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Published: July 16th 2010
Cliffs of Moher
The 3* cliffs are greatRatings explained:
'Bad times' - self explanatory
'Don't bother' - self explanatory
1* - worth a look
2* - Good Times
3* - Unmissable
I expect people to filter the rating through their own travel desires so if you know you hate picturesque Cliffs you can downgrade a 3* Cliff view to a 'Don't Bother'.
Ireland is now behind this and we're posting this from what we presume will be a rare moment of internet connectivity whilst we're in Iceland.
Ireland could be summed up as follows; fine scenery, awful weather, stout beer.
I re-visited the age old tourist question: Does Guinness really taste better in Ireland? I researched the matter broadly in many pubs and over many pints and I conclude a decisive 'yes' with a plausible explanation. Before the reasons let me say it tasted better to me as it seemed creamier in most cases and slightly easier to drink. My explanation is two pronged:
1) They know how to pour it
2) It's more popular and so is consumed quickly and is always 'fresh'
To the first point it is supported by my second point; because bartenders have to pour more Guinness they're better
Colourful Cork
We loved the colourful buildings in Cork and the surrounding towns; if only I could do a Flickr meet walk around, but I don't have that kind of time. practised in doing it, and in some happy cases: doing it right.
Our Ireland trip was specifically to do the South West coast from Cork up to Galway and primarily to see the natural scenery such as Ring of Kerrry, Dingle Peninsula, and Cliffs of Moher.
Omens weren't promising upon arrival as it was 14 degrees, low cloud and constant rain; not too summery but the locals in the pub in Cork didn't seem surprised.
We started in Cork (2*) and once again had hire car grief, this time with a Ford KA which can be simply summed up as 'cheap and nasty'; long story short it had no central locking and we couldn't figure out how to lock the passenger door (no keyhole either) we lost 2 hours of our life messing about with the door and lock and going back to the rental place before the seventh person involved in the problem figured out you need to push the inside handle inward while the door is shut to lock it; thus only the driver can do it.
With that debacle behind us we otherwise enjoyed Cork; our first night in town as the rain pattered
Connors Pass
Down the valley to the coast from Connor Pass down was in a pub accommodation. The pub was run by very friendly engaging owner and staff who were serving free takeaway pizzas to all guests when we arrived (presumably their kitchen was offline but it was a nice gesture). Nick's first South West Irish Guinness was exceptional; very creamy and delicious. The weather gods may hate us but Dionysus and his drinking & entertaining colleagues in the pantheon of gods were loving us this night as we had the good fortune to have the table nearest us inhabited by the live music band who were there informally to jam.
Alicia enjoyed a small individual bottle of red wine (every time you order a glass in Ireland they give you a small bottle instead and a glass) and Nick had a second pint; a Beamish (stout but not as good as Guinness).
The informal jamming session kept us well entertained; the flutist and violinist dominated the tunes and fascinatingly the guitarist laid down a base throughout; the banjo player and hand drummer were basically impossible to hear and the hand percussionist added some small value. It all felt very Irish and we enjoyed it thoroughly but they looked at us
Connor Pass Panorama
This Pano stitched together quite well; hope you can enjoy what a stunning place we saw a bit funny when we clapped as they were just chilling and jamming not trying to win accolades. It's possible the excellent atmosphere and music of our first night in the Windsor Inn, helped drive Cork from a 1* to a 2*.
The city of Cork was quite pleasant with lots of pastel coloured buildings and some interesting stencilled wall art which was too classy to call graffiti. We didn't have too much time allocated to Cork but we would say it was a pleasant enough little city and the efforts they've made in some neighbourhoods and businesses to add colour was very nice.
We checked out some of the small coastal towns near Cork and discovered the pretty coloured building trend had caught on there; we found the small town of Kinsale (1*) quite nice and the milkshakes we had there were extremely delicious (2*)!
We drove the Beara Peninsula (1*) and Ring of Kerry (RoK) (1*) over two days based out of Killarney, and were largely thwarted from enjoying them by heavy rain. On RoK in particular the rain, low clouds, and mist were so bad we suspect we missed a LOT of good times but
just couldn't see them or appreciate them with the bad visibility. We were certainly frustrated by the constant grey skies and rain and the roads were potholed and wet and our useless Ford KA had laughably bad suspension that bounced us around like a bobble-headed dog. Some of the small one car wide country lanes were very reminiscent of Cornwall.
The saving graces of Beara Peninsula was a stunning drive the 'Healy Pass' (3*) which was like some of the best of the Lakes District in the UK, with steep grassy hills and rocky raging streams and winding perilous roads cutting through this memorable landscape. It looked like it would have been a tremendous place for hiking, we drove it slow to take in the views and stopped a few places to get out in the rain and take photos.
We had abysmal weather on RoK as I've said but it too had saving graces in:
1.The Cliffs of Kerry (1*), although being a tourist trap in the worst sense with expensive parking and no obvious value for money (being that it was only natural scenery we were getting which should be free for all to enjoy) had some
very pretty cliff views with sheer drops and sharp rocky formations jutting out of the water off the cliff face.
