august 5th: a trip to wexford, ireland

8/7/2015

busing to wexford

Caitriona, Matt and I headed to Wexford around 8:30am. Today's plan consisted of the Hook Lighthouse, a haunted house called Loftus Hall, freshly caught seafood at Kilmore Quay and checking out the beach town of Wexford.

Our first stop was Wexford. Caitriona's mother picked us up at the bus station. We all headed to brunch at a place called D'Lush Cafe. I, again, had a full Irish breakfast. What another great meal to start my day off.

The town from the bay

All four of us then headed to the Hook Lighthouse. Here's a little bit more about the lighthouse. Hook Lighthouse near Wexford, is voted the #1 lighthouse in the world by Lonely Planet. The 13th century lighthouse sits on the Waterford Harbor where the entrance has been used for over 2,000 years. The lighthouse is the oldest operational lighthouse in the world, with the main structure dating back 800 years ago to the Medieval era. Monks were the first to build the lighthouse. Three-hundred years later, monks were still operating the lighthouse by coal. It wasn't until the mid-19th century, the lighthouse switched to lanterns to light the way for boats in the area.

While exploring the area, Matt and I found a hidden cave with still water and light seeping through the cracks.

After the lighthouse, all of us went to the haunted Loftus Hall. With limited time and other things to see, we didn't go inside the house. The tour was limited to begin with. I did, however, take photos of the outside.

Loftus Hall is a large mansion on the Hook peninsula near Wexford. It is said to have been haunted by the devil and by the ghost of a young woman.

The Redmond family built the original house in 1350 during the time of the Black Death. A side note here, the Black Death was one of the most devastating situations in human history. It resulted in an estimated death toll of 75 to 200 million. The peak years were 1346-1356 in Europe.

It replaced their original castle a few years back. The Hall became the property of the Loftus family in the 1650s. The building that exists today was heavily renovated between 1870 and 1879. In 1917, Loftus Hall was bought by the Sisters of Providence. It was then turned into a convent and a school for young girls interested in joining the order. In 1983, the building was turned into a hotel, which closed in the mid-1990s.

To read more about the ghost story, click here.

After seeing Loftus Hall, the four of us headed to Kilmore Quay to have freshly caught Haddock fish and chips. The sites driving up were beautiful even in the miserable weather.

The fish and chips weren't half bad. I could almost say they were the best I'd ever had.

The fish looks small in the photos. Don't be fooled. They were some of the biggest filets of fried fish I'd ever seen.

After fish and chips, we headed to a small town to walk around the countryside. I had always wanted to see the Irish countryside with sheep roaming around.