When I was first making plans for our trip I used Oktoberfest as a bookmark and then filled in the beginning gap with Iceland, London and Ireland. I figured 10 days in Ireland would give us a good taste of things, without being too rushed. WRONG! Turns out we could've easily filled 10 days in 1 spot with the amount of things to see and do.
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| Waiting in the rain for a cab |
We started our Ireland journey by taking a train from London. Apparently trains and record setting rainfall don't really see eye to eye. There was a ton of flooding on the tracks and luckily trains still go through, they just go really really slow! We arrived at the dock just in time to catch the ferry across to Dublin. The ferry was much larger then I imagined with 5 decks just for vehicles and was more of a cruise ship then ferry. The pilot warned us that it could be a rough 3.5 hr ride due to the weather (more record setting rains and wind). Fortunately, the boat's stabilizers were really good and the ride was relatively smooth. We arrived in Dublin at 5:45 PM.
There were 2 lines when we finally got off the boat: 1 for cabs and 1 for the bus. Since we had to get to the airport to pick up a rental car (and it was already getting late) we opted for the cab. Sometimes it pays to spend a little extra. After a 45 min wait (in the rain) for a cab we headed to the airport, after a quick stop to get cash so we could pay the driver. We got in our rental car at the perfect time of night when its not quite dark but you can't see anything (of course it was still raining too). Adam did a great job of driving a manual car on the wrong side of the road and our GPS lead us straight to our first B&B in Arklow, about 1.5 hrs south of Dublin.
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| Kilkenny Castle |
From Arklow we headed out to Kilkenny where we had hotel reservations for the night. It was drizzling when we arrived in Kilkenny so we found a pub to have lunch (and get a Guinness). We spent the afternoon walking around town visiting the Castle of Kilkenny, the Black Abbey and other random site around. We tried to visit the Smithwicks brewery but all their tours were sold out. We were able to go inside the Black Abbey and see the most amazing stained glass. It was truly breathtaking and is something everyone should go and see. After touring in the rain it was finally time to check into the hotel at Lyrath Estates. It was a couple km outside of town so we ate at their restaurant and had a relaxing night. If we had to do this again I wouldn't stay at the Estates and would instead choose a B&B that was in town.
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In the morning we packed up the car and headed towards Killarney, where we decided to spend 2 nights. Packing and moving everyday gets old. We picked a B&B that was in town so we could walk to the pubs to join in the Arthurs Day festivities. On our way from Kilkenny to Killarney we stopped at the Dunmore Caves, Rock of Cashel, and Blarney Castle. The cave was neat (except for the 30 screaming children who happened to be in our group) and reminded us of our Belize trip. We refused to pay the fee to enter Rock of Cashel (which was under a major restoration) and opted to hike the path around it. We did pay the fee to see the Blarney Estate, Castle and Blarney Stone. It was well worth it, especially since you can't see anything from the road. We crawled through all tunnels and explored the castle, hiking all the way to the top where the Blarney Stone is. We were very thankful to be here during a non peak time and only had to wait behind 4 people to kiss the Blarney Stone. It was nothing like a imagined and sliding down on your back over the edge of the castle's top floor is a little freaky (even with medal bars that are supposed to save you from dying should you fall). After a jam packed day we reached Killarney and settled into our B&B, then hit the town for dinner a couple drinks.
You can check out our best of pictures here:
Best of Ireland
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