Follow me down to Carlow
I just returned from a week trip to Ireland with my momma. I have to say that I had a much better time traveling with her than I had expected. Until last week, she had never left the US, and I have been here and there, near and far.
We arrived in Dublin at 6am on Tuesday, September 4th and by the time we squared away the car rental it was about 7am. We picked up the car and I had to drive, on the left, to the hotel. We had poor, verbal directions, and no map that indicated the hotel's location in relation to the airport. Driving a long the road we come to a tunnel. Note: do not take any tunnels in Ireland. The toll for the tunnel was 12 euro... which is about $20. Awesome. The nice toll booth lady collected the money and directed us to the hotel saying "oh, you should not have taken the tunnel" (incidentally she was Chinese and it sounded more like "oh, you soud noah have taken da tunnel")
Upon arrival at the Regency Dublin Airport Hotel we were checked in to a OD room - for those of you who are not in the hospitality biz - occupied/dirty room. Yeah, I kicked open the door and scared the bajesus out of some sleeping people. Oops. So after getting lost in Dublin, getting checked into the wrong room, and being 6 hours ahead of our body clocks, we were
pretty exhausted.
We took the bus into Dublin and walked around looking for breakfast. Breakfast on Grafton Street, at a Marks and Spencer's - total cost: 19 euro. awesome. We then walked to St. Stephen's Green, which was absolutely beautiful (like the public gardens in Boston). The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm – not like Ireland at all! J After walking around the city a bit, we made our way to the Trinity College Front Gate and went on a two hour walking tour of Dublin. Very informative and certainly good to help keep us awake. The bus home was quick and we grabbed dinner (early bird special only 40 euro for the two of us to eat a plate of chicken and rice- awesome).
Then Bed.
The next morning we had a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel and headed off to the Powers Court Gardens. More driving, near death, very scary. Road sign ten feet off the 60mph highway exit: N. Yeah, not an S like we tend to have here, an N road. Did I mention that the road was about the size of my driveway, no road markings, 40 miles an hour and two way traffic. Glad to be alive to be honest.
The gardens were awesome. Had a great time walking around. Went to the top of what appeared to be Rapunzel’s tower and took some photos. Spend a few hours walking around and enjoying nature. Back to the car. Mom drove, I navigated, no more getting lost- peace was found. We drove over the Wicklow Mountains and headed to Gelenlough- a monastic ruin. More walking, more walking, more nature. Mailed our post cards and headed to Kilkenny and found our B&B with little to no trouble. Ate dinner at Langton’s pub. I had delicious Irish stew. It was SO good.
Then Bed
In the morning we had a nice breakfast at the Celtic House B&B where we were staying and then walked over to the Kilkenny Castle where we took a guided tour. After that, we walked around the grounds and then headed to a small farmers’ market to get lunch. Fruit and scones? Sounds great. Total cost five euro! Woo! From there we walked to the Kilkenny Artisan Design Studios where I bought a beautiful pendant from a silver smith. Bought some other various trinkets and gifts as well.
We headed to the southern part of the country, Waterford, which I’d never go back to. Found the B&B easily with my eagle eyes and waited about an hour for the owners to get back and check us in. Got a great dinner recommendation from the B&B owner. Int
o the car we went (again) and drove to Dunmore East, a small village on the coast. We got to see some real “Irish looking coast line” and enjoyed a dinner on a table that used to be a sewing table (you know with the rod iron pedal at the bottom). We got to see some beautiful ocean scenes and I snapped a couple good pictures.
Then Bed
We fled Waterford with a quickness. On our way to Wexford we stopped at New Ross to look around. In Wexford we visited some abandoned church ruins and it was kind of sketchy. We did a lot of window shopping and I picked up a few items for friends and family. After our shopping trip we drove to the Irish National Heritage Park. This place was a neat idea. They built replicas of typical Celtic historic sites and put them all into a one hour walking tour. The seventeen year old who was our tour guide had the exact same hair that I do. It was creepy and my mom tried to take photos of the two of us together without him knowing what she was doing. After the tour was done was scurried off to our B&B in Enniscorthy. Ou
t the window were sheep grazing, probably three feet from the window. Very cool! Dinner at a nice pub called Bailey’s.
