Ireland Adventures

Cork: You visit Cork for one reason – to kiss the blarney stone! Blarney castle is just a few miles outside of Cork and is quite a touristy place. This being said, its worth a visit to see the castle and walk the grounds. Kissing the stone could be a very long wait, but I’d suggest going in the late afternoon, and we found the line to be closer to 30min rather than a 90min wait that some people experience. Cork itself is a large city, and the streets are pretty chaotic. I would recommend limiting driving in the city center as much as possible. Overall it’s a city, I wouldn’t mind exploring it a bit more, but it doesn’t have any specific or noticeable charm.
Carlow/Cahir Castle/Rock of Cashel: Traveling from Cork to Dublin is quite the drive, so it’s worth a few spots along the way. Cahir Castle is a mid-size castle that is nice to visit if it’s on your route, but I wouldn’t plan a trip specifically to see it. The Rock of Cashel is just a few minutes away, and is an impressive stone building sitting a top of hill. It’s 8 euros per adult to visit, which felt reasonable and is one of the more impressive buildings across Ireland. There was a little café called Granny’s Kitchen that sold basic sandwiches, muffins, and drinks for extremely reasonable prices (less than 5 euros) just across the street. We stayed just outside Carlow, which is a small city that otherwise is not worth mentioning beyond the restaurant Teach Dolmain. By far the best seafood chowder I have ever had! Massive chunks of salmon, and other seafood, rich cream, a mix of herbs, with a side of dense flavorful brown Irish bread, all for a price of ~$10. One of my top three meals of the trip!

Dublin/Wicklow Mountains National Park: I’m not sure if you can visit Ireland without going to Dublin, but after visiting Dublin, I think you probably should. It’s a big city, and while it has some well-known tourist attractions, I do not feel my trip was any the better for having visited, especially as 90% of the other cities are completely on the other side of the country. Additionally, while St Patrick’s Cathedral had beautiful tile flooring, the church itself is pretty small and a bit of a racket that they charge €11 per person to visit, and then sell commercialized junk within the church. I would definitely not waste your money as there are far more beautiful churches in Ireland for free or that simply request a couple euros in donation. While Dublin itself is nothing noteworthy, the nearby Wicklow Mountains National Park is a massive area with a diverse landscape of mountains, forests, and plains. The drive through the park is quite adventurous as it’s rolling hills and gentle curves along a narrow two way road. You feel like you are driving a Mario Cart course while navigating throughout the hills. Several people bike the road, which would be an exhausting but fulfilling full day activity. I would recommend the challenging but rewarding Spinc hike. While long, it follows a ridgeline overlooking a valley lake and presents rewarding views.

Galway/Connemara: I’d admit I was most excited to visit Galway, as it’s referenced in many classic Irish pub songs. While it didn’t quite live up to my expectations, it was enjoyable in other ways. Galway was by far the most touristy city, as its city center Latin Quarter was crowded with people throughout the day and evening. Walking by the Murphy’s ice cream shop was an experience in itself! There was a line out the door, but a lady was handling out samples on the street, so I walked up and decided to try a free sample, with no intention of waiting in line. I took the last sample, but she said she’d be right back so my friend could try. Returning a few seconds later she gave another flavor sample which was delicious and told us the line moved quickly – and it was the most impressive, organized ice cream restaurant I’ve seen. Waiting in line a worker would walk up and chat with you about your day and travels, and ask if you wanted to sample any flavors. They would then run to the front, grab you a sample and ask if you wanted to try any more, all while waiting in line. You would slowly move up and a second worker would greet you, asking how the prior samples were and if you wanted to try any others. I sampled at least six flavors, while waiting in the line of 40+ people, and was served within 7 minutes. It was an incredibly efficient system that made me feel like a valued customer, and kept the line moving quickly. Ice cream aside, Galway is known for it’s live music in the pubs. Come 8pm or later, small groups arrive in the local pubs and play little songs on violas, flutes, harps, and accordions. It’s a free performance, they just hope you purchase a €4-€5 beer while listening. Given the unique experience, the pubs are crowded and seem to have no concerns about a fire marshal being called to check capacity, as they would cram 50+ people into a room meant for a dozen. Along with this, Ireland was experiencing a heat wave this week, with high temperatures and even higher humidity. Given its rare for such heat, most establishments (and hotels) do not have any air conditioning. These pubs were practically saunas! Looking over at my friend, he had a constant stream of sweat running down his face while trying to listen to the music, and I wasn’t doing much better. We would have stayed longer, but felt a risk of passing out, so ended up calling it a night early. About an hour outside of Galway is Connemara National Park, which once again is a free place to visit. It was quite busy, but there is an incredible hike called Diamond Hill. It’ll take ~90min to walk up the steps along the mountainside, but presents amazing 360° views. Weather was perfect this day, which resulted in being able to see for miles in all directions. I’m not sure how the hike would be in the off seasons, as it’s likely pretty cold and windy, but I would be sure to add to your list.

Ennis/Cliffs of Moher/Aran Islands: The iconic Cliffs of Moher seems to be another requirement when visiting Ireland. They are near Galway and worth swinging by to see. This being said, several segments of the trail are closed for “safety reasons”, but it seems to be an excuse to charge money. While the cliffs themselves are public land and free, there is a visitor center and parking lot, that charges an admission fee per person, rather than per vehicle. Being €15 a person, compared to all of the other national parks and sights in Ireland being free, it seems like a money grab. Gone also are the days where you can walk right up to the cliff edge and sit on grass. Now you walk along a sidewalk that has a waist high wall along it, ten feet back from the cliffs edge. You still get nice views and its quite a sight to see the steep drop of the cliffs, but seeing the old route trail in the distance, compared to the current trail, you feel like you are missing out. We also took a ferry out to the Aran islands just off the coast of the Cliffs of Moher. We decided to visit the smallest of the islands, called Inis Oirr (Inisheer). Despite being the smallest, it’s still a couple miles wide and you can spend a few hours walking around. Most of the island consists of stone walls and small fields, but there is an old shipwreck off one coast which you can walk right up to, with its rusty red color presenting a cool contrast against the ocean background. It was fun to explore the island, but unless you are spending several weeks in Ireland, I don’t think I would recommend allocating time to the islands. We spent our last evening just outside of the Shannon Airport in a town called Ennis. Being a Sunday evening, most things were closed and it was pretty quiet, but the town looked like it would be a fun place to explore during the day, and I wish we had more time to check it out.