Ireland

The girls’ fall break found us in Ireland this year. We are so glad we chose this destination, we all really enjoyed exploring a little of the Emerald Isle.

We started in Dublin doing the usual city things. We walked through the Temple Bar area.  When I first heard of Temple Bar I assumed it was a bar. But no, it’s the walking district in Dublin filled with restaurants and shops. Then we walked over to the shopping area known as Grafton Street, similar to many big cities and always fun to explore.

We used the Hop On Hop Off bus to seem the wide expanse of the city which was a good way to see many of the sites. We also toured the Kilmainham Gaol. The tour was quite informative and definitely peaked our interested to learn more about Irish history and independence.

Last on our top things to do in Dublin was visiting the Guiness Storehouse, this is a museum dedicated to all things Guinness. Steve especially enjoyed this stop.  Steve and I took a short class to learn how to pour the perfect Guinness - perfect on the first try! We had a great lunch at Gilroy’s and then all enjoyed a bit of Guinness in the Gravity Bar at the top. The 360 view of Dublin was really amazing and a nice place to have a drink.

Apparently the most famous gate in Ireland

Steve perfecting the "perfect pour"

Missy & Steve

Rachel & Stefanie in the Gravity Bar

Steve and I managed to squeeze a whiskey in at the Brazenhead too.  It is the oldest pub in Dublin. It is a crowded maze of rooms one leading into another. There were dollar bills with comments on them all over the walls. Of course the first one I saw was a “Go Blue”! Seriously, in Dublin, but have no fear, I quickly spotted a Go Bucks one over Steve’s head!

O-H-I-O!

Whatever

After two days we were ready to explore the countryside. Steve was brave and was our left hand side of the road driver.   We drove to Kilkenney for the medieval St Canis Cathedral and Smithwicks brewery. 

Kilkenney - why is it so quiet? Turns out it was a bank holiday!

 St Canis was a different sort of church for us but the sheer age of everything was fascinating.

St Canis

St Canis

The tour at Smithwicks was a good one that we all enjoyed. Afterwards we had lunch at a fabulous Italian restaurant, - Restaurant Rinucci - possibly the best spaghetti we have ever had.

Smithwicks Brewery

Next was a drive to the Rock of Cashel. Every guidebook, website, Ireland travel information source recommended visiting these ruins. They are quite impressive situated high atop a hill. It is supposedly the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick.  The weather had been horrible all day but thankfully it stopped raining just long enough for us to explore.

The girls were super excited by the informational video!

Next was Cobh for the evening, I had picked this town to stay in specifically for a picture I wanted Steve to take but it turned out to be a great place to stop. And we got this amazing photo, and I’m not wrong to say it was totally worth it.

Not to be missed

 We also went on a ghost tour since that was something Rachel really wanted to do.  And while the guide shared plenty of spooky stories we also learned a bit about the history of the town too. Including it is the second largest natural harbor (Sydney is the first), this was the last stop of the Titanic (of course it has a museum), the Luisitania sunk near here and the first person registered at Ellis Island – Annie Moore was from Cobh.

Annie Moore

Steve & Rachel

Next on our list was Jameson Distillery. This was the best of the three brewery/distillery places we visited. It was a fantastic and super informative tour. Our guide was very enthusiastic and you really get to see a lot of what was actually used to make the whiskey. Plus now I have a new favorite cocktail – Jameson’s and Ginger!

Rachel & Stefanie

Afterwards we drove to Dingle Pennisula. As we drove the scenery just continued to get more and more beautiful. When we came around a corner and were greeted by crashing waves we knew we had to stop for a photo. 

Rachel & Stefanie

Steve wanted us to go put our feet in the water but we were too cold that night! Driving around the Pennisula the next day was breathtaking. We stopped to explore quite a bit including coastlines, medieval forts and even found ourselves climbing a rocky area – this was actually our favorite part, we really enjoyed the climb and the views!  We could have spent much more time driving around and stopping to see things, I see now why the guidebooks allow so many days for exploring Ireland!

Stefanie Irish dancing at the beach

Rachel

Rachel

Stefanie

The photographer at work

We ended our stay at with a fun splurge Drumoland Castle, a spa hotel in of course a castle.  It was a beautiful place and while the girls had facials and manicures there was even clay pigeon shooting for Steve.  

While here we also visited the famous Cliffs of Moher. It was a little foggy but the sheerness of the cliffs is absolutely breathtaking AND scary! People were making us a little nervous getting too close to the edge!

Rachel & Stefanie

Steve & Missy