Last Stop - Dublin!

 August 16

We woke up early on the morning of the 16th to get started on our drive to Dublin.  According to Google Maps, the drive straight through from Tralee to Dublin is a little over three hours.  However, as per usual, we would not be going straight through.  We were instead headed south first to County Cork and Blarney Castle!

Blarney Castle is probably one of the most popular tourist attractions in Ireland, however we got there early enough that the line to get in the castle was fairly short.  The castle itself is imposing as you walk up to it.  It's set on top of a hill and the stone walls lean in slightly the higher they go, giving the impression that it's taller than its actual height.  Megan, Kris, and I got in line right away and slowly made our way up the castle.  There were signs along the way explaining what each part of the castle was used for.  The stairs used to go up the towers were tight spiral stone staircases with stone walls encasing them and only a thick rope bolted into the center column to help you keep your balance.  Because the walls narrow the higher you get, the staircases also narrow.  At one point, I had to turn sideways to comfortably get through.  Luckily, that was at the very top, because then we were finally on top of the ramparts and able to see the stone!

Both Megan and Kris opted to kiss the Blarney stone, but I did not.  This was partially because of not wanting to put my mouth where thousands of other mouths had been (I saw disinfectant, but did not see it being used frequently) and partially because of how you have to kiss the stone.  For those who don't know, in order to kiss the Blarney stone, you have to lay on your back and lean backwards off the edge of the ramparts with about a 100ft drop below you.  So I just took pictures instead.

After kissing the Blarney Stone, we headed back down a different set of spiral stone staircases, stopping occasionally to wander through rooms and read about the historical use of them.  Pro-tip, medieval castles are smaller than you think (the current Blarney Castle was built in 1446).  They built castles to be secure, not luxurious.  The largest room was the great hall and that was maybe thirty feet long and fifteen wide.  It was really cool to be able to walk through the rooms though and try to imagine how they might have looked when in use.

We finally made it out of the castle and proceeded to the gardens.  Blarney Castle grounds has a poison garden with an abundance of plants that can kill a person if not used properly or heal them if given in correct doses.  There were small signs by each that told what it was, what parts were dangerous, symptoms of poisoning, and notable facts.  For instance, did you know that during WWII, many soldiers died because rhubarb was recommended as a food source while in the field?  However the leaves of the rhubarb plant contain oxalic acid which can cause difficulty breathing, convulsions, and death.

After the gardens was Badger Cave.  This is a small cave below the castle that residents may have used to escape during the Cromwell raids in the early 1600s.  You can't go far into the cave anymore, but they were still pretty interesting!

Once we'd explored all we could, we went for lunch at a nearby deli.  I had a croque monsieur (toasted ham and cheese sandwich with melted cheese on top of the sandwich too) and crisps (potato chips).  We did some shopping after that and had a bit of ice cream as a treat before getting back on the bus.

From there, it was straight on to Dublin!  We only made one stop in Cashel to see the Rock of Cashel (a rocky outcropping with two abbeys built on it, supposedly a place where St. Patrick preached) and to use bathrooms.  After almost three and a half hours of driving, we finally made it to Dublin and found our hotel.  We were staying in Cassidy's on O'Connell Street, nearly the center of the city.  Our tour director, David, offered a walking orientation tour as he always did and we went with to get our bearings around the city.  Along the way we saw the peace garden, the Spire (a nearly 400ft tall metal spike towering over the city, and sometimes called the "stiletto in the ghetto" by the locals), the General Post Office (where a final shoot out happened during the Irish civil war in 1917 - you can still see many bullet holes in the stone columns and angel statues), O'Connell bridge, and Temple Bar.  This is where David left us and Kris, Megan, Stacy, Meg, and I wandered off to find dinner.  We found a great Italian place called Luigi Malone's.  I had alfredo funghi (mushroom alfredo).

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

(Peace Garden)

(Rock of Cashel)

August 17

We started our final full day in Dublin with a city tour on the bus.  The Magnificent Margaret (David nicknamed her this and we all just started using it) gave us a fantastic tour covering both the historical and contemporary sides of Dublin.  We visited the Victorian Kitchen gardens in Phoenix Park, drove past the President's house, saw the US Ambassador's residence, and walked around St. Patrick's Cathedral.

