A few weeks ago we jumped on a plane and began our first adventure as a married couple. We’ve been asked a lot about why we chose Ireland. All I can say is that we wanted to save something tropical for later, it’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit, and we had heard nothing but amazing things about it.

Our travel was great, no problems at all and every flight was on time or early.  Southwest is Southwest but Aer Lingus? That’s the way to fly.  Maybe not much leg room, but free movies, TV shows, games, GPS, music, power outlets, meals and friendly Irish accents made it hard to sleep in a good way.

Irish butter!

Upon landing and regrouping, it was time to pick up our chariot for the week. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about taking the reins of this beast.  That’s 105 frail horses of Italian pseudo-muscle right there.  I may have been more worried about the left-handed shifting, left lane driving, and sharing the road with trucks many times our size, but with a little practice, I did ok.

mean machine

And just like that the trip was in full swing.  We headed North, fleeing the busy streets of Dublin so I could acclimate in less tenuous conditions.  We couldn’t resist pulling off the road to check out a few sights along the way.  We still had a way to go before out first nights castle, but we had all day to get there, so there was no rush.

first castle sighting

the beach!

photographing convents is frowned upon

We arrived at our first castle with plenty of time to take a nap, which was needed, after pulling an all nighter on the planes.  Cabra Castle was gorgeous inside and out.  Our room was so elegant and overlooked a beautiful courtyard.

First castle: Cabra castle

Us in our first room.

Courtyard outside our balcony

That first night we decided to check out the nearby small town of Kingscourt.  As with many of the small towns in Ireland, the pub selection seemed unsustainably extensive. We settled into a pub occupied by regulars singing along to cheesy 80′s tunes on the jukebox.  Our kind of scene. Within minutes we were welcomed into the fold and regaled with local stories. Turns out this particular pub was famous.  A week before we arrived, on a random night like this one, a bull came crashing into the pub and wrecked havoc for a few minutes before being corralled outside.  The regulars were on the news and everything, even on the youtubes!

The famous bull bar!

A highlight of the evening was when a local gentlemen offered us a taste of his private stash of poitín (pot-sheen), a traditional Irish moonshine.  Really enjoyed this stuff, wish I could have brought a bottle home.

Cheers!

This was a perfect way to cap off our first evening in Ireland, making friends and having fun.  The bartender wouldn’t let us pay our tab, putting it all on the house, which was very touching.  After some late night pub grub, we headed back to the castle to recharge.

The second day had us continuing westward, to Kilronan castle.  Kilronan was not as historic as the other castles, originally built in the 1800′s, but had been converted into a very luxurious resort.  The castle itself sits on a hill overlooking Lough Meelagh and provides incredible views.

Princess and her castle

We were also very pleasantly surprised with a wonderful gift waiting for us at the front desk courtesy of Owen, Howard, Lori, Cathy and Tom! We can’t possibly thank you all for your kindness and want to assure you that we most certainly indulged in the finest they had to offer.

Gift from the Hewletts and their families!

Kilronan plays host to the Douglas Hyde restaurant which specializes in fine french cuisine. It was good stuff.

Our third day we made our way south along the western coastline headed for the Cliffs of Moher.  This place was truly stunning.  They are apparently finalists to be the 8th Natural Wonder of the World and we can definitely vouch for why they deserve it.  The weather was kind to us and we got some clear skies to really take it all in.  This was definitely a marquee stop for us, something we had to see, and we are really glad we did.

breathtaking

together at the cliffs

O'brien's Tower

As you can see this was a gorgeous day.  The weather was nice enough to hold off on the rain until we were heading back for our car.

After the cliffs, we headed down the road towards Limerick, to our third castle, Bunratty castle.  We were in a bit of a hurry, since we had a dinner date to make.  Turns out Bunratty castle offers a medieval Irish banquet, and at the risk of being too touristy, we couldn’t resist.  It turned out to be an unforgettable night.  The performers were very talented, the food was far better than expected, and the mead and wine played the perfect match for an evening of relaxation.

Food!

The Mead was perfect for us!!

these guys were great

After the dinner we made our way to the pub next door. This pub claims to be the oldest established pub in all of Ireland, with a date of 1620.

Durty Nellys, and the greatest bar night ever.

This was a very cool place.  We ended up grabbing a little table in a room with a piano and almost immediately made friends with a pair for Irish ladies!

Irish friends!

Not long after that a few middle-aged guys showed up and took places around the piano.  The next few hours we will never forget. These guys played song after song, from all genres and ages.  It wasn’t long before the pub was wall to wall packed, swaying with the music, everyone belting out every lyric they could remember. It was the atmosphere every piano bar I’ve ever been to tries to emulate.

The night came with a hefty price, the kind of tab only Tylenol, sleep, and lots of water can cover.  We spent a quiet day around Limerick and enjoying a nice dinner before our second night in Bunratty.  After one more rest, we were ready to hit the road again. Next stop: Dingle.

We knew we had a lot of ground to cover this day so we headed out early (early for us, which is around 8am).  The drive out onto the Dingle peninsula was very scenic.

On our way, we passed this little pub on the outskirts of Tralee and had to take a picture.  Cleary! My mother’s maiden name! This could be a place where long distant relatives come to unwind.

A sign out front reads: Seamus Cleary's Bar, Lounge and Beer Garden

We started out on the northern end and drove down Conner’s pass into the town of Dingle.  Conner’s pass was way up there, and provided some great photo opportunities.

On our way up the valley below, North side.

This guy was a serious biker. Irish Sheep!

