Arriving at Dublin airport. The sun is shining. We pick up our car. I try to get used to the gears at my left. God thanks I am a lefty. Driving on the motorway is not a problem. But as we get on the narrow roads and branch off, my car roars a couple of times. Sorry, it's me managing the gears. First stop is Powerscourt waterfall. It's not the falls, what fascinates us, it's the vegetation. Later we have cake and coffee at a café in Enniskerry, a nice small town. We won't miss afternoon cake and coffee for the following couple of days. Driving over Sally Gap and through Glenmacnass valley we feel completely put into another world; wilderness, sheep and moorland. Glendalough is one of the famous monastery sites in Ireland. Roundtower, St.Kevin's Kitchen, high crosses. A five minutes drive further, there's a lake. Cristal clear water, forest along the lake, encircled by the barren mountain. At Larah we stay at Tudor Lodge B&B which we booked ahead a couple of days upfront. Have fish and chips and Guinness in the pub.
10.08.11I order a full English one, the waitor is not pleased; Irish breakfast or the fry. Guinness to end the day, egg, sausage, black pudding and bacon to start with a new one, what a diet. I enter the car and look for the driver's wheel. Wrong side. The gears on the left. No I cannot drive in a sleepy mode over here. We pass by a couple of villages, stop here and there and at Browne's Hill Dolmen close to Carlow. It is not Stonehenge but the stones are nearly as heavy (haven't seen those of Stonehenge to be honest). Next stop is Carlow. Walk to the river and back via college and church to the car; seen it. Then we stop at Gowran and stroll through the ruins of St.Mary church. Finally we get to Kilkenny and park our car at San Antonio B&B, which is a bit outside the center. We booked through internet the evening before. Rain starts, becomes heavy. We rush down the streets, cross the river, up to the factory like cathedral St.Canice. Its roundtower looks like a chimney. Rain is still heavy. Later on we pass by Black Abbey through the alleys of Kilkenny to the castle. Have dinner at Langton's Pub and a Smithwick's or two (is a Kilkenny brew and is going to be my favourite beer for the next couple of days). The pub starts getting crowded round 9 P.M. It's the live band. They play good Irish music.
11.08.11Have a fry for breakfast, pay the bill, ask for the receipt.... What? Receipt? ...Got the message. Who the heck pays tax in Ireland. Back to the car, back to the left side of the road and another day struggling with the gears on the wrong side. Front of us the rock of Cashel. Rain. Another monastery site. Enthroned on a rock. Once there was a cathedral, nowadays just relicts. A roundtower. Highcrosses. A special atmosphere in the rain. Next stop is Cahir, we stroll through ruins of an abbey, again. To be honest, those places are fascinating. When traversing the Vee, a pass, my car asks for break fluid, no, it beeps... Never had to refill breakfluid in my life. It's a Ford, maybe the Americans need that kind of liquid. My Japanese cars are happy with petrol.... and motor oil from time to time.....Where am I? Ok, found a gas station selling break fluid and my wife askes some young guys to help us in getting the liquid into the though. Arrive in Lismore. Have coffee and cake. Visit the castle in the forest. Next stop; Dungarvan. Don't like. Final destination for the day is Ardmore, a wonderful small village at the sea-shore. We do THE cliffwalk starting at the monastery with a roundtower and couple of highcrosses, cross the headland and get to the cliffs. A hundred meters below us... the sea hitting the rock. Seagulls. For dinner we have a burger in the old forge restaurant ....best burger ever . Have a Smithwick's and then a good sleep at Fountainhouse B&B
12.08.11Have a fry for breakfast. Pay the bill. Don't get a receipt. Into the car....and to the left side of the road. Struggle with the gears. Rain. Youghal and rain. Visit St.Mary church and towngate. Seen it. Next station is Cobh. It's said to be a pleasant little city at the seashore with a hughe cathedral on top of the cliffs. We can approve. Still raining. Back to the car, direction Cork. Find a parking lot somewhere down-town. Walk through Shandon, the worker's suburb. Its landmark is a church with a fish on top of its tower. Back downtown, visit the cathedral. Heavy rain now. Back in the car we take direction Kinsale. A lovely place with colourful facades. We have coffee and cake. Should we stay or should we go? We decide to drive another couple of miles today. Clonakilty. We book a room in the Imperial hotel. Sounds more than it is. After dinner we step into 'An Teach Beag', a typical Irish pub. We order some drinks. A man and a woman, both with guitars are sitting in the lounge and start to play. What a voice. What a sound. Fiddlers enter the pub. They start to play as well. Another singer starts to sing. Yet another one. Somebody with a Bodhran (Irish drum) turns up. It's Friday night music session at 'An Teach Beag'. Don't tell anybody else. This event saves our rainy day.
