Picture this: You arrive at a small pier in a tiny harbor and a guy with a boat picks you up. He drops you off ten minutes later on an uninhabited island and goes back to the harbor, leaving you alone on the island. Yep, that’s how I spent my morning today on Dalkey Island. I wasn’t alone the whole time. About an hour after I arrived, more visitors were dropped off, but for one glorious hour. I was alone on an uninhabited island in the Irish Sea.
If you’re looking for an exciting Sunday blog post today, you’re going to be disappointed. My intention was to take another day trip out of the city but I wasn’t feeling motivated, so I spent the day in Dublin instead, where I walked a lot and ate a lot.
Welcome to the United Kingdom! Today I learned about the political history of Northern Ireland (or the “north of Ireland”, as the Irish prefer to call it) on a black taxi tour and visited the iconic Giant’s Causeway, both included on my full-day bus tour with Wild Rover Tours.
Howth, Ireland is located a mere 12 miles from Dublin on a peninsula just north of the city, but it feels worlds away. Howth is most known for its seaside Cliff Walk and piers which are home to the many fishmongers who call Howth their home port. Howth was my destination for the day and was perfect for a half-day trip outside of Dublin.
I spent the day today in Dublin, learning about scholars and prisoners, and of course doing a lot of walking and sightseeing along the way.
Welcome to Ireland! This is both my second trip to the Emerald Isle and a rather spontaneous trip, having only booked my flights about three weeks ago. I didn’t have time to plan a big trip this summer, nor did I really feel like that this year. Since I’ve been to Ireland before and done a road trip around the country, I knew the pressure would be off to try to see and do everything. I am staying in Dublin for six nights and plan a couple of days in the city and a few day trips out of the city.
2,317 kilometers (1,439 miles) driven, 1,849 pictures taken, 15 days of traveling, and 1 happy-to-be-home traveler.
Well, the weather miraculously cleared up for one last day in Ireland. My plan today was to visit Connemara, an area west of Galway known for it’s more rugged beauty. Connemara is also one of the areas of Ireland which retains the Irish language; all road signs are in Irish only. I set off relatively early from Galway along the coastal route and stopped first at the Spiddal Craft Village. The village is several individual vendors set up in little shops around a small common area. I didn’t end up buying anything, but it was fun to browse the jewelry, artwork, and other local handcrafts.
“When life gives you lemons….” Once again, I woke up to cloudy skies and the threat of rain. I determined to make the best of what is becoming a common theme the last few days. I set off from Killarney after breakfast heading toward the Dingle Peninsula. Known as another lesser-visited area, the Dingle Peninsula is the northernmost of the southwest peninsulas heading up the west coast of Ireland. It wasn’t long before I hit Inch Beach. I was determined to put my feet in this side of the Atlantic Ocean, and this seemed like as good a place as any to do it. You might expect the Irish waters to be cold, but compared to Massachusetts, it wasn’t shocking. I met a gentleman walking his dog on the beach and he said this weather is not what summer in Ireland is typically like.
Can we just talk about Irish dairy for a minute? Every single dairy product I’ve had on this trip has been so creamy and fresh! The cream, the butter, the ice cream… so good! On my mental shopping list for the day I get home, I’ve already added Irish butter and cheese. I’m probably thinking about dairy tonight because (a) I’m hungry and (b) I had the world’s best soft serve ice cream cone this afternoon.
Traveling with Laura 