This past week we've been driving down the west coast of Ireland, staying at B&Bs and hostels in some of the towns along the way. The scenery has been incredible, while some areas were a bit brown from the frost, most parts were just green green green and so beautiful! Everywhere around Ireland is covered in daffodils, when you're driving through it you just know there would be leprechauns out there, and I suspect, hobbits.
Places we've visited include Galway, Connemara and Kylemore Abbey, Kilkee, Clifden, Letterfrack, Lisdoonvarna, Killarney, Cork...and lots of towns that were so small you hardly realised you'd passed through them!
Things we've loved about Ireland:
- The Cliffs of Moher were awesome! Some of Harry Potter was filmed there, when Harry went searching for horcruxes. Some parts of the tourist walk along the cliffs probably wouldn't meet Australian safety standards though!
- All the sheep and lambs on the road in Connemara. They will move for you when they're good and ready.
- Seeing our first hare. It was seriously the size of Roger Rabbit. As we drove behind it, it wouldn't run sideways into the bushes, it just kept running straight ahead and looking back at us to check if we were still there!
- All the pub meals: 2 courses plus a glass of wine for €19 (about $23AUD) so good!
- Blarney Castle and kissing the Blarney Stone. It's meant to give you 'eloquence' or the gift of the gab (to be honest I probably don't need any help with the gabbing!) So we climbed Blarney Castle, and had our feet held while we leant backwards off the castle to kiss the stone. It was a much further lean than I thought, and it was raining so I hope those guys were holding my legs extra tight!
- The horse and cart ride through KIllarney National Park with our guide Ulton and horse Pearl. The park was really beautiful, but all Ulton wanted to do was chat. If we tried to look around at a waterfall or a bunny, Ulton would grab our arm and tell us another story completely unrelated to our surrounds (like the difference between the letter B in English and B in Gaelic) We had a great time other than Pearl farting regularly right in my face.
- Dinner at Johnny Foxs (the highest pub in Dublin - in the mountains) with Suzie, Mike, Keith, Michael and Ruth. Could that place physically hang any more items from the ceiling? Pots, pans, weapons, bloomers... We had a great dinner and Keith even braved the whisky and brown bread icecream. The verdict? Good, but the brown bread part was a bit odd. We had amazing views of Dublin from the mountains on the way home, while Suzie told us old Irish stories about the devil (while we're driving slowly through the mountains, in the rain, in the dark - thanks Suzie!)
Challenges:
DRIVING! We picked up our little silver Ford Focus in Dublin, and driving was a challenge from that moment on. Luckily we had a GPS but that didn't help much with the narrow roads. And the roads are so narrow! There were so many times on little country roads where we thought 'if someone comes around the corner now, we're dead.' And if we didn't die, either us or the other car would have to reverse a few kilometres so the other person could pass. Luckily we only hit our side mirror on something once. The fact that we paid for the extra insurance made it a bit less stressful. After returning to Galway after our drive through Connemara our nerves were shredded though! As handy as the car was, we both gave a big sigh of relief when we handed it back.
We have loved Ireland, and all the people who have made us feel so welcome. Thanks everyone!
We're off to London now for our first Contiki :)
Kobi & Brian
Pearl the horse
Daffodils everywhere
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