That’s an obscure reference to an old comedy, but it also describes our 16 day whirlwind tour of Ireland. We spent our first two days exploring Dublin and recovering from jet lag (it was a long flight from LAX to London then London to Dublin). We were zombies the first day trying to stay awake until 8pm. The struggle was real. We walked around a bit and went to the Hairy Lemon, a hoot of a pub, where we had our first Guinness and fish and chips.I basically passed out at 8:30pm and slept for 11 hours. We stayed at the Grafton Hotel, which was in a great location right in the heart of Dublin. I can’t recommend it highly enough. We woke to lovely weather – blue skies and temps in the mid 60s ( . It was beautiful walking around weather. Chuck used ChatGPT to come up with a sightseeing plan (avoiding places we knew we’d be seeing with the tour). We spent a few hours exploring St. Stephen’s Park and learning about the 1916 Easter Rising. We went to the Little Museum of Dublin in which we learned about Dublin’s history in 30 minutes (no joke – they cover a lot of historical ground! I highly recommend this place if you’re in Dublin). We also went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Marsh’s Library, crossed the Ha’penny Bridge. We completed our Easter Rising tour by going to the General Post Office. We had dinner at the hotel after realizing that downtown Dublin is insane on a Friday night.
The next day marked the official start of our bus tour with My Ireland Tour. We met up with the group and our tour guide/bus driver Brendan after a taxi ride to the Dunboyne Castle Hotel. We were an eclectic group of 26 people: Americans, Canadians, Brits and Aussies (I think that’s it). We had a group dinner at the hotel then the next day started the trek to Northern Ireland. We stopped at Trim Castle (where they filmed parts of Braveheart and oddly enough The Big Red One). Then we drove on to Belfast where we went to Titanic Belfast which included more than I really wanted to know about ship building and Belfast manufacturing but also lots about the Titanic which was more interesting to me. We stayed two nights in Belfast at the Clayton Hotel Belfast. Our second day in Belfast started with a tour of the city of Belfast. We had a super funny local guide who talked about the history of Belfast and the Troubles. We saw a peace wall (where we encouraged to write our own messages), the parliament building with lawn mowers driven by leprechauns (okay, not really but they were the coolest little electric mowers!). Then we had a bit of free time to walk around the city center. In the afternoon we went to Hillsborough Castle, the residence of the Royal Family when they’re in Northern Ireland (spoiler alert: not often). We had a great your of the castle (where it poured rain while were inside) then we got to walk around the extensive gardens (where the heavens magically cleared and the sun came out). We also visited the Bushmill’s Distillery where we tasted their whiskey (full disclosure: I really don’t care for whiskey but it was a fun tour).
The next day we headed off to Derry/Londonderry (depending on who you’re talking to). We had a walking tour in pouring rain. We were going to have some free time here but the rain got in the way. We did see City Hall (looks like a church but never actually was). One really big thing here: the tv show Derry Girls – they do tours dedicated to the show. We spent one night in Derry at the Maldron Hotel Derry (we stayed in a few of these – it’s a nice chain).
After leaving Derry we headed to Enniskellen where we toured the Ulster American Folk Park. It’s an open-air museum along the lines of Williamsburg VA where they have people showing how life was lived in the 18th and 19th century. Of note: it has the boyhood home of Thomas Mellon, founder of the American banking dynasty. The weather sucked – it was wet and cold which interfered with our exploring the open-air part of the park – as in we really didn’t have a chance to see much of it. Too bad, as it would be easy to spend at least a half, if not a full, day there. We spent that night at the Westville Hotel (I have to say that the one night stays on the tour were really brutal as we never really could unpack and have time to chill).
The next morning we took a boat cruise to Devenish Island. The weather gods were merciful and we had clear skies (though it was cold) and had fun exploring the ruins of a monastery on the island. After the cruise we went to Drumcliffe to visit the grave of William Butler Yeats (he of “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”). Then it was on to Galway, where we spent two nights at the Menlo Park Hotel there. The next day we headed off to Kylemore Abbey and drove by the village of Cong where they filmed The Quiet Man. As the day progressed the weather once again failed to cooperate so our outdoor activities (including exploring the lovely gardens at Kylemore Abbey) were limited.
From Galway we headed west and began an exploration of the County Clare portion of the Wild Atlantic Way, a fabulously scenic route that spans the entire west coast of Ireland. A signature stop was at the Cliffs of Moher, but in one of the great so-it-goes of our trip, the cliffs were completely socked in with zero visibility. Ah well. We stayed two nights at the Dromhall Hotel in Killarney which allowed us to explore Killarney National Park (breathtaking).
Then it was on to Cork and Blarney Castle where for once the weather gods cooperated and we had a great time exploring the castle and its gardens. Chuck kissed the Blarney Stone (I did this the last time I was in Ireland so just took photos of him this time) and walked down and up the Wishing Steps with our eyes closed (this was very challenging as the steps were wet and we didn’t fall or trip, so we get extra credit IMHO). They say that if you do this and make a wish as you walk, the wish will come true in the coming year. So we’ll see. Then we got to go shopping at the Blarney Woolen Mills (where the potential of spending a LOT of money was quite high) and wrapped things up at the Midleton Distillery (home to Jameson Whiskey, which I didn’t like anymore than Bushmill’s). Their gift ship blew my mind – you could spend – wait for it – upwards of 500-700 Euros on ONE bottle!!! The next day we visited Charles Fort but the weather was wet, windy and bitterly cold which kind of spoiled that. We had free time in Kinsale which is, I’m sure, a lovely seaside town but given the crap weather we hung out in a nice little restaurant and watched the rain fall.
From Cork it was on to Dublin. Along the way we stopped at the Rock of Cashel (super scenic ruin which as a connection to St. Patrick), had a farmhouse lunch and wrapped things up at the Irish National Stud and got to see thoroughbreds, moms and baby horses and see cherry blossoms in bloom (the weather cooperated!). Our last day in Dublin included a visit to EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum (really interesting interactive museum) then a guided tour of Christ Church Cathedral which included getting to go up to the bell tower and ring bells and get a wonderful bird’s eye view of Dublin AND visit the crypt – very neat! We wrapped the day up at the Guinness Storehouse which I found very disappointing. It’s like Disneyland for beer drinkers with lots of flash and zero substance. It felt like giant tourist trap. I would have been more annoyed if I’d paid to go there.
And just like that, it was time to go home. See, I wasn’t kidding about the whirlwind! Ireland is such a beautiful country – it’s hard to pick out a favorite thing/place as it’s the overall impression of the place, the soft green feel of it all that I’m left with.