Have you ever been late to a party and when you arrived everyone greeted you as though you are the reason they came? That's what Ireland feels like! I have traveled extensively and never have I encountered such warmth and friendliness as I did with virtually every Irish man and woman I met. From the cab driver coming in from the airport to the lady selling my shampoo at Boots pharmacy, everyone was extrordinarily kind and gracious. They should write a book about how they do it.

We arrived in Dublin in the morning after a long flight from the west coast. I wasn't nearly as tired as my friend, (thank you Xanex) but both of us were pretty spent. We stayed at Number 31 Guesthouse near St. Stephen's Green. I chose this place based on Trip Advisor reveiws and I wasn't disappointed. Neal greeted us at the door with fresh coffee and cookies while he checked us in. Before taking us to our room he brought out a map and noted places to eat in all price ranges in the neigborhood. When we got to our room it was a large double. I had asked for twins, no problem, Neal promptly took us to another (larger) room that was actually a triple for the same price.

We spent the first few days of our trip in Dublin to acclimate. Our first full day we took the hop-on/hop-off bus. I don't usually take these, but for our limited time and the convenience it was the perfect way to get an overview of Dublin. At the TI we also bought a Heritage Pass which paid for itself within two sites. Well worth it. The Hop-On bus was an experience as you don't stay on the same bus all day. The first bus was normal, the 2nd bus had a fabulous driver who announced sights in a sing/song voice which was hilarious. At one point I figured out he was singing a U2 song which I only recognized by the lyrics. The third bus was the Tuberculosis express as everyone seemed to have a deep gutteral cough. Good times. We didn't stop at every sight along the way but did see St. Patrick's Cathedral, (and returned later for evensong service, beautiful!), Guiness, and a couple of other places. All in all a great day.

That night we had dinner at Peploes on St. Stephen's green. It was not inexpensive, (we were celebrating a birthday), but the food was wonderful, the wine list extensive and the service fabulous and of course, friendly. The next day it was time to pick up the car and head south to Kinsale.

I drove the first day and it was interesting. As much as I've traveled in Europe, I've never rented a car. It seemed for Ireland to be necessary to see what we wanted to see. We had an ordinance map and GPS, Though...with the ordinance map I'm pretty sure we could have made it without the GPS. At any rate the first day my companion surprised me with her sudden interest in one word commands such as "curb!", "ditch!" or my personal favorite, "Car!" That first day we were lucky in that most of the drive was on a motorway, the closest thing Ireland has to an interstate. Most of the roads are narrow two lane affairs that took some getting used to.

Along the way we stopped at the Rock of Cashel. It was well worth it. The weather was gray which contributed to the overall atmosphere of this church in ruins. It reminded me of what I pictured the cathedral to look like in the book "Pillars of the Earth". Great photos. We hadn't originally planned on stopping at the Rock of Cashel, but because it was on the way to Kinsale it made sense to go there. Afterward in the car, my friend admitted to me that the reason she wasn't so interested was because she thought it was an actual rock, ancient perhaps, but a rock nonetheless. I admitted to the same thought. and I read the guidebook!

By the afternoon we arrived in Kinsale. What a beautiful place. In fact I think it might be my favorite town from out trip. That may be due to our wonderful B&B innkeepers. We stayed at The Olde Bakery run by Tom and Chrissie. If Ireland is the most friendly place I've ever been to, Tom and Chrissie are the come-to-life examples of what I'm talking about.

Kinsale is a colorful, (literally) small town set in a beautiful harbor surrounded by green hills. It is easily walkable with many places to eat and drink. We took a walking tour of the town from two gentleman (I can't remember their names) I'd seen on a Rick Steves video. It was a fabulous tour and a good way to spend the morning. In the afternoon we walked to St. Georges Fort. It was a warm sunny day and I thought the ruins we were looking at from town were the fort. Not so. Look at those ruins....now look farther...you see the rocks way up over there on the hill?...that's St. George's Fort. It's worth it I promise you, you won't regret it. even walking up hill in warm weather. Don't worry, there's a pub right before you enter! It was well worth the the scenery once we got there. We spent a couple of hours walking around, stopping to stare and take pictures. A 30 ship Spanish Armada sailed into the harbor of Kinsale in the 1500's. 7000 English troops line up on the hill above town to warn them off. Another 6000 irish troops came in above the English. At the time? there were only 800 Kinsale citizens. Must have been a bit frightening.

