Kiss Me I'm Irish (A Quick Tour of Ireland)
I'm not lying, I am part Irish (at least we think so!), someday I'll get one of those fancy genetic tests to see what I really am. For now I know I"m enough of a European Mutt I can kind of claim whatever I want to be and I have pretty good odds of being right!
The 3rd and final post of our European adventures is finally here. This summer has FLOWN by much faster than I would like. Monday I start classes as I work my way towards being a Certified Nurse Midwife. I'm excited, and nervous. It's been 3 years since undergrad, and I hope I remember how to work hard and be diligent. But alas, I digress, below you will find our wonderful tour of Ireland. It was much to short, and I have told Bryce already that it needs at least 2 weeks all to itself, so you can bet I'll be coming back here someday.
Dublin, Ireland
Our flight into Dublin was delayed in several different ways and so right off the bat my plans had to change. I had purchased tickets to go to Trinity Church and see the Book of Kells, but by time we made it to our Airbnb (late) it would have been too late for our ticket time. I was pretty sure they would still let us in, but it had already been a long morning so we decided to just rest a bit in the Airbnb and sadly, bypass this treasure. If you opt to go ticket prices are quite reasonable and you can purchase them here. I had read that the lines can get snarly and it is best to get tickets so you can guarantee to get in and not be waiting in lines forever.
Sadly, the very worst part of our trip happened in Dublin. Our Airbnb was on Parnell St, which is practically THE main street in Dublin (woops). The posting had 85 5 star reviews, so I didn't think it would be awful, I knew it wouldn't be a gem, but didn't expect what we found. When we got there they were doing construction on the trolly rail lines outside the apartment, which was very loud (jackhammers and such), and the renter must have just doused the entire apartment in bleach right before our arrival, we could hardly breath! The apartment was much worse than the pictures, and we were right above a bar which played loud music until 2 A.M., and then queue all drunk people to exit onto the street. Once they left then construction outside started again...It was a very restless night. We left a very long review for him, but he never reviewed us, so as far as we know our review was never posted. Bryce thinks somehow it was a scam...either way we were very glad to leave Dublin. We did very little else in Dublin except go to my favorite shopping center: Penny's. In Boston it's called Primark and they have the cheapest clothes in any store I've ever been too. It's similar to H&M or Forever 21, but practically everything is $5-15. So Bryce obliged and let me go. The best part of this Penny's is it's the FIRST one built! Definitely the largest department store I've ever been too.
We had diner at Flanagans Restaurant on O'Connell St. downtown. They had some amazing fish and chips. It was kind of nice to have a break from pasta and Italian. We also passed by The Spire on the way to Flannagans, I forgot to take any pictures but it was impressive!
Day 1
In the morning we headed out to get our rental car. We had quite the experience trying to find the rental car company so let me give you some tips. First we reserved it through ACE Rent A Car, which was very reasonably priced. If you drive a manual your rental will be much cheaper but since there was already going to be so much newness driving on the other side of the car and the other side of the road we decided it would be worth it to pay a little more to get an automatic. The address online says "Collinstown Business Park, Swords Rd, Dardistown, Dublin, A65 F4E2, Ireland". We took a local bus there, which was very inexpensive, it was also a double decker so that was fun to ride on top. It dropped us off right outside the entrance of the business park but it said the area was for fueling big rigs and not to trespass. We tried walking up a bit more, and realizing that was wrong too, so we tried calling customer service to no avail. We walked back and decided we would go to where google said. A guy came up (realizing we had no idea what were doing I'm sure) and we said we were looking for ACE, and he said we just passed it. The other issue was that it wasn't actually ACE, it was some other car company that partners with ACE. Anyways, go to the address, it's in there, don't be alarmed by all the semi trucks.
Bryce did great with the driving, and the streets were really not nearly as confusing as we expected. It was a little odd to go reverse direction around a round-a-bout, but he gained his confidence quickly. We also did a lot of interstate driving, which is easy. Our first stop was Dunguaire Castle.
Dunguaire Castle was much smaller than I thought it would be. It was on almost every list of castles you should see, but honestly I probably would skip it next time. You had to pay like 8 Euros to go to the top, and again, very small. You could go into the gift shop for free and they did have some neat things. So we took so pictures and off we went!
Next stop was Poulnabrone Dolmen. This is quite a drive to get to, but all in all not too much of a detour to our next stop which was the Cliffs of Moher. It was definitely worth it too. Said to have been constructed in the 3000-2000 BC as a portal tomb, basically a mass burial site. They have a lot of educational placards around as well about the area surrounding. Interestingly the stone fences were also estimated to be build around the same time. Which is astonishing since their are thousands of miles of them I'm sure, and all in remarkable shape!
