Ireland: Clare, Galway, Blarney

Let's get right to it, shall we?

Day 4 Itinerary
Pick up Stephen & Aubrey on the red eye
Bunratty Castle
Cliffs of Moher (1 hour from hotel, allow two hours)
Drive through the Burren
Lunch in Kinvara, see Dunguaire Castle 
Check in Galway City, Dad's birthday dinner at Oscar's

Today was the day! My dad's actual 60th birthday. I of course forgot to wish him a happy birthday when we met in the lobby at 5:45 a.m. to leave for the airport. Stephen & Aubrey were arriving on the red eye in Shannon, which is why we cut up to place ourselves in Bunratty the previous evening.

After breakfast, Stephen and Aubrey and I climbed to the top of Bunratty castle. That'll get your blood pumping in the morning. We basically had the castle and grounds to ourselves, save for the chickens and some workers. One woman was making scones in one of the old buildings and fires were laid throughout. Pretty cool.

Group reassembled, we headed out to the Cliffs of Moher. What a freaking sight. The day was overcast but clear, so a perfect day for the cliffs. MFD was freaking out back by the wall when Carol was taking these pictures. I was all relax! The last photo is the little ledge we were on. LOL

It was beautiful, both the Cliffs themselves and the surrounding countryside. I was surprised at how blue the water was. I also sort of thought you'd drive up and walk out and be at the Cliffs instead of entering, parking in a lot, and walking up one side and along the un-sanctioned you're on your own dirt paths then back down and up the steps onto the other side with the round little castle.

Off through the dramatic landscape of the Burren to the sleepy little town of Kinvara where we had lunch at the Pier Head. Dunguaire Castle, in the back of the top two photos, is one of the most photographed castles in Ireland over this little spot of water.

Forty-five minutes later we were checked into our place in Galway City. We stayed on The Long Walk for three nights through a VRBO rental and it was awesome. The location was phenomenal and I think that was a favorite for all of us. If you've ever seen this photo of Galway, we were on this row of houses towards the right side. If you walk to the left, you go through the Spanish Arch and are in the Latin Quarter with shops and pubs and restaurants and loads of music.

Dad's birthday dinner was at Oscar's Seafood. It was a good spot with very fresh seafood recommended by the people who rent our house out. We had a few drinks after then called it a night.

Day 5 Itinerary
Connemara Coast Road / Wild Atlantic Way / Connemara Loop
Lunch in Clifden

Let's talk about the weather. This was our first typical Irish weather day - off and on periods of rain, mist, general dampness. All other days we had mostly sunny, unseasonably warm days. We drove the Connemara loop, and by we I mean my dad and my brother, because I was rocking in the back with anxiety about the roads. The roads in Connemara are like, not really roads. Thank God they could pilot them because the scenery was stunning and probably my favorite of the Ireland portion of the trip. Dramatic and wild. I loved it. We were supposed to hit Kylemore Abbey and its walled garden on the way back, but we didn't do that. It took longer than expected on those roads.

Our first stop was a beach right past Salthill, then a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere, and some pull overs where we could to check out the scenery.

Lunch at O'Malleys and a stroll around Clifden. I found the public library.

More scenic stops on the way back, including MFD and Debbie attempting to befriend sheep.

Sun was full out when we got back, and it was nice to stroll in Galway after being in the car all day. The first three shots are the view when you step out of our door.

Dinner at a local, with some Irish music that was actually covers of 70s and 80s American music so... MFD and Dad and Carol went home and the rest of us stayed out for more music and tomfoolery.

Day 6 Itinerary
Men golf, women shop/lunch

Finally a laid back day with some Galway living, pizza ordered in that was surprisingly awesome, the opportunity to nap, and a night capped off with some traditional irish music and a mystery farter in Taafes. The men golfed at Galway Golf Club in the morning. The women shopped and lunched. We saw a Friday afternoon wedding party come down the Quay and a former NBA basketball star while lunching at The Kings Head. We checked out the Irish department stores - I liked Dunnes, but Penney's discount store is amazing! Peters bought another suitcase there on the cheap. I love how the grocery stores are at the bottoms of department stores. The Irish go into work later, get out of work earlier, have more holiday time, and seem much less stressed out than we do. It's a way of life I could sink my teeth into for sure.

