I arrived around 7am on Thursday with no problems (though there was a short delay leaving Raleigh and then a longer delay leaving Newark). Bob met me at the airport with Leap (public transit) cards in hand, and we hopped on the bus in to town. We got off a few blocks from the hotel, walked to it, I took a shower, and then we had breakfast downstairs. Then it was off to explore! We rode the tram to near the post office, where we got off and started walking. We saw the post office which was a significant point in the revolution. You can even see bullet holes in the columns outside the building.
From there, we checked out Trinity College. Due to a long line and the fact that Bob had already seen it, we did not see the library or the Book of Kells.
We then walked by the Temple Bar and happened into St. Auoden's church and got a nice little free guided tour. From there, we went to the Kilmainham Gaol (jail) for our 11:45am tour time and enjoyed a very interesting tour of the jail which played a big part in Irish history.
After that, we hopped on a city bus and rode over near the Teeling Distillery for lunch and a beverage. Bob had been there earlier in the week for a work event (tour and tasting). We had very good beef, chili, and chorizo pies for lunch, and then went upstairs to the tasting room for Irish coffees and thought of Gramma Ambrosini and how much she enjoyed them. I did not like the cream on top, but Bob enjoyed his and half of mine!
From there, it was on to St. Patrick's Cathedral where we got audio guides and got to see most of the church before a fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate. We checked later and it didn't make the news, so we supposed that all was well.
We headed on to Dublin Castle and did a self-guided walking tour there. That was also really enjoyable and interesting!
We saw the Ha'Penny Bridge on the way back. Dinner was planned ahead for Paulie's Pizza, and it was really good!
We got to sing Happy Birthday to a little girl in the upstairs dining room where we were. After dinner, we walked a short distance to one of the Google offices nearby and checked that out. It was very colorful with lots of extras, including swings on the balcony!
We also saw a nice view of the city from all angles from the balcony. Between the overnight flight and all of this touring, I was tired!
Friday morning we were up, packed, ready, and down to breakfast by about 8am, which was our latest morning of the trip! Then we walked over to our favorite tram stop and rode that to Heuston Station, where we printed our pre-bought tickets out and waited for our train to Galway. It arrived on time and we found our seats (they have LED readouts where they show the name of the person who will be sitting in each seat). Our seats were across from each other, but we ended up sitting next to each other since I had an empty seat beside me so Bob didn't have to be in the sun. We had a nice 2-hour ride to Galway across from a lady from Pennsylvania who was there to sightsee and then hike along the coast. Upon arriving, we walked to our hotel, the Park House Hotel, and dropped off our bags.
We then walked to McDonagh's for fish and chips for lunch.
After that, we spent the afternoon walking around the city. Galway was surprisingly crowded with tourists as well as college students from (we think) the National University of Ireland located in town.
Our first stop was the Galway Cathedral, which is very beautiful and looks quite old, but was actually built in the 1960s. The ceiling is made from California Redwood! From there, we walked through town (Latin Quarter) and saw Eyre Square with the bronze bust of Kennedy who visited there in 1963. We also walked to the Spanish Arch (which is much shorter than one might expect; it's more of a Spanish Tunnel) and along the waterfront via a pretty old church with a grotto.
We saw many dogs out enjoying the sunny Friday afternoon! There is a small lighthouse nearby called Mutton Island Lighthouse, and also a touristy beach area just south of town. We then headed back into town, got an ice cream snack at Murphy's, and met a very friendly college student who worked there. She suggested some places to visit in town, and we went straight to the bookstore that she recommended which was really great! Like some other European towns, the shops and restaurants in the cities we visited were much larger than they appeared to be from the front. Many had two levels and/or multiple rooms with doors to another alley or street in addition to the main street. After deciding that we had seen all of Galway, we went back to our room and rested for a little bit/watched British game shows, then it was back out for dinner at The Quay ("key") Street Kitchen. Bob had roasted pork with potatoes and vegetables, and I had seafood chowder with a salad. It was all very good!
Then, we shopped around for a little bit and found a place with live music. Galway prides itself on its music scene. We listened to a pair of guys, one had a Greek style of guitar and the other had a regular acoustic guitar. It was great!
Saturday, we were up and packed bright and early to hit the breakfast when it opened at 7am. We ate quickly and headed over to the train/bus station (it's very nice that many towns have both in the same location) for our pre-arranged 8am-ish bus. The bus ended up being late, and there was a big crowd there, but we did get on and the driver made up time along the route to the Cliffs of Moher. We enjoyed a 2-hour ride along back country roads with many stops; we felt that this was much different from the interstate routes that Greyhound buses would take in the US. We arrived at the cliffs a little after 10, got our bags stowed in the back of the gift shop, and headed out to check them out. We covered the entirety of the "Cliffs Experience" property, and also went on to a "dangerous" trail adjacent to the property. It was a beautiful clear day, and we got to see many great views!
