Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We left the castle bright and early for our long drive into Dublin. We had a flight to catch, but we also had a few last minute shopping stops we had to make. We parked the car and took a bus into the city so I didn’t have to drive with all the crazy city drivers. We got our shopping done in record time and had a quick lunch before heading back to return our rental car.

A common sight while driving in Ireland.

When we got to the rental car place, we had to repack again because of our newly acquired items, but packing is in my blood so it was pretty easy to make everything fit and weigh what it was supposed to. The dude who drove the shuttle back  to the airport was nutty! We hung on for dear life and thanked the Lord we arrived in one piece.

After checking in, we had one last domestic pint of Guinness before our plane took off. No celebrity sightings this time, but the flight was comfortable and smooth.

We arrived in London in good time and didn’t have to go through immigration so we were swimming in time! We dropped our stuff at the hotel and went into the city for some grub.

We remembered the amazing fish and chips we’d had at a pub right on the Westminster Bridge so we hit that for one last fish and chips meal. After dinner we caught the tube up to Trafalger Square and walked down the Mall with all the lamps lit. Around Buckingham Palace and a short jaunt through Hyde Park later, we were ready to head back to the hotel.

I’m sitting in a crowded terminal at Heathrow International Airport waiting for our delayed flight. It’s hard to not be annoyed because I’m looking forward to getting home. Since our flight was delayed here, we might not make the flight from Vancouver to Portland, but I’m staying optimistic. We’ll probably have to run, but I’m hoping we make it.

This trip has been amazing and we’re already thinking about bringing the boys back someday. There is so much we didn’t see and we think another trip is in order! First thing’s first though… let’s get home!

Rope Bridge and The Walled City

We woke up early(ish) the next morning to get a running start on our day. Our first stop was the Rope Bridge that we’d missed out on the day before. We arrived to freezing temps and strong winds, but that didn’t detour us from walking across a very wobbly rope bridge that was suspended over a several hundred foot drop to the rolling sea below! I thought it was thrilling! If we didn’t have to wait in line so long and if we didn’t have other things on our agenda that day I’d have stayed there a long time and just gone back and forth over the bridge.

Alas, we had to hike back to the car and bust it to the town of Derry (or Londonderry as the non-locals call it). Our stay at the castle came with a tour of the only completely walled city in Ireland. Our tour guide was very charming and entertaining. The tour was well done and we learned even more about the political unrest in the country. It’s amazing that there’s still a huge division between the Catholics and the protestants in the country. I don’t really get that whole thing, but then I guess old grudges really do run deep.

The wall around Derry.

We headed back to the castle for our fancy dinner and we were not disappointed! We each had chicken, something we’d not eaten in over two weeks! It was stuffed and wrapped in bacon and dipped in gravy. What’s not to like, right? We got a bottle of wine and dessert included in our dinner too. I think the funniest part of dinner was the appetizer (also included). I ordered their beef chili. Now, you’d think that beef chili would come in a bowl… not so much. They brought me a plate with tortilla chips, covered in chili and other nacho toppings. It was good, a little strange, but good. Apparently they don’t have a very large representation of Mexican people… the salsa that topped my plate of “nachos” was Pace.

I took my Bailey’s cheesecake to go because I was so full and we rolled ourselves up to our room and made an effort to repack our stuff before our departure from Ireland the next day.

Donegal Castle and the Giants Causeway

The Sandhouse Hotel is a pretty nice place to be. The breakfast is pretty nice because we sit in a dining room that overlooks the beach. They serve you on fancy china too. My fruit bowl was on a pedestal!

After our first breakfast here we went to the Donegal Castle. The coolest thing about that castle was the “bathroom”. It was a fairly large room with a wooden bench along one wall. The bench had a butt-sized hole in it. They said there was a shoot that went to a hole underground. It made both of us laugh… the first indoor plumbing!!











We spent most of the rest of the day relaxing. It was sort of a nasty day anyhow and we didn’t really feel like going out on the beach and getting wet and cold. It was nice to just hang out. We spend a good chunk of our afternoon sitting in front of our window watching a surfing class. We couldn’t believe that these crazy people would put on a wetsuit that went from head to toe and try and surf in the rain in freezing cold water. It was also very fun to watch them wipe out!

We woke early the next morning and left for Northern Ireland. We had a couple of things we wanted to do before we checked into our castle.


Our first stop was the Bushmills Distillery. I’m not really a fan of whiskey, but the tour was very interesting. Apparently Bushmills is the oldest licensed distillery in the world! They are also the only distillery in Ireland that does the entire process on the premises. I was happy that we skipped the Jameson Distillery in Dublin in favor of this one. As we went through the bottling rooms, she explained that they bottle Jameson’s whiskey for them! The barrels they use for some of their whiskey come from the US. They use second hand barrels from Kentucky because it gives their whiskey a unique character.

