Next place on the list was Ireland. I booked a bus to Dublin and headed out. I spent a solid 19 hours in travel, but taking the ferry there was cool. Apparently the ferry I was on is the largest passenger ferry in the world, so that neat. I spent a day in Dublin before heading out on a 5 day tour around the country. I was in the city for long, but I was able to make my way to the Guiness brewery and check it out. It was alright, but a bit overproduced. It felt a bit more like a Guinness museum that happened to be beside the brewery. Pouring my own pint was cool though.
The Tour started by visiting the Tulamore Dew whisky distillery on the way to our first stop, Galway. Galway was a really cool looking town with a nice old town and a solid walk along the water in the port. Also, the term “lynch mob” originated there… There was a mob… Who wanted to kill a guy named Lynch haha. We also visited a number of pretty old pubs there. They were cool, some of them had a real fire place going, except they burn peat instead of wood. We spent a day driving around a region called Connemara which is famous for bogs, mountains, and a lack of cell service. It was really beautiful, it reminded me a bit of the drive up the coquihalla, but a bit more green.
After Galway, we headed to Ennis and checked out another pub. This one was running a sort of community music night where residents would just show up with their instruments and start playing traditional Irish music. It was pretty cool, but after so much fiddle, I got a bit tired of it.
After Ennis, we headed to the west most part of Ireland to see this sights. The views of the Atlantic islands were breathtaking. If anyone has seen Star Wars VII, we were right near the Island that Luke Skywalker was hiding on at the end of the movie. We stopped in a cool little town called Dingle. The town famously has had a bottle nosed dolphin that has refused to leave its harbour for the last 20 years. They named him Funghi and they run daily tours to go see him. Most of the places offer money back guarantee’s that you will see the dolphin because it’s so common. We ended the day in the city of Killarny. We didn’t do a lot in the city, just went to a bar that had a rock band playing.
On our final day we visited Blarney Castle and kissed the Blarney Stone. Apparently the castle is much better in the off-season than it is in the summer. We were able to walk up to the top and pretty much explore the castle at our leisure. Apparently in the summer it can be a 2+ hour wait to kiss the stone. It was funny, a lot of people thought the stone was easy to access and didn’t realize that it was built into the castle walls and requires you to lay on your back and bend over backwards to kiss it. You have to lay over this overhang so there are bars installed on the wall to hold onto, and a guy sits beside you to hold people and make sure they don’t fall. It isn’t a super photogenic experience haha.
Im back in Dublin now, going to spend a few days here before figuring out where to go next
Pictures:
You look like a natural behind that Guiness tap!
That’s quite the tour you are having. Been to lreland several times, but have never kissed the Blarney Stone. Now you will be able to tell wonderful stories. Some true. Some fiction.