Friday, July 12, 2019
All caught up
Well rereading the posts show I am all caught up. This morning we went out to the cliffs of moher. We had low coulda and fog on the way. Not sure how much we were able to see. The luck of the Irish is with us I guess, the fog lifted and we had a patch of blue. Amazing site. Now to back track and head into the burren. This area is all rocks, small roads and a few scattered houses. There are monuments in disrepair. Not much time to explore but we went to the perfumery. Dan stayed outside. It would have been great to spend more time and learn how they create scents or take a class and actually make our own scent. We have to head back to Dublin with a stop at the chocolate factory. We wanted to schedule a tour but no reservations were available. A bummer for sure but still able to purchase “something “. The tour was just completed when we arrived and it looked like a middle school tour group. Probably explains why there were no reservations.
Back to the airport. Check into a hotel nearby. Off to return the car. We did take out all the extra insurance because we had heard horror stories. Our concern was on one of the narrow roads the side view mirror was wedged. He inspects the car and says there is a dent in the front. No mention of the mirror at all. The good news is the insurance is a no deductible we just fill out an accident report that says what happened. Dan writes we don’t know. Off we go back to the hotel. Ready to pack for the morning.
Dublin Airport is great, because we actually went through US customs before we boarded the plane home. This will make it easier with our connection. Tali and Dan are yawning complaining that it is too early. When we booked the tickets we were automatically assigned seats. We are in the middle and separated. Well I guess that is
all from Ireland as it is time to board.
So thoughts. Yes we would travel with Tali again. She eats everything, doesn’t complain and is self sufficient. She is timid in crowds and we wish she had more input on what she really wanted to do. Will she travel with us. She will say yes although I wonder. We walk too slow, are always stopping to use the restroom, drink at dinner-or every night in the bar and if we had to share a room it is “freezing “. She likes cities much more than countryside and Ireland is mostly ruins and countryside.
Back to the airport. Check into a hotel nearby. Off to return the car. We did take out all the extra insurance because we had heard horror stories. Our concern was on one of the narrow roads the side view mirror was wedged. He inspects the car and says there is a dent in the front. No mention of the mirror at all. The good news is the insurance is a no deductible we just fill out an accident report that says what happened. Dan writes we don’t know. Off we go back to the hotel. Ready to pack for the morning.
Dublin Airport is great, because we actually went through US customs before we boarded the plane home. This will make it easier with our connection. Tali and Dan are yawning complaining that it is too early. When we booked the tickets we were automatically assigned seats. We are in the middle and separated. Well I guess that is
all from Ireland as it is time to board.
So thoughts. Yes we would travel with Tali again. She eats everything, doesn’t complain and is self sufficient. She is timid in crowds and we wish she had more input on what she really wanted to do. Will she travel with us. She will say yes although I wonder. We walk too slow, are always stopping to use the restroom, drink at dinner-or every night in the bar and if we had to share a room it is “freezing “. She likes cities much more than countryside and Ireland is mostly ruins and countryside.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Travel to Doolin.
Today we woke to clouds quickly turning into rain. Not many photos from the drive that was pretty tame until on a small road into Doolin we came bumper to bumper with an oncoming car. No impact although I am not sure why. I guess we are really traveling slower than we realize. The town of Doolin is known for music. We are in a B and B that is lovely and the owner suggested that we participate in a living room type event. Limited to 25 they squeezed us in and it was great fun. The cab ride over and back was most interesting as we would have been poking along the road that he was flying on. We had rain all day so no photos from the car. A ferry ride to save time but lots of back roads so don’t know how much time saved. A few photos of the town from our room and the night music
I will try and upload photos from Dan’s phone
Wednesday, July 10, 2019
From Ring of Kerry to Dingle
There are always 2 ways to get to a final destination. The recommended route and the off road that is on the map. It is on the map so it must be navigated. This makes perfect sense to me but is probably one of my less stellar decisions.
The plan today is go from Kerry to Dingle. Why Dingle. It is supposed to be a really cute town with great pub music and a Ring to drive with great scenic ocean views. What we forget is we live by the ocean and wonder why we are going halfway around the world to see the ocean. So what should be a 1-2 hour trip is actually a 3-4 hour trip
We were able to see several of the hazards of Ireland. When we drove the Kerry Ring it was pretty uneventful except for waiting for the farmer to heard his cows into another pen and caused us to wait several minutes. They used a 4 wheel quad motor bike and a third person waving their arms to prevent runaways. Of course one of the babies got away and mom was not going to leave it behind. So in Spain there is the running of the bulls in Ireland it the running of the cows. Well on the alternate route we had a wrong turn that almost landed us in a lake and a road that was so narrow one one car could get through with a center area that had grass growing. Dan was insistent it was for cleaning the bottom of the car. We went up a grade and down through a “gap” Up another grade where we were met head on by a horse and buggy carrying tourists. Actually several horse and buggies. We had bicycles and hikers. All this on essentially a one lane road. I might add a little background to the route deviation. We chose to take the alternate route because the day before when coming back from the Kerry Ring we had a narrow road that was a hair raising experience because everyone was going breakneck speed(that is over 50kilometers/hour). I constantly was holding my breath and driving poor Dan crazy.
