On our arrival into Ireland we picked up the most ridiculous hire car you could imagine. The thing looked like a squished up 'smart car', it had no radio on the dash and the bloody thing was purple! Well we got what we paid for basically so after naming the car 'Guinness Pig' (due to it looking like a Guinea Pig) we were on the highways and backroads again exploring Ireland.
With a map in hand and no real plans of where to go we made our first stop in Kilkenny to try the local brew. And what a lovely brew it is! 1 pint turned into too many pints so the decision was made to park the car and check into a hostel dorm. Lucky for us one of the many pubs across the road had a live music session planned for the night. Well... when i say planned it was basically a group of guys rocking up with different instruments (some hadn't even met each other before) and enjoying a few drinks whilst having a decent jam together. There were a few different poets who got up and even the lovely bar maid belted out a song of her own. Kilkenny was a suprise and probably one of my favourite places we stopped off at in Ireland.
Kilkenny in Kilkenny!
Live Irish tunes in a very crowded Kilkenny pub on a weeknight
Ok Mum I now have a Sportsbar in Norway and now a little pub in Kilkenny!
Over 50's are welcome ;)
We both awoke with slightly sore heads and quickly decided a walk around Kilkenny Castle was our best option before jumping back in our purple car! Our next stop was Cork and after a great sleep in a hostel the night before we decided another good nights sleep would be a good thing. We even managed to shop at the famous markets and cook up roast chicken wings and vegies in the hostel (yes mum healthy!) , even the Spanish backpackers were impressed! Not sure if you all remember from my Spanish Sunshine blog but we were lucky enough to be saved by some Irish girls who had some San Sebastian accomodation organised when we had arrived completely unprepared. Anyhows... we had kept in touch with them and organised a catch up in a very cool bar in their hometown of Cork. I think its amazing how you can run into the same people you had met months before in a completely different country. Ohh the joys of travelling.
Kilkenny church
Kilkenny Castle with some rain on the way!
'
Cork Reunion with our Irish friends!
The next morning we set out on another big day of driving and headed to the south west of Ireland to see the scenic Ring of Kerry. The clouds started low but by mid afternoon we had some lovely weather. It was even warm enough for crazily refreshing dip in the Arctic Ocean! We found this beautiful beach (almost up to Aussie standards) just after visiting Dingle and driving through the spectacular Conor Pass. This quick little dip gave us the energy to continue onto Limerick where we stayed with Owen, a very funny Irish lad that Isaac had met in Paris. After a cup of tea and a quick feed we headed out to see the bright lights of Limerick, a city that most travelers don't stop by. It was a Wednseday night so you would think that it might have been a rather quiet night... Well not this Wednesday. After some warm up pints of Guinness Owen took us to this brilliant bar with live music. There were even 70 year olds tearing up the dancefloor at this once Aussie run pub. Just like Kilkenny, Limerick was another suprise packet and a great stop over before heading to Galway.
Ring of Kerry with some super dooper low clouds
The Guinness pig - How ridiculous is this car!!
This looks somewhat nice but it smelt like Werribee!
Hmmmmm lovely day for a swim... Looks like Pea Soup in Port Fairy for all those South Western Victorians out there.
FREEEEZING!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid Aussies!
Dingle Wharf
Ok so by now you are probably thinking that our trip has turned into an alcohol binge! Sorry mum! It just seems to be the Irish way :) By this stage Isaac and I were pretty exhausted and a rest day would have been perfect. However Thursday the 23rd of September is Arthur's Day, a day to celebrate the creation of Guinness by the famous Mr Arthur Guinness. Before heading to Galway we set out along the west coast of Ireland to the touristy Cliffs of Moher which provided some ridiculously expensive car parking along with some more stunning scenery. Finally we arrived in Galway (after having our car heckled at) around mid afternoon, checked into a hostel, did some sightseeing, showered up and prepared ourselves for another Irish night out on the town. The rule for Arthurs Day is that you must have a pint of Guinness in your hand to cheers the great man at 17:59pm (1759 was the year Arthur signed the brewery contract in Dublin to start brewing Guinness). As you can see from our photos Galway was absolutely packed both inside the pubs and out on the streets. Lets just say alot of Guinness was consumed by all this night (even statues....!)
