Celtic Odyssey: The Bunratty

The Christian group I’m in at UVA, Chi Alpha, has grown quite large and many of its members live together in Christian houses (of which I will be in one this coming year – and I’m SO excited for that). Well, one of the houses is named the Bunratty, after the castle in Ireland, and I think it’s the only one named after a real place. Naturally, since I was in Ireland and I would be going in that direction, I decided I had to go see it. Plus, it would be a different experience from the other castle experiences because it has a medieval village and banquet. So this was definitely a priority for my weekend out west. Unfortunately, everyone else had either already been to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher or already had plans this weekend to go with me, so I had to go it alone. A little nerve-racking, certainly uncomfortable because I HATE doing things by myself, but it was either don’t go, or go solo. So I chose solo (but not really, I had Jesus as a travel buddy, and honestly, who’s better than Him?). I rode the train out to Limerick because that was the closest city to the Bunratty. I originally intended to check into my hostel first, but I called and found out that I could check in at any time. Still, I walked around Limerick for a few minutes first and was very surprised. It was mostly residential, especially for a somewhat large city and it was readily apparent that I was a tourist – which I didn’t like at all because I didn’t want to bring attention to myself since I was alone. No, it didn’t help that I was wearing a small orange bookbag or a green rain jacket that said Ireland, but honestly I don’t think anything I could have done would have helped my case much. There just weren’t many people on the streets and those who were there obviously lived there so I was pretty doomed. Fortunately, the bus station was adjoined to the train station, so I decided the best plan was to head on over to the Bunratty to see the castle before it closed to prep for the banquet.

The Bunratty kind of looks like the Blarney castle from the outside because of it’s extreme rectangular shape and high small windows, but it does have unique large arches in the front and back. It has fabulous furnishings inside – many intricately carved dowery chests (apparently work would begin the day a girl was born), drawers, tapestries and paintings. To compare it to the other castles, if Kilkenny is kind of the feminine, dainty castle with its polished beauties and overall elegant persona, then the Bunratty would have the super manly debonair persona (image that comes to mind is Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, but minus the major character flaws). I say this because there were chandeliers made of antlers, lots of animal heads and things like that. It was actually really fun going through this castle because there were so many more passageways that you could explore. Granted I love exploring new houses, but I felt like a little kid in a candy shop because there were spiral staircases in each corner and they each led to different rooms. Let the mad dash begin! Afterwards, I went to the medieval village. There were many cottages like the ones I’d seen in The Secret of Roan Innish (an Irish movie we watched a lot when I was young – which my co-workers told me should be called Innish Roan (Island, then name) haha oh well). These kinds of cottages have stone sides, whitewashed to protect from the rain and thatched roofs that are think . Inside, they had peat (aka turf) fires going. I’ve never smelled peat before but I decided I liked it. It definitely smells like burned dirt (it essentially is dried out bog dirt that is burned), but it has a nice kind of homey, earthy smell. Some of the places to see in the village were the Bunratty house, the town church, and two different kinds of water mills. They were all very cool, but much of the same kind of décor and all that. I had an hour to spare after seeing everything that was interesting, so I sat on a bench to read a book. Well, turns out that you can have a wedding photoshoot at the Bunratty and the couple and their entourage were going around and getting photos at different places (they were Irish – I can tell now by facial features). So of course, they picked the opening to the garden that used the bench I was sitting on. They didn’t make me move, but I did anyways because I didn’t want to ruin their photos. I guess there were some scenic shots on the castle grounds; I guess that’s a good idea for weddings.

