell, however the last step was 15 ft tall. They would blind fold the prisoners and not tell them about the last step. Also another interesting fact was that they have a pre keltic fertility symbol that is one of the only ones still in tact. I guess people would come to worship this and rub it if they were having problems having children and it was supposed to help. The castle was very fascinating and so was the village surroudnign it. Ireland is everything i had imaged it to be. It is sooo beautiful and green. we had a beautiful sunset and finally made it to our hostel. we were all so tired but even still none of us slept well.