JellyfishKing Travel

Day 1 – Leaving Dublin

After the dramas of getting the hire car and waiting for our laundry, we were on our way to Kilkenny. Jane was driving all the way, with me as navigator. Roughly 200km with a few stops on the way

First stop was Powerscourt Estate and Gardens. These stunning gardens was voted 3rd best garden in the world and have featured in over 50 TV shows and movies, notably “Wednesday” and the “Count of Monte Cristo”.

We entered the Wicklow Mountains National Park. This was one of the things we were looking forward to since seeing the movie “PS I Love You“. The road was narrow and winding. Passing other vehicles was a challenge – one that Jane quickly mastered. Highlights were Lough Tay, also referred to as Guinness Lake and the bridge featured in the movie along Sally Gap. The scenery was beautiful – worth the tough drive.

Th next stop was the Glendalough Cathedral. This ancient Monastic “City” is one of the oldest in Ireland dating back to the 10th century. Most of the buildings are in ruin, but the 12th century chapel still stands. A short walk brings to the picturesque “Upper” lake.

We arrived in Kilkenny around 6pm and checked into our accommodation at The Orchard House. The room was nice and the staff very friendly. Jane was exhausted from the driving so we decided to have a drink and dinner at their Bar/Restaurant. I had a Kilkenny of course! The food was good and there was a guy singing cover songs that had the crowd singing along.

Day 2 – Travelling to Cork

Seeing we’re staying close to Kilkenny, we thought we’d better check out the town.

Kilkenny castle sits right in the middle of the village and is impressive in size. We didn’t have enough time to go inside, but we had tea and scones in the gardens.

Close to Kilkenny and on the route to Cork were two attractions, Kell’s Priory and Jerpoint Abbey. We headed out for Kell’s Priory, but the road was closed. The other way in was a huge detour, so we decided to head to Jerpoint Abbey. The Abbey is a 12th century Cistercian chapel, in quite good condition.

The next stop was a another castle. The majestic Rock of Cashel sitting high above the town of Cashel. Home to the Kings of Munster in the 4th century the castle had many owners throughout its history. It was in very good condition and had great views over the town of town and farmlands.

Another castle along the way was Cahir Castle. It was very pretty on the outside, but quite small and bland in the inside. After coming from the Rock of Cashel, this one seem a little boring – perhaps we were getting “castle-burnout”.

We arrived at our accommodation outside Cork quite late. Lucy’s Loft was deep inside farmland and a little difficult to find. The host said the key would be in the lock-box and we can let ourselves in. When we arrived the key was in the door and it was open. Inside the bed wasn’t made and the towels were used. It appears the room had not been cleaned. We contacted the host and he immediately apologised and offered his other property, 9 Acre to us. We agreed and went there right away.

It was a shipping container converted into bedroom and bathroom. It was nice enough, but we were unable to lock the door and the wifi wasn’t working. Again we contacted the host. He suggested a few remedies, but nothing helped. Disappointed, we decided to go into town and get something to eat. We got chicken curry and prawn chow mein from the local Chinese takeaway, the Great Wall Chinese and brough it back to the container. While still eating, the host contacted us again and said Lucy’s Loft was now ready and we could move back there if we wanted. As we didn’t feel safe in the unlockable container, we immediately moved back.

After all that, we had a comfortable night – with wifi!

Tomorrow we’re off to Kilarney.

Day 1 – Dangerous Curves Ahead

We left Lucy’s Loft about mid morning. We’re on our way to Killarney today and then Galway tomorrow.

We were staying outside Cork and quite close to Cohb (pronounced Cove). I’d seen this town many times in social media and it looked a very pretty seaside village. It is also known for the last place The Titanic visited on it’s ill-fated maiden journey across the Atlantic. In those days it was called Queenstown. We found a parking place and walked along the sea front in the drizzling rain. It was very pretty indeed.

