Irish Adventure

We had a fabulous time in Ireland!  While we are big fans of Viking Cruises, when we were on the British Isles Explorer last year we could only dock in Belfast - the winds from Hurricane Erin made docking in Dublin impossible.  When our wonderful travel agent contacted us about credit we had coming with AAA Vacations from a previous trip and that there was a big Black Friday sale - we decided that the best way to see Ireland was a land tour, and along with AAA the Collette "Shades of Ireland with Northern Ireland" seemed perfect.  And it was!

Our hotel in Dublin was an old girls school with lots of history, just a little out of the main downtown.

We visited the Dublin Cathedral...

saw the stone from St. Patrick's Well,

and learned that Jonathan Swift had been a rector there and wrote Gulliver's Travels as a comment on the times he lived in.

A highlight of the trip was a tour of the Guinness Experience - 

It was fascinating to learn how the beer was made, and we loved the section that featured the people who worked for Guinness or lived in that area through the years...

and the pint at the top of the tour was wonderful !!!

Next day we boarded the bus ( the coach!) and headed out to explore the rest of the country - a stop at Shankhill Castle - a medieval castle that is now a working organic farm.

And you can never get far away from that Guinness harp!

then onto Waterford.  We chose to tour the medieval church and James Rice's wine cellar instead of the Waterford Crystal tour.

After dinner we went for a walk around town and happened onto this Pipe Band giving a concert near the river - what timing!  The next morning at the historic Granville Hotel we were able to add Bailey's Irish Cream to our breakfast porridge!!!

And then we were off to Blarney Castle...

It was quite a climb up to the stone...you lay down on a slippy mat, two helpers hold on to you and then you kiss the stone - and they spray it with alcohol after each kiss.  John did great...

I was not sure I was going to kiss the stone to get the gift of eloquence...figured I already have the gift of gab - but decided that at 71 years old I needed a booster!  I asked the guide what do I do?  He replied you get held by a strange man!!!  I am only 5 feet tall, so I tried and said...I don't think I can do this...then he said "yes you can" and pushed me down and I did it !

We had a great lunch in a restored woolen mill where "Blarney Bot" collected our trays, and then traveled onto Killarney where we had a great Celtic Steps Irish dance show.

We woke the next day to wonderful weather and a "jaunting car ride" (horse drawn carrige) through the Killarney National Park. 

Such a beautiful park...huge, and all natural. Nothing is cut or landscaped - nature does it all.  The only time they cut a tree is if it falls into the roads or paths.

Jocko was our horse, and Patrick O'Sullivan was our driver - he gave us a wonderful tour!

On the road to Ennis...with a stop for the best Irish Coffee I ever had! A nice chat with this man who asked us about life in America...

Found this cute little goat on the way...

A quick stop for lunch with a great view, and a gift shop that had "The Quiet Man" scarves for sale.   We just LOVE that movie, so even though I don't need one more scarf...it came home with me!

Last night in Killarney we had a traditional pub night with Irish music, dance, and I got to try ( key word is try ) Irish dancing!

That's it for this post - will take you to the Cliffs of Moher and some other wonderful Irish sights next time.

Thanks so much for coming along on our journey - have a great week and enjoy this summertime!