We were welcomed to Ireland by the fabulous staff at Paddy's Palace in Dublin!! We jumped on the six day all Ireland Paddywagon tour with 40 others and we ended up having the time of our lives!! From sightseeing, to drinking cold beer, to drinking Guinness, to drinking games, to kissing rocks, to Irish dancing, and generally enjoying the good craic!! The Irish countryside and quaint towns were magnificant, some of the loveliest scenery in the world.
BELFAST
We started our tour in Drogheda, where we saw the preserved head of St Oliver Puckett (executed in 1681). We then went to Belfast, where we did a taxi tour through the city and we amazed by how much unrest there still is between the Catholics and Protestants, who are still separated by a 40 foot wall. They gave us the very confusing background on the civil war and explained that the fighting is nothing like it used to be. Later that night, after a lovely dinner, we went to a pub and got to know everyone better. Whilst wallking home, some of the girls got small rocks thrown at them, which was quite funny!
DERRY/LONDONDERRY
We cruised the beautiful North Coast and went to the Carrick-a-rede rode bridge which was spectacular. Then onto the footprints of the Celtic Giant's (Giant's Causeway) and Dunluce Castle. We spent the night in Derry, doing an afternoon walking tour along the city walls, seeing the Bogside District, the scene of Bloody Sunday Massacre in 1972 and having a massive night again!! We enjoyed the Guiness, the traditional Irish dancing and enjoyed spending time with our new friends.
Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge
GALWAY
We drove through the enchanting Sligo, visiting the sacred grave of poet WB Yeats and followed the west coast along the rugged cliffs and the Atlantic Ocean. We visited Knock, Catholic Irelands vast pilgrimage site. The Irish party capital lived up to it's name, we had a fantastic night here! Our tour guide John was amazing, teaching us Irish songs (which he later regretted as we didn't stop singing them!) Another early morning and onto the Dingle Peninsula.
Drunk...
DINGLE
We drove further down the west coast to the Cliff's of Moher, it had our first rain here and boy was it windy! It was such a outstanding site and we are glad we had some typical Irish weather. We have had sunny warm days the whole trip :) We crossed the River Shannon in historic Limerick and we stayed in a little town called Annascaul on to Dingle Peninsula. We had a karaoke night here and another delicious meal. We spent the next day in the little shipping town Dingle and visited Slea Head. We saw Sleeping Giant Island and the famous 3 sisters mountain range, enjoying a horse ride through Killarney National Park.
Dingle
KILLARNEY
We walked through the town and looked through the shops. Killarney is definately a lovely city and we'd come back for sure! We spent the night in Killarney, where we threw Lana a hen's party and drank the night away, dancing and having a craic! We were sent to bed at 5:30am by the hostel staff, who weren't impressed by our shananigans! Happy Days :)
CORK
We crossed the Cork and Kerry Mountains and went to Blarney Castle where we kissed the Blarney Stone. We are not sure if we have been gifted the gab but being dangled from a 300 feet battlement by a middle-aged Irish man was surely an offer we couldn't pass up haha. We crossed the beautiful Golden Vale, Ireland's finest agricultural land with its rolling fields and pastures fresh and on through the battle fields of 'Braveheart' to Dublin
DUBLIN
We visited the Guinness Brewery and had our free Guinness and went back to our hostel. After a last dinner and teary goodbyes with our new friends, we say goodbye to amazing Ireland and hope to come back soon!!!
KILKENNY & GLENALOUGH
We did a day trip to Kilkenny and Glenalough with our new friend Alicia, it was really lovely to see the massive dams and quaint towns in the Irish countryside. We can now say we had a Kilkenny in Kilkenny and we couldn't be more stoked with our trip to Ireland!!
Slan Leat!!
Happy Days :)
EJnRHE xx
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