Ireland 2005

For my high school graduation gift, my mother and former stepfather took myself, my brother, my grandmother and a close friend of my mother’s to Ireland. We went in mid June. Please note this was my first experience outside the U.S. and as it was 19 years ago somethings I experienced at the time may be out of date.

I also want to emphasize that I did not plan this trip or do much research prior at all. This was before Pinterest so I didn’t look up any travel blogs, and my parents did the travel plans with the travel agent. I barely researched more than “have a light jacket” because it’s cooler than the Midwest in June. And of course I double checked o could have my first (legal) drink over there. I also didn’t take as many pictures as I have since started, and they’re from a grainy disposable camera.

We flew Chicago to Boston and then into Shannon International Airport. Shannon is on the west coast of Ireland, just west of Limerick. We had paid for a 7 person Mercedes automatic van. What they gave us was a Mercedes, but it was a 14 passenger white van that was basically as big as the roads we were driving down. We were also driving on the opposite side of the road for the first time, and many roads are narrow and lined with stacked rick fences. This was pre anxiety medicine for me as I was only 18 and we still thought I just had depression, not Bipolar disorder. I laid down on one of the “bus” seats in the back with my eyes closed for some of the journeys to field off the panic and also because the winding roads and left side driving made me car sick. Take Dramamine or ginger if you are driving on the opposite side of the road there!

The weather was in the mid 60’s and foggy. We didn’t stop over in Limerick even though we were close. We headed straight down to the southern coast to a small town called Youghal. It’s about a two hour drive. This was before AirBnb and my mom booked a townhouse close to the estuary of the River Blackwater and facing the sea through a travel agent. It is a town of around 8500 people. Youghal is a “Irish Hertiage Port” city, and a popular seaside resort town. We used Youghal as our home base for 4 days, and did day trips by car out of it. It is such a cute town and I highly recommend it if you prefer a home base rather than switching hotels every few days. We spent the last 2 days in Ireland in Dublin.

Things we did in Youghal: Immediately went to Tides Restaurant and got our first Guiness, walked Front Strand Beach (it was too cold to swim), we went to little shops and bought souvenirs and claddagh rings (Buffy was still in my heart two years after the finale), looked over the Youghal harbor at the eastern most point of county Cork, the Youghal boardwalk, the Clock Gate tower, went to The Quay’s Bar and Restaurant, and ate and drank a lot.

One night my mom took me to my first bar (no food) and hovered watching how much I drank. It was a tiny place and I don’t remember the name. Smoking had been banned from bars recently. At 12am the bars close, but they (at the time) just closed the doors and locked them and then continued the party til 2am, while everyone smoked inside. I had a group of 40 something year old men serenade me with Daydream Believer. I thought I was hot shit.

We drove an hour to Cork to explore for a bit and then on to Blarney Castle to take the tour, explore the grounds, and kiss the Blarney Stone, which is supposed to bring good luck.

Things to do in Cork: We walked St. Patrick’s street and went to the English market. Then we moved on. Things I had wished we’d done were Cork Public Museum and Elizabeth Fort.

Blarney Castle and grounds were stunning. I had a mini heart attack climbing the tower stairs to the top because they were so narrow and there were people all smushed together waiting to get to the top.

One day we drove to the Cliffs of Moher, a three hour journey from Youghal. It was a chilly, drizzly, misty day, but still incredible. The 700 foot tall cliffs are facing the Atlantic Ocean and made of Namurian shale and sandstone and you can see (on a clear day) the Aran Islands from them. Warning, if you have vertigo, stay back a ways. There are no fence guards.

Waterford Crystal Factory, or House of Waterford, was another stop we did. It is in the aptly named city of Waterford, Ireland. It is an hour and fifteen minute drive from Youghal. I can’t find the pictures I have from this part of the trip, so the pictures below are from the official website.

Tickets today to enter are 17.50 euro for an adult. We actually went to a different facility location I. 2005 than where they are located today. They kept over 750 tonnes of crystal a year there. We took a tour and saw how they carve the molds, the glass blowing, the cutting and shaping of the glass, the polishing, the inspection, and the etching and marking of the final products.

We also had an afternoon tea reservation at the facility we were at and it is best to reserve in advance.

After we left Youghal we traveled to Dublin. It is an almost three hour drive and we stopped in Kilkenny for lunch. Things to do in Kilkenny: boat tours, historical city walking tours, Kilkenny Castle and gardens, Swithwicks Beer Experience, the Kilkenny Witch tour, St. Canice’s Cathedral, and so forth. You can also drive into the Wicklow Mountains on the way to Dublin. We had a typical Irish lunch with items including Irish Stew, corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie, Irish soda bread, and more.

In Dublin we returned the van at the airport and went everywhere by taxi or public transportation. We stayed at the Clontarf Castle Hotel across the Dublin Bay from the port. It is a ten minute drive from the Dublin City centre. (Photos are from the hotel website). We stayed for two nights.

It is a four star hotel with a variety of rooms that include tvs, WiFi, laptop friendly safes, 24 hour room service and more. It has the Knights Bar, and the contemporary fine dining restaurant at the double-rosette winning Fahrenheit Restaurant.

While in Dublin we took a double decker bus tour of the city, and did the Guinness Storehouse experience, tour, and its Gravity Bar. The ticket prices begin currently at 20 euros and go from there depending on the package you choose. We were able to take home key chains that had a small bubble with Guinness in them.

We also went to Temple Bar, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the Book of Kells Experience (pre reservations advised). Finally we went to Kilmainham Gaol and did a museum tour. We did a lot of eating and drinking I didn’t record, but popular places to go today are Hatch & Sons Irish Kitchen, The Exchequer, The Brazen Head, and more found at https://www.ireland.com/en-us/magazine/food-and-drink/dublin-food-and-drink.

After our two and a half days in Dublin we said goodbye to Ireland and got on a ferry from Dublin port to Holyhead, Wales. The ferry ride today costs an average of 45 GBP per person and is a 3 and a half hour journey across the Irish Sea. There are plenty of comfy spots to sit, a cafe, restrooms and shopping on board. I got the current information from https://www.directferries.com/wales.

We didn’t stop to explore Holyhead, Wales, we went directly to the train station. I do wish we had because from what I saw it was a beautiful town.

We took a train from Holyhead, Wales to London and ended our trip after three days there. I will devote another post to London.

go dté tú slán! Or “safe travels” in Gaelic.