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| Enjoying Guinness, a sandwich and the view on top of the Guinness factory. |
I had no intention
of blogging about Ireland. Enough of you asked for recommendations and
suggestions regarding Ireland that I sat down to write a “brief summary” of our
highlights. After writing my summary I decided to throw in a few pictures
and make it a blog after all. More pictures can be found on my Facebook page.
While we missed
many things, we thoroughly enjoyed everything we did see.
My knowledge of
Irish history is weak at best. A friend
recommended I see two movies before departing.
I’m glad we followed her advice, which I will pass on to you. Watch the movies Bloody Sunday and Michael
Collins.
Dublin
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| Oscar Wilde at the park in Dublin keeping an eye on his old home. |
The beginning of
our trip was through the Rubicon Theatre and was spent in Dublin. They provided us with numerous experiences which we loved.
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| While in Dublin we were given a tour of a theatre including the dressing rooms, stage, and history of the building. |
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| After watching The Constant Wife by Somerset Maugham we met the star. |
We
missed seeing: Trinity College and Book of Nells. That
should not be missed. Whether you like Guinness beer or not it’s
worth a tour of the factory/museum in town. Make sure to get your
complementary Guinness beer at the top of the building and enjoy the views.
The beer is smooth and delicious in Ireland. Definitely go see Riverdance and try to get seats
close to the front.
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| Riverdance was fantastic! |
We did a day trip out
of Dublin to Glendalough, which was beautiful and interesting.
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I have a thing about old cemeteries. I love visiting them. This one is in Glendalough.
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Included
in the day was Powerscourt Estate. We loved walking the gardens.
Both places were worth the day trip which was done by organized tour.
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| Powercourt Estate viewed from the gardens |
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| View looking out at the formal gardens with the Sugarloaf Mountain in the background. |
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| Famous gate found in the garden of the Powercourt Estate. |
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| The Powercourt Estate has an animal cemetery for the family's pets including their favorite milking cows. Here you see "Faithful Beyond Human Fidelity" |
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| Stone arches found in the garden |
We
missed Newgrange, which is another place to visit if you can find the
time. We found the Hop On Hop Off Bus not worth the time. Unfortunately
Dublin streets are all torn up as they are putting in a new light rail system.
I think Dublin is probably prettier than what we experienced with so much
construction everywhere. They do have beautiful flowers hanging from many
buildings and a lovely park in the center of town. If you like theatre
then indulge in some shows while in Dublin. They were as good as anything
we’ve seen in NY.
Food:
We were kept busy with the theatre group and going to shows so dinner was
something to be squeezed in before or after shows. A chief friend
recommends The Pig’s Ear for dinner. Make reservations! The Winding
Stair is supposed to be a great brunch spot. For our last evening we had a delicious dinner with our fellow Rubicon Theatre travelers at the 2 Star Michelin rated restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in the Merrion Hotel where we were staying.
From Dublin we
rented a car and were on our own. We used a travel agent Carolyn at Town
and Country Travel in Thousand Oaks.
Having Carolyn made our life so much easier. She handled the car
rental, hotels, suggested activities, sights, and restaurants
in all the places we were visiting. She was a gem and helped make the
trip as successful as it was.
If you are very
brave (or crazy/foolish like us) rent a car and drive. You will be on the
wrong side of the road with the gearshift in the middle (using your left hand). The roads are scary narrow with hedgerows on either side. Rent as
small a car as possible (which depends on how much luggage you carry).
We stopped in Galway on our way to Gregans Castle and
had a delicious lunch in a Spanish restaurant (tapas) at Cava Bodega. We recommend taking time to walk around
Galway.
Gregan’s Castle in
County Clare was our first destination after Dublin. The scenery was
fascinating and unusual. You definitely should hike the Burren, which is
a vast limestone plateau with few trees but interesting vegetation. Try
going with a guide and you will learn much which will stand you in good stead
for the rest of your exploration of the Island. While our hike was
arranged through the hotel, others joined us and paid 15 Euro for a tour that
lasted 4 hours. (It was supposed to be a 3-hour walk but the guide loves
what he does and the 4 of us soaked up everything he had to say.) The
views were magnificent because we were lucky to have a hot sunny day.
