Ireland was beautiful this time of year with the countryside full of green fields and flowers in bloom everywhere - it helps that we got so lucky with our weather of course - apparently it rains quite a bit year round and 3 out of our 4 days were sunny and warm (by our new standard of "warm" i.e. 50s :-) )!
We spent the first couple days on the western side of the country as our friends the Sheils live in Ennis in Claire county so we used this as our base. From there, we visited the town of Adare, a beautiful little Heritage town - below we were at Adare Manor - the grounds were so beautiful. Raegan found a real 4 leaf clover!
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| We found a real 4 leaf clover!! |
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| I thought this tree was beautiful and so amazing that it was planted in the 1600s |
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| Thatched roof houses on the Main street in Adare |
Then we went to Bunratty Folk Park and Castle with our friends. The castle is an authentic restored medieval fortress and at the folk park we learned about how the rural Irish used to live.
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| the old school house |
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| Wyatt's favorite is always the cannon |
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| Wyatt examining all the old farm equipment |
We also went to the Cliffs of Moher - several movies were filmed there - including the Princess Bride from the 80s and one of the Harry Potters. It was really spectacular....quite windy up there though!
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| O'Brien's Tower in the background |
We drove through the Burren on our way to Galway. The Burren is an area of barren rolling hills marked with limestone throughout - the area has many caves and cliffs along the ocean as well. I don't have a good photo but I thought it was really interesting how in rural Ireland people marked their property with fences made of thin stacked limestone. I can't imagine how long it would take to build one around a large farm and how heavy/sturdy they must be - I guess that's how they last so many years! These rock fences also made driving feel a little more treacherous on the narrow roads when the rock fence would be right on the shoulder of the winding narrow road barely wide enough for 2 cars to pass.
Galway was a really energetic place - it's a young college town filled with colorful pubs, cafes, and street performers.
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| The main shopping street in Galway |
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| The Spanish Arch, constructed in the 1500s |
We had the honor of visiting the oldest family owned pub in Ireland - Fanny O'Deas - it just happens to be our friend Orla's family pub! It was so interesting to read and see all the documented history of the pub over the years - and of course enjoy a Guiness.
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| The same fire since 1790 |
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| Morgan is pointing to his namesake on the family tree on the pub wall |
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| Ron had to try the Egg Flip - a patented drink at the pub - we still don't know what's in it!! |
The second half of our trip we spent in Dublin. We took the Hop on Hop off bus tour of the city so we made it around to all the big sights.
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| The General Post Office, you can still see bullet holes from the Easter Uprising of 1916 |
St. Stephen's Green - a beautiful park - the flowers were all in bloom and the kids enjoyed the ducks and the playground
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The Natural History Museum
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral, dating back to the 1100s |
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| Christ Church Cathedral, dating back to the 1000s |
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| The Famine Memorial |
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| The Spire of Dublin on O'Connell Street |
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| The U2 Room at the Little Museum of Dublin |
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| One of the numerous street performers around the city |
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| The U2 Graffiti wall - U2 fans come here to pay tribute to the band at the site of their recording studio of their first albums |
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| Molly Malone statue |
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| Outside The Temple Bar, in a lively area we frequented! |
It wouldn't have been a complete trip without a visit at the Guinness Storehouse at St James Gate Brewery. It was completely commercial for tourists - but done really, really well and very entertaining - 7 levels of activities throughout the building, ranging from learning about the brewing process, to learning the proper way to taste a beer, to learning to pour a proper beer. The brewery is enormous, they brew over 3 million pints a day here. Definitely a hit with us!
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| Laying in the barley |
