Day 5 - Cliffs of Moher & the Burren

Today we left Killarney & headed to Limerick. On the way, we stopped at one of the most famous places in Ireland - the Cliffs of Moher. We expected breath-taking views but the wind was almost as spectacular! It's amazing how the wind blows here...I guess it must be because it has nothing to stop it on its way across the Atlantic until it hits this fair island, but boy does it hit when it gets here!



Tiffany & Rachel fight the wind at the Cliffs of Moher

But the view...it was amazing!!!  The pictures you see can't do it justice at all.  The sheer height of them, the surf pounding away under them, and the wind trying to fling you around cannot be conveyed in a photo (but I'll add one anyway).

Cliffs of Moher

On the opposite cliffs is the O'Brien Tower which is only 175 years old this year.  We climbed its very narrow spiral stairs to the top & got an even better view (and more wind -- check out the hair in the picture!).

Lisa, Rachel & Tiffany at O'Brien's Tower

After we left the Cliffs, we came almost immediately to the Burren.  It is a limestone escarpment thrust up from the sea floor aeons ago and is a dramatic change from the lush green scenery we have become accustomed to here.   The stone is weathered from wind & rain and is almost like a jigsaw puzzle with gaps that allow seeds to root and make green spots in between.

Boundary to the Burren - lush green in foreground, rocky Burren in background

The Burren

Next up...a Medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle!!!

Day 4 - The Ring of Kerry

Today was a feast for the eyes as we drove around the Ring of Kerry -- a loop around the southern tip of Ireland & the Killarney National Park.  Our first treat for the eyes was the McGillicuddy Reeks (mountains) and the River  Caragh which flows beneath them.  It was such a magnificent view -- peeks of sun through the clouds, mountains covered in heather, cold water rushing below...just amazing!

Sun peeking through the clouds in County Kerry

Lisa & Rachel at the River Caragh

 The water in the rivers here is cold & a dark green/gold color due to all the tannins in it.   We've seen many waterfalls along the way today.  According to our driver/tour guide Nigel, it's not due to springs from underground, but rather due to the impermeability of the mountains -- any water that falls onto them ends up falling off again :)

This is truly the Land of Rainbows!  We've seen 3 -- 1 full one in County Tipperary (I was the 1st to find it!), and 2 broken ones in County Kerry.   The weather is much like home -- cloudy, sunny, rainy, clear -- just wait a few minutes if you don't like it!  The temps have been very mild, though, so even when it rains it's not cold.

Panoramic view of the River Caragh

Our lunch break was in Sneem and we ate at the Riverside Cafe -- beautiful waterfall beside it!

River through Sneem -- Riverside Cafe is on the right bank

 Then we were off to Killarney National Park & Muckross House.   The park is 27,000 acres of which the 1st 15,000 were donated by the last owners of Muckross House and it became the 1st National Park in Ireland. It is breathtakingly beautiful!

View of Muckross Lake in Killarney National Park

  In the evening, we hit the Danny Mann pub for some live entertainment by the2-man band Celtic Whisper.  It was lots of fun and gave us our first taste of Irish nightlife.

Celtic Whisper at the Danny Mann pub

Tomorrow, it's off to Limerick!

Day 3 - Blarney Castle

We headed out of Dublin at 9am & headed south for Blarney.  The city proper has about 1.1 million people and thus has a morning rush hour like everyone else...except for the fact that much of it is on narrow 2 lane roads & shared with cyclists who have to ride in the same lane as the cars.  It wasn't bad though (but I will tell you I am glad I wasn't driving!). 

An hour and a half outside of Dublin we stopped in Cashel for a break.  Cute little town world renowned for its bleu cheese - couldn't find a cheese shop, though :( 

Cashel Main Street

We headed south again and stopped at the Blarney Woollen Mill & we had lunch in the pub there - ordered our 1st pint of Guiness, too . 

