Southern Ireland - Killarney & the Gap of Dunloe

And now, as promised, we wrap up the trip to Ireland.  On our last day of sightseeing, we wanted to stick around the area that we were staying in and do some fun things in that area.  Our B&B owners were not only fantastic chefs and hosts, but they also ran a pony riding & trap business.  At the end of the small road they lived on, there was an even smaller road that is closed to cars.  The road runs between some medium sized mountains, and the families that live on that road run a cottage industry taking tourists like us through the "Gap of Dunloe."

Now, Brian has been itching to do some horseback riding since we moved to Europe, and I think I had hopes that this might fulfill all his hopes and dreams, but unfortunately, I think it fell really short.  First of all these were ponies...not "horses."  Second, the approximate speed of our ride was .005 miles per hour.  Third, though the sky was beautiful and gorgeous at the beginning of the ride, within 20 minutes the rain started again and soaked us good (check out the miserable looking hikers in the above photo). And finally, Brian's horse spent the entire ride with his nose pressed up against my horse's butt, who apparently had eaten some bad grass and had a bit of a gas problem...hahahahahhaahha

But, the Gap was gorgeous.  Check out the waterfall in the picture below, in the upper right hand corner of the photo.

Though next time I'd just vote for the trap ride... my butt hurt so bad later that day.

I think our guide/B&B owner told us this was the wishing bridge?  It's too bad that the rain has moved in at this point and you can't see the cool view behind.

After the horseback riding, we cleaned up as to not stink like horse before we headed to the town of Killarney to do some sightseeing.  Cute town, kinda overrun by tourists, but there were some really nice things just outside town that we focused our energies on.

ROSS!  You have your own castle!  They're waiting for you to come back and be king.  Seriously, if you can't read the sign, the place is called Ross Castle.  Let us know if you want some renovation help.

Over the ducks.  And boats.

Too bad you can't lay claim to the palace down the street.  I can't remember the name, but it was gorgeous and had fabulous grounds and views of the lake.

I could live here.  I don't think I'd ever get sick of the views.

The grounds were extensive around the house, so we spent some time walking around the lake and on the hiking trails.  I couldn't get enough of the clean air, water, and beautiful sky.  That combination is pretty much impossible in Madrid.

I told you that you'd see funny faces from Brian.

Am I posting too many lake pictures?

Near the palace/my future home, there was a waterfall that spilled into the lake.  We went on a mini-hike up there as well.

And then looked back at the lake a little bit... (I love this picture)

And then stole a few last glances at the lake before heading back to town for dinner and of course more Irish beer.  Guinness, Murphy, Bailey and Bulmer all became good friends on this trip :)

We decided to make the most of our vacation and get a great night's sleep that night.  I think we both agreed that touring a lot slower than we normally do was a great change for us.  Typically, I like to try to see as much as possible in every single place we go - I don't want to miss out on anything!  But, after 6 months in Madrid, I think we were both looking for a change of pace.  Sleeping in, eating a big, long breakfast, and then taking our time to go see the one or two things I had planned each day was great for us.  We lingered at places, took our time walking around, and had a really flexible day.  And, we got a bottle of Baileys and would just hang out at night watching some B-list movie in bed, knowing that we didn't have something we were missing out on, because we were enjoying each other and just hanging out.

A wise friend of mine told me that there is a difference between a Trip and a Vacation.  From a trip, you usually need to recover and take a vacation from your "vacation."  Taking time to slow down and get to enjoy our days and relax really was perfect for us, and Ireland provided the perfect backdrop.  English speakers, great food, incredible scenery, and some of the very nicest people I have ever met.  It was great to return to Madrid rejuvenated.

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Northern Ireland - Part 2 - a castle & a beachtown

Whoops, I lied in my last Ireland post.  I accidentally skipped a day up in Northern Ireland, so we'll swing back up there before we finish up with Killarney & Southern Ireland.

Part of the reason I wanted to go to Northern Ireland on this trip in the first place was because I spent part of a summer there in college in the small town of Port Stewart.  I went with Royal Servants, and helped lead high school students to work with the people and the children of that town as a missions trip.  I thought it would be fun to go back to the city and show Brian some of the things I saw and did - plus it's really gorgeous up there, so we enjoyed just checking the city out as well!

This is the main street of the city, facing out to the water.  We did street performances across the street in an outdoor amphitheater in front of the water, and spent a bunch of time just hanging out down in that area.  I remember getting some of the best fish and chips of my life in that city, so I took Brian to the little shop to pick some up for an afternoon snack.  Unfortunately, it was awful, and later we both regretted eating it...

We also went for a walk near our B&B, and found this interesting rock formation...

And some other pretty sights...

