Ireland

One of the most beautiful countries on the planet.

We did a self drive in the fall of 2003.  We primarily visited the southwest portion of the country.  I drove and Lori navigated.  We stayed at B+B's most of the time. The last night we stayed at Dromoland Castle.  We highly recommend a stay at the Dromoland Castle. It is located within 30 minutes of the Shannon airport. 

Shopping is plentiful in Ireland.  The sweaters are a great bargain.  Look for the shops in the small towns for the best bargains.  The town of Glengarriff has a cluster of great clothing shops and the drive to it is beautiful.  

The way to do Ireland is staying at B+B's.  They are everywhere.  We tend to travel off season in the fall and most are still open through October.  If you are determined to stay in a castle and not drop a small fortune I would recommend Kinnitty Castle.  It has the most authentic rooms and is very nice. Here is the link for Kinnitty.  www.kinnittycastle.com

You can click on most picture to enlarge.

  This was our room in Kinnitty Castle.

Our favorite hotel Dromoland Castle. 

The sheep are everywhere.  On the west coast one must visit the Cliffs of Moher and visit the Kylemore Abbey.  The peat bogs on the drive to the Abbey are out of this world.  Both of these are north of Shannon airport.

Healy pass

This is Sneem - a pretty little town. 

Sneem is on the Ring of Kerry.  

Kilburn House is a B+B near Milltown between Tralee and Killarney.     Wonderful place.

A lot of the pictures are thumbnails click on them for the larger picture.

  Castles are plentiful.  This is Cahir castle, it sits smack in the center of town.  We stayed at a B+B on the far side of town.  It took us about 8 minutes to walk to Cahir castle on the other side of town.  Here are few thumbnails of Cahir Castle just click on them to see the full picture.

                                  Castle keep               great door

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 Lori was always game for a walk.   

   Healy Pass, very quiet and peaceful not as touristy as the Ring of Kerry.

The countryside is king though. My favorite part of driving the west coast is the absolute quiet.  When you get out of the car and you can hear sheep munching on the grass hundreds of feet away. 

When in Killarney go to Muckross House (below) and Friary and walk the park, very beautiful. 

Muckross lawn

Here are some of the lads from St. Brendans prep school on their lunch break in Killarney.

  Lots of restaurants in Killarney.  Always remember the Pubs stop serving food around 5 PM.  If you want pub grub eat early.

  This is the country side just outside of Killarney.