Ireland - Final Thoughts

Well friends, That is 36 posts for a 10 day trip (8 days in country, a day on either end for travel) - We highly recommend!!

Are there things we'd do differently? Maybe - but nothing big, just small tweaks - this suited us very well. If we went back, we wouldn't do it exactly like this again, but that is only because we did it this way the first time.

It was a LOT of driving - we didn't mind this, but, it was a lot - covering less ground/seeing fewer things would make the driving days shorter, but then in exchange, you see less of the country.

I didn't pick anything to do that was considered "hiking" - and yet - we walked, and sometimes hiked, quite a bit. Lots of mountains, lots of hills. If you want to see them up close, you have to walk them, and that is sometimes difficult. Be aware that if you truly don't want to walk a lot, you can still see Ireland, but not in quite the same way.

The world is a beautiful place, and this is only one small corner of it! I can't wait to explore some more...potential next trip locations - Italy, Greece, Chile - we'll see!! (Still have Scotland and England on the list too, but might try something different first, and then back to it, since we got a taste of that here).

If you ever have any questions about what we did, how we did it, costs etc, reach out! I am happy to tell you about what we did, if it's helpful!

Inis Oirr

Kerry Cliffs

Muckross House

Mizen Head

Cliffs of Moher

Kylemore Abbey

Rock of Cashel

Ireland - Dublin again, wrapping it up

We decided to stay in a hotel near the airport for peace of mind. We returned the rental car on Saturday, and made use of that time to figure out the hotels shuttle system. Seemed the best way, so there were no delays on Sunday morning for leaving. I booked us at the Clayton, and it was a really nice space! Air conditioning again!! Haha! To be honest, we didn't really need it, as it gets chilly at nights.

We ate at the restaurant in the lobby, and it was yummy as well!

Look what I found on the table! It's the "brown sauce" that was on my McDonald's breakfast wrap. 

Sunday morning we caught our shuttle and were at the airport in time to eat brekkie before the flight. At a bar, with people drinking beers at 7am. How?!? 😂. We decided on the same thing, avocado toast, with 2 eggs, and "streaky bacon", which is what is normal in America. The first "normal" bacon we'd had all trip! Decided to skip the beers 😂😂

After a flight, in which they served us a full breakfast, and lunch (and snacks) -The flight there was 5hr45mins, the flight home was closer to 7hrs - this is typical because of tailwinds/headwinds apparently.

Then we landed in Philly and saw Brian's heartsong near our connecting gate - Smashburger. European food is much MUCH prettier! But, a quick 1hr flight out of Philly and we're home!

Ireland - Athlone

Well, it's time to pack up and hit the road - again! This time travelling across the country - from Galway to Dublin. We have a flight in the morning! 

This is Ireland's favourite flavour - if your meal was served with crisps, they were cheese and onion - seems to be "plain" to them. Very yummy! 

I heard good things from all my Instagram friends that Barry's Tea was amazing. So I stole it from the tray in our room to bring home and try.

Lucky for us, Ireland is TINY - About 1/3 the size of the state of Virginia. The Irish don't seem to travel far/much compared to Americans, where a 3hr drive is basically a commute to work 😂. We left Galway and had a leisurely drive across Ireland - there were some stops we could make, but as you can tell, we had been going pretty hard and were tired - we decided on one stop in the middle, Athlone.

Found a gas station on the way home - time to vacuum out all our crumbs and get the rental ready to return.

Athlone

Inside Sean's Pub - the oldest Pub in Ireland, dating back to 900AD, Oldest in Ireland, and possibly the world! Serving drinks to people for over a thousand years! We didn't do anything but peak inside - they didn't serve food, and we're not big drinkers 😂. They were burning peat, so it smelled amazing, and the floor was covered in sawdust. My pic of the inside turned out blurry 😒

Found a place open - which took some doing - It was a Saturday, and apparently lunching out is not much of a thing in Athlone, with almost all places being open much later in the day for dinner. Alas, weather looked great, so we left coats and umbrellas in the car. Rookie mistake.