Then Bed
At breakfast the B&B owner told us about a river that had a nice path down its banks. We walked down the river and enjoyed a 30 minute walk in the beautiful wooded banks. Then back to the car and we headed to the Timolin-Moone Pewter Mill. Guess what we found out? The Timolin-Moone Pewter Mill is defunct and is not open any longer. So onward we drove to Castletown. After going to the parking lot (in the middle of no where) we took a guided tour of this Palladian Castle that originally had 100 rooms. It was impressive, but not nearly as well restored as the Kilkenny castle. From there we walked around the grounds and watched a bit of an archery competition. We stopped at Carlow on our way to Maynooth to pick up lunch and take some pictures. Back to the car to the B&B. Maynooth was a nice little town and we enjoyed dinner and drinks at The Roost and watched the Euro Cup Qualifier Ireland vs. Slovania- it was a tie.
Then Bed
Last morning we woke up, enjoyed our breakfast, packed up the suitcases and drove with not a single wrong turn to return the rental car. Airport, plane, home.
Pictures to follow.
Thoughts on the trip:
Overall, driving on the left isn’t so bad if you have a navigator who can read a map. We were extremely lucky to have experienced not a single drop of rain the entire time we were gone. I didn’t need to bring NEARLY as many articles of clothing as I did (but had it been colder, I would have been glad to have it). B&B’s are a great way to travel, but early breakfasts make for early mornings. Sheep walk in the road and don’t care that you’re driving. The Wicklow Mountains were beautiful even if the roads were curvy and narrow. Ireland is expensive, much more so than I thought, even the small towns are very pricey. We spent about $60 each night for dinner. Even in the small town of Maynooth we spent about $50. If I were to go back I’d go back to Kilkenny and spend a few more days there.
We arrived in Dublin at 6am on Tuesday, September 4th and by the time we squared away the car rental it was about 7am. We picked up the car and I had to drive, on the left, to the hotel. We had poor, verbal directions, and no map that indicated the hotel's location in relation to the airport. Driving a long the road we come to a tunnel. Note: do not take any tunnels in Ireland. The toll for the tunnel was 12 euro... which is about $20. Awesome. The nice toll booth lady collected the money and directed us to the hotel saying "oh, you should not have taken the tunnel" (incidentally she was Chinese and it sounded more like "oh, you soud noah have taken da tunnel")Upon arrival at the Regency Dublin Airport Hotel we were checked in to a OD room - for those of you who are not in the hospitality biz - occupied/dirty room. Yeah, I kicked open the door and scared the bajesus out of some sleeping people. Oops. So after getting lost in Dublin, getting checked into the wrong room, and being 6 hours ahead of our body clocks, we were
pretty exhausted.We took the bus into Dublin and walked around looking for breakfast. Breakfast on Grafton Street, at a Marks and Spencer's - total cost: 19 euro. awesome. We then walked to St. Stephen's Green, which was absolutely beautiful (like the public gardens in Boston). The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm – not like Ireland at all! J After walking around the city a bit, we made our way to the Trinity College Front Gate and went on a two hour walking tour of Dublin. Very informative and certainly good to help keep us awake. The bus home was quick and we grabbed dinner (early bird special only 40 euro for the two of us to eat a plate of chicken and rice- awesome).
Then Bed.
