Ireland - Killarney, Ring of Kerry and Dingle Peninsula

On June 3rd, we arrived in Killarney.  We had a great time at our hostel and met more great people!  One of the greatest perks of travelling is meeting new acquantainces and making friends along the way.  While in Killarney, a group of us new friends went to a pub called The Grand to listen to some traditional Irish music. The pub was full to its capacity, but the atmosphere was fun and light-hearted. I loved watching people dance to the music and I loved listening to the music.  I also loved how people knew many of the songs and sang along with the musicians. What a fun night!

These two gentleman played at the beginning of the night.

At 11pm, the band took over!

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The two Irish men playing at the beginning of the night

 The band playing at the end of the night

Killarney is the best hub if you plan on doing day trips to the Ring of Kerry and/or the Dingle Peninsula.  After visiting these two spots, I would have loved to spend more time at each.  Well there you have it - a reason for me to go back to Ireland!

Ring of Kerry
The Ring of Kerry is a 179km circuit around Iveragh Peninsula.  It was a beautiful drive and one of the most popular areas to visit in Ireland.  Many people complete the whole circuit via hiking and camp along the way as there are many trails.  I'd love to come back here and hike along some of the trails - except stay in hostels or hotels and not camp!

Gorgeous beaches!

"I love Ireland - it's so beautiful!!!!!!!"

Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is just as beautiful a drive (if not more) than the Ring of Kerry. Its beautiful rugged Atlantic coast is scattered with forts and prehistoric huts, tiny islands and beautiful white sandy beaches. I had a great day on the Dingle Peninsula tour.  I even met a group of German tourists when we were at Slea Head (the most westerly point in Europe).  I started talking with a few of the Germans and let them know that I was half German.  We had a great conversation with their limited English and my non-existant German.  They even shared their German food with me including a special sausage made only in this one small town.  Apparently the meat is used within 30 minutes of killing the animal and then once the sausage is prepared, it is hung for 6 months. It tasted quite good! I also tried a pate that tasted good.  I've never really been a fan of German food in the past because my dad has zero cooking capabilities and the thought of eating steak tar-tar that he prepared turned my stomach (and still does).  Plus, I think I banned sauerkraut from my house when I was in middle school because the smell made me want to vomit.  Hopefully when I get to Germany at the end of June, my apprecation for German food will change as I will be exposed to a greater variety. 

Anyway, here are some pics from the Dingle Peninsula:

Long white sandy beach along the coast

Isn't the water gorgeous?

Breathtaking scenery!

Turquoise water, rugged cliffs...love it!

Prehistoric fort

I'd love to park my butt at that deserted white sandy beach

The town of Dingle

Matt wishing he could go for a swim!

I know I keep saying this, but isn't Ireland beautiful? I've been so blessed to have this opportunity to travel the world and I am loving and savouring every moment :)

Ireland - Galway, Aran Islands (Inis Mor) and Cliffs of Moher

Brief Stint in Dublin
What a great time we had in Belfast!  On May 30th, we left Belfast for Dublin via bus - cost £13 for the 2.5 hour ride.  When we arrived at the bus station in Dublin, we took out our Ipod's to look up the directions to our hostel.  We followed the directions exactly but felt like we were walking in a circle.  We took out our Ipod's again to confirm we were reading the directions correctly and before we could analyze the directions further, a nice gentleman stopped by to ask us if we needed help.  We let him know where we were going and he guided us in the right direction (the directions provided by the hostel were incorrect).

We were only spending one night in Dublin prior to heading to Galway, so after we checked into our hostel, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city and took in a movie (Hangover II) at the Savoy Cinema that night.  While walking around during the day, we would occasionally take out our map to see where we were.  Each time, someone would ask us if we needed help.  Wow, I was so impressed.  What a bunch of genuinely nice people in Dublin!  Seriously, so nice! Canadians are always being called nice and polite, but I think Dubliners (is that what people from Dublin are called??) take the cake for being nice.

We did end up going back to Dublin for a few more nights prior to leaving Ireland, so I'll post more about Dublin in a future blog post.  I just have to say that if you ever go to Dublin, please go see a movie at the Savoy Cinema. It was the most beautiful cinema I have ever been in. It felt like I was at the Centre for Performing Arts or the Queen E. to watch a performance.  The ushers were dressed in black dress pants, nice crisp white button shirts complete with a tie. The theatre had comfy posh seats that were lined with a deep red velvet and the screen was protected by an equally intense coloured red curtain.  Spotless theatre - no gum residue on the seats, no popcorn crunching beneath my feet and no stickiness from spilled pop.  I wish all my movie experiences were this nice - I'd feel better about paying the $13 CDN admission fee.

Galway
We arrived in Galway (pronounced GAUL-way like gall stones, not GAL-way) on May 31st via bus from Dublin (cost €10).  The directions to our hostel were point on and after a 10 minute walk from the coach station, we were at our hostel doors.

Galway is a beautiful city!  It's surrounded by water and has a really cool city centre.  The Latin Quarter of the city is a pedestrian only area and contains many pubs and shops. Galway is also where the Claddagh ring originated from.  Here are some pics from Galway:

Cute bike parked in the lane advertising for a store

Low tide!

Galway felt so safe. At night, many people just casually hang out by the water.

Latin Quarter

Lots of Irish food to be consumed in the Latin Quarter

Beautiful Galway

Wouldn't you like to spend the afternoon sitting on this bench, overlooking the water?

Loving Galway!