Food at the Rustic Root, it was so delicious! We really ate like kings here - so many amazing food options, and not very expensive at all!

Suddenly, it started pouring on our walk back to the car - we got soaked and cold. A true Irish farewell, I suppose 😂

 

Ireland - Nine Famous Irishmen

Dinner in Galway City, this was on the wall of the Restaurant - we work with a Thomas Meagher, so we thought we'd share this story with him. It's incredible!

 

Ireland - Town of Westport

Westport was a buzzy little town - a little larger than others we drove through.

Excellent food and atmosphere at a pub in Westport - JJ O'Malley's I think - maybe our fave yet for vibes. Sea bass for Brian and curry for me.

 Patrick was a Romano-British Christian Missionary, and is known as the Apostle of Ireland - he is the primary patron saint of the island. There is a pilgrimage that happens yearly, and Westport, and this statue are part of that I think. Portland stone statue of St. Patrick, depicted as a young shepherd boy, dressed in contemporary Roman clothing. When St. Patrick was 16 years old, he was captured by Irish pirates. They brought him to Ireland where he was sold into slavery in Dalriada. There, his job was to tend sheep.

The statue is on top of a Doric column, standing on an octagonal base with on the faces reliefs showing incidents in the life of the saint and inscriptions from the Confessio:

The text around the statue reads:

I am Patrick | a sinner | most unlearned | the least of all | the faithful and | utterly despised | by many
The voice | of the Irish | we ask you boy | come | and walk once | more among | us
It was then | most necessary | to cast out our | nets that a very | great multitude | might be caught | for God 
Let your | conclusion be | that my success | was the gift | of God | et haec est confessio | mea antequam moriar

The octagonal plinth and column were erected in 1845 to support a statue of George Glendenning (1770 - 1843), a country agent of the Bank of Ireland. During the Civil War, Irish Free State troops used the statue for target practice and shot off the head. In 1943 the local authority removed the statue, crests and inscription.

In 1990 the vacant column was reoccupied by the present statue of Saint Patrick and were the reliefs and texts added on the plinth.

Ireland - Killary Harbour

Ireland's only fjord - we just drove past, didn't stop

Here, in the valley, they are apparently worried about people going off the road, with a metal barrier and a wire fence. Would have been helpful up in the mountains, no?!?

 

Ireland - Walled Victorian Garden at Kylemore

The walled garden was another jaw dropping scene of beauty that the camera lens just couldn't seem to capture. On the way over was a little set up of placards - there is a new (much smaller than the castle) monastery newly finished for the nuns there. We didn't stop into it, because they run I think 5 services per day (whew!) and it was about in the middle of one, and we didn't want to interrupt.

The gardens are about 1km from the Castle, about 2km from the Cathedral

These guys 😂 They were so ugly, they were cute!

They planted the fruit trees right up against the wall - because the heat from the wall made them produce more/have a longer growing season.

Again, a truly breathtaking view. Little wonder the Henry family fell in love with this spot!

A Connemara pony - they were bred in this area and aren't many left/being bred anymore.

A few young ones!

Outside looking in 

Off in the back of this section of the garden on the left was the main gardeners home. It was a very well paid and "high" position, back in the day. The better the home you had for your main gardener, the better and more prestigious gardener you could get to run your gardens. This was was considered a nice home for a gardener, meaning the one here would have been highly skilled/top notch.

The building beside it more to the middle-left was the garden shed and Bothy - a dorm styled residence for all the apprentices to live in - a career one would begin learning as young as 10 years old. 

 

The foundation of the banana glass house

Interior pics of the Gardeners home...

Interior pics of the Bothy - this room was on the main level and would have been for the "supervisor". The second level was the bunk room for all the lower level apprentices.

Bathroom for the Bothy