Tiff & Jared's adventures

Day 1

The trip started out the same way as most of our other travels – a Scotts cheap flight email. A week after getting back from our Hawaii honeymoon, what does fate send us besides an email explaining $450 round trip tickets to Ireland during Saint Patrick’s Day? Sign us up! A short seven months, a personal bag and carry-on later, and we’re boarding a plane headed to Dublin (with a layover in Frankfurt). At the time, Ireland lifted all covid restrictions but we were subject to vaccination proof for our German layover. We left denver on Friday at 6pm, and with a five-ish hour layover in Germany, we found ourselves in Dublin by 5PM on Saturday. 

Exhausted and excited, we picked up our rental car and headed straight for our hotel – Harding Hotel. Now, the driving here isn’t like the states. The steering wheel is on the right, and people drive on the left. Thank god we (Jared) had experience with this style of driving in New Zealand where we (Jared) drove this way for two months. After leaving the airport, we were hit with many deterrents at once – it was dark, rainy, and the roads were very narrow! Jared drove us safely and perfectly to the hotel. 

I semi-recently got a Chase rewards card so many of the accommodations on this trip were booked with points woo! The hotel was quaint, and perfect walking distance to Temple Bar district. After walking down temple bar for a bit, we backtracked and found ourselves a cozy pub for our first Irish meal. Filled and fatigued, we made it back to the hotel and we were asleep by 9pm local time. 

Wanting to take advantage of every day, we woke up Sunday morning ready to hit the ground running. Our first stop was in the Irish Sea-side town of Bray, where we partially walked the Bray to Greystones seaside trail. Starting the walk with a little drizzle, the weather held off and on as we walked ~2.5 round trip. We were walking right next to the water, and the hills rose up to our right. We saw seabirds and derelict buildings, and the train that traversed between the two sea towns. Off to a good start! We then quickly stopped at a Super Valu grocery store (which I was entranced by as it had many take out options and high-quality booths such as a cheesemonger) where we got sandwiches and crisps (chips) to go. I was also surprised by the prices in a good way – two sandwiches for 9 euro, and a bag of 6 apples for 2.50? Yes please. We took our purchases and drove further down into Wicklow National Park, and eventually to Glendalough.   

Now, Glendalough is a glacial valley in County Wicklow, renowned for an Early Medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century. Not only that, but there’s a beautiful glacially- carved lake (Upper Lake) around which there were many hiking options. We parked in the Visitor center and walked the ~1km to Upper Lake, just as a quick rain shower was rolling in. after waiting under a tree, we walked to the lake and ate our sandwiches, as my head started to droop from fatigue. Somehow, Jared managed to convince me to do the harder of two hikes (one was a flat five k around the lake, while the other was 5 k with a 1,000 feet ascent). Boy am I glad we went for the one with a view (Spinc Walk). Through a mix of rain and sun and rain and rainbows, we climbed through dense forest and slippery pathways to make it to the viewpoint above with an aerial view of the lakes. It was stunning to see the Wicklow Uplands and valley below. At some points it was a pretty sheer cliff drop, so it was a little nerve- wracking with the slick conditions! It was also nice that the hike was a loop, so we hugged the lake all the way back down to the bottom.

After getting back to the bottom of the loop, we still had the 1k back to the car. Along the way was the monastery site, which is what I was excited about seeing. This early Christian monastic settlement was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century and from this developed the “Monastic City”. Most of the buildings that survive today date from the 10th through 12th centuries. There was a graveyard within the perimeter of the site, which made it a little eerie! One of the structure, the round tower, was built over 1,000 years ago and stands 33 meters above the ground. Talk about mind-boggling – how did people manage to build that so long ago without modern day machinery?! Very cool.

After Glendalough, we were back in the car on the way to Kilkenny. We only had a night here so we were go go go after we checked in to the Airbnb. Our Airbnb was a perfect location – right along the river and a cute room in an 1850s Irish home. The hosts were probably the friendliest I’ve ever interacted with, and Joe had a bunch of recommendations for dinner and drinks. He gave us coins for parking since we only had euro bills – talk about Irish hospitality! After we got cleaned up for dinner, we walked over to Kyteler’s Inn. I had written this on the PowerPoint because there was an interesting backstory. The original owner of the inn, Alice le Kyteler, born in 1263, was accused of being a witch and sentenced to being burned at the stake. She worked with her friends to escape to England, and her maid ended up getting burned at the stake, which marked the first witch burning in Europe. Unfortunately we didn’t see any ghosts roaming around but was very cool to eat in an establishment over 800 years old. We ended up walking around town after dinner and stopped for one more pint of Guinness before heading home – so nice that every place was walking distance.

The next morning, we woke up around 8 and were greeted with a delicious breakfast spread. I don’t think I realized the Airbnb included breakfast, but Joe and his wife set up an awesome spread of Irish bread, jams, yogurt, cheeses and chutney, and French-pressed coffee. It was one of the nicest breakfast spreads I’d had, especially since we’re not keen on big breakfasts! Full and happy, we hit the road towards the Rock of Cashel.

Arriving around 10, we parked at the base of town and walked up towards the ticket kiosk for the rock of Cashel. Lucky for us, the town was renovating parks of the building so entry was free. The ticket lady told us there was a tour at 11am, and recommended we walk down to Hore Abbey and explore, then come back for the tour. The timing worked out perfectly! We briskly followed the walking trail down to the ruins of the abbey, and took some quick pictures before we had to make it back up to Cashel. The abbey itself is a ruined Cistercian monastery, which was established around 1270.

