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 […]
If you are driving the coastal route of Northern Ireland, and the season allows, I would highly recommend this stop. Carrick-A-Rede (which means Rock in the Road) is only 7 miles from the Giant’s Causeway in the County Antrim. The day that we were there started out pretty clear and around 70 degrees. By the time we walked the pretty good distance from the car park to the bridge, a fog had rolled in and the […]
Named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the UK, The Giant’s Causeway truly is nothing short of amazing and was our favorite stop on our entire ten day tour of Ireland/Northern Ireland. According to Irish legend, the almost perfect octogonal columns are the remains of a causeway built by the giant Finn MacCool. Scientifically, 50-60 million years ago, Antrim was subject to intense volcanic activity and these columns are the result of cooled fluid molten basalt. […]
The Bushmills Distillery claims to be—and is almost unanimously considered to be—the oldest licensed distillery in the world. We took this tour first thing in the morning and were sampling whiskey by 9:30 a.m. Yikes! That being said, this was a well organized and informative tour. If you like whiskey and are in the neighborhood, your should definitely stop for a pour.