A Race to the Finish

The next day was Travers' birthday!  We spent most of the day in the car, leaving Killarney and heading north to the Cliffs Of Moher. We had thought we'd seen some pretty amazing cliffs the day before, but nothing compared to the vastness of the Cliffs of Moher.  After a couple hours in the car, we parked across the street, got bundled up as it was SUPER windy outside (like can stand at a 45 degree angle kind of windy) and headed to the cliffs. It is probably impossible to describe these cliffs and how small you feel when you're standing on them looking down. And I doubt our photos will give as great of an idea either. But to give you a frame of reference, these cliffs are 214m high, which is over 2 times the length of a football field! And then take into account these cliffs run for about 8km (4mi) over the Atlantic Ocean. People are allowed to walk along the edge of the cliffs, mostly without any guardrail or anything, and some brave people would get very close to the edge and look down, but we stayed safely at least a few feet back.

After walking up and down the top of the cliffs (and no, we did not walk the entire 8km), we hopped back in the car and headed to Galway, our final destination in our week-long trip in Ireland.

One thing to note about our drive from the cliffs to Galway, is we passed through The Burren, which is an area in Ireland where the landscape is so unique. It is made from limestone pavements with cracks throughout, leaving these rocks that seem to have been intentionally placed there by someone. Plus the area is filled with these low rock walls that we never figured out how they got there or why as they don't seem to have any logic or surround anything in particular.








We arrived in Galway by late afternoon. We had read that the Galway horse races were going on, so instead of checking into our hotel, we drove straight to the racetrack to check out the horses. It was a HUGE racetrack, large than I've ever seen, but unfortunately, not very crowded with people. But we made it fun anyway. Before the races, the horses are paraded around a small circle so everyone can look at them and choose which one they want to bet on. Then, you can walk over to this other large circle made by tons of betting tables. Each table had a screen listing all the odds that company or person assigned to each horse.








We watched one race first to see how it went, and then finally Travers took on a bet. He figured it was his birthday, he had to see if he could win some money!  Unfortunately, the horses did not agree, and he didn't win. But we still had fun shouting for our horse and watching them go round the track!













After the races, we drove back to our hotel, checked in, and headed right back out to explore the town and find a place for dinner. We walked down the main pedestrian street, past tons of pubs and shops. Stopped in one to have a beer and cider, then continued our walk to where several restaurants were located. We amazingly were able to decide on a nice restaurant. where we were seated right at the window so we could watch the people walking by. We topped the night off by finding a pub that had a band playing fun lively Irish music!

The next day, our final day in Galway, was spent walking through town, along the river's edge, then along the ocean's edge and all the way to Salthill, a neighboring town. The river in town was beautiful, and once at the Ocean, the clouds in the blue sky seemed to go on forever, and the ocean sparkled from the sun. We had some rain on the walk, and it took about twice as long as we had anticipated, but the views made up for it. And we were able to find a delicious restaurant for lunch as soon as we arrived in Salthill.

Luckily, we found a bus back to Galway, and with a few hours left before we needed to head back to Dublin, we did some souvenir shopping, then sat outside in the sun at a pub to enjoy our last Guinness and Bulmers Cider.  And in the street, these two guys were standing on metal posts, playing their banjos, dueling it out. A perfect way to enjoy our beers and our last day in Ireland.

A cow's life

Our first day in Killarney was spent driving for about 6 hours. We got up, had breakfast, then hit the road to drive the famous Ring of Kerry. Unfortunately, the first hour or so we couldn't see much on our drive due to the infamous Irish rain, but after a bit, it cleared up and we were able to take in all the breathtaking views along the drive.





We stopped along the roadway several times, seeing some amazing cliffs.








And we drove along the water's edge to take in the beautiful ocean views and gorgeous green landscapes.

We stopped in a small town for lunch and with luck had a break in the weather, and a bit of sun, so we sat outside to eat and listened to the roaring river that ran along the side of the restaurant.











We saw tons of cows, sheep and rams along our drive. All very friendly and calm and just minding their own business, when just a few feet from our car! And the more cow's and sheep we saw, I marveled at how calm they all were, and what a great life they must have just grazing the green hills of Ireland all day long.

As our drive was coming to an end, we got away from the coast and drove through the forests to see some spectacular valleys and gorges and roaring rivers running through them.

Our final stop was spent walking through the forest to see a huge waterfall. A great end to our long day of driving and sightseeing.

Once back at the Caharnane House, we decided to grab our kindle and laptops and head to one of the many lounges to relax and warm up from the chilly day outside. And just as we sat in there, someone came and lit the fireplace and served us some drinks.









We spent the next couple hours there, enjoying the fire, then got ready to head into town and had a delicious steak dinner, followed by some live music at a nearby bar. A great ending to a great day in Killarney!

Irish Kiss

It has been awhile since my last post and I have a lot to catch up on, so I will make the next few somewhat brief.

After a not so eventful night in Cork, we woke up the next morning, grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and hit the road to find a more interesting town. We decided Blarney was it. And what a better way to rid our minds of the boring Cork with some Irish kissing, of the Blarney stone, that is.












It was a quick drive to Blarney, and we took our time exploring the grounds. There was a garden of sorts that had lots of stones, trees, and creeks. And there was a magical/mystical feeling about the place. We spent about an hour in this garden, exploring a mysterious boulder that had been perched on another rock for centuries, and climbing a stone staircase that if done with your eyes closed the entire way up, you would get a wish granted.












We eventually made our way to the Blarney castle and climbed through the extremely narrow passageways, often wondering if we would fit, and making sure our feet were secure on the tiny steps. At the top, we took in the beautiful views of the area below, and then waited in a short line to kiss the famous blarney stone!












