September 5 - Day 40 Westport to Doolin

Breakfast at the Aillmore was spent chatting with another guest who just happened to also be a tour guide! He was hired to give a several day private tour to some folks from upstate New York (again with the American tourists!) and while he was staying at the Aillmore, his clients were staying at the fancy dan hotel in town. He gave us some good advice and although I had great difficulty understanding most of it (his Irish accent and my American ears), he was a delight to talk to!

It was, however, on the advice of the proprietress of the Aillmore that we headed out that morning in the direction of Doolin...Doolin...fun to say, but a bit of a disappointment. To be fair, it wasn't really Doolin's fault, but it was raining and the part of the town we came to first - the pier where they ferry tourists into the water to see the Cliffs of Moher from the sea - was packed with people (undoubtedly several American tourists among them).

By now it was mid afternoon and my stomach was getting hungry...and slightly irritable...so we quickly sought out a place to eat...at the nearest eatery - a pub in the thick of the madness by the pier. We sat down, I went to use the ladies room and by the time I came out, we decided we acted rashly - too many people and too noisy! So we headed out, I ate a granola bar to tide me over until we got to another, more civilized place to eat.

Once fed, we decided to drive down the road to see the Cliffs of Moher (from the top of the cliffs, not the sea), but the rain had picked up and we decided we would try again in the morning before leaving town. Soooo...we went back to Doolin, found our B&B and soon headed out to a pub for a drink. We stayed for a few hours because of the promise of local music, but didn't last very long because these two old ladies need their beauty sleep!

September 4 - Day 39 Donegal to Westport

During breakfast this morning it was pouring with rain, but we had a lovely breakfast with a couple from New Jersey (one of the things I noticed about Ireland was that there were a ton of American tourists)! We stopped in Sligo - the boyhood home of William Butler Yeats - but once again we only stopped long enough to find a place to stay at our next stop, which was to be a town called Westport. We didn't know anything about the town, but that Constance thought it might be a nice place.

And it was!

Even the police station was nice...but we only saw it from the outside...

We did a little walking and browsing in the many shops before stopping to eat lunch...

...and to find our next B&B...

...the Aillmore B&B!

After settling in we went for a walk...this is heading back to the B&B up yet another steep hill...

Neighborhood dogs...they look harmless enough, but they were viscious! They barked well into the night and nearly attacked me when I came back from a run the next morning! Grrrrr....

September 3 - Day 38 Portrush to Donegal

We left Portrush that morning not entirely certain as to where we were going, only that we were headed west. We focused in on a town called Letterkenney, but only stopped there to visit the tourist information center so that we could find a place to stay for the night. From there we headed north to visit the Glenveagh National Park in the northwest county of Donegal...

Walkway to the visitor's center...

There's a castle out there somewhere that we were going to walk to, but the walkway was under construction so we took a shorter but scenic nature walk on the edge of Lough Veagh...

There's the castle...way in the distance...it would have been a very long walk!

The arched roof of the walkway to (and from) the visitor's center...

From there we drove south into the town of Donegal which we drove through without stopping (except to ask for directions to our B&B!) - the town was madness! So many people, so little room in the streets. Thankfully, our B&B was a couple of miles beyond the madness and up a steep driveway that led to a lovely house with a beautiful view...

Clearly, I did not take this picture, but here is the Ardlenagh View Bed & Breakfast!

Our view wasn't quite like this because even though it rained like crazy the next day, we were there in the summer and the bay was dry...well, not dry...muddy, but not as full as this...should've taken a picture!

September 2 - Day 37 Coastal Causeway

Belfast was a nice city, but alas we headed out the very next morning and made our way onto the Coastal Causeway (or is it the Causeway Coast?) Route which took us right along the northern coast of Ireland and is officially one of the "100 best drives in the world"...

It wasn't long before we had to make our first pit stop...well, that I had to make our first pit stop...here we are in Drains Bay, Larne...

Drains Bay, Larne

Constance and our super sporty (and mini!) Hyundai...

...3 miles north of Larne we hit the little village of Ballygalley...

We drove for awhile after this little stop and every so often Constance would exclaim, "Fuchsia!" I finally stopped so we could take her picture with some...

Fuchsia!

Constance and...fuchsia!

The Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge to Carrick-a-Rede island. Originally built by salmon fisherman, it is now a tourist destination. It crosses a chasm that is 30 meters deep and 20 meters wide.

...and this is as close as we got...