Signature tourist pose at the Cliffs of Moher
Spectacular Cliffs
Artistic moment!
The Guinness had been delivered in bulk to Galway... They knew Isaac was coming!
Just another quiet week night in Galway!
Cheers to Arthur at 17.59pm!!!!! Craziness.
Ring of Kerry with some super dooper low clouds
The Guinness pig - How ridiculous is this car!!
This looks somewhat nice but it smelt like Werribee!
Hmmmmm lovely day for a swim... Looks like Pea Soup in Port Fairy for all those South Western Victorians out there.
FREEEEZING!!!!!!!!!!! Stupid Aussies!
Dingle Wharf
Ok so by now you are probably thinking that our trip has turned into an alcohol binge! Sorry mum! It just seems to be the Irish way :) By this stage Isaac and I were pretty exhausted and a rest day would have been perfect. However Thursday the 23rd of September is Arthur's Day, a day to celebrate the creation of Guinness by the famous Mr Arthur Guinness. Before heading to Galway we set out along the west coast of Ireland to the touristy Cliffs of Moher which provided some ridiculously expensive car parking along with some more stunning scenery. Finally we arrived in Galway (after having our car heckled at) around mid afternoon, checked into a hostel, did some sightseeing, showered up and prepared ourselves for another Irish night out on the town. The rule for Arthurs Day is that you must have a pint of Guinness in your hand to cheers the great man at 17:59pm (1759 was the year Arthur signed the brewery contract in Dublin to start brewing Guinness). As you can see from our photos Galway was absolutely packed both inside the pubs and out on the streets. Lets just say alot of Guinness was consumed by all this night (even statues....!)
Signature tourist pose at the Cliffs of Moher
Spectacular Cliffs
Artistic moment!
The Guinness had been delivered in bulk to Galway... They knew Isaac was coming!
Just another quiet week night in Galway!
Cheers to Arthur at 17.59pm!!!!! Craziness.
Even these 2 old blokes shared a pint of the black stuff!
After an extremely fun Arthurs Day we had a 6am start in order to drop the car off in central Dublin. 1 hour of trying to find a bloody petrol station in Dublin and then another 30mins trying to track down the Hertz dealership we had finally delivered the purple beast back only 1 hour late! Lucky for us as we spent the next 3 days in Dublin staying at one of my best mates friends flat where we were able to do some well needed washing, have decent showers and catch up on some sleep! Thankyou Kim and Nikki for putting up with us! Whilst in Dublin we watched the drawn AFL grand final in a pub that only showed a delayed replay! Both Isaac and I felt a touch homesick watching this as the sun was shining in Melbourne town whilst Dublin was bloody freezing! Of course we also managed to visit the famous Guinness brewery, enjoy the biggest pub meal in our lives and check out all the sights of a rather large city.
The perfect pair - Guinness time at the Guinness factory in Dublin
Probably the tastiest pint of Guinness you will ever get!
Great Guinness and great views over Dublin town
Isaac and I had decided that a trip to the north of Ireland wouldn't be such a bad idea so we hired another Hertz car (this one a touch bigger and black!) We had some tasty lunch in Downpatrick and continued north to Belfast. After a quick look around we headed towards the north east coast where we slept in the car nere Ballycastle in order to have a full day driving along the top of the north coast. Waking feeling pretty fresh we drove to the World Heritage Sight that is the Giants Causeway. This is an area of about 40 000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. Most of the columns are hexagonal although there are some with more and less sides. Just like Scotland the north coast of Ireland was pretty spectacular and having a car made it easy to see so much. We spent another night sleeping in the car before driving to Dublin airport in order to catch a flight to Germany where a rest day was in our sights! Ireland has been one of my favourite countries visited so far, not only for the Guinness and scenery but the people are always willing to help, whether it be giving crazily infortmative directions in their thickest Irish accent or helping plan our trip.
Our overnight stop right near this castle
Giants Casueway - amazing rock formations
Northern Ireland is beautiful!
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