I wanted to give a quick run down of my most recent trip to Ireland. This country is fabulous, and I haven't even been to all parts of it yet. From what I have seen so far, I am in LOVE. The people are friendly and as warm as the pots of tea you get at breakfast. The country is so lovely, no wonder everyone was so kind to us. Not just staffers either, people on the street were the ones that surprised us the most. If we were just a tickle lost, we would pull out our little map and within a minute would have someone come up, ask us if we were okay and if we needed help getting somewhere. Multiple times people did this! I was amazed. In short, cannot wait to go back. Or, depending on how the election results turn out, maybe I'll just live there.
Dublin:
Flew into Dublin via DFW Int. to Newark
We stayed in Jury's Inn off of Parnell Street- this place was very centrally located which is key. A pretty good place, the breakfast was amazing every day. In terms of view, next time I'll stay in the Jury's Inn Christchurch location simply because that church is gorgeous.
We ate in a great pub called Madigans, and it was a good craic (we had a good time).
We walked to Trinity college Dublin and that campus is so pretty. The next day we went back to see the Book of Kells- totally worth it, it was fascinating and the library upstairs is well... spectacular. See below.
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| The Long Room, Trinity College |
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| Trinity College Campus |
Tour of the Guinness Factory, super fun
St. Patrick's Cathedral was amazing and so gorgeous
We had dinner in a cute restaurant near our hotel called Toddy's
Killarney:
Took a train from Dublin Euston station to Cork, but in Mallow is where we changed trains to Killarney. This little town is so small but has SO many cute things about it. I adore this town. I love it so much.
For lunch we stopped in a really authentic pub called The Laurel, and boy it was just like the movies. Everyone knew each other and it was amazing to see. And their lamb stew was to die for.
We did a typical hanson ride/ horse and carriage ride, they call it a "jaunting car" and the driver is the "jarvey". They took us through the Killarney national forest which was stunning, and over to the
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| Killarney Lake |
Killarney lakes and to the ruins of Ross Castle.
We visited other little churches in the city, and did some shopping in their cute stores.
The restaurant we ate at, Caragh's, was perfection. I had no idea such a little place would be so popular by the locals, and with good reason. Their food is exceptional. Also, they have profiteroles which is reason enough to go.
We stayed at a GORGEOUS hotel called the Killarney Plaza. You must stay there if you get the chance. The location is prime, and almost everything is marble. So so pretty.
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| The Plaza staircase |
Ring of Kerry:
We did this trip courtesy of Brendan Vacations, and they booked us a great trip on the Ring of Kerry. A simple bus ride with a very informative driver giving us all information on the way. We were in a medium sized group, about 30 of us. We stopped frequently for pictures, and he brought us to a beautiful spot for lunch. On the way back around we stopped at a weaving store called Avoca, and they had a working fly loom (cue fiber art nerd in me to freak out) and so many beautiful products the irish people make right in the countryside of Co. Wicklow.
Here is their website: http://www.avoca.com
Look at some of the gorgeousness we saw!
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| On the Ring of Kerry |
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| On the Ring of Kerry |
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| On the Ring of Kerry |
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| Lady's Point, on the Ring of Kerry |
Dingle Peninsula:
This was probably my favorite day of being in Killarney. We had a private driver just take us 3 along the Dingle Peninsula and it was just amazing. He knew so much history from growing up near there and raising a family there, so he knew all the cool places to go.
He would stop wherever we wanted to stop for pictures, and for fun things he saw just randomly on the road. He saw a sign at someone's farm to feed a baby lamb, so he let me get out and bottle feed a few of this guy's sheep. Funny enough, he spoke to him as if he'd known him forever, but he'd never met him. He only knew the man's mother. He even told us, he'd "never met a stranger." I think that is similar with many Irish people, and something that I loved about being there
Because Star Wars episode VIII had just finished being filmed there, he knew exactly the locations we were interested in seeing, and that will be in the next movie. It was so great.
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| Can't wait to see it in the film! |
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| Countryside |
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| Feeding sheep |
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| Beautiful landscape, along Slea Head Drive |
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| Louis Mulcahy Pottery Studio |
Our next day in Killarney we did the Cliffs of Moher and then drove to County Cong where Ashford Castle is located. It was a pretty long drive, about 6ish hours, but very beautiful none the less. However, next time I would allow at least 3 hours at the cliffs, just to enjoy it and to walk along all of it. And perhaps an extra day in which I would like to travel out to the Aryan Islands.
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| The gorgeous Cliffs of Moher |
Ashford Castle:
Guys. This place. This place is so worth staying at. This place is worth spending as much time at as possible. This place is worth building an entire vacation around. It is a wonderful, magical place. A bucket list kind of thing certainly. It's a 5 star hotel, with a 5 star restaurant. And, it's a fricken castle. I might never do it again but I hope to! So, as you can image, this place is just opulence opulence opulence. Over-the-top amazing, attention to detail, luxury. Blew my mind. I was so impressed at every single detail. We get there, we get taken into a large sitting room with a huge fireplace, a huge vase of fresh cut roses, a huge crystal chandelier, huge oil paintings dating back hundreds of years.
We get personally escorted to our rooms, and shown how our keys work. They just recently did a $80 million renovation, and so everything has been upgraded and elevated, especially in technology terms. A wave of the key over a pad opens the door, and upon hanging the key on its hook allows the electricity into the room (energy saving awesomeness) and all controls for the bathroom are on a touch pad and with a simple touch, turns on the lights, even a towel and floor warmer. The room controls are all next to the bed as well as near the door, and they control all lights and curtains. So, you don't even have to get out of bed to turn on the lights, or open the curtains (also done by a button), and the thermostat is just a simple touch dial, easy to work.
Every single room is different, none is decorated the same. Gorgeous fabrics cover the walls, marble floors and sinks, beautiful brocade curtains, paintings, a big flat screen tv (complete with a welcome screen and your name when you first check in), and a wonderful turn down service with more surprises! Chocolates, candles, soft music, slippers, omg.
We did archery, horse back riding and afternoon tea during our day there. Ate in their 5 star King George V dining room. Explored the grounds and the labyrinth of corridors in the castle itself. My dad took part in their cigar room, which is attached to their billiards hall. And we walked to the neighboring tiny village called Cong, where they filmed "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. I've never seen a town so proud of a film having been filmed there than the town of Cong. Afternoon tea was probably my favorite; with finger sandwiches, scones, hot tea and desserts, it was perfect.
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| Afternoon tea |
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| The main sitting room |
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| Horseback riding |
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| Ashford Castle |
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| The bridge |
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| Archery |
Galway to Dublin:
We had a driver take us to Galway and we took a train back to Dublin and enjoyed a parade put on by the Bram Stoker Festival of Dublin. Everyone gets into the halloween spirit there and so seeing that in action was a treat.
So very sad to leave! But very excited to come back!
In short, this is the amount of time you'll need to see all the stuff you want: Stay in Dublin 2-3 days, build some extra days in here to go to north Ireland perhaps and other day trips by train, stay in Killarney 3 days, and stay in ashford castle 3-4 days. Definitely leave the castle for last, you won't get anything better than that so leave it for last.
In the words of the Irish: We had a grand time, yeah. Thanks a million, we had a good craic.
XOXO
