We took the ferry from Cainryan to Larne (near Belfast) on Tuesday 1st June. We had 10 days in Ireland and we planned to drive the entire loop. The first few days were driving down the east side where we visited Bru na Boinne, a 5000 year old neolithic passage tomb which we got to go inside and it was fascinating. Easily the oldest thing I will ever see in my life. We also visited a few national park regions enjoying the scenery and visited an ancient monastery in the most spectacular setting.
We decided to stop in Cork for a hostel, we needed showers and to get some washing done. Our aim is to stay in 1 hostel a week on average to keep sane. Unfortunately this hostel was enough to drive us insane. Tiniest room ever with the hard as rock beds, extortionist prices for washing and just a real shabby place. Cork wasn't much better. A depressing city, we were happy to leave the next day.
But of course being in Cork meant we were near the Blarney castle which was a lot better than I expected. We got there as it opened at 9 and were one of the first people up the top of the tower to kiss the Blarney Stone. No queues, best way to do it. But I actually loved it for everything else. The castle grounds are extensive and have some great nooks and crannies to explore and under the castle was a network of old cave passage ways and some of them were open for you to explore. It was great fun.
We spent most of our time in the south east in the peninsulas. Easily the most beautiful part of Ireland. White sand beaches, soaring cliffs and windy roads it was spectacular. The ring of kerry is the most touristic but the skellig peninsula on the end of the ring of kerry was even more beautiful and we had the luck of staying a night at Finnians Bay, our car overlooked the bay and we had the best hotel room you could possibly ask for!
Waking up to the view in the morning was unbelievable. We also drove the Dingle Peninsula which was also gorgeous. Dingle was a cute town and we found the best cafe there where I had fresh fish and chips and we liked it so much we went back the next day for a full Irish breakfast.
And we found a great beach to sleep in the cliffs above with stunning views again but this time we went for a swim. It was freezing but well worth it.
The weather in Ireland was stunning. We couldn't have asked for better. It was sunny most of the time and really warm. We were so lucky. After the south east peninsulas we drove up to see the Cliffs of Moher (disappointing, way over touristed and ridiculously charged) and for a drive around the Burren, a landscape of rock formations and limestone mountains including ancient tombs, forts and cairns. Beautiful.
We then drove north past Galway and into the Connemara, Wow! The Connemara is a gorgeous part of the country, lush green and so many lakes. Every 5 minutes I would be saying - wow look at that. Stunning.
We then drove pretty much straight up to the north west and to Donegal Bay. We stopped at Bundoran, a small surf town, to stay in a hostel because the town sounded like our kind of place. We were right. It was so relaxed and chilled out. The people were awesome, we were one of the few people staying at the hostel mid week (the weekend before had been a big event or something so it was unusually quiet).
The hostel staff were so friendly and the town was so laid back we would have been happy to stay forever. I went to the movies that night, we chilled out at the beach, it was great. The hostel was rock themed with each room dedicated to a different band (we were in the White Stripes room) and big lounges full of comfy couches with walls covered in music posters. Such a cool atmosphere.
We did a detour to the Slieve League cliffs which were gorgeous and I think better than the Cliffs of Moher, mainly because you could actually walk over them without big barriers and concrete everywhere. Plus we got to see them on a nice day so that probably helps too ;)
We were out of days so we drove back into Northern Ireland and across to Giants Causeway which I had visited before but I really wanted Nick to see and then it was a ferry back over to Scotland again. I was really sad leaving Ireland. I absolutely loved it there, the scenery is gorgeous, it's really laid back, the people we met were so friendly, we had sun and beaches (even went for a swim! Pretty cold but still). I definitely plan to go back again one day, Nick and I were even saying we could see ourselves living there for a short time. Really want to go back.
We took the ferry from Cainryan to Larne (near Belfast) on Tuesday 1st June. We had 10 days in Ireland and we planned to drive the entire loop. The first few days were driving down the east side where we visited Bru na Boinne, a 5000 year old neolithic passage tomb which we got to go inside and it was fascinating. Easily the oldest thing I will ever see in my life. We also visited a few national park regions enjoying the scenery and visited an ancient monastery in the most spectacular setting.
We decided to stop in Cork for a hostel, we needed showers and to get some washing done. Our aim is to stay in 1 hostel a week on average to keep sane. Unfortunately this hostel was enough to drive us insane. Tiniest room ever with the hard as rock beds, extortionist prices for washing and just a real shabby place. Cork wasn't much better. A depressing city, we were happy to leave the next day.
But of course being in Cork meant we were near the Blarney castle which was a lot better than I expected. We got there as it opened at 9 and were one of the first people up the top of the tower to kiss the Blarney Stone. No queues, best way to do it. But I actually loved it for everything else. The castle grounds are extensive and have some great nooks and crannies to explore and under the castle was a network of old cave passage ways and some of them were open for you to explore. It was great fun.
We spent most of our time in the south east in the peninsulas. Easily the most beautiful part of Ireland. White sand beaches, soaring cliffs and windy roads it was spectacular. The ring of kerry is the most touristic but the skellig peninsula on the end of the ring of kerry was even more beautiful and we had the luck of staying a night at Finnians Bay, our car overlooked the bay and we had the best hotel room you could possibly ask for!
Waking up to the view in the morning was unbelievable. We also drove the Dingle Peninsula which was also gorgeous. Dingle was a cute town and we found the best cafe there where I had fresh fish and chips and we liked it so much we went back the next day for a full Irish breakfast.
And we found a great beach to sleep in the cliffs above with stunning views again but this time we went for a swim. It was freezing but well worth it.
The weather in Ireland was stunning. We couldn't have asked for better. It was sunny most of the time and really warm. We were so lucky. After the south east peninsulas we drove up to see the Cliffs of Moher (disappointing, way over touristed and ridiculously charged) and for a drive around the Burren, a landscape of rock formations and limestone mountains including ancient tombs, forts and cairns. Beautiful.
We then drove north past Galway and into the Connemara, Wow! The Connemara is a gorgeous part of the country, lush green and so many lakes. Every 5 minutes I would be saying - wow look at that. Stunning.
We then drove pretty much straight up to the north west and to Donegal Bay. We stopped at Bundoran, a small surf town, to stay in a hostel because the town sounded like our kind of place. We were right. It was so relaxed and chilled out. The people were awesome, we were one of the few people staying at the hostel mid week (the weekend before had been a big event or something so it was unusually quiet).
The hostel staff were so friendly and the town was so laid back we would have been happy to stay forever. I went to the movies that night, we chilled out at the beach, it was great. The hostel was rock themed with each room dedicated to a different band (we were in the White Stripes room) and big lounges full of comfy couches with walls covered in music posters. Such a cool atmosphere.
We did a detour to the Slieve League cliffs which were gorgeous and I think better than the Cliffs of Moher, mainly because you could actually walk over them without big barriers and concrete everywhere. Plus we got to see them on a nice day so that probably helps too ;)
We were out of days so we drove back into Northern Ireland and across to Giants Causeway which I had visited before but I really wanted Nick to see and then it was a ferry back over to Scotland again. I was really sad leaving Ireland. I absolutely loved it there, the scenery is gorgeous, it's really laid back, the people we met were so friendly, we had sun and beaches (even went for a swim! Pretty cold but still). I definitely plan to go back again one day, Nick and I were even saying we could see ourselves living there for a short time. Really want to go back.