Aran Islands (Inis Mor)
On June 1st, we took a ferry to Inis Mor, the largest of the 3 Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. Oh wow, the 45 minute ferry ride was brutal for me.  The water was so choppy that I got extremely sea sick despite taking 2 Gravols 1 hour in advance of the ferry ride.  Ever since I went to Australia in 2006, something in my body changed and I have been subject to motion sickness since. I used to love and still love roller coasters, airplane turbulence and riding the waves while in a boat, but something in my body does not like it at all! Even being on a train or in the back seat of a car can bring on nausea for me - weird, eh? Despite the motion/sea sickness, I still ride coasters until I feel like I am going to upchuck, still go on boats, etc. I just take some Gravol ahead of time and pray that the nausea doesn't get to me.  Unfortunately, the nausea got to me about 15 minutes into the ferry ride.  There I was, sitting nicely and talking to Matt about the rough seas and how I was doing well with it. Then I said I need to turn and face forward and just concentrate on something that isn't moving.  Shortly thereafter, I flew out of my seat and walked as fast as I could - looking like a drunken sailor as the seas were so rough - to the toilets and lost my breakfast.  I then went back to my seat to get my toothbrush and tooth paste out of my bag to freshen my breath up and before I could find both items, I had to race back to the toilets again. Ohhh, I was not feeling good. My eyes were watering and I was probably ghost white. I decided to go to the back of the boat, outside onto the small deck, hold on tight, breathe deeply and shut my eyes until we arrived at the port.  I was relieved once we docked and I could leave the boat for dry land. 

On Inis Mor, our plan was to walk to Dun Aonghasa. As we were walking, the tourist drivers on the island kept stopping to tell us that we would never make it. At first, we thought it was a ploy to get our money and pay for the ride, but after being stopped so many times, we decided to bite the bullet and pay €10 for the tour of the small island that takes us to Dun Aonghasa and some other sites around the island.

While driving around the island with our Gaelic speaking driver, we kept our eyes on the scenery.  The island is full of stones lined up to show the division of property - very odd but neat looking. Once we arrived at the cliffs, I had to pay an admission to actually walk up to them.  It was an extremely overcast day and visibility was poor. I was praying for it to clear up and just as I was leaving the cliffs, the visibility improved substantially and I went and re-took all my photos! 

Here are some pics from Inis Mor:

The entire island is like this - rocks neatly stacked around the perimeter of property to clearly display the division.

Peering over the 330 ft cliffs. This picture was taken by my new friend, Sue, from Edmonton. We met at the cliffs and chatted for over an hour, then on the calm ferry ride back for another 45 minutes. We tried to meet up in Dublin but it didn't work! Maybe another time in the near future!

View of the cliffs once the visibility improved!

Tiny little cottage - maybe for the wee little leprechauns?

The Burren & Cliffs of Moher
On June 2nd, we visited the Cliffs of Moher and we were blessed with a beautiful day (considering the prior few days had been overcast & rainy). I woke up to blue skies, no wind, and sun!  Because of the awesome weather, we got great views of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher.

The Burren area is beautiful...I'm beginning to think that everything in Ireland is beautiful :) The Burren is close to 300 sq km and enclosed by several villages. The hills are composed of limestone pavement with criss crossing cracks known as "grikes" which leave isolated rocks which are known as "clints".  The region is very diverse - it supports arctic, Mediterranean and alpine plants, side by side due to its unusual environment. 

I had a nice & peaceful lunch while in the Burren area. I sat on some limestone, listened to my Ipod and just took in the scenery.

Here are some pics of the Burren:

Area where I ate my lunch in solitude :)

 

All limestone hills in the background

Oh look, another castle!

After the Burren, we went to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are spectacular. They tower 210 metres above the ocean - huge!

Here are some pics:

Long enough post! I'm going to eat dinner now.  That took ages to upload all those pics. I hope you enjoyed!

Northern Ireland - Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede and Derry

On May 29th, we headed further north to visit Carrick-a-Rede, Giant's Causeway and Londonderry (Derry).

Carrick-a-Rede
Carrick-a-Rede is a rope bridge that is suspended between two giant rocks over the Atlantic Ocean. Matt and I weren't interested in paying to cross the rope bridge that looked very secure - I'd rather save my $ to skydive! Nonetheless, crossing the rope bridge would have been somewhat adventurous given the wind we were experiencing.  The wind was approaching 40 m.p.h., the limit at which the bridge is shut down.  Just standing on the edge of the cliff to take photos was a little nerve wracking as the wind was so strong. Here are some photos of the walk towards the Bridge and of the bridge itself:

Isn't Ireland just beautiful? I think so!

Giant's Causeway
Our next stop was the Giant's Causeway. The scenery was spectacular once again.  Waves pounding against rocks on the walk down to the Causeway and the formation of the Causeway itself was cool! The Giants Causeway was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 due to the unique nature of its geology. The site is composed of 40,000 rectangular shaped basalt columns packed closely together, as if to form stepping stones. Geologists thing that the columns were formed by the cooling and shrinking of molten lava from an ancient volcanic eruption over 60 million years ago (so says the pamphlet). The tallest columns are almost 12 meters high. 

There is also a local legend about the mighty giant, Finn MacCool.  Local legend tells us that it was actually the Giant Finn MacCool who created the Giant's Causeway to challenge his Scottish rival, Benandonner. Ehh, whatever!

Here are some pics from the walk up to the Giant's Causeway and the Causeway itself:

Derry
Derry is a city north of Belfast with its own troubled and bloody history.  The city is surrounded by walls (like York). We started off walking along some of the walls that outline the city and then made our way down to view some murals painted on the sides of buildings.  While walking, we also came across the site of Bloody Sunday (U2's song "Bloody Sunday" is about the events that happened on January 30, 1972 in Derry - correct me if I am wrong). Here are some pics:

Site of Bloody Sunday

Question - Does anyone know how to post photos on blogspot with higher quality?