Haven
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2007
- Messages
- 13,166
This was definitely my favorite trip yet. So first of all, THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone for all of your help planning our itinerary, and for helping me pack.
We really had an amazing time. I wish we could have stayed longer. No, wait--I wish we could have just stayed forever. Seriously. DH and I have already decided that we''re going to try to go back again next summer, we loved it that much.
We started with the trip with two nights in Dublin. We had a good time walking around the city centre and taking in the typical touristy sights. I especially enjoyed the Trinity College tour and the Book of Kells. I also really enjoyed the Kilmainham Gaol tour.
We spent our first night out in Dublin in the Temple Bar area and inadvertently crashed someone''s 30th birthday party in one of the pubs. We went in there because there was a sign out front advertising "Traditional Music Tonight" only to find that it was one guitarist playing Johnny Cash. Hmmm. Anyway, back to the party crashing . . . at first we thought it was a bit strange that everyone in the pub *really* seemed to know each other well. It wasn''t until we noticed all of the printed photos of this *one particular* girl taped up onto the walls that we looked a bit harder and saw the "Happy 30th Birthday" banners and balloons all around the ceilings. One of the birthday girl''s friends kept chatting me up so when we asked him if we were party crashing he introduced us to the guest of honor. She was great about it and told us to stay, so we did and had a lot of fun.
From Dublin we drove to Dingle through Kilkenny and Tipperary. Kilkenny was super cute, so we stopped and took in a yummy lunch at the Nostalgia Cafe. We made a pit stop in Tipperary and then headed for Dingle for the next four nights. Can I just say that I could happily curl up in the Greenmount House B&B and spend the rest of my life in Dingle? I really would.
We had our two best meals in Dingle at the Half Door Inn and Out of the Blue. My lobster at Out of the Blue was insanely delicious. I also had my favorite fish and chips at John Benny Moriarty''s in Dingle, too. And I pretty much tried fish and chips *everywhere* we went, so I had a good basis for comparison. And Deco, you''ll be happy to hear that we ate Murphy''s ice cream *every* day in Dingle. Oh my gosh, it was amazing.
We met so many great people there, and most of the better nights we had were in Dingle. We stayed out very late with a couple of lawyers from Chicago one night and had a blast with them. Another night we listened to trad music all night and hung out with a couple from Yorkshire who have been coming to Dingle this holiday weekend every year for 23 years! Can you imagine? They were wonderful.
We did the Slea Head drive on our first full day in Dingle. It was really wonderful. DH LOVED driving a manual car on the left side of the road, although I should admit that I was grabbing the dash and gently
reminding him to slow down every now and then. I settled down after the first day though, and to DH''s credit he did not once complain about all of my "help." We had a ton of fun that day doing the drive, our stop at Kilmalkedar Church was my favorite. It was pretty awesome being in such an old, holy place. I had read that people touch thumbs through the hole in the Ogham stone in front of the church and swear to God to seal a deal, so DH and I touched thumbs and renewed our vows there. Pretty cool.
Our second full day in Dingle we drove the Conor Pass and continued straight on it to Brandon Point on a recommendation from someone we met the day before. Wow--Brandon Point was amazing. We were the only people there, and we spent a lot of time sitting on the edge of the point with our legs dangling over the side. As we were sitting there we spotted a school of dolphins in the water below, which was pretty amazing.
Our third day in Dingle DH and I decided to go back on Conor Pass to the little waterfall that we visited the day before. The day before, DH and my sister''s fiance found a great lake after climbing up the rocks a bit, and we wanted to go back and relax there for a while just the two of us. We spent some time up there alone with a bunch of sheep, and it was the most relaxed I''ve been in a while. The magic was ultimately ruined by a family who climbed up and started screaming across the lake to each other, so we left, but it was a great couple of hours.
I was sad to leave Dingle but we left after our fourth night for Galway via the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Wow. I don''t really think there''s much to say about either, except that I now know why so much great literature has come out of such a small country--it must be hard not to be inspired living in such a phenomenally beautiful country. We explored The Burren along the coastline, and that was really incredible. Standing so close to the edge was scary at times, but worth it.
We spent our last two nights in Galway. There was a festival going on, so it was really fun being out in the streets. There was great music, street dancers, the whole nine. I wasn''t super enthralled with Galway itself, but I''m glad we visited. We had the two worst dinners there, and I was bummed that my last fish and chips was bad, because man will I miss that meal now that I''m back in the states.
We visited Connemara National Park, Kylemore Abbey, and the Ashford Castle our last full day there. Connemara was gorgeous. We only did the 45 minute hike, but when DH and I go back we plan on doing the full shebang because we''d love to spend more time there. The white horses there were really stunning, as well. Kylemore Abbey was shockingly beautiful in real life. I''m really glad we stopped there. (Thanks for the rec, Zoe!) As we were walking in we saw a poster advertising a school choir that was performing there that very morning, and lo and behold--the choir was from our home state, Illinois! So funny. I chatted with one of the chaperones in the gift shop and gave her my condolences that she was traveling internationally with 85 high school students. What a strange coincidence. I bought a gorgeous little ceramic creamer at Kylemore Abbey, can''t wait to use it.
