2016 - Ireland Summary

Duration: 11 full days (June 6, 2016 to June 18, 2016)

Cost: $730 (flight) + $600 (car rental plus mandatory insurance) + $960 (accommodations)

Highlights

In no particular order, this is my list of top 3 things that I enjoyed while I was in Ireland that I saw during our trip. Obviously, there are things that we didn't fit in that may have been better.

Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, this was one of my goal spots to visit when we decided to visit Ireland and so we made it a priority to see it at the beginning of the trip versus the end of the trip. We ended up visiting the site on the second day that we arrived and it was really really cool. You definitely should try to get here as early as you can to beat the crowds but this is a definite must-see for me while you are in Ireland. It is roughly 3 hours away from Dublin by car, however, there are tour buses that take you there from Dublin if you don't want to drive yourself. It is just like the pictures, however, it isn't as big as I imagined, then again, I probably had ridiculous ideas for how big it would be.

Rock columns of Giant's Causeway.

Rock columns of Giant's Causeway.

Me at Giant's Causeway.

Oddly timed photo at Giant's Causeway.

Slea Head Drive in Dingle, we had heard that Dingle is a very cute and nice little town to visit, however, it is a bit out of the way and initially we thought that we would skip this and I'm glad that in the end, we made it here. Slea Head Drive is the coastal scenic drive all along the peninsula and is a must do while you are here if you happen to be in Dingle. There are fantastic views, a bunch of car stop areas and it is in general, very beautiful. It isn't a long drive at roughly 2 hours in length depending on your stops and what you do. Take your time and make sure you go clockwise since the tour buses do the same.

Slea Head Drive.

Slea Head Drive.

Slea Head Drive.

Slea Head Drive.

Slea Head Drive.

Trinity College in Dublin, it is located within the university and you should definitely come early here as well. It is just like the pictures, although the purpose of most people's visit may actually be the Book of Kells which is one of the oldest books around. My goal was to visit the library and it met my expectations. It looks just like the photos and it is just so nice to look at. It doesn't matter that you aren't a book reader, if the pictures look interesting, pay them a visit.

Trinity College.

Trinity College.

Lowlights

Oddly, nothing in my mind stood out at disappointing. The most disappointing thing was the tower at Cliffs of Moher which you should avoid, but that's it. All the sites were very nice and worth while. I guess the only thing that can be an issue is really the weather. It is very unpredictable here and unfortunately, we arrive after 10 days of sun! It can go from sunny to cloudy, rainy, thunderstorm, and back to sunny all in the same day, or even all in the same 2 hour drive. You just need to plan that the weather will be bad and you should be okay.

Food Suggestions:

McGann's, best Lamb Shank and Fish and Chips we had while in Ireland. If you are in the Doolin area, make sure to visit here.

Fish and Chips and Lamb Shank at McGann's.

Anchor Down, very fresh and local seafood. A new restaurant in the area and we only found out about it from the tourist information booth. The owners are actually fishermen and they only sell what they catch, how can you go wrong? We actually liked it so much we went for dinner one night and lunch the following day!

Assorted starters at Anchor Down.

Lemon Hake at Anchor Down.

What would I change?

I know that during our visit, we visited a majority of the major sites, however, we missed the northwest side and the southeast side of Ireland. Obviously we couldn't hit everything during 11 days, but I think our itinerary was good, no changes in my mind.

Tips

Driving here can be challenging for some. If you are like me, you drive on the right-side of the road instead of the left, this meant that there were some challenges. You drive on the opposite side of the road, you can parallel parking in either direction, and there are a lot of roundabouts. I found that as long as there is traffic, you will not revert back to how you normally drive. For turning, I always mentally told myself that turning right means left and left means right. What this did for me was, if I turn left, I only looked left for pedestrians, and when I turn right, I need to look for oncoming traffic. I found that this was helpful and I quickly knew how to drive.

Final Thoughts

Ireland and Northern Ireland are very lovely and scenic countries. Make sure that you travel around if you come because if you land in Dublin, like most tourist would, it just reminds you of a regular city, the real charm is outside. If you can, do rent a car so that you can go at your own pace. I wouldn't be too concerned about driving on the opposite side unless you worry about driving in general. In my mind, a must visit country if you like scenic views, drives, and just a lot of pretty sites with a lot of very nice people.

Past POIs - Giant's Causeway [Bushmills, Northern Ireland]

One of my goal sights to see when we visited Ireland for our honeymoon was Giant's Causeway, located at the tip of Northern Ireland (which is oddly part of United Kingdom and not Ireland itself). When we landed, we immediately drove to Belfast, stayed the night and first thing in the morning, we went to visit Giant's Causeway (well, after Dark Hedges).

Giant's Causeway is own and managed at the National Trust and is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site as of 1986. The site itself consists of over 40,000 interlocking basalt columns which were formed as a result of ancient volcanic eruptions in the past. The basalt columns themselves are normally hexagonal (6-sided), however, they do come in various other shapes as well.

If you decide to come, do note that while parking seems free, they do check that you paid for admission and this is per person, £9.00 per adult at the time when we went. It is a bit cheaper if you purchase the tickets online.

