Galway - Wild Atlantic Coast

We have been looking forward to this portion of our trip as our daughter is joining us for a few days.  She flew into Dublin and explored that city before catching the train out to Galway where we picked her up.  That first afternoon, we had a wonderful meal at Kai Restaurant and spent some time exploring Galway including the Spanish Arch and the Latin Quarter.  We start to walk along the seapint promenade to Salthill and its promenade but it is too windy and cold for us so cut the walk short. Then off to a very nice AirBnB in Kinvara about 30 minutes from Galway.  

Limerack

 

Our next stop was a small town just outside of Limerick called Bunratty as in the castle Bunratty.  On our way to Bunratty we stopped in Ennis at the ruins of a friary and then in Limerick to see King John's Castle.

Wild Atlantic Coast - Ring of Skellig

 

Skellig Michael - UNESCO World Heritage Site

Skellig Michael is a pair of Islands 7.2 miles off shore.  Greater Skellig is known for the Gaelic monastery built between the 6th and 7th century.  In our travels, we have been amazed at the great lengths monks will go to seek isolation. (Check out our post for the Meteora Monastery for another example. 

Wild Atlantic Coast - Ring of Kerry

 

Round of Golf one afternoon

We are staying in Killarney in an apartment for a week as there is a lot to do in the area as well as time to cook a little, wash some clothes etc.  (Haircut for me) Killarney is very walkable and full of tourists in the area we are staying in close to the Killarney National Park.  The majority of which are from the USA, but also many Irish, English, German and Italian tourists too. It’s a cute town and we enjoy exploring it on our first day. 

Ireland’s Ancient East - Cork Ireland

 

We drove from Waterford to Cork on a rainy day with a stop in between at a country restaurant.  I actually went without a jacket a little bit on our last day in Waterford, but the wind and the rain meant it was again a chilly day when we left for Cork.  If the weather had been nice, we were going to stop along the coast, but dropped that idea and just enjoyed our lunch at Ballymaloe.

Ireland’s Ancient East - Waterford

View from our room

 It’s time to head for Ireland’s Ancient East so we pick up a rental car and start on our way.  We will visit:

• #3 of National Geographic’s Top Ten Gardens
• The Viking Triangle
• Waterford’s Copper Coast

Dublin

Can you see the harp?  A harp is a symbol of Ireland

We drive back to Belfast in a light rain where we return the car and then wait for a bus to take us to Dublin city center.  The weather turns worse, so we are very glad to be passengers on the 3-hour drive to downtown Dublin.   Happily, when we arrive the weather has cleared.  We had not completely unpacked since we left Belfast so it was time to discover some of our clothes.