Overall, amazing trip. DH loved the driving. We all loved the food. I drank far more Guinness and Bulmers than I would have imagined. The landscape was so wonderful that we found ourselves pulling over nearly three times an hour to take pictures or just to take it all in. I was in heaven with all of the Border Collies and cows and horses and sheep everywhere. We met a gorgeous Newfoundland name Bruan in Dingle, and I thought of NEL''s big boys. The people were lovely. The history and the land and the sights were to die for. I cannot wait to visit again.
Now, on to the pictures!
We really had an amazing time. I wish we could have stayed longer. No, wait--I wish we could have just stayed forever. Seriously. DH and I have already decided that we''re going to try to go back again next summer, we loved it that much.
We started with the trip with two nights in Dublin. We had a good time walking around the city centre and taking in the typical touristy sights. I especially enjoyed the Trinity College tour and the Book of Kells. I also really enjoyed the Kilmainham Gaol tour.
We spent our first night out in Dublin in the Temple Bar area and inadvertently crashed someone''s 30th birthday party in one of the pubs. We went in there because there was a sign out front advertising "Traditional Music Tonight" only to find that it was one guitarist playing Johnny Cash. Hmmm. Anyway, back to the party crashing . . . at first we thought it was a bit strange that everyone in the pub *really* seemed to know each other well. It wasn''t until we noticed all of the printed photos of this *one particular* girl taped up onto the walls that we looked a bit harder and saw the "Happy 30th Birthday" banners and balloons all around the ceilings. One of the birthday girl''s friends kept chatting me up so when we asked him if we were party crashing he introduced us to the guest of honor. She was great about it and told us to stay, so we did and had a lot of fun.
From Dublin we drove to Dingle through Kilkenny and Tipperary. Kilkenny was super cute, so we stopped and took in a yummy lunch at the Nostalgia Cafe. We made a pit stop in Tipperary and then headed for Dingle for the next four nights. Can I just say that I could happily curl up in the Greenmount House B&B and spend the rest of my life in Dingle? I really would.
We had our two best meals in Dingle at the Half Door Inn and Out of the Blue. My lobster at Out of the Blue was insanely delicious. I also had my favorite fish and chips at John Benny Moriarty''s in Dingle, too. And I pretty much tried fish and chips *everywhere* we went, so I had a good basis for comparison. And Deco, you''ll be happy to hear that we ate Murphy''s ice cream *every* day in Dingle. Oh my gosh, it was amazing.
We met so many great people there, and most of the better nights we had were in Dingle. We stayed out very late with a couple of lawyers from Chicago one night and had a blast with them. Another night we listened to trad music all night and hung out with a couple from Yorkshire who have been coming to Dingle this holiday weekend every year for 23 years! Can you imagine? They were wonderful.
We did the Slea Head drive on our first full day in Dingle. It was really wonderful. DH LOVED driving a manual car on the left side of the road, although I should admit that I was grabbing the dash and gently
Our second full day in Dingle we drove the Conor Pass and continued straight on it to Brandon Point on a recommendation from someone we met the day before. Wow--Brandon Point was amazing. We were the only people there, and we spent a lot of time sitting on the edge of the point with our legs dangling over the side. As we were sitting there we spotted a school of dolphins in the water below, which was pretty amazing.
Our third day in Dingle DH and I decided to go back on Conor Pass to the little waterfall that we visited the day before. The day before, DH and my sister''s fiance found a great lake after climbing up the rocks a bit, and we wanted to go back and relax there for a while just the two of us. We spent some time up there alone with a bunch of sheep, and it was the most relaxed I''ve been in a while. The magic was ultimately ruined by a family who climbed up and started screaming across the lake to each other, so we left, but it was a great couple of hours.
I was sad to leave Dingle but we left after our fourth night for Galway via the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Wow. I don''t really think there''s much to say about either, except that I now know why so much great literature has come out of such a small country--it must be hard not to be inspired living in such a phenomenally beautiful country. We explored The Burren along the coastline, and that was really incredible. Standing so close to the edge was scary at times, but worth it.
We spent our last two nights in Galway. There was a festival going on, so it was really fun being out in the streets. There was great music, street dancers, the whole nine. I wasn''t super enthralled with Galway itself, but I''m glad we visited. We had the two worst dinners there, and I was bummed that my last fish and chips was bad, because man will I miss that meal now that I''m back in the states.
We visited Connemara National Park, Kylemore Abbey, and the Ashford Castle our last full day there. Connemara was gorgeous. We only did the 45 minute hike, but when DH and I go back we plan on doing the full shebang because we''d love to spend more time there. The white horses there were really stunning, as well. Kylemore Abbey was shockingly beautiful in real life. I''m really glad we stopped there. (Thanks for the rec, Zoe!) As we were walking in we saw a poster advertising a school choir that was performing there that very morning, and lo and behold--the choir was from our home state, Illinois! So funny. I chatted with one of the chaperones in the gift shop and gave her my condolences that she was traveling internationally with 85 high school students. What a strange coincidence. I bought a gorgeous little ceramic creamer at Kylemore Abbey, can''t wait to use it.
Overall, amazing trip. DH loved the driving. We all loved the food. I drank far more Guinness and Bulmers than I would have imagined. The landscape was so wonderful that we found ourselves pulling over nearly three times an hour to take pictures or just to take it all in. I was in heaven with all of the Border Collies and cows and horses and sheep everywhere. We met a gorgeous Newfoundland name Bruan in Dingle, and I thought of NEL''s big boys. The people were lovely. The history and the land and the sights were to die for. I cannot wait to visit again.
Now, on to the pictures!
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