We got back on the bus then and had the choice to be dropped off by Trinity College or back at the hotel.  We chose Trinity College.  Kris, Megan, Stacy, Meg, and I explored the college a bit, admiring the ancient buildings (founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I).  Unfortunately, it cost €25 to go into Trinity Library, so we skipped that part and went for lunch instead.  We found a small shop selling Cornish pasties (kind of like a calzone, but usually stuffed with meat and vegetables).  I had a chicken and mushroom one with potato.  Afterwards, Meg and Stacy split off to go on a tour of the Guinness distillery while Megan, Kris, and I went to Dublinia - a viking museum!

The museum showed how vikings founded Dublin in around 400CE and then continued with the history of the city.  Everything from the plague to castle building to current times all with a focus on how vikings influenced things.  At the very end there was a modern viking influences in the world display and the Minnesota Vikings were shown!  It was a great interactive museum overall. The exit was near Christ Church Cathedral, so we also explored that area and walked through the gardens.

We then spent the next couple hours walking around central Dublin finishing up any last minute souvenir shopping.  After getting everything we needed, we went back to the hotel.  Megan and I spent some time packing before the farewell dinner because we knew it would go late and we had a 3:30am taxi to catch to the airport the next morning.  The farewell dinner was in the hotel restaurant and was bittersweet.  None of us wanted to leave, but all of us were ready to go home.  During dessert, we went around the room - each saying one thing they loved about the trip and one thing they found quicky.  I said that I loved how we all got to experience this together and form these memories as the thing I loved and my quirky thing was how absolutely in love some members of our group were with the highland cows and the lengths they went to to get a picture!

Three in the morning comes quickly, so Megan and I said our goodbyes to the group shortly after that and went up to bed.  We caught our 3:30 taxi to the airport after one last goodbye with our tour director David and before we knew it we were flying to Amsterdam.  Our layover there was only about an hour and a half, which we were grateful for.  We wanted to get home.  The next leg of our journey was an eight hour flight from Amsterdam to MSP.  Megan and I got stuck in the middle of a four-seat row with a person on either side of us.  It was cramped and slightly uncomfortable, but we made it through by reading, watching movies, and dozing.  Finally arriving back in Minneapolis, we went through the hour long line for customs and then finally were reunited with our families.

So this is the end of my adventure.  I can honestly say it was a wild ride and I'm so so glad I did it!  Below is a quick fire list of favorite things on the trip:

Favorite City: Edinburgh

Favorite Activity: Titanic Exhibit in Belfast

Favorite Scenic Place: Tie between the Dingle Peninsula and the Highlands of Scotland

Favorite Random Event: Driving by a monument for the victims of the Irish potato famine while Kris is eating Pringles

Favorite Historical Place: Stonehenge

Favorite Food: Fresh baked scones with jam and cream served with hot tea

The Wild Atlantic Way

August 14

We started out the day early today because we had a long drive ahead.  We'd spent the night in the town of Tralee, the county seat for County Kerry.  It was a beautiful hotel called the Meadowlands.  We would be using that hotel as our base of operations for both the 14th and 15th. But onto the adventures of the 14th!

We left the hotel early to drive south to the Cliffs of Moher. However, first we had to drive through the Burren. The Burren is an area of south west Ireland with limestone hills that used to be covered in Scots Pine. However it was all chopped down during the industrial revolution and world wars. So the soil started to erode, which then left the limestone exposed. Fun fact, a chemical reaction is produced when limestone is exposed to rain water and it starts to dissolve. This has since resulted in caves and underground rivers being formed. It is a gorgeous rugged area full of cows and sheep and scenic views, but unfortunately humans had a devestating impact on the environment here.

Another fun fact, in order to get over the Burren, you have to drive up a series of tight switchbacks with very little between you and a sharp drop off. Pro-tip: this is not fun to experience in a coach bus.

After driving over the Burren, we finished our drive to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are absolutely spectacular! Every picture and video you've ever seen cannot do it justice. The sapphire blue ocean crashing against the base of the cliffs. The sea birds swooping and calling to each other. The wind blowing the grass and wild flowers. And the buskers playing jaunty melodies on small hand accordians or Irish flutes.

