Ireland

Truly the emerald isle and forty shades of green! Packed light on purpose so 5 people’s luggage would fit in one car! Planned 3 days/nights in Dublin, Killarney, and Galway then back to Dublin for flight home. Pre-bought popular tickets about a month ahead of time for Teeling, Guinness, and Jameson. Got better deals on hotels for the 3 night stays – rented car from SIXT to travel between towns with site-seeing in between. Used each place as a home base with day trips to see more.

One of the best decisions we made on this overall trip was hiring a driver from @N59Chauffeurs.ie to take us on the day trips so all could enjoy the experience. We also made reservations in advance for tea at the Shelbourne in Dublin and several restaurants at our homebase towns.

Our itinerary included:

Dublin, Howth, Kilkenny, Rock of Cashel, Cahir, Killarney, Kerry, Dingle, Adare, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Connemara, and Athlone

Glad I had: adapter – travel fan – rain jacket – good walking shoes – extra socks (these were expensive, but worth it!) Wish I had: umbrella for in-town exploring, extra top layers (it was colder and rainier than expected for late August/early September), time to go to all the places we missed!!

New words we learned and loved using: craic (crack) is great fun! sláinte (slawn-cha) cheers! And for some reason, Perfect – everyone says it after you order, ask for something, or make a purchase – I guess everything in Ireland is Perfect Class, and Grand!

Dublin

Dublin Day 1 – we travelled from US (Newark) – arriving in Dublin early morning – had a very funny taxi cab driver that set us straight on all things about driving in Ireland and sites of Dublin with a lot of bawdy Irish humor jokes. We got to our hotel (Maldron on Kevin – very nice, great location, similar to Marriott Courtyard) and decided it was worth the extra € 50 to checkin early and freshen up before heading out on our itinerary. It was drizzling (now we now know this is everyday) walked up the street for a coffee, cappuccino, and croissant at High Origins where we also wrote our names on the wall. We then took some time to tour St Patrick Cathedral which is just across from out hotel and made a good landmark for us the whole time in Dublin.

We had a noon reservation for tea at the Shelbourne which was a surprisingly awesome experience for us newbies and a redo for one from her trip 35 years ago. It was so much food we had to get to-go boxes! We strolled around the St Stephens Green park, did a little shopping, and then headed back to the hotel to drop off containers and purchases, before our whiskey tour/tasting at Teeling.

The Teeling Whiskey Distillery was just a few blocks from our hotel and a really cool experience – the guide gave us the full history of Irish whiskey distilleries, a tour through the only one still making the whiskey onsite in this historic area, then a “trinity tasting” – we enjoyed the sips and sat on the sofas to finish and relax.

We went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner which was at 7pm at 1900 (or 1900 at 1900 – the name of the restaurant is 1900!). We started with a bottle of Leopard’s Leap Chenin Blanc that went well with the amazing bread and spreads and the wild mushroom arancini we shared as a starter. We also shared a burrata and tomato salad and then our mains were prawn & clam linguine, beurre blanc seared scallops, and pan roasted halibut on risotto. We mentioned the scallops were a bit overdone and think to make up for it they brought us a sweet rose bubbly after dinner drink (not sure this actually made anything better, but the service was great and we enjoyed the overall evening).

Dublin Day 2 – We met up for coffee in our hotel restaurant waiting for 2 more in our travel party to arrive. They were able to checkin immediately and freshen up before we headed off to breakfast at Harkins near to the Guinness Storehouse for our 12:45 tour time. This was a fantastic self-guided tour we all really enjoyed and learned how Guinness is made and how to properly taste it – we all had the taste and then got the pint at the Gravity Bar rooftop with amazing views of the whole city. We had time to wander a bit and get a bite to eat at “Ireland’s oldest pub” the Brazen Head – we then crossed over the River Liffey to get to the Jameson Distillery Tour. This was a very worthwhile experience too – great tour on the history and how to make, smell, and taste the whiskey. We all had a choice of neat, on-ice, or a ginger and whisky with lime (this became a favorite drink order for the week!) which we sipped on throughout the tour. At the end we had a full tasting of 3 different types: Distillery, Regular, and Black Label – all good, but most favored the black label. After this tour we headed back over the river into Dublin’s historic Liberties area and decided on an early dinner with traditional pub fare and live music at Darkey Kelly’s. We walked back to the hotel and some headed to bed and some topped off the night with another round at Fourth Corner bar by our hotel.

Dublin Day 3 – We made a day trip to Howth a part of our stay in Dublin – quick and easy 30 min ride on the DART – walked up the street to one of the neighborhoods before going on a short Cliff Walk – then headed to the pier for Lunch @AcquaRestaurant - it was the perfect setting and the food was fantastic. We started with some bubbly (Costaross Prosecco Rose) and a couple of pints then several of us had fish & chips, one had pan fried sea bream and another had the Caesar with prawns. Bonus we got a little afternoon entertainment from the seals in the harbor! If you plan to go – call ahead for a table, we were lucky as walk-ins but the place filled up even for lunch.

After our Howth experience, we took the train back to the Tara station and took time to wander through the Liffey riverside, cross over the Ha'Penny bridge, cross back over to the Temple Bar (and surrounding area), sat in on a Trad music session with drinks at Fitzsimons, strolled around the Dublin Castle and finally back to the hotel to freshen up before dinner.

Last dinner in Dublin @MattTheThresherDublin was all around excellent – starting with wine of the month Rombauer Chardonnay and shared crab-cheese arancini, grilled octopus, and the traditional brown bread & butter. Switched to a great bottle of Louis LaTour Macon-Lugny – that paired perfectly with our main dishes of amazing Halibut on mixed seafood-smoked eggplant mélange, seafood linguine, and chicken Milanese. Sadly no room for dessert, but highly recommend this place and reservations are a must!