13.08.11First station today is Castletownsend a small town at the sea. Seen it after strolling on the pier. Take direction Ring of Kerry. The road is becoming narrow. More traffic, more coaches, more campers. I don't really enjoy, too much concentration on the road. And it rains again. We get to Portmagee, the last town of Kerry. Short walk in the rain. Back in the car and take direction Dingle. Shortly before Dingle we have another break. Watch the surfers floating on the sea waiting for the wave. Dingle is fully booked. That's what the lady at the information desk says. We find a room at Murphy's pub, a hundred meters away from tourist information. Dingle is a colourful town. For dinner we have some stuff from the sea. There's a live music band in Murphy's pub right below our room. Around 2 a.m. the music stops. Our neighbours return to their room. They start to shout at each other. After half an hour the noise starts to become different. Apparently they made peace, say, more than peace. Takes another half an hour and then she starts to cry.... What a night.
14.08.11Is it possible? Our neighbours wake up before us. The guy has to go home to his wife early in the morning. We have breakfast and go on a Peninsula tour. The sun is shining. YES, the sun is shining....needs to be written twice. Landscape is completely different in the sunlight. We enjoy the coast drive, enjoy Dunbeg Fort, enjoy Slea Head. Go down to the beach. Short drive to Glogher Strand. And we do what we have to do, what has always been in our plans, take off our cloths and jump into the ice cold water. Run into the wave, breath, run back... Again... And again. Back in the car we drive to Gallarus orathory. Around noon we're back in Dingle and take the Connor pass. Visit Adare and its thatched cottages. Drive around Limmerick and take direction Liscannor where we stay over night at the Villager B&B. The landlord recommends to visit Cliffs of Moher now. It's already 6 p.m. We shall go there, first of all, because there will be another rainy day tomorrow, secondly, because the rock is lit by sunlight in the evening. So we go. Pay the entrance fee and reach the top of the cliffs around 7 p.m. Some hundred meters straight below us is the sea. We walk along the cliffs, jump over the visitor protection and feel like albatrosses one or two steps away from the abyss. And at the end of the day the sun comes out of the cloud and shines at the famous Cliffs of Moher. And we are the lucky ones to be part of the spectacle.
15.08.11Finished yesterday's itinerary with the last sunlight. Of course we went for meals and had a Smithwick's last night. Today is today and we go for breakfast. Landlord is not around. So we help ourselves. No fry today. Our livers are happy. Landlord turns up, we pay and go direction Burren. And it rains again and the gears are on my left. Poulnabrone dolmen: first stop. What is more exciting? The dolmen or the burren, ripped stony fields which resemble glaciers. I give my vote to the burren. Next stop is Corcomroe abbey, another abandoned place out in the rain. And then we get to Galway, rainy Galway. We park the car and walk through down-town looking for B&B's. No luck. The tourist office officer gives us a hint and we drive to Salthill. A nice landlady at Prague house B&B welcomes us and of course, we take the room. The walk back down-town Galway takes no more than 10 minutes. Haven't seen so many pubs in a row before, so many people, so many bands playing music. We have a birthday dinner at Spanish arch restaurant.Oysters and mussles to start with, steaks, a bottle of wine and of course a birthday cake with a candle.
16.08.11Today is Connemara day. Nice and sunny. We stop at Aughnarure castle, then at the quiet man bridge (oh yes we find it, sheer luck). Whe take a few pictures at a lake with sheep. Then we drive along the coast from Carna to Clifden. Fascinating colours. Then Kylemore abbey. I am afraid, but Kylemore is a tourist trap. 12 EUR is too much money just to walk through a couple of rooms in the abbey and the gardens which do not claim our attention. My advice is to take the famous abbey picture (yes they let you inside to the lakeshore without ticket ). Next stop is Killary Fjord, the one and only fjord in Ireland. There's a parking lot and a prohibition sign. No dumping. So what do people do? They hook their waste to the fence. After another hour we reach Cong, stroll around the abbey and miss the afternoon café. It's six p.m. already. Another hour and a half, we're back in Galway and get prepared for the pubs.
17.08.11After sausage,bacon,ham and egg at Prague's B&B we say goodbye to Galway. Clonmacnoise is our next destination. Roundtowers, highcrosses, buildings in decay in a marvellous setting. River shannon meanders through the meadows around the abbey. Maybe the most interesting ancient cloister-site, maybe. Then we drive up north to Northern Ireland. There's no border crossing but there's the Union Jack waving all everywhere. Arriving at Derry we find a room at Tower hotel, the poshest place where we have spent a night over here so far. We visit Bogside, all those wall-paintings (murals) of the recent civil war: the motorman, death of innocence... impressive. Compared to Galway, Derry is dead quiet. After scanning through a couple of empty restaurants, we find the only lively place for dinner right around the corner of the hotel at the main square.
