We were fortunate and blessed to spend the night in this beautiful gothic castle turned hotel. And treated like royalty we certainly were from the moment we checked in until check out time. Originally built in the 19th century on the banks of the River Maigue, the home belonged to the the Earl of Dunraven. In 1984 it was bought and turned into what is now Adare Manor & Golf Resort. From the 52 chimneys, […]
Probably Irelands prettiest village, Adare is chock full of charm. The high street is dotted with colorful thatched roof cottages and cute pubs, eateries, and shoppes. A great place to spend the day just walking and taking picture after picture.
I was a little hesitant about stopping here as it seemed almost too touristy and fake to me. I have to admit, though, I was very pleasantly surprised and loved it! We spent a couple of hours walking through the whole park but you could easily have spent the day as there really is a lot to see. An excellent re-creation of an old village with many thatched cottages, shoppes, an old post office, church, and of course […]
We were especially excited about a stop here at Durty Nelly’s Pub as we have a bar by the same name very close to our home which we have been frequenting since our teenage years and is based on this original location. It was again unseasonably warm and sunny and we opted to sit outside and enjoy a quick bite and pint before heading across the street to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park (posted separately). […]
This is definitely a touristy stop with coach loads of people turning up but the area is large enough so it didn’t really ever seem that crowded. “WOW” is really all you can say when you get your first glimpse of the cliffs after the long walk from the car park. We were lucky to have had a sunny clear day so the views were simply spectacular. It was, however, extremely windy which made getting […]
We stopped here after leaving Connemara National Park and was definitely on my list of photo stops after seeing many postcards in gift shops all over Ireland. Kylemore Castle, as it was originally known, was built in 1967 by a wealthy London doctor as a gift for his wife. Later in 1920 it was founded as Kylemore Abbey, a Benedictine monastery for nuns who fled Belgium in World War I. We did not pay the heavy entrance fee to go […]
This is the unspoilt, barren and almost uninhabited part of Ireland and should definitely not be missed. We drove the Sky Road ourselves (not for the faint of heart and quite a challenge of twists and turns on a steep and narrow one lane road) and I felt like we stopped every few minutes just to take postcard worthy photos. Around every bend, the scenery just got more spectacular with stunning views, wild landscapes and sheep grazing everywhere […]
We stopped at Dunluce Castle on our drive up the Antrim Coast after leaving The Giant’s Causeway and were glad we did. What makes this medieval castle ruins stand out is definitely the location. Perched right on the edge of a cliff, looking straight down to the sea, this was a photographers dream. The entrance fees were pretty steep considering this is just a ruins, but once inside you are rewarded with some of the […]