Interior of the pub at Blarney Woollen Mill

After lunch, we headed off to the castle.  It is a ruin but all 4 walls are still standing, just no floors in the middle or roof on top.  First we stopped at the entrance to the dungeon & Rachel crawled further than one else.  We then climbed up about 100 stairs (mostly spiral) to the top -- luckily they put ropes and pipe hand rails in so it wasn't too hard.  At the top there is a glorious view of the surrounding countryside!  I was the only one of us 3 to kiss the Blarney Stone -- haven't noticed a difference yet (no jokes out there!)

Blarney Castle as seen from the lower field

We checked into our hotel in Killarney (means "church of the sloth") & had problems with our internet connection so I had to wait to update this blog.  Still having issues getting kicked off so I will add the photos when I can.

***photos added finally!!!

Internet glitches delay blog update for Day #3

Sorry for the delayed updates to the blog.  The web access at Killarney Court Hotel is spotty - even though it is supposed to be a wi-fi hotspot :(  I have lots of pictures and stories to share so stay tuned...

Day 2 - Dublin

2 long flights and 11 hours later we are in Dublin!  At first we were nervous because we didn't see our names at the pick-up area at the airport.  A lovely gentleman called the travel agency for us and let me talk to the agent.  Not long after, our driver, Phil, was there & we found out we were also picking up a lovely lady named Valerie who is 80+ years old and has been living in Johannesburgh, South Africa since 1952 -- she was taking a side trip from her mother's 103rd birthday in Essex, UK!  It was a lovely ride in to Dublin with all of us talking and laughing together.



Valerie, Tiffany, Lisa, & Rachel being picked up at Dublin Airport

 We got to the hotel before we could check in so we took a hop on/off bus tour of Dublin and then stopped to get fish & chips for lunch at a place called Beshoff on O'Connell Street.  We had been told on our tour that they did not repair the facades of buildings that were hit by bullets in the Civil War back in the early 1920's -- we could see 3 in the window surround at the restaurant.





Beshoff in Dublin



Cod & Chips



2 of 3 bullet holes at Beshoff

We drove through "Guiness-land" -- the area of Dublin where the Guiness factory is.  The Guiness family owns the whole area & have their own church and even their own power plant (just in case there is a power outage in Dublin -- the Guiness must be brewed!) 



Guiness tanks over the River Liffey



Guiness power plant

There is a lot of history in Dublin and we only got a small taste of it today. We will be ending our tour of Ireland in Dublin next week so I'm sure there will be more.





Day 1 - leaving SeaTac :)

Sitting at SeaTac Airport waiting for our plane. Got stopped at security because my camera charger looked like a taser on the xray machine :( The TSA agent was really nice and rescanned my electronics and then made sure I hadn't lost anything in the minor unpacking that we did. The biggest hassel was actually getting everything off/out & put into the bins at the security line. I felt like I was holding up the whole line -- and I was prepared! I guess I just don't fly enough to have an efficient routine.

Here's a couple pictures to get this blog really started -- these are just inside the security checkpoint. I'll add more later but for now I just want to make sure I can make good on my promise to have pictures for everyone :)

2 more sleeps and then off we go!

Just 2 more sleeps and then we get on a plane and fly off on our adventure!  Started packing today and thought it was too easy -- I was right...totally forgot my pajamas & swimsuit (for swimming in the pools not the ocean!).   I'm going to review my suitcase tomorrow and make sure it's packed correctly :)

Tomorrow I get to call the airline and find out if we can reserve the bulkhead seats if we check in online 24 hours early or if we actually have to do that at the airport.  If we can reserve them online, we have to be at the airport 2 hours before takeoff -- if not, we need to be there about 4 hours early.  I'm hoping for the former :)  We also have last-minute tasks to do tomorrow like load the software onto the laptop so we can download pictures from the cameras and shop for snacks to take with us on the plane.

I'm nervous and excited all at the same time.  Can't wait for Monday morning!