Of course, the tour came with a free drink. Even though I don’t care for whiskey, I have to admit that it was very nice. We opted for a taste of the 12 year, triple distilled, single malt whiskey. You can only find that at their distillery, they don’t sell it anywhere else in the world.

After the distillery tour we drove a few minutes to the Giants Causeway. It was a nasty day and since we were at the beach it was also very windy. You can imagine the lovely sideways rain we experienced. That part was a little disappointing, but we made the best of it. I took lots of pictures and I hope to frame a couple of them.

We wanted to go to the rope bridge too, but they were closing so we just headed to the castle.









Dungiven Castle was the big finale to our trip. I have to admit that I was a little bit underwhelmed. The outside of the castle was cool, but once we got inside we realized it had been completely rebuilt. It was still nice though. High ceilings, tapestries, suits of armor and candelabras  made the modern surroundings seem a little more old world. It was also a little bit frustrating that even though we were the only guests staying there, they put us in their smallest room.

Despite being in cramped quarters, we enjoyed our stay. It was nice to have a shower that actually had good water pressure… something we’d been lacking since entering Ireland. The bed was also the softest bed I’ve ever slept in! I’m still not completely sure it was worth what we paid, but it was comfortable.

Leaving Glocca Morra and Heading North

Monday was our last night at Glocca Morra. So Tuesday morning we packed our bags, ate another lovely breakfast and said our good­bye’s to our wonderful host, Michael.

We had a LONG drive up through western Ireland to get to our next hotel. We stopped along the way in the city of Galway. We were overwhelmed by traffic as we entered the city so we parked and walked through the streets. Galway was a lot like Dublin… very Americanized, but you still can find a unique Irish shop here and there. We decided we needed another CD to listen to since we’d been listening to the same one for days. The music shop was fun to explore and I got chatted up by an older gentleman I could barely understand. At least he was friendly.

After eating seafood for over a week, I told Eric I wanted some good old pizza. We found a Papa John’s in the city square that was just opening for lunch. We enjoyed our nice American chicken BBQ pizza with a couple of Cokes!

When we were finished with lunch we decided we’d had enough of the city of Galway. We found our way out of town and headed north to The Sandhouse Hotel.

The Sandhouse hotel was built in the 1960’s and is located just south of Donegal. It’s built to look like a luxury hotel from the early 1900’s and it’s just oozing character! Since it’s located right on the beach, it attracts vacationing locals. Our room is huge and features a lovely four-poster bed and a sitting area that overlooks the ocean.

After we checked in, we found a laundry place and a grocery store. We ate dinner in our room and went for a COLD walk on the beach. We warmed up with a couple of pints of Guinness in the sitting area downstairs before turning in early. Vacation is all about rest right? ; )

Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula

Monday marked the day I was most looking forward to! The town of Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula!!! Dingle is known for being one of the cutest towns in all of Ireland. Apparently Ireland had a “Tidy-town” competition 30 years ago and all the towns painted their storefronts bright colors. Dingle was charming and full of friendly people.

Dingle

Our drive into town had been long so we stopped in at John Benny Moriarty’s for lunch and visited Murphy’s Ice Cream. I had Bailey’s and coffee ice cream… I could die a happy woman! We also visited the Dingle Music Shop before heading out for the scenic drive around the peninsula. The shop owner was a riot and he had lots of helpful tips on where I should look online for an Irish flute.

Most of the scenic drive was on a one lane road that you had to pull over if you met another car, but it was worth every stressful kilometer! I thought the Oregon coast was beautiful, but it pales in comparison to the Dingle Peninsula! The hillsides are dotted with sheep and small homes, but the coastline is the most spectacular. Rocky cliffs give way to sandy coves and the water is the most beautiful shade of blue I’ve ever seen outside of a magazine. That was what most surprised me. You wouldn’t expect that color of water anywhere but the Caribbean!

We were fortunate enough to get sunshine the whole trip. I got to put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean from the west coast. It was as cold as the Pacific on the Oregon coast, but very worth the numb feet! We really enjoyed the drive and frequently stopped along the road to snap pictures of the beautiful scenery.

When we got back to Dingle we walked all over the cute little streets. We visited several of the small shops and chatted with some very lovely shop owners. Once we’d worked up an appetite again we ducked into Murphy’s Pub (not to be confused with the ice cream shop) for dinner and a pint before heading home.

