A Road Trip in Ireland

Mid May saw us on a whirlwind 6-day road trip around Ireland. It was fantastic! The Emerald Isle was exactly what I’d hoped for, delicious beer, friendly people, lovely countryside and foot-tapping music. Six days may not have been enough time to see the whole country but it was all we had and we bloody well made the most of it.

Our itinerary was as follows: 2 nights in Dublin –via Clonmacnoise–> 1 night in Galway –via Cliffs of Moher–> 1 night in a small village in the middle of County Tipperary –via Kilkenny–> 1 more night in Dublin.

From the beginning, the Guinness was flowing and the craic was strong. We met my German sister Jenny and her partner Daniel in Dublin where our adventures started. This was our first time travelling with another couple and we really enjoyed it (I have to say that, they’re probably reading this), kidding! It was a dream come true. Since we met, 8 years ago, Jenny and I have been talking about travelling to a new country together and we finally did it!

DUBLIN

Dublin is an interesting city with lots of history. Some would say it’s not the most beautiful city but if you look hard enough you’ll find some beauty, and if you’re still having trouble have another Guinness.

Dublin Castle is a really important site for Dubliners and Irish people because it’s the central core of the city. It’s also the place where they announced Irish Independence in 1922 and even more recently the referendum results to repeal the 8th amendment.

One thing you are not short of in Ireland is pubs. There’s one on almost every corner. The prices were slightly shy of London prices and always a good atmosphere. Our favourite pub in Dublin was O’Neill’s, it’s a maze of a pub with live Irish music and Irish dancing every single night of the week.

Temple Bar area is a tourist favourite with heaps of “Instagram-worthy” pubs, but expect slightly more expensive pints.

The Temple Bar, Dublin — The famous Temple Bar with its fairy lights, flowers, flags and all.

Dublin isn’t known for its amazing sights, so we found a good way to learn about the history and culture of the city. This was through a walking tour. We used Sandeman’s walking tours (a company we have used before) which gave us an awesome insight into the city and Irish history from a Dubliner’s perspective. I learnt so much on this walking tour and it was free! At the end, you just tip as much as you can afford or as you believe the tour was worth. To be honest, the information we learnt on the walking tour was nothing you could ever find in a guidebook, a local perspective really helps paint the picture of the city.

The Spire of Dublin or the Monument of Light stands north of the River Liffey on the site of Nelson’s Pillar which was destroyed by IRA bombs in 1966.

Inside the grounds of the Trinity College.

Dublin, bridge — The River Liffey. Notice the sign with the YES on it. I mentioned the referendum earlier. We were in Ireland a week before the referendum vote took place. The vote was to decide whether they would keep or repeal the 8th Amendment, which criminalised abortion. A week later the people of Ireland overwhelmingly voted YES (to repeal the amendment), a big step for Ireland, especially as its a predominantly Catholic country.

Now, you can’t go to Dublin without checking out the Guinness Storehouse. Honestly, the Storehouse is very commercialised. It’s not an actual brewery tour, it’s a walkthrough of how Guinness is made and sold and advertised. But it’s still enjoyable to spend an afternoon learning about and tasting beer.

Guinness Storehouse

My highlight was learning to pour the perfect pint of Guinness and then drinking it in the Gravity Bar with 360′ views of the city.

Guinness Factory, Dublin — James enjoying a near-perfectly poured Guinness.

Clonmacnoise Monastery

Clonmacnoise is a monastery in County Offaly. It was established in 544 by St Ciarán and grew to become a major centre of religion, craftsmanship, learning and trade. Over the years the monastery was attacked by the English, the Irish, the Vikings and the Normans. It was eventually destroyed for the last time by the English in 1552.

The Monastery sits on the Shannon river and is surrounded by beautiful rolling hills and green pastures.

Clonmacnoise

Irish countryside views from Clonmacnoise

GALWAY

Galway is a super fun city with such a great vibe. It’s one of those places you just feel cool by being there. As the sun went down, buskers poured onto the streets and music filled the air. We spent the evening pub hopping and listening to the live music.

Galway memorial — The Famine Ship Memorial looks out to the ocean and is dedicated to the captains and crews that sailed victims of the Irish Potato Famine across the Atlantic ocean to safety between 1847-1853.

THE BURREN

We road-tripped our way through the Burren National Park on our way to the Cliffs of Moher. It was beautiful to be amongst the Irish countryside and natural beauty. Of course, a road trip isn’t complete without a few pit stops along the way.

We came to an emergency stop when this castle came into view along the coast. Dunguaire Castle is such a picture-perfect castle.

Dunguaire Castle - Ash — Practising that Leprechaun heel kick.

The Burren — We stopped along the way to check out some really old stones.

The Burren - Portal Tomb — This rock formation is believed to be almost 6000 years old. It’s called a Portal Tomb and archaeologists found thirty-three bodies from 3800-3200BC buried underneath. The bodies were of adults and children, personal items were also buried with them, including a bone pendant and polished stone axe. They have found it difficult to understand why the bodies were put there are there was not a lot of consistency in how the bodies presented. A newborn baby’s body has also been found at the entrance to the tomb and is thought to have been buried there from people of the Bronze Age (1750-1420 BC).

