Landing in Ireland and heading to Kilkenny, Waterford and Cork

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Note: In this blog are a total of 45 photos. Go to bottom of this page and click on Photos.

Finally arrived to one of the countries we've wanted to visit for years - Ireland. We've wanted to visit Ireland especially after seeing the movie Leap Year which was filmed totally in Ireland.



Our flight took us 7 hours before landing in Dublin Ireland. Not a bad flight but getting a few hours of sleep was important as we landed at 7:00 am and hit the road with our rental car out of Dublin. You would know it that we would catch the Dublin rush hour traffic on a Tuesday morning. Good planning!!?? So we had a crash course in re-learning to drive on the left side of the road and all that goes with it right out of the gate. No problem as we had our friend Robert's GPS loaded with a smartcard of Ireland roads plus a Ordnance Survey road map of eastern Ireland ... and of course Rhea giving me great directions. Turn Here! Turn There! Take Second Turn Out of Roundabout! Watchout! Don't Hit the Person in the Cross Walk! and on and on. So we headed to Kilkenny - population 7,700, where we had a B&B for two nights at the Fanad House. Stopped along the way for a mid-morning Irish Breakfast and greatly needed hot tea. Hit the spot and back on the road to Kilkenny. Our two days in Kilkenny was just the perfect start for our trip. The Fanad House was wonderful and highly recommended. Quiet, walking distance to city center and breakfast was great. We toured the Kilkenny Castle plus the small city on the first day and hit the sack by 9:30pm - a very long day. We took off for Cashel to see the Rock of Cashel and the Cathedral that sits atop. Then we headed to Caher to see a really cool castle - Cahir Castle one of Ireland's largest.

We departed Kilkenny on Sept. 13 heading towards Wexford with several stops along the way to see some Abby ruins, cemetaries and the Irish country side. We were off the normal tourist path as we chose the very rural roads of Ireland. These roads would be classified as twin bike paths in the U.S. - seriously. When two cars pass on these rural roads you have to hug the pavement edge so outside mirrors don't get removed. We flipped the passenger side mirror in to give us more clearance. These roads didn't have any inside or outside pavement striping or lines. They were not going to waste dollars on wider roads so why in the world would they waste it on paint right? Well it was an adventure that will prepare us for more of the same on the west coast. In any case we got to Wexford and walked around the city a bit - but really not much to keep us there more than 2 hours so we headed off to the Hook Peninsula just west of Wexford by about 45 minutes. We tent camped at a small campground plus enjoyed some good food and beer at Neville's Bar and enjoyed a nice drive to the end of the peninsula to see the world's oldest working lighthouse along with great views of the Celtic Sea.

Next morning we got up really early and headed for the ferry that takes you across the River Barrow over to Waterford population 46,000. Again we run into the heavy morning commute traffic - are we learning impaired???? Ok we did fine getting into Waterford and successfully getting a parking place in one of many riverside parking lots and again walked the city. Yes we did visit the Waterford Crystal Retail shop in the city. The most interesting site was the Reginald's Tower a medieval tower still remaining - defensive walls long gone - but full of interesting displays inside on all 4 floors. A not to be missed sight if touring Waterford. We left Waterford mid-afternoon for Cork. We continued west from Waterford passing small towns along the way plus some great views of the Celtic Sea until we finally arrived at Cork and the River Lee. And yet again hit the rush hour traffic at 4:30pm but handled it well since we're getting lots of practice it seems. The Cork city centre is an island caused by the river splitting and going around it. So several bridges carry cars and people onto the island from the other parts of the city. Our lodging for the two nights would be the Kinley Hostel which has been very nice. It is not a B&B by far but good accommodations (remember we're tent campers and anything near permanent over our heads is an improvement). The Hostel is relatively quiet and views from our private room are quite good good and walking distance to everything in the city.

Cork can be a very fun place to walk and see small shops and walkable alleys/lanes and see several old churches. Just park the car and walk and discover some real treasures here was our goal in Cork. We did take the train (take the train leave the car!) over to Cobh - pronounced Cove - to visit the Cobh Heritage Center adjacent to the train station. Lots of history in Cobh. Outstanding exhibits on the Titanic and Lusitania. Cobh was Titanic's last stop before sailing on to its unfortunate demise. The Lusitania was sunk off the coast of this coastline near Kinsale by a German U-boat and many of the survivors were brought to Cobh and Cork. A not to be missed exhibit!

That's it for our first blog posting from Ireland.

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Comments

[Hope Carr]

driving
you are now one of those "crazy drivers" you rant about, be thankful that Rhea is by your side and she is the navigator, she is superwoman in my book. photos of sheep up close would be nice... love ya'll!

[Janie Selby Fields]

Miss you!
The pictures are fantastic! You've been there less than a week (barely) and already done so much! Rhea, you are looking good with beautiful background scenery, but you stand out; love that blue coat. Hope all is well! Love and kisses, Janie