2011/04/22-30 The perfect vacation

Ireland auf einer größeren Karte anzeigen

That was it - one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited. We will definitely come back, especially to discover the West coast a little more intensely. But not only is the country so beautiful, the inhabitants are alsoincredibly friendly. When driving on the left lane on the first day I was being honked at.. but not to be yelled at, but to be offered help! Everyone gave us the feeling that we were welcome.. even the tourists seemed extra relaxed. It made me realize once again that the Austrians are way grumpier and not as open-minded and easy-going as they claim to be.

Our daughter had a blast, too; if you wanna see Ireland from her point of view, check out meonnet (you know the password..).

Anyways.. I loved it!

2011/04/29 Old city, new city

After passing the official center of Ireland..

we toured further East and passed Clonmacnoise; ruins of one of the oldest cities in Ireland. It looked more like a cemetery to me, but it was pretty regardless.

The ruins were the last day's highlight, since Dublin was.. well.. disappointing, ugly almost. Maybe it was because we had toured through the countryside and had not really cared for cities too much, or maybe because we missed the good spots - but we really were not so excited over it.
Even the Guinness factory tour was not spectacular, since it is more like an enterntainment show than a tour through the actual production line. However, check it out, maybe you like it better:

2011/04/28 The last ride

We booked a glass bottom boat ride in Letterfrack to not only see the sea's underwater life, but also to enjoy Connemara's unique landscape one last time.
We stopped in Leenane for lunch (and souvenir shopping)..
..and then went even further up north for our next B&B in Castlebar. Loughlannagh turned out to be a "Holiday Village" with caravan parks, fitness center and a hall for common breakfast. We were disappointed, somewhat grossed out.
When chillin' by the lake..
we decided that we'd risk it and move further on towards the East to get closer to Dublin.
We headed towards Athlone and ended up in Carrowphadeen, a teeny tiny colony right by the Center of Ireland.
We crashed a little B&B - Árd Aoibhinn [Aurd Ee'ven; it means "delightful height"] - that is run by a cute couple in their 50ies. The house is totally new (and pretty), and Doris & Kevin made us feel as if we were visiting family. They prepared sandwiches for us in the evening and our baby girl was allowed to splash in their private tub.
The location was quiet and pretty - if you ever wanna go there, we can only recommend (feeleyquinnnguestaccomodation@ireland.com)!

2011/04/27 More beauty, more speechlessness

Today's goal was to not drive too much and relax and more beautiful and peaceful spots.

We started early at Kylemore Abbey, and old building that some rich doctor had built for his wife a few hundred years ago. The place was wonderful, especially lingering through the park and forest.
We continued our trip towards the Connemara Loop to get some more views of the coast.. and rest at a beach. We found a little pretty one in Tully and our baby daughter had a blast (enjoy pics of her on meonnet). There you go:

2011/04/26 Travel day

This day was probably the most exhausting. Although we had experience with the roads (and their speed limits), we underestimated the travel time to Connemara a bit.
We took the ferry in Tralee to skip a few miles and arrive at the Cliffs of Moher rather soon.

After riding through more spectacular - and quiet - land..
..we stopped at the Spanish point right by the cliffs to get some pre-taste of the coast's beauty. When we finally arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, we were not only a little tired, but also shocked: masses of people were getting in line to pay for the parking lot and the view.. we skipped it, because we knew, we would not enjoy rolling with the crowd.

We kept on going and eventually made it to our next stop: Kylemore, Connemara. We rode 15km through nothing but mountains and sheep.. and got what we had been looking for: a quite place to chill!

The B&B - Kylemore House - did not look as spectacular from the outside, but it was amazing: the room was huge (with a gigantic tub), the hosts incredibly friendly, the interior antique and comfy and the area simply stunning. The picture above was the view of our room..

2011/04/25 The Ring of Kerry

This day was quite something!! The roads were exciting, the local viewpoints stunning and the landscape simply breathtaking. There is not much left to say besides enjoy the slide show!

2011/04/24 Hidden Dolmen

Although Tramore itself was not as pretty as expected, the area still has a lot to offer. Matt loves 'old shit' and therefore he was really excited about the Dolmen of that area. Basically, Dolmen are several thousand year old stones of which nobody really knows how they were set up without any tools.
We started driving by following our map that confused us only after a few miles.
We saw signs which were leading into contradictory directions, and after a citizen told us that the state had sold the Dolmen, we were speechless and almost gave up.
Certainly, this guy was joking and showed us the way to our first stone: Knockeen Dolmen.
After climbing a gate,
and crossing a meadow (with a curious bull),
we found the Dolmen that had been basically locked up by the land-owning farmer.
Behind the Dolmen (in the bushes) we found an old chapel and a graveyard - pretty!
We continued our Dolmen drive and were able to locate several others.. unfortunately access to them was prohibited by the farmers.. since they are all set up on nowadays' farmland.
Off we went further West towards Cork through the countryside;
we decided to have lunch in Dungarvan, and I am pleased that we did because it was a beautiful little fisher town.

Cork was nice, too - but since the English market (that we had been looking forward to) was closed and it started pouring heavily (by the way: the only time during our trip)..
we continued to Killarney - our place to be for the next two nights. We had booked a room at the Gleannfia Country House, which took our breath away when we entered the driveway. It is close to town center, although it still lies in the middle of nowhere surrounded by rivers, meadows and trees. The whole interior is charming, and hanging out in the lounge was such a pleasure. The owners are an elderly couple - very nice and somewhat quirky (which is part of the house's charm).
If you ever go to Killarney, you have to stay at this B&B - it's simply awesome!!

2011/04/23 Getting started

After scratching the car's side, breaking the right mirror, and almost killing both a biker and my husband (through a heart attack), I had adjusted to driving on the wrong (excuse me: left) side of the street. It is still hard to believe that we made it to our first stop: Wicklow.


This little town offered everything that I thought Ireland would be about (if I had only known that this was just a teeny tiny bit of everything):
the wild Atlantic ocean,

steep cliffs,

and the greenest of all greens.

We spent the afternoon there, and after a little rest we toured on to Tramore. Since we were looking forward to peace, tranquility and a beautiful B&B we were somewhat disappointed after all. The Atlantic Breeze B&B had looked awesome on the website pictures, but turned out to be way shabbier. The hosts were great, but we had nowhere to hang out and chill.
Moreover, Tramore has a beautiful beach,
but they managed to turn the whole town into a disgusting entertainment center with slot machines, rides and water parks. Great for teenagers, but really not what we had been looking for.