After we got our car, I slowly drove out of the parking lot. For those of you who haven't driven on those islands, it's opposite of the US--you drive on the left. So I was all a-freakin' trying not to hit anybody. I didn't hit anybody, but several times Tammy and I got in on the wrong sides of the car as we visited different places.
Ireland is BEAUTIFUL. We both agreed it was our favorite place on our trip. There are beautiful rolling mountains, roads that run along the lush, green coast, old forts and castles all over, and the Irish people have such a funky and great accent. Especially the really Irishy ones.
Our flight landed in Killarney, Ireland. So since it was Frirday evening when we arrived, we just drove to a B&B there. An interesting thing about Ireland--there are TONS of Bed & Breakfasts there. Not sure why, but there are. We found one called Nashville Inn and stayed there, since we both lived in Nashville before. We told the owner that too, but he didn't seem to care too much. His last name was Nash and hence the name of his B&B.
He was a nice guy, just quiet. We woke up the next morning and he prepared us a classic Irish breakfast...sausage, eggs, bacon, ham, OJ, toast, etc. Really filling and really fatty! We hit the road soon after so we could catch our boat ride to Skellig Michael (read up on its history at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skellig_Michael).
Skelling Michael is unreal! It's an old monastery that was build around 600 AD and used up until around 1800. It's on a little island that is basically all cliffs. First you get on a little boat and head out on the open ocean--big swells, big waves, and big splashes of ocean water on you. We wore yellow suits to protect us from the wind and water. It's about 10 miles out to the island, where we came to a little harbor area.
Next, you hike up 600 (original) stone stairs to get to the little settlement, where they had these little stone huts that were fashioned from stone on the island. Everything was built from stone. They had a little cemetery with stone markers, stone pits that collected rainwater, and several of these beehive-looking huts. It was sooooo pretty. The sun came out and it was just a breathtaking view with all the greens, blues, and browns of the land and water. It is really hard to describe how beautiful this was, but hopefully the pics/videos below help convey it. (Sorry for the bad sound quality.)
On the way back out, a seagull literally swooped down on Tammy and grabbed her sandwich out of her hand. It freaked us both out a bit, but after we recovered we got a good laugh out of it.
The island next to us is one of the largest gannet colonies in the world...something like 40,000 birds on this little island.
We talked to a nice German couple. Honestly I had a much easier time understanding them than the boat captain...he had a really thick Irish accent and I understood maybe 20% of what he said.
After we got back, we drove the "Ring of Kerry". It's a scenic route that winds along the coast for much of the time, and then goes past a mountain range and into Killarney National Park. Again, it was just unreal to be surrounded by so much beautiful scenery...the whole drive (75 miles or so) was great. Anytime we saw something that looked interesting, we'd just turn off and go explore it.
The next day we went to church at the Tralee, Ireland Branch. This is where we met Evan, a very energetic and cute kid.
After church, we went back to Killarney National Park and actually stopped to hike around. Here are pics/vids of what we saw.
Where's Waldo?
Where's the other Waldo?
Next, we drove northward towards the Cliffs of Moher. Several movies have been filmed here, including Harry Potter and Princess Bride. They are 750-foot cliffs that drop off straight into the sea. When we got close to them, we stopped at a B&B to sleep, and also so I could work some more cow magic.
Monday--the day of the Cliffs! These were really cool. The path goes right up to the edge of the cliffs, and people commit suicide/die here often enough that they have signs posted about it. I did my duty and got close to the edge. I even took the advice of one of my friends and spit off the edge...the draft from the cliffs blows it back up, which is pretty cool if you like floating spit.
The coolest part of this was when the fog blew in. I've always dreamed about seeing this; when I sang in choir in college, we'd sing lots of songs about England/Ireland/Scotland and how the mist would come over the hills. I'd always wanted to see what they were writing about. So here at the cliffs, we watched fog blow in, and cover the land, and it was really mystical and beautiful. It was our last full day of "vacation" in Ireland, and I was so grateful to see this. Got to cross it off my bucket list, and it was totally worth the trouble.
After the Cliffs, we started heading back to Dublin, since we had to fly out the next morning. We took pictures of some of the cool things we saw, and then, back to Dublin we went.
Last stop -- Chicago, before catching our flight back to Atlanta. We were tired, but what a great trip! I am SO glad that we followed through with this...what great, fun memories.