We drove on to one of the most famous places in Ireland, the Blarney Castle. Of course, there you have the opportunity to kiss the Blarney Stone and receive the “Gift of the Gab”. I joked to Jane that she already has that gift and she might want to skip the kissing part. She agreed – not to mention all the germs that would be involved. Nevertheless we entered the castle and climbed the narrow ancient stone staircase with all the other nutters. We both said we’re just going for a look. The climb was long, steep – and slow because we were in a queue. When it came to our turn – we did it! After all that effort, it seemed a waste not to indulge. Also everyone else did it! Ridiculous really.

The castle and the surrounding gardens were stunning. An Irish piper was playing at the foot of the castle. He even played Waltzing Matilda!

Next stop was another castle: Macroom Castle in the town of Macroom. This wasn’t a castle as such. Just the gatehouse remains. We stopped and stretched our legs and bought some snacks for the road.

St Finbarr’s Oratory in was the next stop. What a beautiful place this is. A small chapel sits in a little island in Gougane Barra Lake. It was so serene and magical. We spent a while walking around taking pictures. We stopped into Cronin’s Bar and Cafe for a toasted sandwich and a pint.

Next stop was Ladies View on the famous Ring of Kerry trail. It was only 16km – but what a drive that was! Steep widing road with barely enough width for one car. We drove slow and carefully – it seemed to take hours. Thankfully we never met any cars coming the other way. The views were stunning, but it was hard to enjoy it with so much concentration on the road. We made it! Great work from Jane driving the whole way.

Finally the road widened and we could breathe again. We arrived at the Ladies View. There were multiple places to stop and get great photos of the lakes and mountains. Truly a beautiful area. And, no, there were no ladies to view.

We arrived late at our accommodation in Killorglin, just outside Kilarney. The host of Mountain Widok met us and showed us to our room. A great improvement on the last accommodation drama. The room and bathroom were clean and decorated beautifully.

We ventured into town and had a very nice pizza at Kingstone Boutique Pub for dinner. We returned to the room and crashed, exhausted from our most full-on day so far.

Day 2 – The Cliffs

We slept in and left later than we planned. Our first stop was the town of Adare, but heavy road works leading into the town put us off and we decide to push on to Newcastle West. We stopped there for lunch at the Sultana Cafe.

Next stop was Bunratty Castle. This castle is one of the most complete castles in Ireland and is situated in a “Folk Park”. It includes farmhouses, mills, a chapel, gardens and a manor house. I entered the castle and explored the various rooms. Jane still had PTSD from the stairs in Blarney Castle and stayed outside. The grounds were nice to wander around.

The next stop is also a very famous attraction in Ireland: The Cliffs of Moher. These 120m cliffs offer stunning views over the Atlantic Ocean. There is a massive carpark and a walk up to the cliffs. It was a nice day and very busy with tourists. There were trails along the cliffs that gave different perspectives. The views were indeed gorgeous.

We got lucky with the weather and has clear views early on. Later the rain came which signaled time to move on.

We arrived at our accommodation in Kinvara, just outside Galway. Our accommodation was Kinvara Guest Suite, a room and ensuite attached to the host’s house. The place was very nice – neat and clean. We arrived early enough to do some laundry at a road-side laundromat. After the chores were done, we had dinner at Pier Head. We chatted to the Filipino manager who had lived in Kinvara for over 26 years. Kinvara seems like a million miles from the Philippines.

Tomorrow we leave the Republic of Ireland and into Northern Ireland.

Day 1 – Flight

The flight to Dublin was very short 45 mins. We arrived on our Ryan Air flight and had to split up going through immigration. Travelling on my British passport I was afforded the luxury of a cursory wave through, while “dodgy foreigner” Jane had to line up for a proper inspection. I swear it took longer for her to get through immigration than the flight took itself.