2.The last section of the RoK near Beaufort; the road was along a high hilly ridge which looked down upon lush green river valleys and small brooks rushed down the rocky hills as small cascading waterfalls, very picturesque.
Nick also got some cheap laughs as Alicia discovered buying fashion over function can punish you when you're picking waterproof wind jackets, Alicia became extremely soaked in her pretty red and white spotted wind jacket... hahahaha.
We were disciplined enough to self cater in the well appointed hostel kitchens quite a bit in Ireland and whipped up some decent dinners for a tenner which amazed our lazy fellow travellers who acted as though they'd never seen chicken penne pasta before, and lived on two minute noodles.
We kept our focus on sampling Ireland's drinks and Nick managed to have one of every Irish beer we could find and plenty of Guinness too; Alicia enjoyed a few small bottles of red wine since they continued to provide a bottle everytime we asked for a glass.
We found plenty more live Irish music
Misty Rainy Kerry Cliffs
Miserable rainy weather but very nice cliffs and views nonetheless around Killarney on a Saturday night; some singing ballads, some with the full complement of instruments raising the roof, and decent times were had.
Next on our itinerary was to drive the Dingle Peninsula (1*); with much improved visibility and only occasional light rain and moderate wind we were able to enjoy the nice grassy hills and the coast views, and stopped at a few sandy beaches to check out the coast. The chap offering 'learn to surf' lessons on an overcast Irish beach in a gale seemed optimistic to me and there were no takers.
Just after the town of Dingle (don't Bother) was the stunning Connor Pass (3*) where we had great views of sweeping green mountain valleys, on one side of the pass was a half-circle shaped green valley leading down to the coast and town that was very pretty, on the other side the steep hills dropped straight down into a lovely river valley with a couple of lakes, and the roads clung to the steep hill face offering fine views as you went along. We stopped to hike about a bit and take in all the views; it was very impressive and one of
Disgraceful
What's the world coming to when even the scum of the earth can't spell?!
At least the scum still get Irony. our best highlights of Ireland.
Also very impressive was the fabulous self-serve antipasto deli in the supermarket we found for lunch. They had red & green pesto, tapenade, a range of olives, vine leaves, and other similarly delicious items all in a self-serve booth of the fresh food section; we stocked up and loved it. I wish other supermarkets would let you get such easy access to their deli products; I'd probably buy more if they put them out there so temptingly!
Later in the day we were astonished to find a car ferry offering to take us 23 yards across an inlet wanted 18 euros per car (!) which we laughed at mockingly and drove the long way around; we then got to the Cliffs of Moher for a quick pre-visit look but they wanted 8 euros just to park the car (!) we declined; more on some of the high, rip-off prices of Ireland later.
As it was raining again, the night of the World Cup final, and getting on for 6pm we checked into our hostel in the town of Doolin. The excellent Italian (yes Italian) host took good care of us and we set out
Cliffs of Moher couple
Thank goodness we found one another! Now we won't be needing these giant cliffs....
Dark. for some live music and dinner before the match; because live music is specifically what Doolin is known for.
We ate fair pub food and listened to the 6pm band play their way sulkily through a few tunes; this band consisted of a large number of musicians who didn't seem to like one another and didn't really chat between songs. They lacked heart, fun, and enthusiasm and we were happy to only sample their wares for an hour before setting off to a pub with more TVs to watch the cup final.
As the game went to extra time Nick set a trip record for alchohol spending and went through Guinness, Murphys, and Harp beers all on tap and nice. After watching Spain collect the cup and winners medals the live band kicked off and they were full of zest and good times.
We sat with some German tourists and enjoyed the quality live Irish music; in this band the banjo was more prevalent and they had a local lad of eleven years old join them to sing one popular Irish anthem which was well done and a nice touch.
The next day our host offered us fresh baked scones for breakfast; not the first time we've seen scones on offer for Irish breakfast, seems to be a bit of an Irish thing....
Commencing our travels saw us park a kilometre down the road from the laughable 8 euro priced parking and we walked to the Cliffs of Moher (3*) for free. The cliffs were indeed stunning, 200 metre high cliffs with a long interesting cliff face with big caves, large bird colonies, and diverse terrain at the bottom of the cliffs including a bay where world famous giant surfing waves roll in (but not on the day we were there), and pretty rocks with clear, shallow looking water.
We went up the OBrien viewing tower (Don't Bother ) for 2 euros to try to command better views and were frustrated to find that they'd designed the top of the “viewing” tower with mighty crenallations you could barely see around or over... idiots... sigh.
We then walked an 'out of bounds' cliff edge path along private property to the left of the main tourist area because every man and his dog (literally) were also walking along there and checking out the views from there.
This cliff path was between and 1-3 metres wide and had certain-death drops off the edge with no railing, Alicia cursed and swore and shook with fear the whole way whilst naturally some other tourists sat dangling their legs over the edge eating lunch (bloody fools the signs did explain cliff face collapse can happen at any moment with no warning). The path had an interesting fence on the land side paddock built of enormous slate slabs each stone was 1 inch wide but a good metre tall. The views were very fine and we spent well over 2 hours at the Cliffs of Moher in total; definitely a must see sight.