We got sandwiches from the visitor center and ate them, then got on our next bus to Ennis. That was a short ride, less than an hour. We had a very short stop there and got right on our train from Ennis to Limerick, which was also less than an hour. We had a bit longer in Limerick and checked out the area around the station before boarding our last bus on to Killarney. That bus was a longer ride, but that was mostly due to lots of stops in various towns along the way. Again, we enjoyed seeing the countryside as well as the towns. We arrived in Killarney around 5pm, dropped our bags off at our hotel, The Ross, and headed back out on foot.
Killarney was much less crowded than Galway and is equally pretty and charming.
We had a great dinner at The Tan Yard - a yummy ham hock croquette appetizer, and steak for Bob and a brisket burger for me.
We then strolled through town a little more that evening.
Sunday, we had hotel breakfast around 7:15, and then walked to 8am mass at the cathedral. It is a beautiful church and was a nice mass, no music! Bob said that this one was more crowded than the one he went to the Sunday prior in Dublin.
We then went back to the hotel, changed clothes, and took our bags downstairs for them to hold for us that day. It was about a 20-25 minute walk to the bike rental place that we had selected. There are many rental places, but some that were closer to town were not open on Sunday and/or did not have the electric bikes that we wanted (hey, it was vacation!). We got our bikes and the safety talk from the guy there, then headed into the national park. It was a gorgeous day, not crowded, and we had the best time riding around! We were not intimidated by the safety talk and opted to start with the "red" trail in the park which was not recommended for kids and was deemed "dangerous". We have decided that Ireland is a wonderful country where people move a little slower, are very happy, and really seem to enjoy life. They also have a different definition of "adventure" than Americans do. I wouldn't say that Bob and I are super adventurers, but we found this trail, as well as the hiking trail at the cliffs, to be nothing scary at all. The path was paved, wide, and did not get close to water or any steep hills. So, it was a little funny and also very sweet how careful they are. We spotted an otter in the lake digging around for some food, and we also found a super cool rock cave at the edge of the lake.
The scenery reminded me a little of some places in Rocky Mountain National Park, but WAY fewer people and a lower altitude! We rode through the park, then to a cottage/dock area, then went near a waterfall but didn't get very close to it on bike because it involved riding along the road and the buses were scaring me. Then we stopped at the Muckross House within the park for lunch.
We got sandwiches, chips, and cake.
The house was quite crowded with locals enjoying a lunch out on a sunny Sunday. After lunch, we walked through the remains of the Muckross Friary nearby, then rode over to Ross Castle.
We explored around the exterior of the castle and saw the exhibit on the first floor, but learned that the next tour wouldn't begin for 30 minutes and would last for 45 minutes.
We thought about our options and ultimately decided to skip the tour and continue biking along the eastern edge of the lake to an island. That was lots of fun! We had our picture taken by a family who were originally from Wales but emigrated to Ireland during Brexit and are much happier there now. We then returned our bikes to the shop, walked back in to town, picked up our bags, and walked to the train station to catch our ride back to Dublin via a change in Mallow. That ride was uneventful for about 3 hours other than some teenage girls across from us having a wild time doing each other's makeup and planning their night out in Dublin. We got to Heuston Station and took a short (but expensive) cab ride to our hotel, the Hyatt Centric The Liberties.
We dropped our bags off, picked up another Leap card for Bob for the next day, and went to dinner at The Landmark nearby. We enjoyed some live music while eating Irish stew in bread bowls, and it was so good!
Monday, we were up and ready when the hotel breakfast opened, had one final meal in Ireland, and headed to the airport via city bus to the airport express bus. We got through Irish security with just a short wait, sat in the lounge for a little while (watching the queen's funeral), then went through US security and customs, then to our gate. The flights back were on time and uneventful, and we were home by about 7:30pm!
Big, big thanks to Grandma A. for staying with the girls and Finley so we could do this trip. We were a little worried that Finley would decide to adopt Grandma as his person after this, but he seems to be ok to have us back. Nobody is quite sure how he really feels about it, though. Everything went well at home! I really enjoyed seeing a new country - Ireland is really beautiful. The countryside is so pretty with lots of cows, sheep, horses, and donkeys! We didn't notice a lot of barns, so we are not sure if they just free roam or what. I would hope there is some kind of shelter with all of the rain there. The mountains were a little bit of a nice surprise for us. The cities were so nice, clean, and everyone was super friendly and welcoming. People generally seemed to be very happy. I noticed that parents were a lot more patient with their kids than American parents are. People interacted more with each other and were not glued to their phones in restaurants and stations. I don't think I saw anyone yelling at anyone else, and maybe only a few car horns honking. It was just such a happy environment! We enjoyed learning some history and seeing some beautiful sights. All of our pictures can be found HERE. It was all in all a really great trip!
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