It rained most of the way home and we were very thankful it had held off while we toured the town. The best part of Monday was getting to skype with our boys! We’ve been trying to chat with them over the internet every few days. It makes the ocean seem not-so-big when you can see their smiling faces and see the projects they’ve been working on at school. They enjoy telling us about every little detail of their lives since we’ve been gone.

The Cliffs of Moher

We woke up on Sunday and had a lovely breakfast prepared by Michael. (Seriously, those pancakes… mmmm…) We had big plans to visit the Cliffs of Moher that day and we were informed that it would be an interesting visit because of the high winds already blowing in Ireland. We were told to be careful not to get sucked off the cliffs!   : O

It took some time to get there, and when we did we realized what they meant about being careful. Forget about walking, we could barely stand up straight because of the blowing winds!!!

We braved the high winds though and walked all along the cliffs. We were treated to amazing views and spectacular winds. I got lots of pictures, some of which I plan to enlarge and frame when we return home.

We were so cold by the time we got back to the  visitor center that we needed something hot to warm our insides. We stopped at the café for some coffee and browsed the gift shop for some souvenirs. Thankfully the weather held up for us. Just as we were getting in the car, it started to rain.

We sat in the car and ate a little snack before heading down to the little town of Doolin. Apparently Doolin is somewhat of a music mecca for traditional Irish musicians, so we were excited about hearing some great music at dinner time.

We visited a woolen goods shop and purchased an itchy sweater for Eric and ducked into some of the other little shops in town. The weather had really picked up at this point so we were mostly seeking shelter on our way to the pub for dinner.

We ate at a great little place called Gus O’Conner’s. We walked in the door and were greeted by a nice crackling fire. We even snagged a table close to it! My dinner was a disappointment, but that’s because it wasn’t what I thought I was ordering. Irish smoked salmon is cold smoked so it’s not cooked. I have a hard time eating anything with that raw texture and my plate was PILED with smoked salmon! I ate most of my dinner and Eric helped me eat the rest.

We enjoyed the music as we finished our pints of Guinness. We had a long drive home though so we had to duck out before the music session was over.

Thankfully we made it back to Glocca Morra without incident… WHEW!

Making New Friends in a Faraway Place

On Saturday we had plans to meet a couple from the US. My mom’s cousin’s cousin and her husband live just outside of Cork, Ireland in a little town called Ballincollig. We were invited to their home for a nice home-cooked dinner. But first we had other sites to see!

The bridge over the River Shannon in
Limerick.

Our first stop was King John’s Castle in Limerick, Ireland. It is the same King John from the Robin Hood movies! We learned a lot about his “reign” and about the town of Limerick. It’s a very cute town and as we were taking the castle tour, we heard the church bells ring at noon from across the River Shannon. The bells didn’t just toll the hour, they also played a lovely song! I got a video of it because it was so cool!

We ate lunch in the car along the way toward Cork because it was a long drive on the crazy Ireland streets. We got into Ballincollig a couple hours early so we walked the town. Most of the small towns in Ireland are exactly the same and this was no exception. Very cute with lots of store fronts that drip character. The one thing about this town that we hadn’t seen before was a shopping mall. We went in to explore and discovered that in Ireland, they have grocery stores inside their shopping malls!

I’d like to take a moment to share some of the funny things we’ve discovered about grocery shopping in Europe. You almost can’t find peanut butter… apparently it’s a very American thing, but Nutella is everywhere. They’re called “ice lollies” not popsicles. Half and half is non-existent here, they all use milk in their tea or coffee (yuck). What we call “raw sugar” they call “brown sugar”. Orange marmalade is a BIG thing here and it’s pretty delicious. The Irish people put sweet corn in everything! We got some pasta salads (like a macaroni salad) at the deli counter and it had pasta, a mayonnaise sauce, poppyseeds, red onions, sweet corn and pineapple in it. They also put sweet corn on their pizzas... very strange, but pretty good. The checkers all sit at the checkout counters and most people bring their own shopping bags, so if you don’t have one, you have to ask for one.

When it was time, we went to the designated gas station to meet Keith so he could lead us to their hard-to-find house. I was glad for that because we seriously wouldn’t have found it otherwise. When we got there, we were treated to an amazing view of the countryside surrounding their home. Keith’s wife, Linda and their daughter, Regina greeted us at the door and welcomed us into their home. It was nice to spend an evening laughing about the funny differences we’ve all experienced in the Irish culture.

New friends!

They served us a wonderful seafood dinner and an equally amazing berry cobbler dessert. We all laughed at the way the Irish package their ice cream too! It was such a nice visit and we felt like we’d always been friends by the time we left.

Funny rectangular shaped ice cream.

We had quite a drive “home”, but we made it in good time and in once piece. (Irish drivers seem even more crazy at night!)