Irish Road Trip

Ireland pros: There are so many beautiful places to visit, and the country is not very big.

Ireland cons: A lot of the country is very rural, so in order to see those beautiful places you're going to need to rent a car and drive on the "wrong" side of the road on extremely narrow roads.

Here's how our Irish road trip turned out! 

On our first day of driving, we crossed the country from east to west. It was about a 3 hour drive, and we stopped in the small city of Athlone about halfway through to break it up.

We toured Athlone's castle- it wasn't much to look at aesthetically, but there was some interesting history and interactive toys for kids. Its claim to fame was a siege that took place here in the late 1600s during the war between William of Orange and James II.

I liked the view from the ramparts!

After finding a cozy pub and then stocking up on some groceries, we continued driving to our middle of nowhere Airbnb. We were all pretty exhausted, but the occasional ocean and castle views perked us up.

How middle of nowhere was it? These were the surroundings!

It was located in an area called the Burren- famous for its unique rocky landscape. Our only neighbors were some horses and a few mountain goats.

We stayed there for its proximity to our next destination- the Cliffs of Moher. In my very first preliminary Ireland research, I saw a picture of them and knew we had to go there.

Despite me coming down with Rosalie's Dublin sickness, to say this place was worth getting my slightly feverish self out of bed for would be a gross understatement. It was gorgeous- absolutely a highlight of the trip, and made more amazing by perfect sunny weather.

Fun fact: a Harry Potter scene was filmed there!

We had dinner in the close-by town of Doolin, and dutifully drove by their local castle. Does any Irish town not have a castle?

Speaking of castles, we spent the next day at another one. 

We had lunch at Durty Nelly's- a pub dating back to 1620. Apparently the original Nelly got her name because she was in charge of collecting payment for crossing the bridge next door... and would accept "loving" for payment if a gentleman didn't have enough coins. 

In hindsight, it seems a little funny that I brought my sweet and innocent children inside a pub named after a scarlet woman.

David was a big fan of Irish food and their abundance of potatoes.

We didn't go inside Bunratty Castle, but spent the rest of the day enjoying its grounds.

The castle is surrounded by a 19th century village, including several animals- much to the delight of Magnolia. It was a safe place to run free, and she had a blast.

I highly recommend this place- especially if you go to Ireland with kids!

Long story short, we managed to successfully drive across the country. In the end, David wasn't stressed out by driving on the left. The roads are tiny, however. Like.. two lane roads the size of American sidewalks. Although it was a complicated puzzle to fit our luggage in the car, we were ultimately thankful to have rented a relatively small one.

An example of our car taking up the entire allegedly two lane road.

One more installment of our Irish adventures to come!

Recent posts I haven't shared-

Dublin: a series of unfortunate events

New Orleans Garden District and Mardi Gras

Castles in Paris with baby Magnolia