We made it back right in time for the tour. Now, Rock of Cashel – what is it? Set on a dramatic outcrop of limestone, the Rock of Cashel, iconic in its historic significance, possesses the most impressive cluster of medieval buildings in Ireland. Among the monuments to be found here is a round tower, a high cross, a Romanesque chapel, a Gothic cathedral, an abbey, the Hall of the Vicars Choral and a fifteenth-century Tower House. According to legend cited by our guide, the Rock originated in the mountains roughly 20 miles north of Cashel, when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave, resulting in the rock landing in Cashel. Never mind that the mountains are made of sandstone, while Cashel is made from limestone. As the guide said, “the devil is in the details” – haha! It was very interesting to hear all the fun facts about the buildings, including how it used to be the seat of the kings of Munster before it was turned over for the Church’s use in 1101. Rock of Cashel was home to several battles, and at one point the entire building was set on fire. I asked the guide how these buildings were constructed I.e. how the stones were “glued” together since there wasn’t concrete back then, and he said they would’ve used a mix of pig’s blood/horse hair as the adhesive, and this would have crystallized over time. How wild!

The tour lasted about 45 minutes, and we headed to a store next to the parking lot. Everything was pretty well-priced, and we both ended up getting an Irish wool sweater! (I am a huge fan of anything made of wool.) After this, we got in our car and made our way towards Kinsale, a small seaside town in county Cork recommended by our Airbnb host. He also recommended we go to a restaurant called Fishy Fishy so we put that in our GPS and were on our way! We pulled into Kinsale around 2 and walked to the restaurant. Now, this was on a Monday. We got to Fishy Fishy and they had a sign on this door “gone fishing, back Wednesday” ha! We were bummed we didn’t get to eat there but hey, at least it’s very fresh food. We ended up finding a cafe and walking around the beautiful, narrow, colorful streets for a bit before heading to our final destination of the day, Killarney. Before going to the hotel, we drove into Killarney National Park (all parks are free in Ireland) and walked to Muckross Abbey. The abbey is an abandoned ruin of a Franciscan friary of Irrelagh, founded for the Observatine Franciscans about 1448 by Daniel McCarthy Mor. The present well-preserved ruins include a church with a wide, square tower and fine windows, and a vaulted cloister with an arcade of arches around a square courtyard. It was kind of eerie walking around at dusk and being the only ones there – the entire abbey was open to explore, so we walked up dark, spiral staircases and into hidden chambers.

We got into town around dinner time, and went to Khao Asian Street Food before checking in at our hotel, the Fairview. Once again, we were in a perfect location! Our hotel was essentially right downtown, and we were next to a bar called The Shire – apparently the only Lord of the Rings Shire bar in the world! (We’ll do a recap of it later). The town was pretty quiet at night, including the hotel, because it’s still considered the off-season here. So, we went to bed in preparation for our long day around the Ring of Kerry.

Day 4 “I really don’t want to drive into the ocean”

Today would be spent driving around the Ring of Kerry peninsula. During peak season, cars traverse the 111 mile route and have to battle tour buses for a spot on the super narrow backroads. Lucky for us, it’s not quite “on”-season, so we didn’t anticipate too much traffic. Unlucky for me, I didn’t get a good night’s sleep and my stomach didn’t feel so great when I woke up. (Irish cuisine hasn’t been the healthiest experience…) The first stop on the drive was Ladies View. Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting visited here during the royal visit in 1861. They were so taken with the view that it was named after them. Very scenic spot! From here, we wanted to drive the Gap of Dunloe but were stopped by construction workers repairing the road. The work was estimated to take a few hours so we decided to go a different route. This worked out for me because I was feeling awful so I slept in the car a bit. Jared ended up taking us up through Ballaghbeama Gap, and the scenery was spectacular. The grass and moss offset the grayness of the underlying mountains, and there were sheep everywhere we looked!

By the time we got over the pass and back to the valley, I had to ask Jared to pull over because I felt like throwing up. I ended up dry heaving on the side of the road instead – an experience I won’t forget! It was such a bummer I had to sleep a lot in the car because I was not feeling well. It was nice though to see such beautiful views from the comfort of the car. We eventually did get out when we got to the Skellig Ring. (That name might sound familiar because Skellig Michael was one of the filming locations for The Last Jedi movie.) From the carpark (parking lot for you non-Irish folk), it was about a ten minute walk up to the cliff overlook. The water of the Atlantic here was so blue and angry-looking, the waves were so intense! It was very windy and the rain was whipping sideways into our face, but it was mostly worth it. Fog had started to settle in, so we couldn’t see the islands off the coast but the sheer cliffs with the circling seabirds was breathtaking. So breathtaking, that when we got down to the bottom of the little hike I finally threw up a little bit in the parking lot. The rest of the drive was mostly sightseeing; Jared stopped at one of the beaches to take photos and we drove through some peninsula towns (Waterville and Sneem). By the time we got back to Killarney, we went to a grocery store for some dinner and as I started to feel a little better, we walked next door to The Shire for some libations. There was live music and various references and memorabilia to the movies, definitely a little hokie but fun! We turned in for an early night with the goal to sleep in until 9 or so the next morning. Now, next stop – Limerick, Cliffs of Moher, and Galway!