Blogs from Ireland, Europe - page 333

We woke up early for a run/walk around Dingle before checking out of the B&B. We drove the “Ring of Kerry”, which is a popular loop around the County Kerry. We stopped at the seaside town of Waterville and ate lunch and John tried to teach me how to skip rocks in the Atlantic Ocean. Taking a road less traveled through a forest, we then drove onto City Cork, which is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland. We found a great pub across the street from the hotel and had Shepherd’s Pie and Curry Chicken. Every menu seems to have Curry Chicken and Lasagna, which we found really odd for Ireland. ... read more

After a warm breakfast at our B&B, we started our drive West around the Slea Head. This is a scenic drive on roads that follow the coast of Dingle. We stopped a few times for great pictures and had some fun feeding the birds. We headed back into town and had chicken at a local pub. We did a little shopping and decided to head back out to the Slea Head. There is a popular postcard of the Dunquin Pier, which shows a winding stone dock and we were in search of this pier. We stopped at a restaurant, made entirely of stone, and had dessert. After finding the Dunquin Pier and taking lots of pictures, we drove back into Dingle and headed East. This was another “Sunday drive” as we took some side roads and ... read more

Another beautiful day, no rain and mid-sixties with sunshine. We drove 1-1/2 hours to the small town of Dingle, via Connor’s Pass. There are two roads which lead to Dingle; the main road which can accommodate the buses full of tourists and Connor’s Pass. Connor’s Pass is full of winding turns and many places where the road narrows to one lane. Yesterday was a clear day, so the views were amazing. Along the way to Dingle, we found a sandy beach at Castlegregory. John had some fun with a dog who just loved to play fetch with rocks. We spend the afternoon walking around Dingle, enjoying a lunch of fish and chips and an ice cream sundae. We checked into our Bed and Breakfast and I took a nap as I am still fighting this head ... read more

Left JFK in New York at 10:15 pm (on Thursday) and flew through the night to Shannon Ireland. The airplane was at 100% capacity and we were in the last row. After very little sleep, we landed at 9:30 am local time (4:30 AM EST). Drove 1/2 hour to Limerick and checked into the Patrick Punch's hotel and napped. Drive to downtown Limerick in afternoon, walked around the town and had dinner. Very mild day, no rain and 60 degrees, a perfect day for sight-seeing. We are still recovering from lack of sleep and I am trying to get over a sinus cold. Looking forward to Dingle tomorrow. Not a great day for pictures, as we mostly stayed in town.... read more

Our original plan was to drive into Dublin, see the sites and then drop Jessie at the bus station to head back to Galway. We decided to skip Dublin since we had been told it is near impossible to drive in Dublin due to the traffic. Instead, we drove Jessie back to Galway. It was only a 2 1/2 hour trip from Trim to Galway, and we needed to do some more shopping. We thought we would be able to find gifts everywhere we went, so we did not buy everything in Galway and haul it around the country for two weeks. Unfortunately, we were wrong. So this gave us a chance to pick up all the gifts we needed to get, spend a little more time with Jessie and still get back to Trim at ... read more