The above photo was on our drive towards the cliffs going up Corkscrew Hill, it was such a beautiful lookout I had to stop!
Finally, it was time for the Cliffs of Moher! And boy, they did not disappoint. You do have to pay to park, but the fee was minimal, besides, that was definitely NOT going to stop us from visiting. We went in the visitors center to use the bathroom and stopped to get some ice cream, the view from the dining area was stunning! But we didn't tarry long there, I couldn't wait to see the cliffs. At the visitors center you have the choice of going left or right, both were quite steep climbs, we started on the right, which is where the little castle is. This is the best side to get the best pictures of the main part of the cliffs. The left is where you can go over the barriers if you dare and get close to the edge and look over. Bryce is a rule follower and since it said not go over we didn't. Who are we kidding, I wouldn't have wanted to even if it was allowed! It was windy, but not too cold, and we so enjoyed the sights! It was a bit sunny which made pictures a little hard, I have read there is ideal times to go in the day to get the best pictures, but we didn't have enough time to work that out. This was definitely my favorite part of Ireland.
Our last stop was the town of Adare, where our Airbnb was. We stayed in a quaint old thatched roof cottage, which I would highly recommend. The link to it is here. We made this our home base for the next few night and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.
Day 2
Have I told you that Bryce is an introvert and home-body. Well by this time he was about all toured out. I don't blame him one bit! So today was to be more restful than the previous day. Our only destination was Blarney Castle. It was an hour and a half drive from Adare, and we had to drive back too. On our drive out of town I spotted a neat ruin and convinced Bryce we ought to stop, we walked around it for a few minutes, but it was quite ruined (haha), so there wasn't much to look at.
On to Blarney Castle! Now I was always confused about kissing the Blarney stone, I kind of thought you just went up to the castle and kissed it wherever (which seemed odd), I did not realize you kissed just one specific stone to receive the gift of eloquence. I did realize this before making a fool of myself and kissing the first stone I saw. The park that the castle is on is so beautiful. They have a large flower garden throughout that you could spend hours looking at and walking through, in addition to little streams that run through. The castle itself is probably the coolest castle we visited. It's large and well preserved. They explain the original purpose of all the rooms which helps you get a good idea of what it may have looked like. You have to climb all the way to the top to kiss the stone, the line was semi-long when we were there so we were stranded in the skinny winding stair case for a while. If you're claustrophobic this might not be for you. Bryce didn't want to kiss the stone (germs and all), but I'm a nurse and nothing's killed me yet! There is a guy that helps you lean all the way back, upside down to kiss the single stone. I'm still unsure if I received my gift or not.
For dinner we stopped at The Arches in downtown Adare. I highly recommend this place! It's the cutest place that a mother and son own and run. It's so nicely decorated and reminds me of an old time cafe or something. I recommend the fish and chips!
Day 3
In the morning our mission was to find a place that served a traditional Irish breakfast. The lady at our Airbnb recommended breakfast at Dunraven Arms Hotel. The structure of breakfast was a little bit confusing at first, but basically you could choose from a smaller breakfast or a larger full breakfast. I got the full breakfast, Bryce got the smaller one because he only wanted pancakes. You could choose from any hot item from the kitchen and as much of it as you wanted too. Bryce ended up getting 7 pancakes! And then you could help yourself to the items at the buffet. My conclusion is an Irish breakfast just equals lots of meat. See proof below.
Our next stop for the day was the Rock of Cashel. It was built around the 12th century and has a long and rich history. St Patrick visited this place and converted a king back in the day. The admission comes with a free guided tour that takes an hour. There were a lot of people when we were there, but it was a neat stop and I'm glad we followed the tour as I wouldn't have known a thing about it if I hadn't! From the wall you could see below to Hore Abbey, we were running short on time so we didn't go down to it, but I think it would be a neat stop!
Our last stop for the day and where stayed the night was Kilkenny. Since we had such a large breakfast we opted to do our touring first and have an early dinner after. First stop: Kilkenny Castle. Now this castle is a bit different than the other ones you'll find in Ireland as it's been restored to what it looked like when it was last occupied. It's gorgeous and helped to give an idea to what some of the other desolate ruins may have looked like.
For dinner we went to Kyteler's Inn, which I had heard had great live music, unfortunately since we had an early dinner we were too early for the music. The food was pretty good though! It was established in the 1300's and I really don't think much has changed since then, giving it a neat historic feel.
The next day we drove the rest of the way to Dublin, completing our circle and flying back to the states. One thing we didn't accomplish on this trip was exploring more ruins. It was unfortunate that most of our driving was on the interstate and you can't see a thing from the interstate as their are trees or tall fences the entire way. When I go back I'm going to try to get off the main roads to explore those little known ruins that no one else is at. I hope you found this informative! Feel free and let me know if you have any questions.