Day 7 Itinerary
Blarney Castle (2.5 hours from Galway, allow two hours)
Blarney Woolen Mills & Lunch
Bunratty Manor (1.5 hours from Blarney) for dinner & overnight

So since we were picking up Stephen & Aubrey mid-week and wanted to do Blarney all together, we back tracked on this day. Not too bad because it was all highways, which meant I could drive. Hey ohhh. I got us there alive although it was a nail biter through the town of Blarney. We kissed the stone, but for me the star of the show at Blarney is the outer grounds. Really cool and I'm glad we had the opportunity to stroll, even though it was frigid. I'd estimate we spent about 30 minutes in the actual castle, and over an hour and 15 trolling the grounds in the Poison Garden and at the house, and later rambling through the Rock Close in search of the Witch's Stone and the Faery Glade and the Wishing Steps.

After a quick lunch up the road next to the Blarney Woolen Mills and a spot of shopping (and shipping for those of us who purchased too much), we were back on the road to Bunratty for the last supper, which we actually ate there at the hotel. The food was excellent. And it was fancy. We were extremely under-dressed. Extremely.

It was a drop into bed dead type of night, and a bittersweet little end to our family trip as Stephen & Aubrey were heading home the next day and we were off to Scotland. More on that Friday.

See also: A day in Dublin, Ireland: The mountains, the sea, and Bunratty

Ireland: The Mountains, the Sea, and Bunratty

Monday morning my Dad and I picked up our nine passenger rental van. My Dad rented through Sixt Rent a Car - they were very nice and quick. Here, Americans...take this large van and good luck driving on the other side of the road. If you rent a car abroad, do yourself a favor and pay extra for the full insurance. It will make you feel better as you're clenching your buttcheeks on the narrow roads.

Day 2 Itinerary
Powerscourt Waterfall in the Wicklow Mountains (about an hour from Dublin)
Glendalough (40 minutes from the waterfall)
Curracloe Beach (1.5 hours from Glendalough)
Overnight:
Hotel Curracloe - About $91/night, they book rooms via phone/email, no online booking

We were moseying along the highway until we got off for the Wicklow Mountains. The roads were hilly, full of bikers (Halloween is a bank holiday) and plunged us right into Irish driving. Thank God my dad was behind the wheel. We rented a GPS from Sixt but it proved worthless, even with GPS coordinates. MFD navigated with satellite and paper maps for the rest of the trip.

Powerscourt Waterfall is Ireland's highest waterfall. It's a nice little spot, pretty bare in the off-season.

We made our way on to Glendalough, a monastic city founded by St. Kevin in the sixth century. Most buildings still up on the site date from the 10th to the 12th centuries. It was cool to wander here on Halloween.

Once we walked through the Monastic City, we took a stroll down to the Lower Lake. It was like a fall lover's paradise.

After picking up some chips (read: fries) for the car, we headed on through Wicklow down into Wexford with a quick stop in Avoca. On the way there we saw the mythical Toilet on the Street Corner, that we never found again.

We finally made it to Curracloe around 4:30 I think. In the off-season, it's a skeleton crew, and in small towns like this one, the hotel is the place where a lot of people come to eat and go to the pub. So we did the same. Peters and I took a post-dinner walk and there was absolutely nothing going on save for kids trick or treating.

Day 3 Itinerary
Ballinesker Beach (part of Curracloe Beaches) - where the opening Normandy scenes of Saving Private Ryan were filmed, 10 minutes from our hotel
Hook Lighthouse on the Peninsula (one hour from Curracloe)
Ring of Hook drive
Breakfast at Wild Rose Cafe in Duncannon
Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet
Overnight:
Bunratty Manor - another family owned place, probably my favorite hotel of the trip. Really cozy with a sitting room, restaurant, pub. Loved it. You can book this online, but they still really do everything by hand in a large book like Hotel Curracloe does. The food here is actually excellent for dinner.

There were super cute houses on the beach road in Curracloe. Carol and I had to dip our toes in. The wind was crazy but the water wasn't too bad. The sand was soft and golden and the dunes were impressive.

