Ireland

Hi all,

For the second week of the school holidays we travelled to Ireland.

We started out on Easter Monday morning (this gave us 1 day to recover from Turkey and Greece) and first went to Tenby (Sth West Wales), a lovely little tourist/fishing village with the obligatory castle/stone walls etc.

Next was Fishguard where we caught the ferry(about 4 times bigger than the Sorrento-Queenscliffe ferry) to Rosslare (Ireland), about a 3.5 hour trip. On the ferry you could shop duty free, watch Sky Sports, gamble, surf the internet, eat and drink! We arrived in Ireland about 6:30 p.m. and drove straight to Dublin (~2.5 hours), the weather was poor, very misty rain. We stayed with Tina and Shay (Jason's sister) in Tallaght, a suburb of Dublin. Tina and Shay were great hosts!

Tuesday morning we caught the Luas (Tram/light rail) into Dublin (~30 minutes). We spent the morning

"rubber-necking" the sights of Dublin which included The Spire, Custom House, Trinity College, Temple Bar (drinks and food area), Dublin castle and other sights. Then we went to the Guinness Brewery. Even Kristin enjoyed this! The Guinness brewery was an excellent tour and it finished at the Gravity Bar (7 floors up) with a free pint and 360 degree views of Dublin. It was a great way to see where we had been that morning. From the brewery we had lunch and a drink at a quaint little pub around the corner. Next stop was a haircut for Deco at a Polish barber - he may have been better to have had the haircut in Athens!

Wednesday morning we left Dublin and headed for Limerick (we didn't find a girl from Nantucket!). Limerick was typical regional capital with not much to see except a castle and cathedral. We headed South to Lough Gur where there were several ancient Celtic sites including the Great Stone Circle (113 stones and built ~4000 BC - we know there is 113 because there wasn't much else to do except count them!). From here we headed to Foynes on the South side of the Shannon River(Ireland's longest river and in parts very,very wide), west of Limerick. Foynes began basically our coastly tour of South West and Southern Ireland for the next few days. We drove down to Tralee and then onto the Dingle Peninsula. We stayed the night at Anascaul at a hostel called Paddy's Place and on the front wall is the picture of the "Randy Leprechaun".

Thursday morning started with a tour of the Dingle Peninsula - spectacular scenery - a must see if you ever get to this part of Ireland. The views over Dingle Bay and to the Blaskets (no sight of Gerry Gee though!) were picture postcard stuff. We also visited the Gallarus Oratory, a dry stone early Christian church (6th - 9th century) which is shaped like an upturned boat.

From the Dingle Peninsula we travelled along the famous "Ring of Kerry" route. The route started at Killorgin and we travelled in the anticlockwise direction to Kenmare. There are so many pretty views and picturesque villages along the "Ring", this blog couldn't do justice to it is a short paragraph - so I won't try!!

From the "Ring" we head along the coast to Bantry and then headed to Ireland's most South Westerly point, Mizen Head and the sites along this peninsula were as spectacular as the Dingle and the Ring of Kerry. About a mile off the coast at Mizen Head is the Fastnet Lighthouse, which is the most Southerly point of Ireland! From here we drove to Cork and stayed at a central city hostel, Kinlay House - very nice! A very big day!!

Friday morning, we had a quick walk around Cork - but unfortunately Cork didn't have a lot to offer, so we headed to the Blarney Castle (~8 km from Cork). The Blarney Castle and grounds was worth the visit and of course we "kissed the Blarney Stone". From Blarney we headed East. The first place we visited was Youghal and then onto Waterford. We visited the Waterford Crystal Outlet and managed not purchase anything!

From Waterford we went to the Hook Peninsula via a ferry (punt) from Passage East to Ballyhack across Waterford Harbour. On the Hook Peninsula we saw Ballyhack, Duncannon (very pretty), Hook Head (interrupted some wedding photos!), Slade Castle (where some rock concerts are held) the replica of Tintern Abbey (Wales) at Fethard-at-sea and onto Wellington Bridge. As the day was getting on we headed to our B&B at Rosslare. The St.Martin's B&B is a very nice B&B.

Saturday morning saw us start the day with a full Irish breakfast, which included juice, cereal, coffee/tea, toast, bacon, eggs, sausgaes, and black and white pudding. We caught the 9.00 am ferry back to Wales (Fishguard). We decided to have lunch at Newport (10 km North of Fishguard) but couldn't find a suitable place on the beach, so we backtracked to a place called Pwllgwaelod via some very tiny lanes and ended up at a lovely little bay looking directly across to Fishguard Harbour at Dinas Head. After a quick lunch we headed back to Cardiff.

A long and enjoyable trip! As usual, pics available at the Web albums link. I've also added a new feature (woopee!), travel maps - see link above. Cheers!