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Reflections on my Ireland trip so far!

The two of us started out on May 6th and spent 3 days in Dublin then visited Powerscourt & Glendalough and landed in Kilkenny for two days, moved on to Kilarney National Park for one night and now we are in Dingle. So far this is what we've experienced:
1) In Dublin, O' Neils pub was amazing, good food & drink, the Literary Pub Crawl is awesome, we stayed at Buswell Hotel and the service was great, all these were right out of the Rick Steve's Guide book. The tour of the Dublin Castle was well worth the time.

2) The Wicklow Mountains are inspiring, enjoyed Powerscourt gardens the most. The Rock Of Cashel was a little underwhelming for being such a major attraction. Muckross House is wonderful and we took the buggy ride around the lake and to the waterfall and found the guide to be one of the highlights of the whole trip!

3) Driving is the best and worst part of this trip, it takes a day to get use to driving on the left side but the hard part is that the roads are narrow (like less that 12 inches on either side at times, the number of sheep, horses, cyclists, and walkers that are on the road at any given turn will get your heart rate up! The roads are not marked very well so a GPS is a must, even though I brought a very good map we would have been lost half the time without the GPS. Now the good part, the scenery is beautiful!!

4) So far, half the days it has rained so you must bring a waterproof jacket and a good fleece with you or you would be wet and unhappy, we also have good travel umbrella's from Tote that have worked very well. My Marmot Mica jacket is waterproof, lightweight and packs very small.

5) Dingle is everything the RS guide book says it is and tomorrow local guide John O'Connor will take us on a trip around the Dingle Ring.

In conclusion, packing light and following the suggestions for places to stay, eat and visit has paid off very well!

Posted by
2261 posts

" we took the buggy ride around the lake and to the waterfall and found the guide to be one of the highlights of the whole trip!"

Donald, this was our experience exactly, we really enjoyed our buggy master, Michael. Glad to hear you are having a great time, and yes, the driving can be very exciting. Once or twice, my wife was the one who wanted to pull off for a bit, what with the hedgerow streaking by 12" from the side of the car. It can be much more claustrophobic for the passenger.

We look forward to hearing about your tour of the peninsula.

Slainte!

Posted by
2252 posts

Nice report. Sounds like a lovely trip and I appreciate hearing the advice right along with the ups and downs. Thank you for sharing your vacation and I'm looking forward to reading more.

Posted by
15560 posts

I'm glad you did the Literary Pub Crawl. It was one of the highlights for me - even though it was in the rain. Kudos for driving!!

Posted by
8572 posts

But have you had a pint at Foxy Johns yet in Dingle!?? Maybe buy Mr. O'Conner a pint after your ride around the peninsula!