Ireland - September 2016

September 1st - Day 1

Landed in Shannon at 7:00am after an overnight flight from EWR. Easy flight and everyone is excited. Bags collected! Car rented. AVIS guy gives us a map (no phone no GPS) and good directions and we head down toward Killarney. Enzo is baffled by the manual window crank 'OMG how do you work this?!' while Finn enjoyed the accent of the toll booth worker 'That sounds like a superhero' (shhh don’t say that!).

We pick up SIMs for our phone and get to Killarney. We find breakfast, 'cakes and coffee' (hop down a little alley). Our hotel isn’t ready yet ('I’m famished') but we force our jet-lagged bodies to wander the town for a while. Great walking town, one-off shops, lots of color. Clearly a tourist haven but at least here in early September, not at all over run with tourists.

We suck it up and make the 1/2 mile walk to ROSS CASTLE and take the tour (40 mins, totally worth it) then ride back to town in a horse drawn carriage – getting a tour along the way from our colorful horse driver. A near miss w/ a bicycle brings us the quote of the day 'Well now what did ya learn ya dope?'.

We wander town a bit, check in to our hotel, force ourselves to get back out and walk to St. Mary’s Cathedral. A wedding rehearsal in progress. We clap at the touristy but family friendly SALVADOR’s Cali-inspired cantina. Killarney, PA. Food is meh but we are happy to eat and stay awake until 8:30pm.

September 2nd – Day 2

Sleep in until 10am and then out for a quick breakfast. Killarney full of shops, Irish sweaters, Irish kitsch, etc. We head out for Rossbeigh Beach (passing through Glenbeigh on the way). Enzo sandblasters his grandmother on the beach means a sprawling shelf of sand 100m from water to rocks. Very fun. Accidentally drive up the nearby mountain on a terrifying one lane road. It’s about 3 hours from Rossbeigh to Cliffs of Moher through quaint town after quaint town.

Cliffs of Moher are awesome. Windswept and treacherous. We walk up a narrow path to the top of one of the cliffs for a great view. Cows of MOOOO-ER. We just beat the rain and make it to the car to head to Galway. Eyre Square Townhouse one adequate. We venture out in the rain into the cute area of Galway. Every dinner spot is fully booked!

We are out a little late for dinner with kids but finally find another round of pizza and burgers. We also find another sweet shop, which have become a staple of each town. APPLE SQUARES, MINT IMPERIALS and the return of LOVE HEARTS (from Europe 18 years ago). We get to bed around 11p, still needing to make plans for our trip North toward the Causeway.

September 3rd – Day 3

Slept until 9:30am. Breakfast a couple doors down from the hotel. Great coffee, bagel, pancakes, eggs. Overcast not bad. Planning our northern run. Walk around Galway, Latin Quarter. Spanish Arch and pedestrian streets. Good vibe, but longer than Killarney. We make the 3 hour drive to Donegal, in around 4pm.

The internet is not hopeful about places to stay further north. We do lunch at an old stone tavern – kids menus and all! The waitress suggests THE ABBEY HOTEL, which has a room and pool privileges at a hotel next door. We swim and then wander the city center. The town shuts down pretty quickly after the tourist buses go away. We hit the SPAR and pick up a take away pizza. Back in the room we settle in with books, TV, beer and plans for tomorrow.

September 4th – Day 4

First morning setting an alarm to help us get on our way quickly heading north. Breakfast at THE ABBEY HOTEL is meh but we are happily on our way. It’s about 2 1/2 hours to Giants Causeway. The border crossing into Northern Ireland is no more than a highway sign. The local if Marathon gives us a tour right about the time our phone SIM cards realize we are out of coverage. We go old school map navigating until Karen’s phone kicks in again.

Giants Causeway is amazing. We catch the tour and walk down learning about basalt, faerie & folklore. End of tour but we kill time in McDonald’s. We do the Causeway itself and hike around for a good while. Up the road about 15 mins is the CARRICK ROPE BRIDGE. It’s a good hike to the bridge and a bit of a wait to cross but it was well worth it. After we head south toward Dublin without planning to actually get there. We end up picking Drog and staying at the WESTCOURT HOTEL. It’s 8:30p when we get in and dinner, beer and bed are all we have time for.

September 5th – Day 5

Breakfast at a great local café across the street from the Westcourt Hotel. We haven’t loved breakfast overall (very picky kids) but the coffee has been good and we’ve found scones and toast everywhere. We set out after breakfast along the M1 motorway. The highways along the east side of the country are far wider and more developed – making the whole drive less nerve-racking.

We roll into KILKENNY mid-day and go directly to the PEMBROKE hotel. A family room awaits. The hotel is very helpful and a good map and laundry drop off. We head straight to Kilkenny Castle and play on the sprawling lawn (park size) as well as the playground (time-slushie. Surprisingly warm day). The castle is 13th century in origin, continuously owned by the Butler family for hundreds of years. Re-done in early 19th century style it’s huge and fun to walk around.

Late lunch across the river at MATT THE MILLER’s, the loving photograph and a little Irish music. Live music is huge here – every pub every night seems to have music. Yesterday the town was awash in yellow and BLACK as the Kilkenny Hurling team returned from the Irish Championships they lost (1st time in several years). But the town still turned out to cheer their return and then drink and sing into the evening. Not sure if it’s school or culture or the fact that we are in the tourist areas but when we are out with the kids after 7-8pm, we see very few other kids or families about.

We wander the medieval mile a bit, then rest up at the hotel briefly before joining the 8pm 'Haunted Kilkenny' tour – a 2 hr walk around town with an energetic 20-something guide telling us the scary ghost stories of the town’s history (fun time and a good tour). We crash after at the hotel, a fun full day.

September 6th – Day 6

Up around 9:30am as has been our habit. Somewhere between NY time and Ireland time still. Probably just in time to go back to NYC. We pack (daily ritual) and have breakfast at Café Coco, which is great. Z is struggling with some bowel issues and some stress about the imminent start of school.

We walk to Butter Slip alley and then down past KYTLER’S INN and to the tower at St. Canice’s Cathedral. It’s a steep climb but the view is great. You can indeed see all of County Kilkenny. We make our way back down the medieval mile and shop for souvenirs.

OOPS! Forgot to mention that many bodies have been discovered during the restoration of a local Kilkenny church. Got to watch archeologists slowly and delicately unearthing the skeleton of a female-child likely a servant buried in the late 1300s. Very cool to see them at work and the bones.

Settling on earrings for Finn and some chocolates for G and Enzo. We stop at the excavation site (the bones now more obviously a full skeleton) and then pick up the car and make the drive to AVOCA to see Barbara and Gee (note – I know Barbara from working on the TV show ROBIN HOOD in 1987). It’s rural and beautiful. B & G have three kids and Z and E really enjoy getting to play like kids with other humans their age. It’s great to catch up with Barbara & Gee – weird that 18 years can be overcome by a 2 hour visit. But also wonderful.

Around 7pm we point the car north and make our way to DUBLIN for one last night on the road. We roll into town with no plan and wind up at the Drury Court Hotel in a $99, 3-bedroom. It’s the perfect place to repack and get ready for the trip home. It’s too late to find food with kids (a theme of our trip as we’ve kept a late schedule) but we hit the St. Steven’s Market and the kids dine on salt & vinegar chips, apples, peanut butter & baguette and we get beer. Irish IPA.

Been a great trip. Quick but great. Hoping for Iceland next.