One visit to this absolutely beautiful island will make you think of the past, present and future all wrapped up together. “Erin go bragh” literally translates to “Ireland til the end of time” or “Ireland Forever”. The green hills filled with white sheep, howling winds coming off the rugged cliffs, cities and towns that are built around ancient sites of gathering and celebration ~ this is the magic of Ireland. This is the land of Fairies and Leprechauns. We would not have been surprised to come around a corner and see a magical creature waiting to grant us a wish or two.
Ireland had its share of rebelliousness toward the English Crown, but eventually they could not withstand the English might, and so now they drive on the left side of the road. For those of us who drive on the “right” side of the road, the differences can be challenging. We were paranoid to say how well it was going until we returned our rental car in Dublin. Then it was rainbow high fives and a happy dance. Marla was an absolute badass driving on all of the roads Ireland has to offer; from an “interstate” (although they don’t call it that), to fairly well maintained “county” roads to one lane roads the SatNav seemed to guide us to as we got closer to our destination, all of them were safely navigated. Meeting a farm tractor with a trailer on one of those one lane roads was the only time we BOTH had to close our eyes. The rear left wheel was in a ditch and we couldn’t get any further over. Closing our eyes until he passed seemed like the best option.
Trim was our first destination, a charming town with its own castle, (parts of the Mel Gibson film Braveheart were shot here), interpretive signage, and a city sponsored donkey family. Trim provided an excellent home base for visiting Newgrange, Knowth, and the Hill of Tara. We finally stayed up late enough to enjoy some tradition Irish music in a little pub in downtown Trim as well. Harp, fiddle, accordion, piper and vocals made for a great evening of music. We had a few pints, took a few videos and loved every minute of it.
The UNESCO heritage sites of Newgrange and Knowth are ancient (2000 bc at the very least), and very very cool. Newgrange is strikingly beautiful and famous, but we found the tour at Knowth to be way more informative. The great thing about Newgrange is that you can go inside and they do a little light show to simulate a winter solstice sunrise. That was magical! Coming out into the light through the itty bitty tunnel afterwards was also pretty magical ~ like a rebirth it seemed. Maybe that’s what the builders used it for, maybe not, nobody really knows for sure.
Like lots of other things in Ireland there is much more than meets the eye at the Hill of Tara. Ancient ruins buried under grass that can only be understood from a birds-eye view make this location scenic but not much to actually look at from ground level. The interpretive signage was…….not awesome…..but there is a visitors center that is open from May to September. The Visitor’s Center probably makes this site much more interesting. To be fair, we didn’t expect much, but we came because this is where the ancient High Kings of Ireland were crowned and that made it kind of cool. The view from the top was also amazing.
From Trim the road carried us to Northern Ireland and Derry. Semi-tractor trailer rigs were hauling a$$ on what could only be seen as a narrow country road in the US most of the way, but we made it unscathed. Rick Steves would call Derry an underrated city, and we would agree. The Giant’s Causeway, another UNESCO site, is north of Derry about an hour’s drive. We weren’t expecting it to be as incredible as it was but the combination of massive waves and basalt columns that resulted from an ancient volcanic fissure eruption were very cool. We found ourselves, saying “Wow!!” constantly. This site is was worth the drive and if you have the time you should see it. Stay a night or two in Derry –it will absolutely reward your effort. (For those of you GoT fans ~ parts of the series, if not all of it, were filmed at the Giant’s Causeway and other locations in Northern Ireland).
From Northern Ireland, we went south, back into the Republic toward Galway. We stayed in a small resort town called Salt Hill outside of Galway in a hotel right off the beach. There isn’t a lot to Salt Hill, but you can see small portions of the Aran Islands from a causeway built into the bay. The lighthouse in Galway Bay was often the last glimpse of homeland many Irish saw as they emigrated to other lands to escape the Potato Famine and harsh conditions in Ireland. Imagining their the heartache and sorrow blended with hope is inspiring.
On the way to the Dingle Peninsula, we stopped at the Cliffs of Moher, which is another breathtaking site. The wind there is so intense that a protected walkway was built to keep visitors from falling off the cliffs accidentally or intentionally. The visitor’s center is built into a cliff on the lee side of the wind ~ pretty cool design.
Our time in DingleTown was heavily influenced by 1) the European Championship Football semi-finals and 2) the the rugby World Championship quarterfinals. The Irish lost both of those games, even though they were favored to win the Rugby match and even money to win the football match. No magic for those teams for sure.
Dingle lies on the Westernmost point of the island and is a lovely town to visit. The town is geared to tourists so there was plenty of shopping and Guinness and Smithwicks and Irish Whiskey to go around! The coolest thing was Inch Beach that lies across the bay of Dingle about 20km eastward. As we made our way back to Dublin we stopped and took a good loooooong walk. It was a lovely day for an Irish stroll, which means the wind was blowing about 15kmph, the sun was playing hide and seek in the clouds, and the ocean was COLD.
We’ve been together 23 years and married 18. We knew we would celebrate our anniversary in Dublin, and decided to use points to spend our last night in Ireland at The Shelbourne Hotel. What a hotel. Service was impeccable, architecture and decorations fab, and the doormen wore top hats as they hailed our cab to take us to the ferry port. Very cool.
One last ferry trip here in the UK takes us to Wales and then on the train to London after two nights. Two very different places for sure.
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