When we went, we lucked out and there was a free tour which lasted about an hour and happens on the hour and it talks about the history of the site, how the rock formations happened and what the National Trust does with the funds that it receives from admission. I thought the tour was a good intro to how this place came to be and added to the experience. Without the tour, I think the site is still very interesting and neat, however, I appreciated it a bit more. The tour itself ends at the site of the basalt columns and you are free to wander around however long you like.

We arrived early and beat the tour buses, so I would suggest that you try to do the same. We noticed when we left at around 1pm that the tour buses have arrived and it was getting busier (although less busy than I imagined). So if you want less tourists in your photos, go early!

The site was very interesting and worth a stop in my opinion. One of my three favourite sites that we visited while in Ireland. We spent about 3 hours here and this included the one hour tour, and two hours of us wandering around and taking in the site and taking lots of photos. You can actually spend more time here since there are several hiking trails that are available, however, due to the hazy weather, we decided against doing the extra hikes and we just did the red hiking trail which I definitely recommend.

For more information, visit the official website at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/giants-causeway

Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!

Ireland - Day 2 (Belfast)

Today's agenda is the Dark Hedges, Giant's Causeway, and the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge.

Breakfast at Gregory House.

At the Gregory House in Belfast, breakfast was included and it is called the Ulster fry. It includes eggs, a slice of peameal bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato, soda, potato bread and pancake. Along with croissant, cereal, yogurt, and orange or Apple juice and coffee or tea your own pots! It was surprisingly good and very filling. Not too sure I understand why it is called pudding, but they do taste good. I didn't end up eating most of the breads, I'll remember that for tomorrow.

Dark Hedges.

Dark Hedges, there's a car off in the distance for scale.

We left around 8:30am got the dark hedges around 9:50am. When we left at 10:15am, the tour buses arrived so if you want some pictures with less people, try to make it here before 10:00am. The Dark Hedges are a group of beech trees which were featured in Game of Thrones (which I didn't know) that are really cool looking. Even though Allison knew nothing about the site, she thought it was interesting as well. It is free and there is an area just south of it where you can leave your car and you can walk the site, it takes probably 5-10 minutes to walk from end to end.

Yup, those are cows that Allison is walking towards on a beach.

With that finished, our next stop is Giant's Causeway, although on the way there, I saw the sign for White Park Bay and said that we should stop there since I heard it was nice. It was hazy by the time we got here but I thought it was still nice there. There was a sign and gate saying that there are animals that graze here and we were confused since it is a sandy beach with no sand, what is there to graze? Anyways, we wandered down to the beach which is about a 10-15 minute walk and surprisingly, there were animals grazing! Cows of all animals! What are they doing on beach? Anyways, we took some pictures and left and went to the Giant's Causeway next.

Giant's Causeway. 

Giant's Causeway. 

Giant's Causeway. 

Giant's Causeway.

We arrived at the Giant's Causeway at around 11:45am and lucked out and made it for the 12:00pm tour. It is included in the cost of admission and it takes about one hour and the person talks about what happens and how the formations happened. The person also talks about the folklore behind the site and I thought it was interesting. Worth it is you can time it correctly. The tour actually ends at the Causeway, so you can just wander around and take pictures right after the tour. After the tour, we took a bunch of pictures and did the red trail and finished at around 2:30pm. It is a nice place and worth the price of admissions, however, I thought the site would be massive. Don't get me wrong, the place is big, I just expected bigger.

Jumbo Cod at the top, scallops at the bottom.

Lunch was next and I got some tips to go to Morton's. I know, it is out of the way, but I heard it is good. We made it there at around 3:10pm and it cost roughly 5£ for fish and 3£ for chips. We got the jumbo cod, a side of chips, and some scallops. Right next to the shop is a picnic area with tables since there are no actual tables at Morton's. The seafood was very fresh and the portions are generous and I would recommend it if you are in the area.

Make sure to stop at Maud's for ice cream just down the street. It was roughly 1£ for an ice cream and it is very good ice cream. We tried some honey flavour and it was really really good. We finished by 4:10pm and we drove to Carrick-a-Rede Bridge and made it there around 4:30pm.

Carrick-a-Rede Bridge. 

On the island after walking across Carrick-a-Rede Bridge. 

Carrick-a-Rede Bridge.

With the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge, you pay to cross the bridge, however, the bridge itself is actually a good 10-15 minute walk from the parking lot. So you can walk to the bridge, and determine whether you want to cross the bridge or not. Unfortunately, you can only buy tickets by the parking lot, so you would have to walk back if you decided that you want to.

Booted! Luckily, that isn't me. 

5 of many many sheep in this country.

Drove to Glenariff Forest Park with the idea to visit the falls there and then do the coastal road if it was nice since the weather was hazy all day. Ended up clearing up roughly 30 minutes into the drive and drove the coastal road for about an hour before deciding to just head back to the hotel since it was getting late. We got back at 8:00pm and ended up at the Barking Dog for dinner as suggested by the host of our B&B and it was well reviewed.

Ordered the chorizo and polenta fritters, pork belly bites, olives, and the beef cheeks for the main. With a Madden's mallow cider, it ended up being 41£. Food was okay, not really sure why it reviews for highly. Although, it was really busy even when we came so late.

Dinner at Barking Dog.

Tomorrow, we drive to Galway which is a majority of the day.