As impressive as the Carrick-a-Rede bridge was, the grand scenic event of the day was by far the Giants Causeway...and not only because there was a tram to take us right to it...

Constance sitting on one of the estimated 40,000 hexagonal columns that exist on the Causeway...

There I go taking a walk on the Causeway...which was not, incidentally, formed by giants as the name would have you believe, but by volcanic activity some 60 million years ago!

Were we to continue walking far beyond the point where the tram dropped us off, we would have come right up to this interesting formation called the Giant's Organ...they look like organ pipes! Get it?

Being cradled in the Giant' Shoe...called so because...it's shaped like a shoe - a giant shoe...

The Chimney Stacks...

Light coming over the cliffs of the Causeway...

Our last stop of the day was Dunluce Castle...

Set right on the edge of the cliffs, this sight was once used as a fort...

No tram, but we made our way anyway...

...here we go...

Light coming through a door in Dunluce...

We bypassed the opportunity to visit the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery and headed straight for the tourist hotspot of Portrush...which was really more like Coney Island in the off season...a little scary...

...but the views were pretty...

Constance enjoying the pretty views...

September 1 - Day 36 Belfast

Our plan of action for Ireland was to bookend our stay with Dublin and to rent a car for 10 days in between so that we could tour around the island at our leisure. This seemed like a grand idea until we got into Dublin and I saw how crazy the traffic was - not to mention how aggressive the drivers were!

To put myself at ease about driving out of the big city I bought a detailed road atlas and I got up early in the morning to go for a run on the route I planned to take to get us out of Dublin and on the road to Belfast. I felt pretty confident, so when the lady at the car hire company offered us a GPS system I said no thank you - at the same moment Constance said, yes please.

Constance has no faith!

I conceeded and said yes, until we found out the price at which point we both said no, thank you. But when she offered it to us at half price we both reverted back to yes, please.

Saying yes to the GPS turned out to be a very wise decision...and we made our way to Belfast...

And once in Belfast - with only one day in this city - we once again decided to do the most touristy thing we could think of! Double decker city sightseeing tour number 2!

Albert Memorial Clock Tower - built in memory of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert shortly after his death in 1861.

Harland and Wolff shipyard built the Titanic in 1912 - this is one of two "Goliath type" cranes that have a combined lifting capacity of 1600 tons! 

Parliament buildings on the Stormont Estate

"Parliament Buildings is home to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the legislative authority for Northern Ireland established under the terms of the Belfast Agreement 1998 (aka. the Good Friday Agreement)."

- Northern Ireland Assembly website
 

This sculpture, called The Beacon of Hope, stands in Thanksgiving Square. It was constructed in 2007 by Andy Scott and has been given several nicknames since - my favorite being The Thing with the Ring.

There were many more interesting sights we drove by - St. Anne's Cathedral, the Belfast Peace Wall and Shankill Road to name just a few - but it was a cold and windy day and the camera stayed in my pocket (along with my hands) for the rest of the tour...

August 31 - Day 35 Dublin

Given that we only had one day in Dublin before we headed north for Belfast, Constance and I decided to do the most touristy thing we could think of...take a city sightseeing tour on a double decker bus!

Constance and I on the top deck...

It was a beautiful day for a double decker ride...

I didn't take many pictures - too busy enjoying the sights! - and the only place we got off the bus was the Kilmainham Gaol:

The Kilmainham Gaol was built in 1789 and, as you can imagine, holds many stories and insights into the history of the Republic of Ireland...

A door leading into one of the dark dank cells...

It may seem like a strang place to visit as a tourist, but it was truly one of the most interesting experiences we had in Ireland...

August 30 - Day 34 Leaving Shetland

Our last view of Shetland...

We were so sad to leave Shetland that we were both a little anxious about going to Ireland! How could our time in Ireland ever compare with our time in Shetland?

We were soon to find out...well, after 6 hours in the Edinburgh Airport that is. We knew it was coming - for the price, there was no way around it! Our two flights - from Sumbrugh to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to Dublin - had us in air for a total of about 3 hours, but from beginning to end, our travel day was a total of about 10 (TEN!) hours!

Crazy.

We did eventually make it to Dublin - we took a coach bus from the airport that dropped us off at Trinity College and after consulting my map, we headed in what I was 98% sure was the right direction to our hotel. We finally landed in our hotel only to head back out again in search of, you guessed it, food! Well, food and a laundromat.

We found the laundromat (called The All American Laundromat!) and had a fabulous dinner at a place called The Farm - all organic...even the wine!