Ennis
We took an overnight flight to Shannon, Ireland and landed around 9am. Having not been able to sleep on the flight, it probably wasn't the best idea to hop in a rental and drive several hours (on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car) to the Cliffs of Moher. Mary the driver, Julie the navigator and Holly asleep in the backseat! We should have realized we were in trouble when Mary started the rental and tried to drive away, but the car was making a streaking sound... Then a nice man walked up and told us we still had on the emergency break! :)
After taking in the views of the Cliffs we drove to the
beautiful city of Ennis and checked into the Old Ground Hotel. We later
walked the streets, shopping, grabbing dinner and drinks, then stopped in a
local pub where Holly insisted we each have an Irish Car bomb, since
we were in Ireland after all. Obviously, this was not Holly's first
rodeo!
The next day we toured Bunratty Castle and the surrounding
village of Folk Park where, after touring the castle, Holly and Julie took
a break at the local pub for a quick pint (or two)!
Later that evening we had dinner reservations at Knappogue
Castle for a medieval banquet and show. When we arrived, we were greeted
with a cup of Irish whiskey! We had a great time listening to the
musicians, watching the dancers and enjoying the evening. And we were
even seating next to two ladies that were from Baton Rouge... what
are the chances?!?! After the show, we mingled and met a nice family, the
Dunne's. They invited us to a local pub for the night. We had a
great time hanging out and laughing with the whole family! Holly even got
to go behind the bar and pull a pint of Guinness! They later said it was
"the worst pint ever pulled" and was full of foam that never settled! lol
Dingle
We took the 3-hour drive to Dingle choosing to take
Conor Pass, the highest mountain pass in Ireland. this scenic
drive provides the most dramatic and way of entering Dingle. The road was
as narrow as a one lane road, but served as two lanes. We took
extreme caution when we would meet other vehicles (while holding our breath of
course), even had to pull in our side mirrors and edge to the side of the
mountain so we wouldn't hit. We didn't even have a hotel room booked for
Dingle, we stayed at the first place we stopped... The Dingle Pub! We ate
dinner, enjoyed the night entertainment and slept all in one spot! :) It wasn't
the nicest room but it had three beds and was comfortable!
We spent the afternoon shopping and walking around town,
then had dinner and enjoyed some nice Irish music in the pub. We had a
nice night then woke up early to head to Cork. But before leaving we
decided to take another beautiful scenic drive, Slea Head drive and stopped at
a couple antique stores and a museum and Holly made friends with a goat.
Cork
We made the 2 1/2-hour drive from Dingle to Cork with only
minor navigation issues. We settled in the room then walked around the
town and had dinner at a local pub and watched (and learned) Gaelic
football. It was rather confusing at first, but the locals explained the
mix of basketball, football and soccer where the players are allowed to cross
the ball to the other side of the field by carrying, bouncing, kicking and hand
passing to other players or in a soccer style goal for 3 points or the upright
football style goal for one point.
The next morning, we were up early, in the car headed to Kinsale and
Cobh for a day trip. Our first stop, about 15 miles from Cork, was
the beautiful fishing village of Kinsale. We walked the streets filled
with cafes bakeries and shops.
After several hours in Kinsale, we started our, what should
have been short journey to Cobh. However, we kept getting lost trying to
find the ferry over to Cobh. After finding and waiting in the car line
for the ferry for about 30 minutes, we realized that we were at the wrong
ferry. The line we were waiting in would have taken us to the UK! So, we
were off again asking for direction several times, we finally made it to the
correct ferry and eventually to Cobh. Cobh, which was known as Queenstown
until 1920, is a tourist seaport town and is home to Ireland's only dedicated
cruise terminal. On April 11, 1912, Queenstown/Cobh was famously the last
port of call for the RMS Titanic when she set out on her maiden voyage across
the Atlantic.
On our way back to Cork, we stopped at Barryscourt
Castle. That was built in the 16th century and was the seat to the Barry
family. Much of the castle and grounds have been restored with fittings
and furnishing reinstated. The grounds also hold an apple and herb
orchid.
After dinner and drinks at a pub in Cork, we
met some locals and they brought us to a club where we were able to let loose
and enjoy the crazy dancing of the Irish! :) Oh, and Holly and Julie
managed to out drink the Irish....
The next morning, we were off to the Blarney Castle to kiss
the infamous Blarney Stone. The Blarney Stone is a block of Carboniferous
limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle. According to
legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab. The
stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. The ritual of kissing
the Blarney Stone, according to the castle's proprietors, has been performed by
"millions of people", including "world statesmen, literary
giants and legends of the silver screen". We took the long journey to
climb to the very top of the castle, if you look closely at the picture below
you can see the line of people at the very top of the castle waiting
to kiss the stone, and enjoyed the breathtaking views. The kiss,
however, is not casually achieved. To touch the stone with one's lips, you must
lay must ascend to the castle's peak, then lean over backwards on the parapet's
edge. This thankfully was done with the help of a guide and the parapet is now
fitted with wrought-iron guide rails and protective crossbars! We were
all pretty terrified, but none more than Holly. You must reach
back pretty far to actually kiss the stone. However due to
Holly's fear, she wasn't able to reach and kissed the stone above the
stone. We all disinfected after the kiss! :)
After the kissing of the stone we walked around the massive
estate visiting the grounds and gardens, the Blarney house and even got lost in
the dungeon. We also found a huge tree that we all THOUGHT we could climb....
Julie was the only one to successfully climb it! We all got a good laugh
at watching each other attempt it though!
Dublin
The next day we took our last drive to Dublin and happily
turned in our rental car! No more navigating the round-abouts for us! We
checked into the Ashling hotel that was just across the Liffey from the
Guinness Factory (view from our room pictured below). That night we made
our way to Temple Bar and boy was Dublin so much different from the rest of
Ireland. The amount of people and crowds were a little much to handle but
we managed to have a couple pints and enjoy ourselves.
We got a good night’s sleep (or as good of a night’s sleep
as you can get with no AC). The next morning, we were busy seeing the
sights. First stop was mass and tour of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and
a visit to Marsh's Library (opened to the public in 1701, was
the first public library in Ireland). The next stop was a walk through
the cobbled stones of Trinity College Dublin and the old library
which houses the Book of Kells - a 9th-century gospel manuscript famous
throughout the world. We also stumbled upon the Brazen Head, Ireland's oldest
pub!
We had an early morning tour schedule at the Jamison
distillery the next morning (later we discovered that a 10am tour of a
distillery wasn't such a great idea). Somehow, we were chosen to be the
official whiskey taste testers. Funny how not many volunteered for this
task so early! After the tour and taste testing, we decided to get a bite to
eat at the restaurant in the distillery annnnnd another drink. Mary was a
light weight of course... see her pic leaving... lol
After a successful trip to Jamison, we deiced to visit
Guinness. Liquor before beer right, or is It the other way around?!?!?!?!
Either way we had fun. At the end of the Guinness tour, you are to have a
pint at the Gravity Bar that sits atop the Guinness Storehouse and has
uninterrupted 360 views of the city.
After a much needed mid-day nap, we woke up got dressed and
took the bus to Malahide, a city just north of Dublin, to meet our
new friends. One of the guys we met when we first arrived in
Ireland band was playing that night and some of the family members were
making the drive out to the Dublin area for the Spikes show. We had a
great time hanging out and drinking and getting out of the craziness
that is Dublin.
Our flight left the next day and it was back to reality....