I climbed up one of the long meandering paths to get pictures and then just sat for a while taking in the views. One moment that was really sweet was when a couple of German women nearby spotted a wooly caterpillar on the steps of the walking path. One of the women scooped it up with some leaves while the other blocked people from stepping on it. They got the caterpillar safely back into the tall grass.

After a while we got back on the bus and continued on to our next destination, Bunratty Castle in County Clare.  Bunratty Castle has been semi restored and people can tour it. There's also an entire surrounding area where people can learn more of what life was like in the castle's heydays. The castle also hosts banquets nightly, and people can come to feast on turkey legs and roasted pig while being entertained by musicians.  We did not stay for a banquet, but we did tour the castle. Megan and I climbed all the way up one of the towers to the roof battlements.  It had some amazing views of the area, but the spiral staircase was tight and I definitely needed both hands on the railings to feel safe. There was also the problem of no traffic control on the stairs. People could go up and down them and you just had to hope that you didn't meet anyone!

(The antlers in this picture are from the now extinct giant Irish deer. There is a picture of a full skeleton of one in my post from the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.)

(View from top of castle.)

(Tight spiral staircases.)

There were three other towers that we could have climbed, but Megan and I decided to enjoy the castle from the outside. We headed out and walked through the village.  By the time we finished it was getting towards mid-afternoon, so we headed back to the hotel where a group dinner was waiting for us. The night's dinner consisted of a choice of vegetable soup or Caesar salad, roast pork chop with veg or fish cakes with fries, and a strawberry mousse with coffee or tea for dessert.

We called an early night after that and Megan and I each spent some time calling home to check in on things.

August 15

Today's adventure started with a jaunt in Killarney National Park! A jaunt is actually a horse drawn carriage ride. Six of our group all piled into one of the carriages with a driver named Eric and a young horse named Blackie. Blackie was a rambunctious Irish Cobb only 4 years old who just wanted to go fast, and at one point, Eric let her get up to a canter to get some of the energy out. After that, we had a smoother ride. We saw lakes, castles, wide open fields, deer, rabbits, and scenic vistas that would fit beautifully in a nature documentary.  Eric was a hilarious guide and pointed out beautiful scenery and historic places in between cracking jokes. He even gave us a good recommendation for lunch in Dingle (our next stop of the day).

After we said goodbye to Eric and Blackie, we met back up on the bus to continue our journey. We were headed north a little and further west out onto the Dingle Peninsula! The town of Dingle is a cute little town on the coast. It's a pretty popular tourist destination and has some great fish and chips and ice cream! The fish is caught fresh from the Atlantic and served up within a day of being caught. I tried the smoked haddock this time and it was so rich and just melted in my mouth! The ice cream we had after was a famous place in Dingle, Murphy's. It has flavors like sea salt, gin, chocolate whiskey, Irish brown bread, and honeycomb caramel. I had a double scoop, one of sea salt and the other Irish brown bread (the bread crumbs are caramelized). It was delicious! We had some time then to walk around and explore the plethora of shops before boarding the bus again.

Our next adventure was driving along the coast, following the Wild Atlantic Way. The roads were narrow and there were some pretty steep drops in places, but the view was spectacular! There were quite a few places where tourists had gathered because the Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi did a lot of filming in this area. (All the scenes on the island Luke Skywalker secludes himself on, for anyone interested.)

(Symbol for the Wild Atlantic Way -WAW)

Along the way, we made a stop at the Gallarus Oratory. The Gallarus Oratory is a sandstone structure of unknown age (but believes to be over 1,000 years old) that was thought to be an early Christian church or pilgrimage site. Nobody knows for sure, but it is confirmed as being original and never having been restored.

(Looking out the window at the back.)

This was our last official stop for the day and we then headed back to the hotel. However there was an extra excursion that Megan and I went on. We went with 14 others of our group to see Celtic Step, an Irish music and dance group. It was a lot of fun! Two members of the dancers were world Irish dance champions and it really showed!

The show ended around 10pm and we headed back to the hotel to pack. We needed to head out for our next stop in the morning!