We finished the afternoon in a small Irish beach town that was just like a small Australian surf town; with loads of people in the water, people surfing and body boarding, surf shops and takeaways and cafes by the beach front. I really didn't expect to find an Aussie-style surf town on the mid west coast of Ireland, it was surprising and cool.
We stopped over in Galway (Don't Bother) and the next day we set out on final day in Ireland.
With bad, rain soaked roads and cheap and nasty suspension in our crappy Ford we lurched and bounced around a great deal; which was par for the course on this Irish journey.
Lengthy driving saw us make our way through beautifully picturesque countryside with steep wooded hills north of Galway on the way to Kylemore abbey (1*), with lots of green grass and trees under the grey skies, it a very pretty countryside but somewhat inaccessible as there tended to be farmland fenced off around the base of the hills meaning you couldn't park up and go for a walk had you wanted to.
We loved the pretty hills and lakes in this part of the country and after a quick glance at the abbey (which we didn't bother entering due to heavy rain) we briefly looked in at a beach Glasoilean on the peninsula north which was a small and pretty stretch of white sand with a small and charming bay in a crescent shape. It would have been a very nice spot for camping or a Barbeque or a great place to swim with a family in better weather but it was raining heavily and so we could only look and not explore.
On our way back south toward Galway and Limerick we saw a long narrow lake/ estuary that ran between the high green, forested hills. On the water were long strings of floating barrels for miles; we assume it was Oyster farming or somesuch and there was also a medium sized pleasure boat cruising along through the beautiful area. It was very pretty and although there's no particular name for the driving circuit north of Galway we did the scenery was consistently beautiful.
Sadly this last day was heavily punctuated by rain; it chucked it down like crazy all day and Alicia got drenched in an attempt to find us lunch.
With the rain spoiling our final plan for a walk around the city of Limerick we retired to our Park Inn, Shannon airport hotel early and were flabbergasted to be told it was 12 euros for 24 hours wifi internet; they didn't offer another rate for wifi, none was free, and the fixed computers in their business centre were 22 Euro cents a minute for usage so certainly NOT a better deal. Read on below for a lengthy rant about internet options for travellers, for us though our Ireland trip finished with a fair meal of club sandwiches in the hotel and a walk over to the airport for fast, free wifi to get a bunch of internetting done. We flew out the next morning at 0730 and waved goodbye to the heavy grey clouds of Ireland.
My rant for this post applies broadly to the whole trip so far and tackles the Wifi Internet Myth which I had created in my mind.
The Myth goes something like this: 'Get a laptop and everywhere you go you'll be able to get online; home or abroad; airports, cafes, hotels, the lot. It will be largely free or very cheap'.
I presume many people reading this would understand this preconception I had of travelling with a wifi laptop and even agree; not so dear reader!
The reality is that in every hotel the Wifi strength is usually only good enough in the common areas so forget about a cosy lie in on the hotel bed while you get your 'internet on'.
Many cafes don't offer a free service themselves but flog a crappy high priced product like pay as you go 'BT Openzone' or it's like.
Smaller places like cafes or McDonald's that do offer free wifi also occasionally suffer from dial-up speed connections which make a productive five minutes online much LESS productive.
I save my venom for airports though; I cannot BELIEVE that one of the top airports in the world; 'London Heathrow' doesn't have free wireless dripping from the walls and oozing from every nook and cranny but they do not. What they do have is a number of pricey pay as you go services.
Within our terminal we didn't find a cafe or bar that was offering free wifi; a bleedingly obvious necessity for most travellers.
I was extremely bitter and twisted about this and thinking dark thoughts about the bungling fools who run Heathrow until Zurich Insurance rode to my rescue. Zurich Insurance won my heart and mind by offering me a network cable and power point to plug into free internet, they also had free mints! When I asked the chap “what's the deal” he said “No deal it's free” and it was; they didn't even pester us to sign up to anything or read or take away any product literature. This is how hearts and minds are won!
Lastly regarding prices in Ireland which were high; we noticed in particular they were the most high in tourist places; often outrageously so. My theory is that because there's a lot of US tourists in Ireland the Irish are gambling that the yanks won't know the buying power of a euro and will therefore be willing to pay prices anyone who has pricing context would baulk at. It was possible to get things cheaper of free in Ireland but I'd hazard that the Irish are at least partially inflating prices to punish the clueless tourists.
Overall Ireland was disappointing in that the weather badly diminished our outdoor sight-seeing plans and also that Nick had anticipated to eat an insane variety of Potato dishes based on Irelands historic obsession with Nick's favourite 'vegetable', but it just wasn't so; we didn't see Potato soup on offer once or anything else suitably potato themed. Seems the Kartofelhaus in Munich (delicious potato restaurant) still reigns supreme.
Posting this one from Iceland which is absolutely astonishing and fabulous, more on Iceland soon.
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D Grunseit
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Potato heaven awaits
I've already told you that in St Petersburg that the Kroshka Katoska makes food all based on the humble spud, you will walk away impressed- Potato heaven awaits you!!!!!!!!!!!!