ESB

We flew into Shannon Airport on the west coast of Ireland at 6 am local time (1 am back in Boston). Our intention was to stay up the first day so we wouldn't waste any time in Ireland - that plan lasted about 5 minutes once we arrived at our first hotel in Ennis. We ended up sleeping about 15 hours that day with only a short 2 hour trip into Ennis for lunch. But at least we were well rested for the rest of the trip!

We rented a manual Ford Fiesta for the entire trip. Because I cannot drive stick, Kelly took over the driving duties. Driving on the left side of the road in Ireland didn't actually take that long to get used to. The difficult part was the extremely narrow roads, crazy local drivers, and free-roaming farm animals. If you rent a car in Ireland, get the full insurance package! Everytime a tour bus came within inches of our car, I remembered the rental car lady asking us, "can you afford to pay 18,000 Euro if you wreck the car?" We gambled & won, but tettered on several nervous breakdowns during the trip. It didn't help that on every highway in Ireland they have signs showing how the number of fatalities that your highway experienced the last 5 years.










Our next stop was in Doolin for the Castleview B&B. This farmhouse was right on the ocean & just a short drive to the Cliffs of Moher. The hostess said we could easily walk to the cliffs, but we took a wrong turn & ended up roaming over 10 miles through the Irish countryside. It was a nice walk except for a few stray dogs & mild dehydration. Plus we got sunburnt which is difficult to do in Ireland during April. Aloe Vera has yet to make it to Ireland, so we were red-faced the entire trip.

While we were lost, we walked past an Irish boy no older than 6 who said hello. When we said "hello" back, he screamed, "you're American!" Is it that obvious?










The Cliffs of Moher were amazing. There was a very touristy gated path that had ok views of the cliffs. But the best view & maybe the highlight of the trip was the much more dangerous ungated path that took you just a few feet from the 700-foot cliffs. At least a few people die each year when wind gusts send them sailing over the edge (what we called "natural selection").






















Day 3 we drove the entire Ring of Kerry which is a famous drive through the Killarney National Park, Misty Mountains & beautiful ocean coasts of the Iveragh Peninsula. It may have been the most beautiful scenary I have even seen. Poor Kelly didn't get to enjoy the views as she was busy dodging the huge tour buses coming from the opposite direction on these extremely narrow roads. Wikipedia suggested going clockwise around the Ring to avoid traffic, but I would have rather been behind these buses versus meeting them on an obstructed corner with no guard rails on the top of the mountains. This was where the driving was by far the most dangerous, but the scenary made it worth it.

































(At this point my 2nd camera battery died, so I didn't take many pictures the rest of the way except on a terrible iPhone camera.)

Day 4 we went to our 2nd B&B in Clifden, which is just west of Galway. The "Ardmore House" had huge bedrooms, a private path down to the ocean, and most importantly internet. It was situated atop the mountains overlooking the Clifden bay surrounded by sheep farms & abandoned castles. We had the place to ourselves the 1st night, while it was a full house the 2nd night including a couple from Madison.






























Day 5 we went to the Connemara National Park. Again, it was gorgeous, but at this point we were getting pretty tired of all the driving (and by "we" I mean Kelly).




















On the final day we drove across the entire country to Dublin. We stayed at a brand new Ritz Carlton outside the city next to the Powerscourt House & Gardens. It was by far the best hotel I've ever stayed in. I wish my apartment was that big! Dublin was cool, but I wish we had more time to spend in the city.










All-in-all the trip turned out nearly perfect. It was a great variety of B&Bs vs hotels, rural vs urban areas, etc. And considering the dollar is at an all-time low vs the Euro, the trip wasn't too expensive through the Aer Lingus package we bought. Next time I'd like to spend more time in Dublin, revisit more sites on the Ring of Kerry, and have a fully-insured car with GPS!