18.08.11We have a hefty breakfast, get our stuff packed and drive to the northern coast. First stop is Dunluce Castle. Instead of walking through the main gate we attack the fortification from the coast crossing the castle moat and climbing the hill like the Vikings back in the days. Giant's Causeway is the reason why we've done all the way up north. And it's worth it, absolutely. To walk over the basalt columns, which are stuck together like a puzzle, makes fun. You just can't belief this has not been built by human. Unfortunately the cliff walk is blocked. So we stop at White Park Bay and walk along the white sandy beach. We say hello to the beach cows, yes cows on the beach. Apparently they like walking on sandy ground. We get as far as Carrick a Rede bridge. A tourist trap. We pay 6 pounds per person just to queue for 15 minutes, walk over the short hanging bridge to an island where we stay another 15 minutes, queue up again and wait to do the crossing back. There's no bus for the next couple of hours, so I have to walk to the carpark along the road. We stay over night at Fragrens B&B at Ballycastle. Nice place at the sea. Some kids take a swim. For us too late and too cold. Have seafood for dinner at the Cellar restaurant. Tastes good.
19.08.11Need to mention that Fragren's is a friendly place with friendly hosts. Our plan is to drive along the coast down to Belfast. Unfortunately we miss the junction and take the motorway. Belfast. City center. Two hours. Enough. After cathedral, city hall and Crown Liquor Saloon we go back to the car and drive to Shankill road. So, this is Belfast, as we know it from the news. Shankill is the protestant's district. Murals. Union Jacks crisscross the streets, looking like clotheslines. Men with tatoos standing in front of betting shops. Most people's faces are not welcoming. We feel like intruders with our car from the Republic. After stepping into dog's sh.. we withdraw, drive along the peace line, a huge grafiti wall with barbed whire on top, to Falls road, the catholic district. Falls is much less spectacular than Shankill. A couple of murals. That's it. And we say goodbye to Northern Ireland. Monasterboice is another monastery site. Huge highcrosses, a roundtower and rain. The day has not come to its end yet. Bru Na Boinne is next in our list. Newgrange, the English name for the ancient site, consists of various grave mounds. We are too late to visit the main one, so we take an excursion to Knowth. Drogheda is the place where we stay over night. Friday night at Westcourt hotel means not much sleep. How can people be so noisy all night long.
20.08.11The last day with the gears on my left. Enjoy the drive back to the car rental place at the airport. We 've lost a cover of a wheel but the rest of the car is complete and the guy from 'Budget' is happy. We go to the tourist office at the airport, ask for a hotel room. Dublin's fully booked, the agent says. It's Saturday, there's a rugby game in town, Ireland - France. All beds are sold out. He proposes a hotel in a village somewhere outside the city. We take the bus and go down-town. Walk up and down Lower Garden Street and find a room for three at the Anchor guest house, 10 minutes walk from Temple Bar, the heart of Dublin. We drop our baggage, go to Trinity College, Christ Church cathedral, St.Patrick's cathedral and end up at Temple Bar. Have food in a pub and a beer or two.
21.08.11After a good sleep, which we did not have the night before, we are ready for museums. First we take some pictures with the spire. The needle seems to be Dublins landmark. As I have mentioned before, we are on the way to the museums, the National Gallery followed by the National Museum of Ireland. Later we take a rest at St.Stephen's green. Riverdance in the early evening at Gaiety Theatre. Didn't know that Irish people are good dancers. I know they are good musicians, good drinkers but dancers? We really are fascinated by the step dance performance of the Irish artists. After the show we go for dinner at a pub in Temple Bar: Farrington's. Folkmusic band Turlough keeps us charmed till late at night. A successful day.
22.08.11One more day in Dublin. Nice and sunny once again. It's Guinness day. I have to be more precise. We visit the most famous Irish brewery. First we are a bit sceptical about the price. 16 EUR for a brewery-tour, just to see a couple of stills and barrels. At the end we must admit, it was worth the money. Good documentations about the history of brewing. My favourite is the marketing exposition. A couple of month before Guiness went into the American market, they dropped tons of empty Guinness labeled bottles over the westcost into the Atlantic sea. The bottles were washed to shore and of course found by potential Guinness drinkers.... To finish; at the end of the tour we have a pint of Guinness on the brewery's roof-top bar overlooking Dublin. My best Guinness I've had so far. In the afternoon we walk to Kilmainham jail and get the Irish history explained. Last typical Irish dinner tonight. To be mentioned, we kept to Irish food throughout our trip with one exception; in Drogheda we had Chinese. No other restaurants were serving hot food after 9. I end the day with ..guess what ........a Smithwick's.
23.08.11Get up, pay bill, go for breakfast. Bus to airport. Flight back home.