More to come....if interested.

Chevre - Please do continue! I felt the same way when we handed back our motorhome after 2 weeks and nearly 2,000km.
Looking forward to the next instalment...............

I am already hooked on your report - I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip! We are going to Ireland in March 2010. How much was your lodging in Dublin? Did you like the location?

Hello again.

Sessa we stayed in Dublin twice. Number 31 was more expensive at 180E a night and that was a special. If your budget is tighter we also stayed at Jury's Inn Christchurch for 79E. Jury's inns are the Holiday Inn chain of ireland. Perfectly fine but cookie cutter. They have three in Dublin but I think Christchurch is the best located and the newest. It's right near Temple Bar and the two big cathedrals.

Anyway.....I could re-cap every day but I think that would be a bit much. Suffice it to say that driving became easier; you just need to focus on your lane and not worry about oncoming cars. In town I would always pull in the mirror. Why???? Well because as I stated earlier one of the one word commands of my navigator was "Car!". Sadly it was too late and we heard a slight bump. And I do mean slight. No dent, But i won't name the town in case someone's looking for me.

From Kinsale we went to Killarney where we spent 2 nights at the Loch Lein House. Then from Killarney to Dingle Town. We chose the Dingle Peninsula over the Ring of Kerry based on the recommendations of many people when asked which they'd choose if they had to. I don't know what the ROK looks like but I can tell you we weren't disappointed in the Dingle Peninsula. We considered a tour so that I could avoid driving but the tours were only 2 hours which meant we would miss many things we wanted to do. So I drove. It is a very narrow road around Slea Head but I think the trick is to get behind a tour bus because they trump all oncoming traffic. We only encountered oncoming traffic once on the drive and since we were behind a bus the other car had to back up. It seems most drive the loop in one direction starting on the west side.

Along the way we stopped at the Famine Huts. I really enjoyed this for 2 reasons; 1) the animals and 2) the story of the famine is posted and I find it facinating though tragic. There are many animals on the property including a baby miniature horse that had just been born. The size of my labrador, this foal was a rocking horse come to life. I almost stole it.

In the huts it's a bit creepy I think. They have life size dolls in tableau which I always find weird but most disturbing was the life size doll of a child peering down from a hayloft. His/her hair was all wild and the eyes were murderous, though i suppose I'd be a bit crazed too were I starving. Ironically the clohes were very nice, a contridiction given the times.

Along Slea Head Drive there are a number of stops such as the huts and Beehive ruins. These are on private property and so Heritage Cards don't work. Once beyond Slea Head there is a beehive church that is still intact and it is a Heritage Site. At the tip of Slea Head is the Blasket island Interprative Center, (Hertiage Card works). Both my friend and I found this facinating. It is wonderfully situated to make the most of the view of Blasket. The exhibitions tell the story of the Blasket Island people in film, displays, photographs and writings. We spent 2 hours there alone and enjoyed every minute. You can visit Blasket Island if weather permits. We didn't, but if you do I would go to the interprative center first to get the most out of your visit to the island.

After Blasket Center we continued on our drive and saw more old stuff, beautiful scenery etc. etc. We did stop at Louis Mulcahy pottery. It's not my thing but if it's yours it is unique to this area and they ship. Mrs. Mulcahy weaves beautiful, soft wool scarves which are sold at the pottery store as well as a store of her own in Dingle Town. They too are unique to the area. Expensive at 35E I bought one as a gift and one as my big souvenir from the trip. Easy to pack for home too!

In Dingle Town we stayed at the Milltown B&B Mark and Ann are the proprietors and are wonderful people. It is set off about a 15 minute walk from town with a fantastic views of the bay. One final word, thought the roads themselves leave a bit to be desired I will say the signing is very good, both for towns and individual sties. Tomorrow....Northern Ireland and the Giant's Causeway.

Keep it coming and thanks in advance!

From Dingle we headed to Galway. Along the way we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher. They are stunning and I wasn't going to miss them. The weather was once again terrific. The thing I always think about is how long I wait to see something and it's over in the space of a couple of hours. We hiked up the trails; took pictures from this viewpoint and that; had ice cream stopped and just looked for awhile...And then it was getting late and we still had to get to Galway.

