Part 2 – Ireland
Last week I shared highlights from our UK trip to England and Ireland. This week I will share about our visit to Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is a slow adjustment back to life post vacation. I do find myself often thinking about what we were doing on this day last month (Churchill war rooms, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abby Big Ben and China Town). I have enlarged, framed and hung some pictures from the trip and I need to make an album that I can flip through and think wistfully about our trip.
If you missed last weeks post click here to get caught up for part 2 https://shellyfryphotography.com/my-everyday/home-shelly-fry-photography
Northern Ireland
As I mentioned last week we missed our ferry. There was a ton of time put into planning how we would get from Inverness (Scotland) to Belfast (N. Ireland). At one point it involved, a train a bus then a ferry. Sadly, we couldn’t make all the connections work so we decided to use our rental car and skip the train part and add in Balmoral on our way to the bus which would take us to the ferry. Well if you red last weeks post you know how that worked out.
Highlights
- Belfast – we liked the Titanic museum and they had a lovely walking district with shops and restaurants
- Found some really good pasta for dinner
- The Dark Hedge – It poured rain on us but it just added to the beauty!
- Giant’s Causeway – super cool beach with very unusual rock formations (formed by cooling lava) we loved hiking around here and exploring and while it was super windy the rain stopped for us here!
- Carrick-A-Rede – Suspension bridge another beautiful beach area with gorgeous scenery.
Ireland
I hadn’t even realized we had left Northern Ireland and were now just in Ireland. It all looks the same. Not even a “Welcome to Ireland” sign. We did learn that the two countries do have very different opinions about the UK (Hint – we saw signs for an upcoming 4th of July parade in Ireland). Other than political leaning it is all equally beautiful!
The flowers in Ireland were unreal! Seriously, miles of fuchsia lined the roads as a hedge. The hydrangea were stunning!! The amount of blossoms with a variety of colors were just jaw dropping! Every town we were in had so many overflowing flower boxes. I just loved it!
Highlights
- Malinhead – We stayed in the most northern part of the island and it was as beautiful as it was remote. I really enjoyed exploring the cliffs, walking on the spongy heather and enjoying daylight until 11pm
- Fairy Bridges – We call them land bridges out here. Fairy bridges are smaller and grassy and lovey (at least the ones we visited)
- Down Patrick Head – Absolutely one of my favorite spots on the entire trip. These cliffs were dramatic!! Scary yes! We spent a lot of time just walking along the edge and watching the ocean. We had amazing weather as a bonus!
- Galway – A cute seaside town full of pubs, great walking and lots of flowers!
- Killarney – Probably our favorite town. Very walkable. Lots of fun shops, yummy restaurants and buskers to enjoy. AMAZING hydrangeas!
- Bike ride in National Park – our fist ebike experience and we loved it! Beautiful ride around the lake. We had a picnic and stopped for ice cream. An excellent plan B when one of Ireland’s top tourist destinations is unexpectedly closed!
- Dingle Peninsula – Also part of our back up plan since the Ring of Kerry was closed. Having never been to the Ring of Kerry I don’t feel like we missed out because I absolutely loved the Dingle Peninsula with its cliff side pastures and rock fences that went for miles. We saw stone houses with thatched roofs and amazing views of the islands and sea as we drove on the edge of the cliff. The highlight for me was our hike out to the most western part of the island. It was steep. covered in heather and had stunning views of the Irish coastland.
- Becoming heroes to a very tired American family who was lost and needed a ride to the nearest pub.
- Jeff did an amazing job driving on the left, shifting with his left hand and driving on crazy narrow, curvy roads!!
Total miles walked = 56 miles Total flights climbed = 223
Grand total of miles walked on our trip = 121.73 Grand total of flights climbed on our trip = 410
Overall it was an amazing trip! Ask me about the trip home sometime. Let’s just say it wasn’t the highlight!
The abbreviated version is we had 3 connections. With each connection we had to pick up our luggage and go through the entire check in, security process. Somebody I was traveling with managed to fail security not once or twice but four times (agricultural jail no less )! And for the grand finale of a very long day I managed to leave my purse (passports and all) on our very last flight.
Was it worth it?
Absolutely!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Shelly
