Day 6 to 7 (Doolin for the night and then on to Kilkenny) - So I got us to Doolin and we found our little B&B that we were going to stay at for the evening (only B&B we stayed in the whole time, but was so cute).
Once we got a little settled into our room we headed out to the local pub for some grub and some live music. Doolin is well known for it's local Irish music scene. Boy, it didn't disappoint! This was for sure one of the best music nights we had the whole trip. The three guys in the back came out and started setting up shop on their stage (which was just the table in the center of the bar), and this girl says she brought her own instrument and was wondering if she could join in. She jumped right in and played with them all night! Was so beautiful, they didn't sing at all just would all play an instrument. There were so many different things they were playing, they even played spoons!!! LOVED IT!!! If we had more time I am sure we would have stuck around Doolin longer!!
Oh yea, we all threw each other around the dance floor (except Jo who went home since she was at the peak of the Irish flu at this point - boooo on Irish ick - the next day was the start of my downfall which I spent the rest of the trip trying to pretend like I wasn't feeling bad)
The next day we got up and had delicious breakfast before heading out for the next day's adventures. We started out by visiting Doolin Cave, which houses the largest Stalactite which is accessible to the public. It is about 23 feet long! Pictures really don't do it justice but it was pretty awesome to see in person!
Standing under it it really looked like wet sheets, or wet cloth, or really thin pizza dough or something. The earth sure does hold some pretty special treasures in dark places. :-)
Next we headed over to the Cliffs of Moher. We spent the late morning/early afternoon wandering around, soaking it all up. We couldn't lean over the edge like we could on Aran Island but it sure still took your breath away.
Jo ventured off the "legal" path and paid her respects in private. (well ok, so I snuck out there too to keep an eye on her after I gave her a few moments) ;-)
Yep, troublemaker past right on by this sign (and lets be honest if Hill wasn't about to have a heart attack with fear of her falling off, I probably would have gone on an adventure down that illegal path just as far as I could make it). So Dad you are lucky Hill was there to keep me in check, she was worrying for you ;-)
Such a pretty city
Standing at the entrance of Kilkenny Castle
St Paddy's day parade. Not the most organized thing I have seen. There was a practical problem with turning a corner before the groups got to us so there was like 10 minutes between each group. Not ideal to keep attention, so we started walking and eventually ran into the whole parade which was at a standstill around the corner just waiting for the next float to figure out how to get round the corner. You would think this would be something they had already worked out. Nah, probably had a Guinness instead of planning.
View of parade from our new vantage point where we kept watching once it started carrying on again.
Our barman for the evening. He loved us, and gave us way more whiskey then we needed throughout the evening (for a much cheaper price then the men around us were getting). It pays to be 4 pretty girls out.
Carol and Johanna (my new Australian friends in Denmark) met up with us later in the evening but by then camera batteries were dead so alas, no pics of them with us. They had a blast with us too, was fun that they were able to come in for the night and hang out with some of my friends from back home.
Day 10 - (Cahir - Cashel) - off Jo and I went on the final leg of our journey. We figured we would go back off the beaten path for the next couple days to try to recover from the sickness. We stopped in Cahir and wandered around this very charming little castle, fun to go to the smaller places too where you can see different kinds of stuff and be out of the tourist hubs.
Then off we went to Cashel. This town was amazing! Even with the rain, and from sleeping for 10 hours at night while my fever broke, I loved it here. Felt just more off the beaten path, and was tranquil. The Rock of Cashel was pretty cool:
From the Rock of Cashel yard, you can see the Hore Abbey off in the distance at the bottom of the hill.
The Hore Abbey was my favorite ruin from the whole trip, we admired from afar the first day and stopped for a while before heading off on our next adventure to Wicklow. No one else was around, just us wandering through these ruins (while some creepy pigeon cooed at us, but I could even ignore that since it was so pretty)
Day 11 - (Glendalough - Wicklow) - after our stop at the Abbey we headed East towards Wicklow where we would have our final stop in the country before heading back to Dublin. Along the way we stopped in Glendalough wilderness and hiked around for the morning/early afternoon. This was a well traveled place, but for good reason. You could tell that there were families and locals out and about too. Kind of made me think of Multnomah Falls, where it is a very popular spot even for Portland locals. Next trip to Ireland I am going to come and stay around here for a couple days and just hike the wilderness and explore more. But this short stop was a nice final retreat. We got some good exercise in. :-D
And saw some wildlife right by the path! Watch out, those horns look sharp!
Day 12 - (Wicklow - final night in Dublin) - before heading back to Dublin we decided to listen to the great lady at the hostel we were staying in and head to see the beaches. She told us about a "secret beach" which was next to impossible to find - total local spot for sure, which is totally empty this time of year when it is not warm enough to lay our or anything. And we went for a hike along the cliffs in search of seals...
Our first stop in the morning was this great big beach, we didn't see anything that resembled the entrance to the secret beach on our first pass so we stopped here and beach combed for a while. There are some beautiful rocks in Ireland, now I have a couple on my counter to remind me of this beautiful day. I am still shocked at how lucky we were with the weather, I mean really, it is unheard of to go to Ireland at any point during the year for 2 weeks and only get a tiny bit of rain. Not to mention being there in March, that is why it is so green throughout the country, but we were grateful the heavens smiled down on us for our trip.
Second pass through we found this road! We had to park haphazardly on the street, but still, we managed to find it!!!
Path down to the beach.. or more like path down to a creek, somewhere along the line the path had an issue and just drops off at the creek so you have to creek walk to get to the ocean (luckily the water was low enough that we didn't really get wet)
Of course I went wandering across the rocks to see what I could find... The remains of a car which has been there for ages... and a cute little spot on a hill where my retirement home could easily be. Right now there is just rubble (probably from an old shed or something but I can imagine it is just a tiny home), but I could see a little hut being there for me. Relaxing on the front porch with a good book, looking out over the sea... ahhhh... yes.
Final trek before heading to Dublin to get the car back in time so we didn't have to pay for another day.. a walk along the cliffs by Wicklow. We were on a seal hunt, and found a couple!!! They liked this little cove and were swimming over to check us out and see what we were up to. I told them I would share.
That is one of the little guys heads popping out in the middle. They are so cute!!! Very curious little guys!
So I found a little shire in the hill where I could make my now home. Awesome cove! And vacation house in the hill, haha.
Day 13 - the day of reckoning... the fun is over, time to get home and try to get over the ick that I got (which I still have a cough from 2 weeks later, this thing just won't die!)...
Delayed flight made it so I missed my connection so I got to spend an extra 3 hours in Amsterdam, just what I want to do when all I can think about is crawling into my own bed and sleeping in peace and quiet. Oh well, that is what traveling is all about. :-)
Cheers!!! To a trip to remember!! Great friends, and a beautiful adventure!
P.S. as irritating as hostels can be sometimes, it sure is nice to see how much less damage they do to my bank account :-) Maybe I can continue to travel that way for a few more years. Just will have to become the master at blocking all the idiots out like Jo is..
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