My First Trip To Ireland

My best friend and I, both in our 50′s, made our first trip to Ireland less than a year ago. I wasn’t very excited about it, my uncle wanted me to go and paid for my trip, but WOW! All of the words “magical, enchanted, memorable, mesmerizing” don’t even touch what Ireland is. Our favorites were Kilkenny, Cobh, and Killarney, but we enjoyed every minute. We did a self-drive tour, which was NOT as hard as people made it sound. Our mouths were wide open for the entire trip.

We stayed in a castle in Dublin, visited Cork, the county where my ancestors came from, got a Claddagh Ring from Galway, and stayed in the tiny little town of Doolin where they are famous for their music. But the town we thought we might be bored in was Kilkenny and we LOVED every minute we were there. There were so many nooks and crannies to explore and the pictures we took were beautiful.

We only stayed at one bed and breakfast, that was in Killarney and the personal service was outstanding, but the highlight was the jaunting car ride. I thought, horse and buggy ride – big deal! Our driver was wonderful, so informative and so entertaining and he knew just where to stop for the best photos. I look at those pictures and still can’t believe we were THERE.
And seeing the tiny little village of Cobh, knowing it was the last stop for the Titanic, was so touching. We loved the visitor’s center there and the little shops. We never got any bad food there, it was so mouth-watering, so tasty, at every stop! And when we stayed in Westmeath and looked out our window to see the Trim Castle and found scenes from “Braveheart” were filmed there, we were so impressed. Again, more beautiful pictures in that tiny little town.

People could not do enough for us, we love the country, the people, the food, and the magic! We WILL go back very soon, I am so thankful my uncle gave me that little shove.
The one piece of advice I would offer is to bring your own washcloths. Only one of our hotels supplied them. I have no words to adequately describe our trip. Go, explore the small villages, eat, enjoy! I still look at my pictures and can’t believe I was actually there.

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Submitted by: Debby Barnes.