While drinking some Guinness at some point in the spring we
all decided another trip to Ireland should be in the works. We decided to go over Thanksgiving and see
more of the sights along the west coast.
Toni and Warren had been to the town of Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula
and have raved about it and we had been to the Cliffs of Mohr and raved about
those so we decided to hit a few new places, but a few places some of us had
already been.
We flew into Dublin, picked up our rental car and drove
across the country to spend the night in Galway. We were upgraded (free) to a two bedroom
really nice apartment and enjoyed our night there. We went to a few little pubs and wandered
around the pedestrian area and turned in pretty early to hit the road the next
morning.
Galway
Pub in Galway
Pub in Galway
We woke up Thanksgiving morning and headed down the
road. Our first stop was the Dunguaire
Castle on the way to the Cliffs of Mohr.
We wandered around the outside of the castle, but were unable to go
inside.
Dunguaire Castle
We hit the road again and stopped at a microbrewery we had read about. This place was one of the first hidden gems of our trip. We got there at 11:00 just as the owner was unlocking the door and he promptly lead us through the bar, up some steps around the back of the pub and showed us his actual brewery. We spent the next hour or two chatting with this wonderfully interesting man and drinking his wonderful beer. He was actually born above the pub and it has been in his family for generations.
the old man (Peter) teaching us the tricks of the trade
We learned so much from this interesting old man :)
We hit the road again to see the amazing Cliffs of
Mohr. We were lucky to have great
weather for the second time that we have been there and got some great
photos. We got back in the car and
headed to our next destination, Dingle.
We even had to take a car ferry on the way!
To top off our wonderful, very busy day we found a pub in
Dingle owned by an Irishman and his American wife. Every year this pub hosts a pot-luck style
Thanksgiving feast. We got a Thanksgiving
dinner with all the trimmings in an idyllic genuine Irish Pub with Guinness on
tap and live Irish music…it doesn’t get much better than that (second to
spending it with family at home J
).
trimming the turkey
We spent the next day driving around the beautiful Dingle
Peninsula and wandering around the town of Dingle. We spent that evening in true Ireland style
sipping on Guinness, listening to live music and watching Irish dancers in a
great pub!
Our cat tour guide Chester
Having a pint at a bar / hardware store in Dingle
The next morning, we took off for our final destination,
Kilkenny. On the way, we stopped in
Cashel to see the famous cathedral ruin the Rock of Cashel.
Once we got to Kilkenny we checked into our hotel right in
the shadow of the Kilkenny Castle. We
visited the castle and took in a few of the sights the city has to offer
(including a sampling of another Irish brewery, O’hara).
Kilkenny Castle
Our hotel
The next morning we drove back to Dublin and headed
home! We had a great time and are
already trying to figure out the next time we can go to Ireland. We know we should visit more places that we
have never been, but Ireland is our absolute favorite place to travel and it is
so hard to stay away from there when it is so much cheaper to get there from
here than it will be from the states!
If you ever get the chance to go to Ireland…take it (and let us know, we
will give you some tips!).