We finally met back up and collected our luggage. We caught a taxi to our accommodation, Carraig Townhouse south of the city in Blackrock. We arrived at the place 1.30am, too late for a normal check-in. I had already arranged for the keys to be in a lock-box at the front door. Finding the front door was a challenge. The kind taxi driver helped us and we eventually found the tiny entrance. We retrieved our keys and found our room on the first floor, which meant us lugging our cases up a creaky staircase. We collapsed in bed exhausted.

The room was tiny and claustrophobic. It had similar feels to the London Tower Hotel – but not as hot.

Day 2 – Guinness!

We woke late the next day. We had tickets for the 11am session at the Guinness Storehouse. This was one of my must-do activities in Dublin (or the whole trip) so it was a priority to get there on time. We caught the Dart train from Blackrock into the city. We grabbed a quick bite and waited for the no 73 bus to St James. I asked the driver does this bus stop at “St Steevens” stop and he didn’t seem to know the stop, despite Mr Google saying it does exist. Anyway the bus definitely stopped in St James – close enough! The driver was sick of all the questions, and waved us on for a free ride. Sure enough we over-shot the stop and had a 10 minute walk back to the Storehouse. We made it in plenty of time.

The Guinness Storehouse didn’t let us down. What a wonderful place. 6 levels of exhibitions and experiences. I had booked the extra Stoutie Experience, where they “print” your face on foam on the top of a pint of Guinness. Magic! This was Jane’s first pint of Guinness. She should have been in training for this. She couldn’t finish her’s, so I stepped in and saved the day. The self guided tour concluded with a free pint at the Gravity bar on the top floor. Jane took the soft drink option – Weak! I had another Guinness topping off a fantastic day – oh it’s only 1pm. I guess we better see if Dublin has any other attractions.

We caught a horse buggy ride to Dublin Castle. We should had researched that ahead of time, because it was closed for renovation. With so much drinking, we decided we should have some food, so we stopped at the Bull and Castle pun for lunch. We shared an excellent seafood chowder.

We walked into the city to see the famous Temple Bar. We walked though the crowded noisy pub just to see what all the fuss was about. We we glad to make it through the other side.

We pushed on further to visit the Trinity College grounds on the University of Dublin. It was cool, but didn’t really standout to me. There was no Jollibee in Dublin, so we walked back to the Train station and caught the Dart back to Blackrock.

After resting in the hotel, we walked across the road for dinner at San Sab., a small Thai restaurant. We shared a delicious Panang Curry.

Day 3 – Do you have a licence?

We are leaving Dublin and embarking on a self drive tour around Ireland and Northern Ireland, ending in Belfast.

I have been worrying since I lost my wallet and driver’s licence in London, that the hire car company, Sixt would not be happy letting me drive one of their cars. Sure enough they weren’t. They would not allow me to drive the car without a physical licence. That means Jane will be driving the entire route! That was very annoying. But to Jane’s credit she realised the predicament and agreed to bravely shoulder the task.

Jane drove back to Blackrock, checked-out and loaded up our bags in the car. The car is a Dacia Duster, a brand neither of us had heard of. It drove well, although there was an annoying grating sound in the rear.

We found a laundromat nearby and had a coffee and toastie while waiting for the fresh clothes.

Soon we were on our way to Kilkenny.

Day 1

We happily checked out of the Tower Hotel and caught an uber to Paddington Train Station. We are catching the train to Cardiff, the capital and largest city in Wales. We arrived a little early and took some photos with the Paddington Bear statue. The train was 10 minutes late and not crowded. We also booked first class so it was a pleasant journey.

Arriving in Cardiff we felt a sense of relief. After the crowded hectic pace of London, it was nice to breathe again.

We caught a taxi to our St David’s hotel at the bay. The hotel was beautiful – again such a contrast to the hot box of London’s Tower Hotel. The room was spacious with a sitting area and balcony with a stunning view over the quay. It was a little windy, but the air was refreshing. Again a welcome change from London.

After settling in we walked down to Mermaid Quay and Roald Dhal Plass. Mermaid Quay is pretty and has an array of pubs and restaurants over looking the docks. Roald Dhal Plass is named after the Cardiff born author and has carnival type entertainment mainly for kids.