I'd love to report on Galway but it was for these two days my travel companion got pretty sick and stayed in the hotel room. I ventured out on the full day there but it was pouring rain. Besides our hotel had a spa and I wanted to take advantage of it! We stayed at the Radisson SAS in Galway. An planned extrvagance. The spa is amazing and worth every euro spent.

From Galway we headed to Northern Ireland. The North is different. Geographically it was my favorite part of the entire island, a place that is breathtakingly beautiful in an already breathtakingly beautiful place. We stopped in Ennisskillen to see the Beleek factory as I wanted to purchase some gifts for home. Our first stop in the North was Derry.

We had been warned about our car from several people in the Republic. They told us that it wasn't a big deal but this it isn't unusual to be heckeled by Loyalists who see an Irish plate. This didn't happen to us. Without realizing it I had planned our time in the North on the same week end as The Battle of the Boyne Celebration on July 12th. This is one of the most political days of the year in Northern Ireland.

It is immediately clear that you are in a different place in the north. I don't know if it was for the 12th or not, but many towns we drove through had Union Jacks displayed from lamp posts. In some towns the curbs were painted red, white and blue as well. We arrived in Derry in the late afternoon. I mentioned the 12th to the B&B proprietor and he looked puzzled. He said, "Oh we don't even recognize that day here." I didn't realize it at the time but we were staying right in the center of Bogside in Derry, Our B&B was within a 1/2 block of where the Bloody Sunday riots that occured in 1972. Our host didn't celebrate the 12th becuase our host is a republic supporter. The 12th is about the Loyalist Orangemen marching and celebrating a vicotry of William of Orange's in 1590. Talking to others in the Bogside area of Derry, they said the 12th is about the Orangement shaking fingers and saying "na, na,na". I'm sure it isn't as simple as this. In fact the complications of politics in the North become very evident very quickly. Derry is a a walled town though it has grown beyond the walls. It is easy to walk the entire wall in about an hour. On the "Catholic" side of town it is called "Derry" and lamp posts are painted in the colors of the Irish Flag. Walk about 5 blocks and suddenly it is called "Londonderry" with the curbs painted red, white and blue and Union Jacks on display. The two sides are adjacent to each other.

If you visit Northern Ireland take the time to tour or talk with someone on both sides of the issue. It is facinating but also disheartening in some ways. There may be "peace" in Northern Ireland but I wouldn't say everyone has moved on. There is almost a tangible tension. While the people are friendly they aren't as outgoing as the Republic. Even more interesting to us was the lack of people on the streets of Derry. We were there for three days and saw very few people out and about and it was a week end. Even at night things were quiet. We found the same to be true of Belfast as well though we were only there one night.

After two nights in Derry we headed for Portrush and the Giant's Causeway. The drive between Derry and Portrush is short. We took the Coastal Causeway. We laughed when we saw a government sign that said, "You are entering an area of outstanding natural beauty." We thought that was funny but also setting a high standard. The sign wasn't wrong. The Coastal Causeway drive from Derry to Belfast should not be missed. It the cherry on the cake of Irish Scenery.

We got to Portrush early, checked into our hotel (The Ramada) and head out to the Giant's Causeway. We got lucky with the weather again and spent hours walking around and also just sitting and looking at it all. After the Giant's Causeway we continued on the Coastal drive to a place where a rope bridge connects the mainland to a small island. I'm sorry I can't remember the name but it's in all of the books. My friend is afraid of heights so I walked the kilometer out to the bridge on my own. Once again I was stunned by the views. The bridge itself isn't difficult but I'm not afraid of heights. The little island it crosses over too however has no fences and if you miss a step it's a long way down. We spent the night in Portrush and headed for Belfast the next morning. But along the way we continued on the Coastal Causeway along the Antrim Coast.

We spent one night in Belfast before heading for Dublin for 3 nights and the end of our trip.

Tomorrow really, really, really old mounds of grass in Knowth.

I love the one word commands! "Car!" Enjoying your report and I'm enjoying the Northern Ireland info.

The name of the rope bridge is Carrick-a-rede-Rope Bridge and is connected over a 80ft chasm to an island salmon fishery.

You must have been wowed by Whitepark Bay the way we were! Just stunning.
I agree, Northern Ireland is geographically more beautiful.
We were so glad to have gone around the entire country in an anti-clockwise direction, taking in the Antrim coastline beauty before going south into the Republic of Ireland.