To kiss the stone, you lay on your back and lean backwards while grabbing onto the black bars behind you. Someone holds your waist and tilts you back until your head is facing the stone . Then they say "kiss it", and you do. Then they haul you back up!









After kissing the stone and walking back down the castle, we hit the road for our long drive to Killarney. We took a scenic route, along the coast, stopping in a few small towns now and then. The drive took longer than we anticipated, and unfortunately my camera battery died during this part of the drive, but we saw a lot of beautiful Irish towns and coastline. And as we got closer to Killarney, we were able to drive along some mountainous roads, cliffs on one side, and hill on the other, with incredible views all around. At this point though, the rain began, and it was getting dark, so we stopped stopping and sightseeing, and focused on getting to the hotel.

The Caharnane House Hotel is a beautiful old mansion that was restored and turned into a hotel. As we turned into the driveway from the main road, we were amazed at how beautiful the grounds were, and we hadn't even seen the hotel yet.  And as we approached the house, we knew we had hit the jackpot. It was a beautiful house, covered in vines. Inside was covered in wood, with fireplaces lit, and cozy couches to lounge on.









After exploring the house a bit, we headed into town for dinner and a drink. With a few recommendations from the hotel, we quickly found a cozy restaurant with a great atmosphere and delicious food. The drive had exhausted us, so after dinner, we grabbed some ice cream, went back to the hotel to rest so we could do it all again the next day!

A Great Deal

Our third day in Ireland was our first day of adventure in exploring the country by car. We checked out of our hotel, and walked to the bus stop to catch the AirCoach, a bus that runs from Dublin city center to the Airport and many other destinations as well. About 45 minutes later we were at the airport in search of the Enterprise car rental counter. After a couple wrong turns, we finally found it and stood in line for about 30 minutes (why car rental lines always take forever, beats me). Eventually getting to the counter, we told the woman our name and as she looked up our reservation, she exclaimed "wow, you certainly got a great deal!". We had in fact gotten an amazing deal on our car rental at $3/day!  Apparently, according to the woman's colleague, someone made an error when inputting the costs on the website and forgot to add a 1 to the price. It was supposed to be $13/day and instead ended up being $3/day. This deal lasted apparently for about 30 minutes on the web, and my amazing husband just happened to be searching for our car rental at that precise moment! Yay for us!

Once on the road in our $3/day car, we headed southwest towards a town called Kilkenny, where our friends Shelley and Mike had gotten married a couple years earlier. I have to give Travers a lot of credit here, as in Ireland, they drive on the left side of the road and the driver sits on the right side of the car. Plus we had rented a stick shift car, so he was shifting with his left hand. To me, that is an incredibly difficult thing to do as I can't drive stick shift cars at all, let alone with the opposite hand on the opposite side of the road.   We were constantly having to make sure when we turned that we ended up on the correct side of the road, while keeping up with the 100km speed limits on the extremely narrow roads. Travers did amazingly though and drove us during our entire trip all throughout the country.

The trip to Kilkenny took about an hour and a half. Most of the road was on a larger highway, but we eventually got to these narrow two lane roads, narrowly avoiding the tall bushes and trees on our left and the cars speeding past us on the right.  We arrived into the town of Kilkenny and immediately loved it. It was your quintessential Irish town, with lots of small shops, restaurants, cobblestones, and a large castle. We crossed a river, parked the car, and found a pub that we had read about before our trip, called Louie's Backyard. We had lucked out with a rare sunny day, so we sat in the back patio and enjoyed a beer, taking part in the typical Irish culture.

Leaving Louie's Backyard, we headed to the Kilkenny castle. The castle was made of grey stones, had large towers on one end, a huge gate for the entry, and, once inside, a seemingly endless green lawn that had several people lounging in the grass, playing games, and relaxing in the sun.









We walked the grounds around the castle, then crossed the street to what used to be the royal stables, but was now turned into shops and offices, but still had lovely grounds matching the castle.  After touring more of the grounds, we realized we were hungry, so we set off on finding a good-looking restaurant for lunch. We strolled through more streets, down some car-less streets, and through a walking tunnel that led us to a restaurant with a huge back patio, all made of stones, with several tvs for entertainment, called Kyteler's Inn. We sat in the patio, and I had a tasty tomato soup with a tuna sandwich and Travers had a traditional Irish stew.

After a few hours in Kilkenny, a delicious meal, and beers, we headed to our final destination, Cork. Two hours on the road, driving past many other quaint towns, and finally ending in Cork. We arrived just as the weather was turning, the sun was setting, and the town was getting dark. We checked into the River Lee Hotel, a part of the Doyle Collection, and studied the city map to gain our bearings. An hour later we were walking through the dark streets, in search of a restaurant for dinner. We walked down some cobblestone alleys and without finding a restaurant, and getting cold, we stopped into a cozy pub where we ended up being the youngest people in the bar by about 20-30 years. But we enjoyed our beers, watched the sports on the tv and took in the older Irish culture at the pub.

Leaving the pub, we wandered some more and realized quickly that a lot of the restaurants were closing their kitchens. We tried this one place that we had read was good, but as we got there, we were told they had stopped serving food an hour earlier! It was only 9pm! So we wandered some more, and getting a bit desperate, finally settled on a random Indian restaurant that as we arrived, their only other table got up and left, so we ended up being the only two in the restaurant. It was a little awkward and a sour end to our day, but the food was good and we were tired from our day of driving and exploring anyway. We ate and then walked back to the hotel, exploring some more of the city on our way. It had begun raining so we decided to call it a night and start fresh the next morning, hoping for some more of the rare Irish sun that we had experienced earlier that day.