The banquet dinner started at 530pm. As you arrived, you were greeted by minstrels (of course, in full medieval garb), led to the main hall (two stories upstairs) and given mead as you awaited the arrival of the other guests. Meaad is fermented honey, tastes like white wine with honey in it, and let me tell you – it is potent! I had maybe half a cup (because I paid for it in the overall cost) and I was feeling it after just that. Granted, I hadn’t eaten much that day (deliberately so I’d have a chance at the four course meal awaiting me), but older adults there were commenting on how strong it was, so I think it really must be potent. We were offered a piece of bread to dip in salt, and once we ate it, we were then officially welcomed as guests of the Lord and Lady. In the center of the room, a harpist serenaded us (and she was really good). We were then officially greeted by the minstrel team and given a bit of history about the castle. It had been rebuilt several times as it had been burned down several times before that. The current building is the one that the O’Brien familiy lived in and maintained, followed by the Earl of Thomond. Some wealthy Irishman who collected medieval stuff donated the furniture and décor. Apparently, mead is a special occasion delicacy (we’re talking weddings special) as it was believed the honey aided in fertility and that the new couple should drink it for a full moon cycle, hence the term honeymoon (which really means you should be on vacation for a month haha). They then proceeded to pick a couple to act as the Earl and Lady of Thomond and then led us all to the dining hall. The lucky couple got to sit in the seat of honor and were served each course first (pretty cool!). I got the best seat in the house: center table, seat closest to the stage! A family from Montreal sat next to me – they were really nice. The grandfather, Jean Guy, was a real joker (reminds me of my grandpa), and his granddaughter and her friend were really nice. I even got to practice a bit of French! The first set (I think that was the word they used for each course) was a vegetable soup and bread. The Earl had to approve it before it could be served, and if he hadn’t liked it, the cook would have got the boot (supposedly). We only had knives for the meal because people didn’t have forks back then. That was fine for the soup, we just drank it out of the bowl. It was quite good. The next set was spare ribs – they were succulent, the meat almost melted in your mouth. Before this was served, one of the minstrels had to sample it to make sure it wasn’t poisoned (he did a very good acting job, it was quite amusing). Side note, this is when they finally brought the water out because up until now, there was only red and white wine (I don’t really like wine so I welcomed the water). A violinist, and an excellent one at that, provided the background music as we ate. Then, as the minstrels had warned us earlier, someone had ‘misbehaved’ and it was time to punish them. They had used little kids slamming the dungeon door earlier to remind us to be courteous of our host’s gracious generosity, but one man disregarded it and was ‘messing with the ladies.’ (not really of course). So he got thrown in the dungeon, but then we let him come and plead on his knees before the Earl. His payment was singing us a tune, which he started ‘take me out to the ball game.’ Not the most period appropriate song, but it was pretty funny. And the little kids got such a kick out of slamming the dungeon door it was hilarious. The third set was a lemon chicken dish with carrots, turnips (I think, it was some white veggie), grapes, and boiled potatoes. It was very good (and don’t forget, no forks!). We were then serenaded by the full minstrel group singing a’cappella, then accompanied by the very talented violinist, then a harp solo. We enjoyed our final set during the show, a raspberry mouse thing which was really good. I can’t say I ate all of the food on my plates, but I tried since it was expensive to do this (though maybe not, I think it was probably worth the price). The music was just excellent and honestly I really enjoyed myself – everyone was very nice, the minstrels were quite amusing and the food was really, really good. As we left, there was a bagpiper playing just outside the castle doors, which was really cool. I said goodbye to the nice family from Montreal and headed back to Limerick.

So I didn’t want to ride in a taxi to my hotel because, while I’ve ridden in quite a few during Semester at Sea, I didn’t like the idea of getting into one by myself. Especially knowing that it was 99% guaranteed to be a male taxi driver as I have yet to see a female driver, even in Dublin. As it’s light outside in Ireland until almost 11pm, I decided to walk. It was a pretty straight shot, get to the main road, take a right, walk down other main road for a long time. Well, that’s what I did. I stopped and asked some police officers to make sure I was on the right track and they confirmed that. When I got to the intersection where they told me I should see it and I didn’t, I was a little worried. I decided to ask a group of guys playing hurling and they told me it was five minutes up (which it was). I stayed and chatted with them for a while because they let me try a bit of hurling. Hurling is one of Ireland’s two indigenous sports (the other is Gaelic football) and is kind of a cross between baseball and field hockey. You have a stick much like that in field hockey, but you can throw and hit the ball like baseball. Needless to say, I wasn’t that great at hitting it, though I did hit the slotte (ball) with the hurl (stick). So maybe if I were to practice, I could get somewhat decent at it. It was fun though and it was cool I got to talk to some locals for a little while. Then I went to my hotel and went to sleep.