Worldwanderings

Wandering the world a day at a time

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Powerscourt Gardens

One of the main features of the Powerscourt Estate and Gardens is the main building that you see in the the tourism brochures. That is actually the main Powerscourt house. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire until it was renovated. That being said, must of the house is now retail units which means you would spend most of your time outside the house. The gardens at the Powerscourt Estate are one of the places worth visiting here. The estate is so large that it feels like it is public park where you can just walk around. The gardens as you can see are very well kept. I imagine that maintaining the grounds and keeping them looking their best uses up a lot of money.

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Powerscourt Estate and Gardens

The Powerscourt Estate and Gardens is one of the places that I would see in Ireland tourism brochures. I actually never had the interest to visit this place since it just seemed to be just a fancy house and their very large garden. I thought that I would need a least a day stay in the area to be able to visit here since it would be too far for me to make it just a day trip. I finally got a chance to visit since I was in Enniskerry to see the pretty little village. Apparently, the Powerscourt Estate and Gardens is just next door. We took a rather roundabout way to get to the estate because somehow the satnav got confused and thought that there was no way for us to get there without going around the entire estate. Just so you know, the estate is very large.

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Going to Powerscourt Estate

I was in the pretty little village of Enniskerry to see the film set of Disney's movie Disenchanted. There were a lot of people here and it was hard to get around. Parking was impossible in the village because of the sheer number people here. We had to park further up the road at an improvised parking lot, which is actually a field and pay two euro to get to the village. It is actually near enough to walk, so your choice. We decided that we had enough of the village. After all, there was only that one street you can photograph. We decided to move on. What I didn't know was the there was another well known attraction that was nearby - Powerscourt Estate.

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Exploring Enniskerry

Ireland seems to be a popular place for film makers to film at. There have been quite a few, as probably most notably Star Wars flimed not once but twice here in separate places. I would agree that Ireland has quite a lot of offer as far as film locations are concerned. Now, I find out that Disney is once again filming in Ireland this time for the movie Disenchanted. The film location is the village of Enniskerry in county Wicklow. I know that county Wicklow is a beautiful place and I would like to see it properly but this is not the time to do it. I am here with friends and I would just be tagging along.

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Enniskerry

Enniskerry is said to be one of the most beautiful villages in Ireland. Small wonder that it was used as a film set by different companies, most recently, Disney in the film Disenchanted. I don't really know much about the movie but this is supposed to be the village the lead actress, who used to live in a fairy tale world, got pulled into. In true Disney fashion, the village was dolled up. It seems that anywhere you can stick flowers in, they would have already done so. There shops were renamed into more fairy tale like names, often with references to Disney stories - like Painting, Painting on the Wall or Tower of Hair. I will leave it up to you to figure out the reference to Disney on those.

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Going to Enniskerry

I have never been a huge movie person. I, of course, would still know about very well known movies without actually watching them, usually through advertisements online. I probably would watch a movie once a year and that is if I am feeling it. So when someone was asking to go to the Irish village of Enniskerry because some movie was being filmed there, I wasn't really sure about it. I heard about the movie, Disenchanted, it is the sequel to the movie Enchanted. Apparently, there were using the village as movie prop. I was told that the entire village has been decorated so it was actually a good time to go see it. My friend was more hoping to catch a glimpse of the actors in the movie, but I didn't care about that.

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Pat Collins Bar

I timed my journey back from Kenmare so that I would reach the pretty village of Adare by noon. By this time, there were already shops open for outdoor dining. I thought I was lucky to be out on holiday during this time. I was miserable for the first two days because I can only do take out food, so it is basically fish and chips, pizza or burger. With outdoor dining finally open, I got a chance to eat something else other than that. That is if I can find a seat. I started at one end of Adare, and indeed, there were several which already have tables outside. Unfortunately, I seemed to have arrived a bit too late and there were already a lot of people eating.

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Adare

It was the end of my short break at the West Cork. I visited quite a lot of the places I wanted to see but they weren't in the best conditions so I think I might end up coming back some other time. It is a challenge to get here since it is literally at the opposite end of where I was based. This morning was much better than it was so I don't have to worry about lashing rain or blinding fog while I make the trip back. Along the way, I decided to take a lunch break at the pretty little village of Adare. I have always passed through this village but I never actually stopped. The closest thing to stopping I did was the bad traffic that seems to be present every time I pass through.