Dingle, viewed from the pass

Dingle may have been our favorite town to visit.  A little fishing town on the south shore of Dingle peninsula, it is host to amazing views, fresh seafood, friendly people, and plenty of shops and pubs.  We loved everything about it.  Thanks to Owen for suggesting the place, it was not on our original itinerary, and we are glad we made the drive.

Dingle streets!

Dingle bay

Some kind of fishing statue and a beautiful girl

amazing chocolate place

OOTB or Out of the Blue. Amazing seafood chowder.

great stuff.

We spent a good portion of our morning in Dingle, and really, could have spent days there.  But we had places to see! So we were off, headed to the one and only Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney stone.

The drive out of Dingle was just as scenic as every other drive, so we couldn’t resist more pics.  Blame the new camera for my itchy trigger finger.

Aleasha overlooking Dingle bay.

jumping for joy!

Look at those hops!

Once back on the road, we headed to Blarney, just outside of Cork.  One think about Ireland, once you are on a main road, it really doesn’t take long to get anywhere, it’s just not that big.  We arrived at Blarney around 4pm, so we had to hurry up to the castle if we wanted to kiss the stone before they closed.

Blarney Castle was out of the way, and also not on our original itinerary, but as with everything else, well worth the time and effort devoted to it.  It was by far the most interesting castle we visited. Its setup like a national park, with placards all over containing bits of trivia and history that we found fascinating.  This castle had everything, caves, secret passages, a murder hole, defense fortifications, a poison garden, and lots of stories.  I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but we could have spent an entire day exploring the grounds.

The grounds were awesome.

Murder hole!

Blarney from the front

Us at the top.

Aleasha kissing the Blarney stone!

Blarney castle at night

Once it got dark, and we had seen enough of the grounds, it was time to get back in the car and head to our final destination of the trip. Dublin.

After briefly getting us lost in Cork, then barely managing to find a gas station before being stranded on some country road, we managed to find the M8 (major freeway), and were on our way.  All the major freeways in Ireland spread from Dublin like the spokes on a wheel. Once you reach Dublin, the freeways hit a big semi-circle that follows the suburbs of the city.  Getting to our last castle, the Fitzpatrick castle in Dublin, was a bit of a chore. None of the directions were very precise, and as with the rest of the country, the streets were horribly marked, if marked at all.  It took us a while to get there, finally pulling in after 9pm, but once we did we were treated to a nice surprise.

When we checked in and were given our key, we had to take two flights of stairs to our room, which seemed to be off by itself.  When we opened the door it was pretty evident this was no standard room.

The honeymoon suite!

A warm welcome.

Letter from the manager

The manager had upgraded our accommodations and left us a personalized welcome letter congratulating us on our wedding and wishing us well.  We were touched to say the least.  At this point the restaurants nearby were all closed, but we had spotted a Domino’s pizza on our drive in and made a quick phone call and we were set for the night. An Irish sports channel was even broadcasting NFL football!

Pizza, football, facebook! we were happy campers.

It was a perfect way to end our busiest day in Ireland.  With a little rest, we were ready to get out and explore Dublin a bit.

Dublin was an adventure all its own. Owen had been nice enough to leave us tips as to the best way to take advantage of the mass transit systems, unfortunately his advice went forgotten, and took the Fiat straight downtown.  Big mistake. We ended up ok, but by the evening when we left, I was about 5 minutes from stopping the car in an intersection, getting out, setting it on fire and never looking back.  Every road is poorly marked, every driver is a maniacal lunatic, cyclists whiz about every which way with little to no regard for their own safety, you can (and we did) share a road with an oncoming train, one way roads appear out of nowhere, and I somehow appeared to be the only driver handling the situation poorly.  But we were resolved to let nothing dampen our spirits. So with no civilian casualties we made it through ok.

The obvious highlight here was the Guinness Storehouse. This place is gigantic.  We spent almost 4 hours taking the self guided tour, learning to pour the perfect pint, checking out the Gravity bar at the top floor and both literally and figuratively soaking it all in.

The gates of heaven.

Barley!

Leased for 9000 years!

Arthur Guinness signed a lease for the storehouse in the 18th century for 9000 years. So this place isn’t going anywhere for a while.  Guinness keeps the original strain of yeast first used to make Guinness locked up in case their production supply ever goes bad.

The original strain of yeast is on lockdown.

Perfection

The perfect pint thing was neat. They explained how a Guinness is meant to be poured, and consumed as well. Plus there’s the whole getting to drink it thing.

Foreign Extra, not normally available in the states.

I got to try the Guinness Foreign Extra. A brew not distributed to the states, it contains extra hops, is extra bitter and strong, and I loved it.  The extra hops were initially used as a preservative when Guinness was being shipped to far off destinations in case the Journey took weeks.

The view from the Gravity Bar

The Gravity Bar provided a really nice wrap around view of Dublin from a bird’s-eye perspective.

We managed to see a few other attractions in Dublin, like Trinity college and the Book of Kells. We barely got to see the book before they closed the exhibit, but it’s not every day you see something as old as the 7th century.

Trinity College

Book of Kells is old.

Dublin was fun, but not our favorite part of Ireland for sure. It’s a big world city, so very dense, crowded, and dirty.  Lots of history though and we appreciated that. Definitely go mass transit.

And that was that. It was an incredible trip that we will never forget. I would even go so far as to say that it won’t be the last time we visit.  The driving was a fun adventure, the food was great, the castles were fun and the memories are eternal.  Thanks to everyone who helped out, gave us tips, gifts, or advice.

We also took some short video clips while we were driving, I’ll be sure to post those soon as well!