The roads to the end of the peninsula and the Hook Lighthouse were fucking TINY. I kept thinking christ, this better be worth it. And it was. The Lighthouse itself is a 13th century Norman structure and at around 800 years old is the oldest intact operational lighthouse in the world. I love old things. We had a wander, and then a snack and some coffee and did some shopping. There was a local man there with his little daughter and he said recently she's wanted to come every morning to sit in the chairs and say good morning to the ocean before breakfast, so that's what they've been doing.

We drove around the Ring of Hook, saw ruins (of course), had a great breakfast in sleepy little Duncannon, and lit candles in church.

Our first stop on the way to Bunratty after breakfast was Tipperary. I wouldn't really stop there again. It was, how do you say... not very nice? I drove from there to Bunratty since it was mostly highways. Oh, and 489 roundabouts right in a row. Seriously though, the first day I drove there were like seven in a row within the first 20 minutes and one of them was a DOUBLE ROUNDABOUT. You have not lived until you've nearly shit your pants while driving on the wrong side of the car AND road with your family's fear palpable in the air around you. One thing I loved throughout the country and remember from my previous trip there: the colored doors.

I had no idea what to expect from the Medieval dinner at Bunratty Castle. It was actually a load of fun, aside from the warring family from Long Island next to us where the dad was a drunk dick dropping F bombs immediately and the daughter told him she'd probably enjoy it there if she was with people she liked and then her and the mother took off and he sat there woodenly with us. Family vacations, amiright? Since you're sitting across from each other packed in on benches banquet style, not paying attention was not an option. It was great to be able to walk five minutes to and from the hotel to the castle and the food was really good.

To be continued tomorrow.

See also: A day in Dublin

A Day in Dublin

We touched down in Dublin on Sunday morning at 6 a.m. No one slept on the plane and we had a full day of sightseeing ahead. We dropped our luggage at the hotel, had breakfast, then took a cab into Dublin. I chose a hotel near the airport (Carlton Hotel Dublin Airport) because we were picking our rental car up early the next morning and hitting the road, and I didn't want the PITA of dragging everyone in and out of the city. Since we stayed out there, we went in and out to sightsee on Sunday, then got the rental car and were on the road tout de suite on Monday morning.

Dublin is, to me, the least Irish part of Ireland. I was not sad that we were only spending a day there. A day that happened to be the same day as the Dublin Marathon as well as a shit ton of construction they're doing in the city, which wreaked havoc with the hop on/hop off bus route we were taking. No matter, we soldiered on. And on and on and on. And around Trinity College at least three times, once for an eternity because we could not find the back exit.

I can't figure out how I want to share this trip because I'm not really into eleventy billion posts about one trip, but instead of being paralyzed by the how I figured I'd rip the band-aid off and get this long first day out of the way.

Things we saw:
General Post Office. The scene of the Easter Uprising of 1916, it was cool to be there on the 100th anniversary.

Trinity College in the morning

And again in the afternoon to see the Long Room and the Book of Kells. We had to go back because it wasn't open in the morning, but it's totally worth it.

St. Stephen's Green, including this awesome house across from it covered in changing leaves. 

Grafton Street, the city's shopping street, and its alley off-shoots - we trolled this street a few times as well

And of course, the Guinness store house. We walked through and did the Guinness Academy - Dad and Debbie were perfect pourers, Carol and I were not - then finished our drink up at the 360 Bar which was pretty cool. 

We did a last round on the bus to see the rest of the city, then got off and had a drink at the Ha'Penny Bridge Inn. It has not changed in the past 13 years. 

Street / urban art and random city pics:

Dinner at The Quays in Temple Bar. The food was good, but I was honestly so tired I could barely eat. And that's saying a lot because we were on the go all day and skipped lunch. 

I think we walked over 10 miles this day? Maybe eight. We did really well for not sleeping. Go team!

Things we did not do in Dublin that were on the list of things to do: Kilmainham Gaol (ran out of time/energy) and St. Patrick's Cathedral on the inside (service going on both times we passed it). 

We actually stayed at the Carlton the night before we left the country too, and they were nice enough to hold our bags for us while we were in Scotland. I'd highly recommend them if you need a hotel near the airport in Dublin. 

Possibly breaking this trip down like this:

A Day in Dublin

Ireland: The Mountains, the Sea, and Bunratty

Ireland: Cliffs, Galway, Blarney

Scotland in two days

I'll likely go heavy on the photos and light on the writing, but will always include where we stayed, ate, and an approximation of travel time. If you want to know more about anything, please ask!