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| The Burren. Isn't Ireland always clear and sunny like this? |
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| Spectacular views while hiking. |
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| I strongly recommend hiking sticks for this outing unless you are a mountain goat. |
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| It was a great hike |
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| Ancient wall which was part of a round structure at the top of the mountain we climbed. One story says it was a fort. Another story says it was home to a group of people who lived inside the walls. |
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| Another style of stone wall. Placing the stones vertically made sure that the stones stayed in place without mortar. |
We
wanted a simple dinner the night we arrived at Gregans Castle and were sent to
Linnane’s Seafood Bar and Restaurant. The fish is either locally
grown or caught. At low tide we saw the bags of clams and mussels that
are stored in the bay until the restaurant is ready to serve them. That’s
what we call fresh.
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| View after dinner at Linnanes. |
Another must see
while in County Clare are the Cliffs of Moher. You need to be
fortunate enough to have the fog lift to appreciate the magnificent cliffs.
We were only partially lucky.
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| O'Brian's Tower at the Cliffs of Moher. There are a lot of tourists here. |
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Cliffs of Moher starting to appear
through the mist. |
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| The Cliff's of Moher with the fog finally lifting as we were leaving. |
Next was Sheen
Falls Lodge in Kenmare, County Kerry. After arriving we went for a
hot, humid but beautiful hike along the river starting at our hotel.
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| The hike along the river starting from our hotel. |
After the hike we skipped the tour of salmon
smoking and instead sat at the bar overlooking the river and enjoyed a Guinness
along with a simple dinner.
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River view while enjoying dinner and a Guinness beer.
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Another
day was spent enjoying activities offered through the hotel. The falconry
experience will never be forgotten. You can arrange the falconry treat independently through Killarney Falconry.
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| Falconry is fascinating. We had the best experience with Killarney Falconry. We recommend them highly! |
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| Whoooo is the most handsome the two? |
Skeet shooting was a blast:)
Not that Tom and I are competitive or anything like that, but I must brag
that we both shot “doubles” meaning one clay disk after another come out and we
each got two shots and scored on each shot.
Hayfield Manor in
Cork was our last stop. We took a little
ferry out to Garinish Island where we walked the gardens and then had a tour of
the house, which included the history of the home and island.
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| Part of the gardens at Garinish Island |
After Kerry and
Dingle, the Beara Peninsula is the third major “ring” (circular road around a
peninsula) in the west. We weren’t up to
driving the other “rings” so we chose to drive the Beara Ring and take the
beautiful Healy Pass Road, which cut across the peninsula from Cork to Kerry. That was enough driving excitement for one
day. We came across a man in the middle
of the road holding a long stick. I assume he was herding sheep since they were
all over the place dotting the hills and valleys. The road was so narrow in places that one car
would stop and pull off the road as much as they dared for the other car to
pass.
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| We drove the Ring of Beara and the Healy Pass Road. |
One shouldn’t go
to Ireland without the Jameson Whiskey factory tour. Up until this trip I did NOT drink
whiskey. We found the tour interesting
and informative. I discovered that I
like Jameson Whiskey. Tom and I volunteered to participate in a
whiskey taste test with US whiskey, which was distilled once (definitely not
for me), Scottish whiskey, which has been distilled twice, but using different
materials (better than the US whiskey).
Then I tried the Jameson Irish Whiskey which is distilled three times..
It was good! Surprise! While I enjoyed the whiskey and Irish coffee
(which has whiskey, lots of sugar and milk), I’m happy to return to France and
the beautiful wines and champagnes made there.
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The Jameson Whiskey tour was touristy but still informative and fun.
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| To your health! |
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