It was a long but uneventful drive from Kilarney to Rossenvael (sp) for the ferry to Inis Mor (big island in Gealic). We made it in plenty of time for the 12:00 ferry. One word of advice, don´t park at the 1st car park if you can avoid it. There is another one alot closer to the ferry. It was fun sitting on the ferry watching all the folks who´d parked at the further car park and were close to the departure time run to get the ferry! It only took about 1/2 an hour to get to the island. The [View Full Entry]

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After a pleasant trip from Cork, we found Kilarney International Youth Hostel without too much trouble (only one wrong turn!). We checked in about 9:30am, stored our luggage and bought 2 Ring of Kerry Tour tickets @16.50 Euros each. The sights were awesome! We stopped once to watch a presentation by an Irish shepherd, explaining the different types of sheep and demonstrating how his sheepdogs work. They were something and the whole thing was very informative and only 4 Euros. We stopped for lunch at the Scariff Inn. The food was good, but very expensive (13 Euros for a small bowl [View Full Entry]

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Cork: Sheilas Hostel was OK... sort of run of the mill, although very clean and well appointed. After checking in and buying a parking disc for the car (1.80 Euros for 2 hours, and you're supposed buy a new one every 2 hours which sort of limits where you can go! I just bought 2 and scratched off 2 different time periods on them.) we walked down to the bus station and bought tickets on Bus Eiarran to Blarney. You can take a 3 hour tour but that is restrictive and cost a bit more than the 5.10 Euros round trip [View Full Entry]

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Cashel: Found Cashel Lodge with no problem. Very clean, nice, and private. Arrived too late to tour Rock of Cashel, so walked around town... whole town, twice in an hour or so. Had a good dinner at Hannigans. Rock of Cashel at night is quite pretty. Next day (2 June) had enough time to tour Rock and then eat lunch at The Bake House. Excellent food and prices, and baked goods baked right there! After lunch, we headed to Cork to see the Blarney stone. Getting to Cork was OK and uneventful, but once there we got lost and took almost [View Full Entry]

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Waterford: Got car from Airport in Dublin (Budget), and headed to Waterford to visit Waterford Crystal Factory before going to Cashel. Tour was great and not expensive, but the crystal sure was! Manoli bought a cute vase that she had engraved there. We also got a photo of us holding a cheap (just a few thousand bucks!) piece of crystal. I'd recommend this tour anyone. [View Full Entry]

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After some shopping..and resting, we headed out to Taylor's Irish Night. Unfortunately, we got off the bus at the wrong place and had to walk a couple miles, finally catch a Taxi, but arrived almost on time. The food was great and the entertainment even better! The Merry Ploughboys sure could play and sing (Leon would have loved this!) and the Taylor's Irish dancers were also great. Somehow or other, I let Manoli convince me to accept the offer to dance with one of the young ladies (pic included). Wednesday, we took the Tour Bus around Dublin, and then stopped at [View Full Entry]

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Well, we made it to Dublin. Sending this from hostel pc, since I killed both the batteries on my handheld. Will try to recharge some before show tonight (Taylor's Irish Night Dance, Song and dinner) and maybe get a pic there. [View Full Entry]

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Here we are, ready for the big trip. See ya in Dublin! J.C. & Manoli [View Full Entry]

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