CLIFF OF MOHER

A solid natural wonder. We stopped for lunch at a small town called Doolin (great name!) and then had a quick look at the information centre. The lady at the desk told us the next boat left in less than ten minutes but we could make it if we rushed down the road. So off we ran to the small port, north of the Cliffs of Moher to check these bad boys out. We saw the cliffs from below in the boat first, and then we walked along the top of them. Although they’re probably more impressive from above it was epic to see the cliffs from both perspectives.

Also, puffins! So many puffins flying around everywhere. I learnt two things that day, puffins are actually quite small birds (averaging about 30cm in height). Secondly, puffins can fly, and very fast for that matter, making it difficult to photograph them, but believe me, they were there.

I did a little research afterwards on Puffins because they’re funky wee guys. There is three type of Puffin, the North Atlantic Puffin, North Pacific Horned Puffin and North Pacific Tufted Puffin. The North Atlantic Puffin is about the same height as a Little Blue Penguin but they weigh half as much as Little Blues, as they’re flying birds, unlike penguins. Last cool puffin fact: they can fly up to 88km/h and flap their wings up to 400 times per minute!

Overall we spent about three hours in and around the cliffs. And we could’ve easily spent longer. They were truly magnificent.

IRISH COUNTRYSIDE

We had such a lovely chilled out evening in the Irish countryside. We had an amazing Airbnb host who hooked us up with a bbq and we grilled the evening away with a delicious home-cooked meal. Jenny and I walked along the country roads, breathing in fresh crisp country air, something I do NOT get enough of in ole London town. We greeted locals as they passed, both human and cow form. We planned to have a night off of the pub scene but the local was too intriguing so we went in for a wee nightcap. It was a real old school rural pub.

Rock of Cashel

The Rock of Cashel, also known as the St Patrick’s Rock and Cashel of the Kings, was used as the seat for the Kings of Munster prior to the Norman invasion in 1170. The oldest building on the site is the round tower which dates back to around 1100. In 1647 the Cashel was sacked by English Parliamentarians and the Irish troops and much of the clergy were massacred. About 100 years later the Cathedral roof was removed by the Archbishop and today it’s a tourist attraction.

It’s pretty cool sight for old Irish ruins, they do offer tours around it (included in your ticket), we found the groups were slightly too big and we couldn’t hear the tour guide so well, so we just wandered the ground ourselves.

Rock of Cashel countryside — The view of the countryside from the Rock of Cashel.

Cahir Castle

Cahir castle is one of the biggest castles in Ireland and is located not too far south of Cashel. It was built in the 13th Century by the O’Brien family. We didn’t go inside this one, but it still looked pretty cool from the outside.

KILKENNY

We were only planning to hit up Kilkenny for a bit of lunch and a walk around, but as we walked the central city, we noticed several sports jerseys around. These black and yellow shirts kept popping up. I did a bit of googling and found out the local Hurling team had a match that afternoon. So off we trotted to purchase last minute tickets to the Hurling game.

If you’ve never heard of Hurling, and I don’t expect you to, it’s a traditional Irish game that seems to be a mix between hockey and rugby and handball. It’s played on a rectangular pitch with rugby posts at each end, however, the part under the crossbar has a net behind it. Each player has a short bat/paddle thing called at Hurley and they use a baseball-like ball which they hit to each other, they can catch it, throw it or balance it on their bat. The aim is to get the ball either over the posts for 1 point for in the goal for 3 points. It’s a full-contact sport and can be pretty aggressive. It was such a great match to be at. There was a real grassroots feel about it with heaps of cheering and booing and excitement. All the supporters were really passionate. It was fantastic to be a part of and one of my highlights of the trip.

GLENDALOUGH

We made a fleeting visit to Glendalough on our way back to the capital. I don’t really have a lot to say about Glendalough apart from it felt like home. We were driving down a valley and it just looked like New Zealand. Once again it was nice to be out in the fresh air, smell the grass and walk along a dirt track or two. There was a large cemetery along with some remnants of a monastery. The monastery was founded by St Kevin in the 6th Century. The buildings left today date back to the 10th and 12th centuries. Sadly, like most castles or monasteries in Ireland, it was eventually destroyed, this time by the Normans in 1214.

DUBLIN AGAIN

On our final day in Dublin, James and I checked out the Chester Beatty Library. It’s said to be one of the best museums in Europe. It’s home to the collections of Sir Alfred Chester Beatty and is on the grounds of Dublin Castle. The collections on display showed manuscripts, textiles, maps and writings throughout Far Eastern, Middle Eastern and European histories. There was a religious display on the history of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hindi and other denominations.

Two memorable pieces were; one of the five surviving illustrated volumes of Ottoman Sultan Murad’s biography of the prophet Muhammad, incredibly rare and beautifully made, and early Christian manuscripts of Corinthians, Luke and Mark from Eygpt in the 2nd-4th centuries written on papyrus. These were quite hard to read given their age, but insane how something can survive this long. We spent a good couple of hours looking through these collections and felt refreshed with knowledge from the artistic excellence and beautiful craftsmanship and calligraphy. It was an incredible collection.

We finished our time running for the airport shuttle before one last Guinness in the airport.

Guinness

Ireland is an awesome country and I know we’ve only scratched the surface on our short road trip. Despite preparing for the worst in terms of weather, we only had rain on one day and somehow the rain perfectly timed itself to only fall when we were in the car. I’d love to go back one day and explore further north and further south. But for now, I’m just stoked we got to go and that we got to share it with such great friends.

The beers were good, the craic was great and until next time Ireland, Slainte!