If you meet any of the carriages the automobile gives way and has to back up. This is actually a nightmare since you have to figure out first how to back up and second to do it on the wrong side of the road. Needless to say. Tali wasn’t napping in the back seat on this part of the trip.
We arrive in Dingle at 2pm, have lunch and then on to the Airbnb. Tonight’s lodging is Tali’s all time favorite. It is a new construction 2 bedroom apartment. A little difficult to find it at first since it is actually behind the main home. The owner is a great person, mom with a set of twins. The construction is modern with the main color dominating the interior of gray. Great shower down stairs and another upstairs. Fully equipped kitchen and brand new washer dryer. The owner was present and actually gave instructions on how to run the washer dryer. Dan decided he could get by with out washing. Too bad I really wanted to try it out. The best part of this rental was the internet. Tali was in heaven. It was fast and there were no glitches. Tali would have been happy to stay there several days.
Unfortunately the sun is out and the most important site to see is the Dingle Loop. Similar to the Kerry ring but much smaller. Great sea views. Off we go. It seems all the narrow roads, fast drivers, crazy things on the road were a precursor to the Dingle loop. We needed to back up several times, became wedged met irate drivers with no patience. The upside Dan didn’t kill me or I him but it was close.
Upon return to the apartment we decided to go to dinner and the pub. Dingle is renowned for its music. We went to the oldest pub that is a hardware store during the day. Not a huge selection of stuff but packed shelves. We then went to a pub a few doors down. This is the Dingle Pub. We enojoyed enjoyed this much more. A violin and guitar. No dancing but great music. I would stay longer but I think the thought of fast internet was too enticing.
The plan today is go from Kerry to Dingle. Why Dingle. It is supposed to be a really cute town with great pub music and a Ring to drive with great scenic ocean views. What we forget is we live by the ocean and wonder why we are going halfway around the world to see the ocean. So what should be a 1-2 hour trip is actually a 3-4 hour trip
We were able to see several of the hazards of Ireland. When we drove the Kerry Ring it was pretty uneventful except for waiting for the farmer to heard his cows into another pen and caused us to wait several minutes. They used a 4 wheel quad motor bike and a third person waving their arms to prevent runaways. Of course one of the babies got away and mom was not going to leave it behind. So in Spain there is the running of the bulls in Ireland it the running of the cows. Well on the alternate route we had a wrong turn that almost landed us in a lake and a road that was so narrow one one car could get through with a center area that had grass growing. Dan was insistent it was for cleaning the bottom of the car. We went up a grade and down through a “gap” Up another grade where we were met head on by a horse and buggy carrying tourists. Actually several horse and buggies. We had bicycles and hikers. All this on essentially a one lane road. I might add a little background to the route deviation. We chose to take the alternate route because the day before when coming back from the Kerry Ring we had a narrow road that was a hair raising experience because everyone was going breakneck speed(that is over 50kilometers/hour). I constantly was holding my breath and driving poor Dan crazy.
If you meet any of the carriages the automobile gives way and has to back up. This is actually a nightmare since you have to figure out first how to back up and second to do it on the wrong side of the road. Needless to say. Tali wasn’t napping in the back seat on this part of the trip.
We arrive in Dingle at 2pm, have lunch and then on to the Airbnb. Tonight’s lodging is Tali’s all time favorite. It is a new construction 2 bedroom apartment. A little difficult to find it at first since it is actually behind the main home. The owner is a great person, mom with a set of twins. The construction is modern with the main color dominating the interior of gray. Great shower down stairs and another upstairs. Fully equipped kitchen and brand new washer dryer. The owner was present and actually gave instructions on how to run the washer dryer. Dan decided he could get by with out washing. Too bad I really wanted to try it out. The best part of this rental was the internet. Tali was in heaven. It was fast and there were no glitches. Tali would have been happy to stay there several days.
Unfortunately the sun is out and the most important site to see is the Dingle Loop. Similar to the Kerry ring but much smaller. Great sea views. Off we go. It seems all the narrow roads, fast drivers, crazy things on the road were a precursor to the Dingle loop. We needed to back up several times, became wedged met irate drivers with no patience. The upside Dan didn’t kill me or I him but it was close.
Upon return to the apartment we decided to go to dinner and the pub. Dingle is renowned for its music. We went to the oldest pub that is a hardware store during the day. Not a huge selection of stuff but packed shelves. We then went to a pub a few doors down. This is the Dingle Pub. We enojoyed enjoyed this much more. A violin and guitar. No dancing but great music. I would stay longer but I think the thought of fast internet was too enticing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)