Well – I’m back from Ireland and it seems like our trip just flew by. I’ve already made it through my first day back to work as well. That went by at light-speed. I have a lot of catching up to do at work and in the blog world.
I won’t bore you with an overwhelming recap of our trip. I’ll just tell you our itinerary and show you some of the highlights. Here’s what our 11 days and 11 nights in Ireland looked like:
Arrived in Dublin and drove to Kilkenny (we stopped at Glendalough on the way). Spent the night in Kilkenny and met my Irish relatives. We explored the city the next day and met the Mayor.
After exploring Kilkenny for a bit, next we stopped at the Rock of Cashel and then drove on to Kinsale. We spent one night in Kinsale and then drove to Cobh for the day. Cobh was a gorgeous harbor town and well-worth a visit. From there we went to Kenmare. I thought Kenmare was adorable.
We spent one night in Kenmare and then drove the Ring of Kerry early the next morning. We had planned to go on this amazing excursion to Skellig Michael Island, but the weather was too rough for the boats. We explored Valentia Island instead.
From there we finished the Ring and went to Dingle. We spent a gorgeous night in Dingle.
The next day we drove from Dingle to Killarney. We spent two days in Killarney and explored a lot of Killarney National Park.
After two days in Killarney we started to make our way to Galway. We stopped along the way at Bunratty Castle and the Cliffs of Mohr.
We arrived in Galway and had a relaxing night and then explored the city of Galway the next day.
We had a lovely dinner in Galway and then made some friends from Cincinatti.
After Galway, we headed back to Dublin and spent our last two days there doing all the touristy stuff – Dublin Castle, Trinity College and the Book of Kells, Christ Church, St. Patrick’s Church, the historic jail, Guinness Storehouse and even took in a soccer game.
And finally, we spent our last night in Ireland in a castle.
Obviously, this is the extremely abbreviated version of our trip. I think we have about 1,300 photos from three different cameras. I have a lot of organization and sorting to do.
It was really an amazing and unforgettable trip. We didn’t get to see everything I had on our itinerary, but I’ll admit that it was a little bit hopeful and unrealistic. We hit almost everything though. The only issue we had was the size and condition of the roads over there. They were TINY and some of them were totally rough and undeveloped. There were some scary moments on some treacherous roadways. But we handed in the car unscathed, which we’ve found out is not always the case. So that is my only warning – be prepared for some difficult driving. I didn’t even feel comfortable driving, so it was Hubby 100% of the time.
Also – I’ll say that I wish we had left our schedule a bit more flexible. I booked all of our B&Bs online before we went and then felt guilty if we thought about staying in one city for a while longer. Not to mention, I was worried we’d be charged anyway. So that is something to think about if you ever consider going. How structured do you want to be? Do you want any wiggle room? I’d recommend it.
So that’s my overly short recap of our trip. It does not do it justice and my few photos posted here hardly scratch the surface of the beauty. It was a great trip.
Now it’s back to the grind. And back to running. I ran a short 3 miles in the rain this evening and was happy I pushed through the disheartening weather. I was very close to just calling it a day. I’m going to create a half marathon training plan in the next day or two to help me stay on track. My 3 miles tonight were run Garmin-less and it was probably better that way. I need to ease back into it. However, I’ve only got a little over a month to get back into shape for my fall half marathon, so slacking is no longer allowed. I’m getting back to it and I’m fully excited about it. 🙂
Hope all has been good with everyone while I was away. I have a lot of catching up to do. However, I’ve been gone so long, no one is probably even reading this blog anymore. Anyway – happy Monday night. It’s time for bed.
Eat, Read, Run 