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Going to Ardare

I am glad that I got to visit West Cork. It wasn't 100% great weather here since the previous day was just awful. But I got to see a lot of places and I still enjoyed the trip even if my photos never turned out the way I hoped they would. Having said that, I never got to visit all the places that I wanted to. I managed to visit the Mizen Peninsula as well as the Sheep's Head Peninsula. However, the Beara Peninsula was one of my targets and I didn't have time to visit it. I didn't bother squeezing it in even if I did have the time for it. The weather was bad that day and I just didn't think it would be worth making that trip there. I would use that as a reason to come back here instead.

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The Coachman's

I probably knew that today was going to be a washout. The day didn't start right because it was so rainy and eventually there was a persistent fog along the coast which made seeing the sights all but impossible. At the end of the day, I went to the town of Bantry to look for a place to eat but there wasn't any for some reason. I would have thought that a town that large would already have quite a few restaurants open. The restrictions on eating a restaurants were just lifted and I guess the shop owners weren't ready for that. I decided to call it quits and just head back to Kenmare where I would be spending the night at.

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Bantry Harbor

I head to Bantry Harbor in the hopes that I would be able to find a place to eat for dinner. It was still late afternoon, so I still have time to have a look around first. Bantry seems to be a pretty little town. It has a nice harbor here much like a lot of coastal towns in Cork. There is a nice little coastal walk you can do here which takes you along the harbor road and you can get to see the town and the harbor. The path here is very well made and it is safe even if it is right beside the main highway getting into town.

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Bantry Town Square

When I first arrived at the town of Bantry in county Cork. I parked the car at the town square. It is a large plaza in front of Bantry Harbor. I thought it was very impressive that the town was able to build such a large square considering the size of the town. I would argue that the square is disproportionately large compared to the town itself. But it is a nice luxury to have such space in the middle of town. Actually, not all of this was square before. It used to be that the harbor extends all the way here but over the years, they decided to fill up this part of the harbor and turn it in to a very large square.

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Bantry

At this point in the day, I have pretty much given up on getting nice blue sky photos of the Mizen Peninsula. I have been moving around the whole day and it seems that the thick fog is not letting up. I just kept all these new places at the back of my mind so that I would remember to come back for it the next time. It is a pain if this happens because Cork is not the easiest place to get to from where I am based. I guess that makes it a good reason for me to come visit this area again. I was finally done with the Sheep's Head peninsula where the view was a whole lot of nothing because of the thick fog. I decided to call it quits and just start to head back.

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Exploring Sheep's Head

As far as I am concerned, today has been a total washout. Of course, I was speaking metaphorically, because there was no rain today only the very thick and persistent fog and obscures the view from some of West Cork's most beautiful places. Sheep's Head is one of these places and it is similarly obscured by the thick fog. There is obviously very little I can do about this. I came here in the hope that it would be different but it wasn't the case. Curiously, the wind is also quite strong here. I would have thought that the winds would have blew away the fog but I was wrong. There is a walking part from the car park to further down the peninsula. I believe there is a lighthouse somewhere there but I can't see it.

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Sheep's Head

Sheep's Head promises to be one of those places which would blow you away. These places are very common in Ireland, especially in West Cork. This is one of the reasons why I decided to come here. Unfortunately, the weather this way was not coorperating. The constant fog was very persistent that ordinarily I wouldn't have even considered going out but I was already in the area and it was my last day in Cork so I should at least familiarize myself with these place for a next visit. Sheep's Head sits at the very end of the Sheep's Head Peninsula. It is a long finger of land not unlike several places here here in Cork. It is amazing to see how many peninsulas are there in this small area of Cork alone.

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Going to Sheep's Head

I have pretty much written off the day as a wash. The skies weren't clearing and it only seemed to get worse as the day went by. I decided to press on with my itinerary. I think I will just remember to make a note of which places I need to revisit. I already know that I would need to add Mizen Peninsula to that list since that was the point of today's trip. I decided to start going to the next spot which is Sheep's Head. Much like Mizen Head, Sheep's Head is also in its own little peninsula also called Sheep's Head. You can clearly see from the map how this finger of land sticks out into the sea. But you also realize that it would not be easy getting there from Mizen Peninsula.

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Going to Barleycove Beach

I was very disappointed that I didn't get to see much of Mizen Head, despite actually being there. The weather was so bad that visibility was very poor. I couldn't even see beyond the car park. The sightseeing bridge here are Mizen Head was also off limits to visitors so there was very little for me to do or even see here. I was disappointed because I was planned the whole visit to Cork on a visit to Mizen Head. Much as I have already seen quite a few places here in Cork, having the main destination turn out to be a disappointment was a downer. Anyway, I decided to start retracing my steps.

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