Ireland 2014

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Ireland

2014



Another short trip to visit family in Ireland. We were pleasantly surprised by the nice weather, it was July but it didn't look go when we checked before our flight so the sunshine was a bonus.

Stayed in the small town Mitchelstown again, nothing new here, though we did find a lovely cafe/bakery called O'Callaghan's, they make everything fresh and it's the only place in town that makes a real cup of coffee (instead of a button machine that just spits it out). It's surprisingly spacious once inside and great for lunch and good cappuccinos 😊



During this trip, we decided to take advantage of the good weather and the fact that we were so close to the Galtee mountains and woodlands. So we went for long walks around them, doing the Glengarra woods trail. It's beautiful once you get deep inside, we saw a few deer along the way (able to get pretty close before they ran off) and it had markers tied around trees when the path became hard to see so we were never in any danger of getting lost. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, just being completly surrounded by nature and silence for awhile.



Hopped on the bus to Cork city a few times in the week for shopping and night outs. Went into plenty of pubs/bars in the around the main street, all pretty nice but not cheap! found ourselves paying 12euro for just 2 drinks in a number of places.

Some of the note worthy ones would be The Pavillion, this place had a quiet downstairs with a DJ playing smooth music and a large upstairs thats used as a nightclub but on this night it had a live rock band playing and was free to enter, I really enjoyed it 😉



Another interesting one we found was the Hi-B bar. A tiny, quiet place that has chessboard tables and everyone inside dressed very smartly, also apparently there's a no swearing rule and they'll kick you out if they hear any. Certainly not a lively place but something a bit different.

On one of these Cork trips we saw a new place called Rockin' Joes. It's an American style diner, there was only one person inside when we walked past but the places style and layout was cool and the prices super cheap so we thought we'd give it a go. Wow we were not sorry, the portions were huge and burgers only cost 2-6euro (and could be doubled up for another 2euro), suddenly this is now my boyfriends new fav place, lol. Also shared a milkshake which was so thick you could have probably eaten it with a spoon but tasted lovely. We left feeling very stuffed but still endded up back here on another night of the week 😉



We took a short drive to Cahir during the week, only about half hour away from Mitchelstown, to visit the Cahir Castle. It was only 3euro to get in and you could wander about inside and around the grounds as long as you wanted. A nice place, you can walk up along the walls edges and to the top of the tower wheres theres a good view of the town and river.



Overall the trip was a relaxing one, plently of time was spent eating and drinking good local products, walking my mums dogs and evenings in the pub having a laugh and playing pool.

Having bright sunny days certainly helps when it comes to Ireland, the scenery really comes to life and you can appreciate the beautiful nature and landscapes all around you even more.

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