Tag: Ireland

Only the Rally of Lakes could disturb and wake us up in the room of this fine Killarney hotel. Nevermind, it was the last day and we had to finalise the Irish adventure. Straight from the breakfast we visited the famous Muckross house. This place basically gave the origins to the Killarney National Park known as of today. After taking a small tour on the Muckross garden, we moved just few steps further, to see the Muckross Abbey with its big yew tree in the middle of the yard. From here we continued in our landmark tour to the Ross Castle. This medieval castle is surrounded by Lough Leane, from where O’Donoghue, the former owner, still arises. According to the legend.

The last route of our great Irish expedition brought us to the place where it all began, Dublin airport. 5 overloaded days, more than 1700 road kms and a huge portion of unique memories. Thank you Ireland, we’ll be back.

Ballybunion has a very lovely beach, divided by a castle in two; Ladies and Men’s beach. It also features cliffs on a side with a cave to be explored. The opposite side of the beach is then fully dedicated to a great golf club, which btw we also managed to visit 😉 From Ballybunion our steps led further towards south and the next planned stop was a place called Banna. Banna Strand is a fabulous 10 kms long and also quite wide beach featuring up to 12 meters high dunes. Wonderful! Pure joy. The hills visible behind the south side of beach stand on a Dingle peninsula, our target destination. Approaching the peninsula we visited Blennerville Windmill, before reaching Castelgregory, a popular spot for surfers and windsurfers. Just at the end of its beaches, we sat down to table in super tasty Spillane Bar and Restaurant. Here we decided to go for another challenge, to see the other side of peninsula, where the town of Dingle lies. To get there we used Conor Pass and were pleased by extended views from top of the peninsula hills. Charming little Dingle town has definitely a lot to offer.  Therefore we left it just after the sunset. Heading to our last accommodation we made a final stop to see another great beach called Inch Strand. This one can be even enjoyed directly from your car.

From the town of Ennis, where we overslept the last night, we hit the road again. To start as we finished, we went to Kilkee and discovered its great beach as well as the Kilkee Cliffs. These differently shaped cliffs allowed us to go lower and feel the waves hitting the rocks roughly. From Kilkee we continued towards the Loop Head lighthouse at the end of the peninsula carrying the same name. This lighthouse awarded by many prices stands on its place from 1854 and fully functioning is visible up to 42 kms away. On the way back the Long Dock Pub restaurant in Carrigaholt invited us to its tasty cuisine. Afterwards we took a ferry in order to cross the opening Mouth of Shannon and landed in Tarbert. Lately, upon visiting a place called Glin, we headed towards our next accommodation in Ballybunion.

The second day on our way we started walking by the already quoted Galway places. From there the next goal was set to be Fanore. Driving the narrow road, we took a break in an old settlement to see the Dunguaire Castle. After that cultural break, we were about to discover something else. Fossils embedded into rocks at Flaggy Shore! …And yes, we also made sure, the fossils are pretty visible in there. Later in the afternoon, we finally arrived to Fanore. Its beach is a place, we could easily enjoy for the rest of the day… But the highlight was just about to follow. The magnificent Cliffs of Moher were exposed to us in all their beauty. As the clouds were moving fast and the Sun illuminated the cliffs in various angles, the Mother Nature composed a spectacular show, one would hardly ever forgot.