After a week in the North we were ready to get back to the Republic. As I said in my earlier post, it isn't that people aren't friendly or that it isn't interesting; for us Northern Ireland wasn't "comfortable" the way the rest of the country is.

Though not as comfortable I was interested in hearing people talk about the tension. And given the right venue...they welcome talking about it. My travel companion on this trip doesn't travel as often as I do and I think she was actually a bit scared. I never felt scared, never felt we were in any kind of danger. It was simply a place that has seen it's share of strife. The arguements are not cut and dry and the language used is strong. One memorial we passed in the Bogside stated that on that site X was murdered by British soldiers. This language is used by both sides. As an American coming in on holiday I wanted to listen and learn what I could. I came away with no opinion at all as to which side is right, just an understanding of how incredibly complicated the tensions in that region remain.

If you are planning on visiting Derry do go to the Bloody Sunday museum in the Bogside. It presents one side. They also have daily walking tours of the area. But know going in that the tour leader has a very particular slant and he doesn't apologize for it. Afterward very nearby, there is an art gallary run by the Artists of the Murals as they're known. Talk with them too. Their slant is pro-republic but with a theme of reconcilliation. To hear the other side visit a pub on the Loyalist side of Derry (but remember to call it LONDONderry).

Before heading back into the city we returned the car to the airport. No dents, I am happy to report. I look forward to driving on the Continent for my next trip. Our return to Dublin found us staying near Temple Bar at the Jury's Inn Christchurch. I love the Temple Bar area and if I were in my 20's I would have probably seen it and spent the entire trip there. It is a great walking areas filled with pubs, bars and restaurants. Lot's of activitiy day and night. A place we really enjoyed was a Spanish Tapas bar called Pinoxto's. The food is outstanding and they have a great wine list.

A moment to talk about Irish Cuisine. God bless 'em I know life hasn't always been easy and there are many Irish chefs that are up and coming in this country. For everyday food? I would have to say the best food was that from somewhere else, i.e. Italy, France and Spain. Many restaurants tout "Traditional Irish Food" and I'm sure to many it is the bee's knee's in cuisine, I will not be among them. I will say they can cook a potatoe and of course the Guiness is above reproach. I consistenty had my meat overcooked so I stopped trying to order it. What I found really funny was that on almost every menu in a typical restaurant you will see Pasta Carbonnara which I like but also found amusing.

A recommendation for Dublin is to see the evensong service at St. Patrick's Cathedral. It occurs nightly at 5:45. Even if you aren't religious the sound of the acapella harmonies are amazing in the church. It is a short service and well worth the time. Plus it doesn't cost anything. The National Gallery is a fairly good art museum. It doesn't have a lot of "prestigious" works but it does have many excellent paintings as well as one Vermeer and one Ruebens that are stunning. Also in the Temple Bar there is a gift shop that has some pretty good things. It won't surprise you to hear that there are shops everywhere willing to sell you shamrock earrings and lerachaun socks.

We left Dublin early in the morning to return home. Our flight on Aer Lingus was very comfortable. In coach there seems to be more legroom than on Air France or SAS. Also, I was surprised that we actually went through U.S. customs at the airport in Ireland. Never done that but it was convenient. We had an unexpectedly long layover at JFK, (91/2 hours) but made it back to Seattle in one piece eventuatlly.

One final note: The day after I returned I was shopping for groceries. After 3 weeks of driving on the other side of the road without incident, I totally mangled my right side mirror. If only my travel companion had been there to yell "POLE!"

Last entry

Chevre,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this report. We visited only once in 1999 and your descriptions brought back so many great memories. Our itinerary was very similar to yours except we missed the North, which I now realize was a mistake.

You don't mention 2 things that we found very Irish enchanting--the full Irish breakfast which just about killed us since we're used to it's polar opposite, California Cuisine and the flags hung on the roadside by the many Irish homeowners who open up their homes as a B&B. We (soaked up the grease and partially) ate those breakfasts and stayed in so many wonderfully friendly peoples homes, it made for such an unforgettable trip.

Both of these things were among the many experiences that made our trip to that part of the world one of the best of our lives.

I'm curious, did you encounter either of these and what were your thoughts?

Chevre: This is so interesting, thank you for posting your trip report! I've been slowly working on reading all the Ireland reports (even the reaaaaally old ones from two or 3 years ago!) and never get tired of them.

Do you have pictures uploaded somewhere online?