The next morning we had a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel and headed off to the Powers Court Gardens. More driving, near death, very scary. Road sign ten feet off the 60mph highway exit: N. Yeah, not an S like we tend to have here, an N road. Did I mention that the road was about the size of my driveway, no road markings, 40 miles an hour and two way traffic. Glad to be alive to be honest.The gardens were awesome. Had a great time walking around. Went to the top of what appeared to be Rapunzel’s tower and took some photos. Spend a few hours walking around and enjoying nature. Back to the car. Mom drove, I navigated, no more getting lost- peace was found. We drove over the Wicklow Mountains and headed to Gelenlough- a monastic ruin. More walking, more walking, more nature. Mailed our post cards and headed to Kilkenny and found our B&B with little to no trouble. Ate dinner at Langton’s pub. I had delicious Irish stew. It was SO good.
Then Bed
In the morning we had a nice breakfast at the Celtic House B&B where we were staying and then walked over to the Kilkenny Castle where we took a guided tour. After that, we walked around the grounds and then headed to a small farmers’ market to get lunch. Fruit and scones? Sounds great. Total cost five euro! Woo! From there we walked to the Kilkenny Artisan Design Studios where I bought a beautiful pendant from a silver smith. Bought some other various trinkets and gifts as well.
We headed to the southern part of the country, Waterford, which I’d never go back to. Found the B&B easily with my eagle eyes and waited about an hour for the owners to get back and check us in. Got a great dinner recommendation from the B&B owner. Int
o the car we went (again) and drove to Dunmore East, a small village on the coast. We got to see some real “Irish looking coast line” and enjoyed a dinner on a table that used to be a sewing table (you know with the rod iron pedal at the bottom). We got to see some beautiful ocean scenes and I snapped a couple good pictures.Then Bed
We fled Waterford with a quickness. On our way to Wexford we stopped at New Ross to look around. In Wexford we visited some abandoned church ruins and it was kind of sketchy. We did a lot of window shopping and I picked up a few items for friends and family. After our shopping trip we drove to the Irish National Heritage Park. This place was a neat idea. They built replicas of typical Celtic historic sites and put them all into a one hour walking tour. The seventeen year old who was our tour guide had the exact same hair that I do. It was creepy and my mom tried to take photos of the two of us together without him knowing what she was doing. After the tour was done was scurried off to our B&B in Enniscorthy. Ou
t the window were sheep grazing, probably three feet from the window. Very cool! Dinner at a nice pub called Bailey’s.Then Bed
At breakfast the B&B owner told us about a river that had a nice path down its banks. We walked down the river and enjoyed a 30 minute walk in the beautiful wooded banks. Then back to the car and we headed to the Timolin-Moone Pewter Mill. Guess what we found out? The Timolin-Moone Pewter Mill is defunct and is not open any longer. So onward we drove to Castletown. After going to the parking lot (in the middle of no where) we took a guided tour of this Palladian Castle that originally had 100 rooms. It was impressive, but not nearly as well restored as the Kilkenny castle. From there we walked around the grounds and watched a bit of an archery competition. We stopped at Carlow on our way to Maynooth to pick up lunch and take some pictures. Back to the car to the B&B. Maynooth was a nice little town and we enjoyed dinner and drinks at The Roost and watched the Euro Cup Qualifier Ireland vs. Slovania- it was a tie.
Then Bed
Last morning we woke up, enjoyed our breakfast, packed up the suitcases and drove with not a single wrong turn to return the rental car. Airport, plane, home.
Pictures to follow.
Thoughts on the trip:
Overall, driving on the left isn’t so bad if you have a navigator who can read a map. We were extremely lucky to have experienced not a single drop of rain the entire time we were gone. I didn’t need to bring NEARLY as many articles of clothing as I did (but had it been colder, I would have been glad to have it). B&B’s are a great way to travel, but early breakfasts make for early mornings. Sheep walk in the road and don’t care that you’re driving. The Wicklow Mountains were beautiful even if the roads were curvy and narrow. Ireland is expensive, much more so than I thought, even the small towns are very pricey. We spent about $60 each night for dinner. Even in the small town of Maynooth we spent about $50. If I were to go back I’d go back to Kilkenny and spend a few more days there.
Labels: vacation
posted by curlyhairedmegan @ 2:48 PM
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