Amazing trip in Ireland

Kim~Crayonboxminiatures · Jun 9, 2011

My mom, my sister and I did the trip of a lifetime and spent 2 weeks traveling in Ireland. We started in Dublin, drove north west to Cruit (critch) Island in Donegal County, where we had the most delightful littl thatched cottage (self-catering) and an amazing view of the ocean! We spent a long weekend there, then drove south through Sligo, stayed in Castlebar (Co. Mayo) for a night traveled through Achill Island & hiked 30 mins up Croagh Patrick. We then on to the Connemara region, we saw Kylemore Abbey, hiked in the Connemara National Park and of course saw lots and lots of Connemara ponies!

We drove further south to Doolin (Co. Clare) spent two nights here and visited The Cliffs of Moher, The Burren, very different here lots of limestone, very different landscape! Our last stop was Dingle, the southernmost point on our trip, and met a friend of mine from highschool that now lives in Ireland with her husband. We also did the Slea Head Drive, saw ring forts, beehive huts, hiked a "hill" for a view of the Dingle Harbor, but we didn't see Fungie the famous resident of the Dingle Harbor (dolphin). After 3 wonderful days we had to leave for Shannon to fly home. It was an amazing trip, we all fell in love with Ireland and want to go back someday! The weather wasn't always on our side, rain, wind, it was usually 45-60 F, and the showers would pass by so we didn't let it ruin our fun, we had rain pants & jackets, and of course waterproof shoes! Our favorite places were the thatched cottages and the Bed & Breakfasts, nothing like breakfast ready for you every morning! I was a little nervous about driving, but once I got comfortable on the "wrong" side of the road, and got used to the roundabouts, I loved it! Hated to turn in the rental car!

Hope you enjoy a little taste of Ireland.

Album #1

This is the beginning of our trip, we flew from Philadelphia, PA to Dublin, Ireland on an overnight flight (8 hour flight) so we are very jet lagged as we wandered around Dublin. Probably why it took us so long to find our way to the things we wanted to see! After one night in Dublin, the next day we picked up our rental car and drove about 4 hours north west to Donegal County, we stayed in a thatched cottage on Cruit Island for 3 nights (the weekend). We loved the view from the cottages, the scenery was amazing, despite the rain, and we did a few day trips to other places, Glencolumille Folk Park (we would call it a museum here, they had cottages set up from the past eras), Slieveleague Cliffs, & Glenveagh National Park with castle, in Donegal while we were in that area.

On Monday we left Cruit Island and drove through Sligo on the west coast, we stopped at Rosses Pointe Beach and Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetary in Sligo, then drove to Castlebar in County Mayo to our hotel for the night. The next morning we drove to Achill Island, and hiked 30 minutes up Croagh Patrick before finding our Hostel for the night in the Connemara area.

This was the first 6 days of our trip, more to come!

Album #1 Dublin, Donegal Co. Sligo, & Co. Mayo

Album #2

After leaving Co. Mayo we traveled on the Connemara region, this was one of my favorite of the places we visited in Ireland, I love the scenery here, the mountains, and of course the ponies...

After hiking Croagh Patrick, we stayed in a Hostel one night, but we didn't enjoy it! There was no heat & my mom was freezing, it was in the middle of no where, and we had very little food with us and no energy to go back out to find more...so we left after one night and found the most wonderful Bed & Breakfast! If it had been at a different point in our trip we might have had a better opinion of the hostel, but we really enjoyed all the other places we stayed so much more.

Album #2 Connemara Region

This album is the second to last album! We traveled from Connemara region to Doolin, County Clare, and then on to Dingle, County Kerry which is dairy/farm area of Ireland and the most southwest point and last official stop on our journey. Then it was on to Shannon airport to fly home! We did have a layover in Manchester, England, but not enough time to explore that area outside of the airport. My sister and I bought English Harry Potter books the covers are different and we wanted to bring home some "proof" that we were in England!

I think all the photos are labeled with what we did, but if you have any questions let me know!

Album #3

Album #3 Doolin Co. Clare & Dingle

Album #4

Album #4 Dingle & Shannon (trip home)

Hope you enjoyed all the photos!

Lori W · Jun 9, 2011

What a wonderful trip and fantastic photos! I've been blessed to travel to Ireland twice and can't wait to go back again! We actually went on horseback riding excursions in three different locations each trip - LOVED it! I have no Irish blood in me and have traveled to the European countries of my heritage, but I feel Ireland is my adopted homeland.

Kathy · Jun 9, 2011

Loved looking at all your pictures. I went to Ireland and traveled by rental care a long time ago and it brought back lots of wonderful memories. The weather was the same for me too. Thanks so much for sharing and glad you had a wonderful time.

weebiscuit · Jun 9, 2011

I absolutely loved the photos! What a wonderful trip you had!

I made a friend in Ireland on the internet about 14 years ago. we met at a gardening site. she and a bunch of us became good friends, and four years ago she traveled to canada where we all met. It was wonderful meeting her! She'd always post about going to the "pub" and what the locals were gossiping about, and I swore I'd get there one day to visit her in her little cottage! After seeing your pics, I'm going to have to make it sooner rather than later!

Everyone who goes to Ireland says it's the best place in the world to visit! Your pics prove it!

hobbyhorse23 · Jun 10, 2011

Oh, some of your captions are so much like mine! "Look, an English duck! Look, an English pub! Look, an English dog/tree/fence/sign!"

Our host that first day (Jane, aka Rabbitsfizz) thought Bree and I were nuts but we were on such a high to be essentially living in a storybook that we didn't care. Everything was fascinating to us!

Thank you for bringing back such great memories. You went to all the parts of Ireland we never got to in our whirlwind four-day tour so it's neat to see some of the sights I read about in the tourism books and sort of visit them through your pictures. I'm also in awe of your quick turnaround on the photos- it's been almost a year and we still don't have our pictures up.

Leia

shorthorsemom · Jun 10, 2011

Thanks for the virtual vacation Kim. I really appreciate traveling through your photos. Really looks like you girls had a great time.. better start planning for next year so you can take your dad.