Ireland - Part 3 - Crosses, Cliffs, and Castles OH MY!

DISCLAIMER: The blogs about Ireland do not have recipes. *GASP*

Besides green, one thing Ireland has tons of is Celtic crosses (and I kinda fell in love with them!)The one above and below are from Clonmacnoise (which was founded in 545 AD.)
This one is from the Rock of Cashel (which is a castle, but we're not to that subject yet.)
Then there are cliffs. Beautiful and majestic and ruggedThe above cliffs are the Cliffs of Moher. For the more adventurous, the below are Slieve League (Cliffs of Slieve - slieve = mountain.) They are almost three times higher than the cliffs of Moher.
Check out the pieced together panoramic.

With all this majestic land around them, I can see why people in Ireland built castles. They had to try to be as wonderful as the cliffs!

Above is what's left of the Rock of Cashel and below is taken from the inside. It must have been quite an impressive castle back in the days.

Below is Kilkenny Castle. Can you believe people still lived here in the 1900s?! The last family to live here was the Butler Family.

Speaking of Butlers....I read in my guidebook that Butler's Chocolate Cafe (Butler's) in Dublin was a chocoholics paradise.

I picked an assortment of chocolates and regrettably I have to say that none of them wowed me. The Bailey's cream filled one was the best and most enjoyable, but nothing to write home about.

Grant it...I've recently been spoiled with amazing chocolate in Charleston, SC (Christophe Artisan Chocolatier), so Butler's had a lot to live up to.

I also spotted a brownie that I HAD to try.

Unfortunately, I learned after taking this photo that this was the BOTTOM of the brownie, and not the top. It didn't have a very good chocolate flavor (and personally, the supernatural brownies I make are TONS better.)

Ah well. One not so amazing dessert on my trip did not make me turn my back on desserts for good. :)

Bake well and prosper!