Thursday Thoughts: I'm baaaa-aaack

1. Consider this a continuation of last week's Thursday Thoughts from Ireland since I'm half on that time and half on this time.

2. One of my favorite things to photograph in cities and towns is the stuff on the backside.

3. All every cashier, bartender, people in line around us, and people on the street wanted to talk about in Ireland and Scotland was the election. Did we vote? Yes. How could Trump be a candidate? I don't know. Returning to an outcome I was not expecting, I needed some time yesterday. I shed some tears, I avoided social media because I didn't want to see his supporters or people who were zen or discounting people's feelings about it, I exchanged angry words with MFD about how we go forward from here. I'm still processing. I don't know. Well, I do know some things  - I will continue to stand up to misogyny, sexism, homophobia, racism, ableism, xenophobia. We all have prejudices that we have to overcome, we've all said things we shouldn't. I will continue to grow as a person. I will continue to put good out into my community and be the change I want to see. Acting from a place of fear and subsisting on bitterness is not my style and never will be. If you thought I was a raging feminist all along, quite frankly, you've seen nothing yet. I was a nasty woman before this and will be a nasty woman after this. That wouldn't change regardless of who is President. I have defended my right to equality since I was knee high to women who taught me that that is what we do. I have work to do, and if equality is important to you, so do you. If equality is not of the utmost importance to you at this time, I have no room for you. It's a line in the sand that I am okay making. I demand better for myself and other women, especially those younger than me. Let's take the time we need, then let's do that work. And for christ's sake let's give people some space on this and get out of each other's faces. Stop trying to convince others that they're wrong for feeling anything they're feeling and let it be. Especially if you've spent the last eight years taking a daily dump on your President or listening to others do so without making one but you need to respect the office statement. I am devastated and I am angry and that anger will fuel my fire to be productive in doing my part to further the feminist agenda over the next four years so let me sit with it and mind your business. Pantsuit Nation, mount up.

4. Things I wish I could get here easily: Jammie Dodgers, Hunky Dory crisps, and Roberts coffee from Dublin.  

5. Tuesday night we had an 8:20 flight from Glasgow to Dublin. The actual in air time is like 40 minutes. We sat on the plane from 8:00 until 10:00 before taking off. It was the first time they had to bust out the de-icing equipment this year. I was afraid of mutiny. Do not fuck with older Scottish women who are hot and dehydrated. They will march to the front of the plane and hand you your ass. I was in the front of the plane and bore witness to this awesome fuck off.

6. SEPTA could take a zillion lessons from Scottish Rail. What a stress free ride we enjoyed between Glasgow and Edinburgh, and during rush hour to boot. Carol and I both ride regional rail here and were delighted to miss the shitshow strike last week.

7. Hell yes I do.

8. I tipped.

9. Reminder.

10.  E-card of the week: 

 

Jet lag + general lack of sleep + a cold from lots of plane travel + self induced flash flood in the basement last night due to laundry basin fuckery + election devastation = possible general incoherence. Forgive me my grammar and typos, friends. 

Linking up with Kristin

Thursday Thoughts from Ireland

1. I thought it would be fun to do a Thursday Thoughts on the fly from vacation to catch some of the stuff I wouldn't put in a vacation post...signs like this one, spotted on a beach in Curracloe early in the morning.

 

2. Now taking applications. First in line: American politics. It is all over the place over here. The world has an intense interest in what we do. 
 
3. Chicken butt.

 
4. Coming to Ireland in the off-season is awesome. I don't think we'd be able to do half of the things we've done in season. Driving here is definitely butt cheek clenching. 

5. I love the proper Irish breakfast, and others have learned to as well since sometimes there's no lunch. 

 
6. Castle steps, amiright? Not my happy place. 

 
7. Living on the edge at the Cliffs of Moher yesterday on my Dad's actual 60th birthday.
 
 

8. Booknerds! Show Us Your Books is Tuesday. Don't forget!

9. Reminder.

10.  E-card of the week: Heyyyyy. hey. As always, thanks for stopping by. 

And you?

I am travelling and will reply to comments when I return.

Linking up with Kristin