We had an early dinner at the Botanist restaurant, as we can secured last minute tickets to see Jersey Boys at the Millennium Centre. Sarah suggested it to us and at £24 (48 AUD) a ticket we couldn’t pass it up.

The show was fantastic. Luke Baker, who played Frankie Valli was superb. Oh, what a night!

We returned to the hotel and drunk our “anniversary” gift from the Tower Hotel Champagne and potato crisps.

Day 2

Breakfast was included in St David’s. It was basic but nice.

Aaron’s mum, Sarah picked us up from the hotel and drove us to Bute Park. Part of the reason to visit Cardiff was to meet Bianca’s boyfriend’s parents, Sarah and Paul. Sarah walked us though the park which ended at Cardiff Castle. She left us there to explore the castle and the city. We are having dinner together with Paul later in the evening.

We explored the castle in between rain showers. Its very impressive to have a castle like this right in the middle of the city. It makes you realise how young our home town of Perth really is.

Jane had done her research again and found Cardiff has a Jollibee. So we had to have lunch there. After lunch we wandered around St David’s Shopping Centre. I found a Starbucks and bought a cup for my collection. “Caerdydd” – the only Starbucks “You are here” series I’ve seen with a non-English name. We made our way to the indoor markets to find the famous Welsh Cakes, recommended my Sarah. We had to queue – seems like they really are famous. We bought a few and sat in the mall and enjoyed one.

Out feet were starting to hurt again so we had a drink at Rum and Fizz waiting to meet Sarah and Paul.

When they arrived we had another drink, before heading across the road to Pasture for dinner. We continued the drinking swapping embarrassing stories about Bianca and Aaron. I’m sure their ears were burning. The food was delicious and we had lots of laughs. Despite our protests, Sarah and Paul picked up the bill. We can now see from where Aaron gets his generosity. Despite all the beer and wine, we decided there still more embarrassing things to say about Bianca and Aaron, so we move on to Blue Bell for post dinner drinks. We parted ways quite late and quite tipsy. What a great night! Sarah and Paul were lovely and we hit it off immediately. I’m sure we’ll meet again soon, perhaps in Perth later in the year. Looking forward to it!

Day 3

Today, we’re flying to Dublin – but not until late night (10.45pm). We had a 2pm checkout so we slept in. After the heavy drinking the night before the sleep-in was welcome.

Sarah suggest a trip to Penarth Pier and have lunch at the seaside. We caught an uber to Penarth. It was raining quite hard to we sheltered in Sid’s restaurant and shared a haddock and chips. The rain did ease and we walked up the pier and took some phots

We caught an uber back to Mermaid Quay and had a pint at the Dock pub. We were just killing time before we had to got to the airport. We walked back to to the hotel to collected our bags and caught an uber to Cardiff Airport for our Ryan Air flight to Dublin.

We were too early and had wait an hour for the check-in to open. I had bought extra baggage for the flight but I was worried because I knew small domestic carriers can be narky with big heavy bags. Check-in went smoothly. When it was time to board however, they looked at Jane’s carry-on bag and said they’d have to measure it. “Uh-oh” I thought, “here we go”. Sure enough it was too big and there “would be a charge”. Steam was coming out of Jane’s ears. One of her pet peeves is airline officials. This was a bag we’d used as carry-on in countless flights in the past. Nevertheless we paid the £75 (150 AUD) boarded the plane. The flight was only 45 minutes, possibly the shortest flight I’ve ever had.

In Dublin, Jane had to join the foreigner’s line at immigration, while I breezed through the EU/UK line. I waited for about 30 mins for Jane to get through. By this time it was nearing 1am. We we’re tired and frustrated. We caught a taxi to the accommodation, Carraig Townhouse, which was in Blackrock about 30 minutes from the airport. It took us a while to find the tiny entrance to the hotel and we had to lug our cases up a flight of stairs. We collapsed in the room exhausted.