13th June - We found a nice little hotel called The Beach Motel right near where the ferry leaves from. The next morning we were the only customers in a cute little breakfast cafe before going to the port. The whole process was really easy and before we knew it our little car was wedged right up the back of another car at the back of the ramp on the ferry ready to cross. We left Peter the Peugeot with the other cars and went upstairs for a coffee and free wifi near the window.
14th June - 17th June -By 6pm (after some GPS issues) we had finally arrived at the cottage owned by Esther in Dromana. We chose it because it is quite close to Ballyknock (which has a lot of my family history) and we loved it... we bought baileys, watched movies, played trivial pursuit, skyped the family, cooked all our own dinners and had our own laundry. Plus the views from all windows were so nice.
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| The Cottage |
Esther and her husband dropped past twice to give us maps and info to help me track down more information about where Ballyknock was. We went to the road and had a wander down it imagining how quickly Mum's family with all the kids would of turned a quiet area into a loud one...
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| An old farmhouse on the same road - not anything to do with my family but cool anyway! |
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| Matt walking down Megarrystown Road |
On the 17th June we drove to Nualas house near Kilwarlin and met her and Geraldine there. They had a whole bunch of photos from when my parents were young as well as a video of granny kissing the blarney stone! They also drove us to the church in Kilwarlin where some of my extended family is buried (from both sides of the family). We walked past the house that Grandad lived in and saw the little corner shop which has now closed down.
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| Catholic Church at Kilwarlin |
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| Taking a stroll through... |
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| Walking down the road where Grandad lived |
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| hahaha - Matt with Nuala (my second cousin), Elaine (my third cousin) & Geraldine (my second cousin) |
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| Mum and Dad - approx 1986 |
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| Mum and Dad with Granny |
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| Mum and Dad (Uncle Aidan in the chair) |
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| Group shot!! |
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| Granny and Grandad |
18th June - 21th June 2013 - Our accommodation for Galway was ok - it was a self catering apartment (which was good) but it looked to be set up for student accommodation so was really basic. We spent the first night there cooking our dinner and watching TV. The next morning we caught the ferry to Aran Islands. There are three islands but we chose to do the main tourist one called Inis Mor. It was the BEST day. We somehow got perfect weather and hired bikes as soon as we got there. It took me a little while to get used to the hills (I walked my bike up the first one haha) but pretty soon I was hooning around like Matt. Although I didn't reach the advanced stages of wheelies and no-hands like him.
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| Matty zooming ahead |
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| My best trick |
Our first stop was Dun Aengus, which is a 4000 year old fort. We could ride our bikes most of the way but had to walk (and pay) to see the rest. The cliff was a sheer drop and people were on their bellies trying to crawl up to see over. I just cheated and extended my camera over the edge - still scary though :)
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| The 4000 year old fort |
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| Look how small the people look in comparison.... |
Riding back from the fort was a really scenic one through farmland and near the coast. We stopped for a coke and came across a donkey that just chills at the cafe.
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| The horses are great, but avoiding the massive stinking brown piles are not so much! |
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| Reaching m&ms |
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| The little shop |
Next we went and had a coffee and cake, and did some shopping at the Aran Islands Wool Market. Everything was so awesome in there and I really liked the jumpers and cardigans but couldn't decide on the perfect one so I settled on a scarf and Matt chose a hat which he loves.
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| Matt trying his first Irish Coffee. It has brown sugar, coffee, Irish whiskey and heavy cream. They are yum. |
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| My new scarf |
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| Stopping off for a wine before the ferry home |
We had a quiet night that night and made some steak. We went into Galway town the next morning to find somewhere for breakfast and for some wifi... then headed back to the car to go see Cliffs of Moher. We were excited because we had been told how good they are - which motivated us to take the hour and a half car trip there. We got to the Cliffs, paid our money, walked up to the edge, looked over and saw..... fog. The fog did not clear the whole time while we were there - we waited for a while but had to admit defeat and leave without seeing it :( So we'll have to put that back on the list for another time!
To cheer ourselves up we headed into Galway for some dinner, drinks and live music.
There were some older people from America and an Ireland local sitting at our table so that was entertaining - nobody can ever understand how was managed to quit our job and can afford to travel for so long. I don't think they realise that not even we have figured it out how we'll do it yet
21st - 22nd June - Cork was not off to a good start initially because it was so hard to find cheap accommodation. We settled on the Travelodge near the airport mainly because we could park the car for free. But it meant that we had to drive into town. On the plus side the american style restaurant attached to the hotel did french toast for breakfast so I was pretty happy :P The first afternoon we just chilled, grateful to finally have wifi back! Then the next day we went to Blarney Castle to see the castle, caves and to kiss the Blarney Stone.
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| Climbing up the tiny winding staircase |
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| The line of people waiting... |
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| Me kissing the stone |
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| The garden at the bottom of the castle - it has all sorts of poisonous plants and gives descriptions of times when it has killed a number of people. |
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| Matt at the lookout tower |
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| Weird eyeballs near the castle |
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| In the cave |
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| The result of a muddy cave floor and bad footwear choice |
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| A wedding party that we saw as we were leaving |
We went for some dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant and then to a bar for some drinks - there was a rock-ish band playing that were pretty decent.
Our last destination was Dublin - we had found the perfect hotel right in the centre of Temple Bar with parking across the road and restaurants and bars surrounding us. We went out for a walk but ended up in a bar (again) and listening to some irish music. Matt and I recognised the songs from St Patricks Day in Perth and even knew when to clap haha.
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| Our first walk around Dublin |
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| Playing Irish songs like Black Velvet Band and Whiskey in the Jar |
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| Guitar signed by Van Morrison in Hard Rock Cafe :D |
We went for breakfast the next day at a cafe called The Stage Door. He was quick to let us know when we walked in the door that he did the best breakfast in town. I don't know about that, but he did a mean Irish Coffee and all the weird collectables and the atmosphere of the cafe made it somewhere we will recommend. Then we walked to the Guinness Factory to do a tour there. I was really surprised because I always thought Guinness was a really thick drink, but actually its only black because the barley has been roasted and is not any heavier than beer really. When I gave it a shot I actually didn't mind it - even though I still can only have about a quarter of a pint.
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| Haven't cropped it yet :P |
At the gift shop I bought myself an Irish Tin Whistle! So now I can join all the live bands. That night we went out to the same bar we did before and listened to more music. We heard Whiskey in the Jar 3 times that night! We also saw irish dancing and stayed quite late listening to the last band. It gets more entertaining the longer you stay because the people in the bar (and the band) are loosened up after a few drinks.
I absolutely loved Ireland and can't wait to go back someday :)
missing everyone back home, I will try and check in a bit more often so my blogs don't get so boringly long! xxxx
