Since I first started daydreaming about doing a year long travel trip, Ireland was on the top of my list of places to visit. Leading up to leaving the US though, covid restrictions were fairly strict in Ireland for US citizens and I had sadly resigned myself to being unable to see it on this trip. Happily, getting into the EU in the last few weeks, I realized that I would be able to visit after all!

Dublin

I flew from Amsterdam to Dublin on a morning flight so I took advantage of having a free afternoon to stop at a bunch of neat touristy spots, including The Temple Bar, the Ha’penny Bridge, visiting Trinity College’s magnificent library, seeing the Book of Kells museum and I also stumbled upon several sand sculptures from an earlier competition while walking through the city.

I decided to stay in another hostel in Dublin, and to my happy surprise, they were only at half capacity due to covid precautions. I had just 1 roommate, a lovely woman named Sandra, from Spain. We decided to take the Guiness Storehouse tour together which was a 10 minute walk from where we were staying.

The tour was super impressive! It’s 5 floors describing the history and process of making their famous beer with interactive displays. It was presented in a way that reminded me of Disney Land! The tour ended on the 7th floor sky bar with a 360 degree view of the city where you can sip a Guinness and watch the sunset.

After the tour, we found an awesome pub that had live Irish music, sung by a man with red hair and a red beard! I ordered fish & chips, and it felt like the perfect Irish day!

Traveling by Car

I went back and forth on whether or not to rent a car to see Ireland. I read that it offered a lot more flexibility in seeing remote castles and exploring the southern coast….I also read about driving on the left side of the road, that most cars are manual transmission, and especially, how narrow and scary the roads were!

Not wanting to miss any of the beautiful coastal drives, I decided to brave it and go for the rental car option. They weren’t kidding about narrow roads with blind passes! 😂 Often, the roads are only 1 lane wide with large trees, brambles and shrubs, or stone walls on either side that make it very challenging to move to the side to allow another car to go through. Passing busses is especially unnerving. There are also lots of round abouts which felt so weird to go around on the left.

In the end though, I think renting a car was worth it, the coastal drives were amazingly beautiful! And now I can say that I managed to drive around Ireland, on the left, with a manual transmission, for a week, and did not die! 😉🎉

The Rock of Cashel and Hore Abbey

On Day Two, I drove from Dublin to see The Rock of Cashel and Hore Abbey on my way to Killarney. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th Century and contains a fortress on the top of a green hill with a small cemetery beside it. Behind it is Hore Abbey, which is a ruined Cistercian monastery.

Between the two areas is a long green field, and while I was waiting for the tour at Cashel, I walked through the field to explore the Abbey. It was quiet and lovely to explore the ruins on my own, and to my surprise, the field I had used to get there was full of sheep on my way back!

Dingle Peninsula

This area is on the southwestern coast, called the Wild Atlantic Way, and about a 30 mile drive along the Atlantic Ocean. It has some beautiful stops including Inch Beach, the cute little town of Dingle, beehive huts, views of the Basket Islands and a film location for Star Wars: the Last Jedi.

The Cliffs of Moher

These sea cliffs are on the West side of the island, near a tiny town called Doolin, and run about 8.5 miles. I had planned to see this area the day after I arrived, but the weather was calling for rain, so instead, after checking into a cute bed & breakfast near Doolin, I decided to drive down before sunset to see if I could catch them without storms. Google routed me down a super scary, narrow coastal road on the way there, but I made it in time to see the sunset (and took the high way back)!

Kylemore Abbey

Located in Connemara on the west side of Ireland, this castle was built in the late 1800s by a wealthy business man and his wife. They lived in the castle until the early 1900s when it was bought by the Duke and Duchess of Manchester. Later, it became a Benedictine monastery and girls school. Today, it is a beautiful tourist attraction with restored rooms in the Abbey on the ground floor, a Neo-Gothic church on the grounds and a lovely walled garden.

Random fun

I kept seeing “Traditional Irish Breakfast” on menus and so I ordered one…it is very heavy on protein! 🥓

There was a cute pig who lives on the Kylemore Abbey grounds whose name is: Gloria Summer💕

Apparently it is Arts Week in Clifden. I kept hearing music outside my hotel room window and when I finally looked out to see what was happening, saw this! 😂

Next up, Northern Ireland =)