 We also went to see the ruins of Dunluce Castle.  This castle sits on a cliff, overlooking the ocean and the surrounding area.  Supposedly the story is that one night, everyone in the castle was having dinner in the main hall, and there was a terrible storm going on around them.  Suddenly, half of the room fell off into the sea, taking most of the servants along with it.  After that, the lady of the house didn't want to live there (surprise, surprise), and so they moved more inland, and the castle fell into disrepair. 

 

And, who knew we could have taken a trip in this bus?  We thought it was hilarious.  I personally love the green bull with the clover in it's mouth. 

And, one last photo of Brian and I near the Port Stewart Strand (beach)  We sat out there and had a great conversation before we met up with a friend who lives up there, but who we met in Madrid!  International lives we lead, I tell ya. 

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Southern Ireland - Dingle Peninsula

 After our drive from Doolin & the Cliffs of Mohr, we headed straight to our B&B, down a one lane road in the middle of nowhere.  It was perfect!  A ten minute walk down the road, there was this great little pub with live music.  We got some tasty food (Irish stews, etc) and amazing beer while we listened to these guys play various instruments and crack jokes.

The next day we headed to the Dingle Peninsula.  There are 3 main peninsulas in the southern part of Ireland, and I read in Rick Steve's guide to Ireland that the Dingle Peninsula was the one to hit - typically most tourists go to the Ring of Kerry Peninsula, so we definitely wanted to avoid that.

The tiny town of Dingle had a little farmers market going on, so we stopped there and grabbed some snacks and headed off for a driving tour.  We stopped several times as we drove around the peninsula - the views were just too incredible!

And, Brian met a new friend.  It started POURING right after I took this picture.  Seriously, the weather in Ireland is crazy - it rains at least one time a day, and you can have bright blue sky one minute and a downpour the next.  We always kept our raincoats handy.

I wanted to take a picture of this gull, but right after I snapped this photo...

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He started to fly right at me!  I kinda freaked....Look at the picture above, those beady eyes planning the attack!

Seriously gorgeous.

We stopped at the easternmost point and climbed up a mini mountain to get a good look around.

After spending a lot of time enjoying the views, we continued our drive to a place that Rick Steves told us was a must visit - the Gallus Oratory.  Which, I would have to say, was a pretty worthless stop... Rick Steves, you can't always be right.  Seriously, how could anything man-made (even if it was built in the 6th century) compete with the God-created beauty surrounding us?

After soaking in all the beauty that the coast could offer, we headed back for another short stop in Dingle.

Saw some awesome fashion...

And realized how much we missed our old sailboat, Dory.  Someday, we'll sail again!  The harbor was pretty gorgeous, and I enjoyed our stroll around it.

After that long day of driving and photographing (I probably took 100 pictures that day...), we headed back to the B&B and the local pub for more beer & Irish food... we just couldn't go wrong with all the delicious things there were around us!

Only one day of sightseeing left...

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Central Ireland

After a brief hiatus from Ireland, we're back with the next leg of our journey.  After 3 days in Northern Ireland, we headed down to central Ireland to spend a night south of Galway.  We stayed in the tiny town of Doolin, across from the Aran Islands.  It was a looooong day of driving on some questionable roads, so we were happy to arrive at our B&B that night and go for a walk down by the water.

Dan, I took this picture for you :)

It was a cute picturesque town, but there wasn't much happening there.  We found a pub with some live music, and tried to spend most of our night out there because our B&B turned out to be not as nice as they advertised on the website. 

Brian had a coworker from Des Moines visit Ireland last year, and his wife gave us some awesome suggestions for places to visit!  Just south of where we stayed were the Cliffs of Mohr, some stunning landscape meeting the water.  First thing in the morning (well, after our big Irish breakfast that we stuffed ourselves with each day at our B&B's) we headed to the cliffs.

We spent a bit of time walking around on top of the cliffs before continuing our journey south.  It was pretty gorgeous.

Brian trying more of his not-smiling faces.

The quickest way to get to the southern part of the country was to take a ferry across a huge bay - cutting out driving through the city of Limerick.  It wasn't too exciting of a ferry ride, but I still felt like I should commemorate the event.  One funny thing about this ferry is that before we left, we had a friend reccomend a book about Ireland to us called "Hitchhiking Across Ireland with a Fridge."  You can guess what it's about.  Brian was reading the book, and the day that we rode the ferry was the same day that he read about the guy riding the exact same ferry!  It was pretty funny.

We've started reading more books about the places we visit, and it's made our experience of the country a better one, because we understand more about the people or the places we visit!  I'd highly recommend it.

Driving around Ireland is pretty gorgeous, and I'm glad that we rented a car and got to see as much as we did!  But, it was pretty nice to not have to drive either - We spent 3 nights up north and 3 nights in the south, with this one night in central Ireland, and I'd definitely say that I enjoyed the days where we stayed in once place for a little big longer.  Still, all of Ireland is gorgeous and Brian and I do like our road trips!

If you're ever looking for some car-time entertainment, this is what we always listen to in the car.  Does that make us nerds?

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