Day 6: Knock and Derry

If you scroll down to the post below, you can see my Shutterfly photo book of the trip. When I selected embeding it in blogger, I didn't realize it would post it immediately, oh well.

Not much was going to compete with the Cliffs of Moher, and I felt like this day was a bit of a break. I think I slept every time we got on the bus, and I never even pulled out my big camera, just snapped some stuff with my iPhone. It also rained a lot. But it was nice to have a relaxing day.

Our first stop was Knock, where there is a large shrine. Villagers saw a vision of the Virgin Mary there in 1879. The shrine is the very modern building in the pictures and seems out of place with all of the older buildings everywhere else.

There is a whole wall that has spigots with holy water.

The next stop was the churchyard where W.B. Yeats was buried.

We had lunch in Donegal Bay, but I don't have photos to prove it. We drove into Northern Ireland to our hotel in Derry. We went on a tour of Derry and had an excellent local tour guide. I've always known there was a lot of unrest in Northern Ireland, but I just didn't realize how raw things were there. There was a very different feeling in Northern Ireland compared to the Republic of Ireland. It was pretty obvious there aren't that many tourists in Derry; in fact, everywhere we went in Northern Ireland, everyone was telling us to come back and send friends.

Derry is a walled city, and on the tour we got to walk on the top of the walls, something that wasn't possible a few years ago. And fortunately, the rain stopped for that part.

Next up: The Northern Ireland coast and Giant's Causeway

Photo Book

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Day 5: Cliffs of Moher

This was my favorite day of the Ireland tour. The weather cleared, and we had sun and blue skies, it was perfect.

We left Killareny and stopped at the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes. The first passenger transatlantic flights had to take off from the water because they were so heavy with fuel. The airport was supposed to be in Shannon, but it wasn't ready so the first flights were from Foynes. The museum had a replica flying boat. I would be more excited about international flights if the planes were like that. All the seats turned into bunkbeds with curtains, and there was a separate dining area.

After the Flying Boat Museum, we stopped in Bunratty for lunch. This is where the original Durty Nelly's is. We didn't actually eat there because we didn't have much time.

And then, we went to our last stop of the day: the Cliffs of Moher. It was absolutely breathtaking. On one side you have the cliffs and on the other side there is a castle and a good view of the cliffs. We walked up to the castle side first, and then walked along the cliffs. There is a point where the wall ends, and there is a sign that says not to go further but we kept going anyway. I'm not sure what cliff we made it out to, but we walked out for a while. We were only a few minutes late, but we were definitely the last ones on the bus after that. But I didn't feel guilty at all. I was just in awe of the beauty there and was not ready to leave. And now I will overload you with pictures:

After the Cliffs of Moher, we traveled to Galway where we stayed the night. This might have been my favorite hotel. It was definitely my favorite dinner. The bad thing about the hotel was that it was pretty far out of the city center. But a group of us from the tour made the walk into town after dinner. We were told it was only 20 minutes, but I think it was closer to 40 minutes. But there was a pedestrian-only area that reminded me of Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. Andrea decided Galway is where she would want to live in Ireland, and I agree it is a decent-size city but not as crazy as Dublin.

Day 4: Ring of Kerry

My Internet at home has been very unreliable lately, and I have gone round and round with Mediacom. (If you tell me one day, don't schedule the service appointment on another day!) But uploading photos and attempting to blog are difficult when the Internet is cutting out every 15 minutes. So it's taking longer than I expected to get through the trip posts. Bear with me, the best stuff is coming.

And a sidenote, since in theory, this is a cooking blog. I made Pioneer Woman's blackberry cobbler for the Fourth. Eight adults ate the entire 9 x 13 cobbler even though it was competing with brownies on the dessert table. It was the easiest dessert I've ever made, and I don't think I ruined it by using almond milk instead of real milk. I had fresh blackberries, but I think it would also be really good with peaches. (I've got to get to the Farmer's Market early on Saturday to get some!)

OK, back to Ireland. On Day 4 we rode around the Ring of Kerry on Ireland's western coast and stopped for a lot of photo ops. It was incredibly windy, but it didn't rain, and we saw the sun a few times.

One of our stops was the Skellig Experience. We watched a video about these rock islands way off the coast that monks turned into a monastery. You can see them in the distance of this picture:

One of the islands had room for several monks, but the other island was for just one person. I guess if you really need some solitude. When I go back (when, not if), I'd like to take the boat trip out there and hike up the bigger one assuming the weather is good and I'm in good shape.

There was a lot of driving on this day, but it didn't feel like it because we stopped for lots of photo ops and the scenery was just breathtaking. This was the last photo op of the day at what is called Lady's View because that's where the ladies that served Queen Victoria picked out as a spot for her to go to. Queen Victoria declared it the most beautiful view in all of her kingdom. I disagreed because it saw much better views earlier in the day, but this one does say Ireland!

We headed back to Killarney for the second night. I did a little bit of exploring around the city and walked through part of a national park.

Next up: My favorite day!

Day 3: Cobh and the Blarney stone!

From Waterford, we traveled around the southern coast, and stopped in Cobh (pronounced Cove). It was the last stop of the Titanic before it made its way across the ocean. The Titantic is a reoccurring theme of the trip, and the 100th anniversary of the sinking has made it an even bigger deal.

We went on a walking tour in Cobh with a Titanic expert. It didn't actually rain on us, but the wind almost blew us away!

After Cobh, we headed into Blarney. Andrea and I both wanted to kiss the Blarney stone, but we didn't realize what a feat it would be. The Blarney stone is at the top of Blarney Castle. To get to the top of the castle, you have to climb 84 very narrow, very steep and very windy stairs. I don't have a picture because it took all of my concentration to get up them. I was shaking by the time we made it to the top. And then we discovered that to kiss the stone, you have to lie on your back and maneuver your way down between the floor of the castle and the side wall using poles. Way more intense than I expected, but glad I checked that off my list.

 That's me, I promise!

 Looking down inside the castle from the top.

Looking down at the grounds around the castle.

From Blarney, we went to Killarney. This is the only place we stayed two nights. It was nice to unpack a little bit. After dinner the first night, our tour guide took us on a pub crawl. We got to hear some great Irish music and enjoyed how late it stays light there. At 11 p.m., it was still light outside. One thing I don't think I've mentioned is how much better Guinness tastes in Ireland. I don't ever really drink Guinness and the few times I have in the States I've not been a fan. While it wasn't my favorite beer in Ireland, it does taste significantly better over there. Apparently it's because of the water and because there are plants all over the country, so it is never transported far. But when it is imported to the U.S., the water is taken out, so it's like adding water to concentrated orange juice versus fresh-squeezed.

Anyway, here's a couple of photos from Killarney: