Day 12 & 13: Ireland - Sheep and driving
We're going to smoosh the past two days' worth of our travels into one post. #1: They turned off the wireless at our B&B at the Bervie last night on Achill Island, and I couldn't upload photos or publish anything to the blog. #2: Today was mostly driving, so there's not much to report anyway!
So our first full day on Achill Island, we decided to drive from one end to the other. We drove up and up, the left side of the car close to the edge of the road that just dropped away to steep cliffs, some daring sheep, and the crashing ocean. Very scenic and beautiful if you aren't afraid of heights and sitting on the left side of the car!
On the island there is a deserted village, super old, and full of ruins of cottages, farms, and supposedly a henge somewhere. Also, more sheep. There are sheep freaking everywhere. It was a really nice walk, no steep hills, nice straight path and the weather was (using the Irish-favorite adjective) "lovely". I swear, I'm going to be crying and missing this weather when I get back home to Cincinnati and it's, like, 85 degrees! It's so nice and cool here!
We battled a tour-bus full of people at one of the few lunch places on the island for a sitting spot inside, and then went back to the B&B to enjoy another walk along the beach (and possibly a nap).
Other than the deserted village, we didn't see many sights. We were happy to just enjoy our B&B and the beach and relax for a bit.
Which is good because the next morning we checked out of The Bervie B&B, waved goodbye to Achill Island, and settled in for a long drive from the west coast to Dublin on the east coast. If this was America, that would be a couple days' worth of driving, but luckily Ireland is a lot smaller than you think it is, and it took us 4 hours to make that drive. Our B&B, The Beechwood House, is actually in Malahide, a town just outside of Dublin. It's currently Sunday and just like we encountered in Edinburgh, everything closes super early on Sunday, if it's open at all. Our host said to not even try going into the city today since everything will be closed and suggested driving to the castle down the street and then checking out the town.
The castle was a nice place and my parents bought tickets to take the tour inside. Apparently there are 5 ghosts that haunt the place. I was again missing my ghetto ghost hunting friend. Jeff and I stayed outside, choosing to walk around the grounds, check out the gardens and the sights (and the Pokemon). It was a good way to stretch our legs after being in a car for so long. We all met back up and went into the town where everything is super expensive. Malahide is like Cincinnati's Hyde Park or Indian Hills. Everyone here is rich, all the houses are expensive, and so is the food. Luckily Jeff was able to find us a reasonably priced but still delicious Italian restaurant where we had a break from fish and chips and the usual Irish fare.
Now we are early to bed so that we can rise early and go into Dublin for our last day here in Ireland! Good night folks!
So our first full day on Achill Island, we decided to drive from one end to the other. We drove up and up, the left side of the car close to the edge of the road that just dropped away to steep cliffs, some daring sheep, and the crashing ocean. Very scenic and beautiful if you aren't afraid of heights and sitting on the left side of the car!
On the island there is a deserted village, super old, and full of ruins of cottages, farms, and supposedly a henge somewhere. Also, more sheep. There are sheep freaking everywhere. It was a really nice walk, no steep hills, nice straight path and the weather was (using the Irish-favorite adjective) "lovely". I swear, I'm going to be crying and missing this weather when I get back home to Cincinnati and it's, like, 85 degrees! It's so nice and cool here!
We battled a tour-bus full of people at one of the few lunch places on the island for a sitting spot inside, and then went back to the B&B to enjoy another walk along the beach (and possibly a nap).
Other than the deserted village, we didn't see many sights. We were happy to just enjoy our B&B and the beach and relax for a bit.
Which is good because the next morning we checked out of The Bervie B&B, waved goodbye to Achill Island, and settled in for a long drive from the west coast to Dublin on the east coast. If this was America, that would be a couple days' worth of driving, but luckily Ireland is a lot smaller than you think it is, and it took us 4 hours to make that drive. Our B&B, The Beechwood House, is actually in Malahide, a town just outside of Dublin. It's currently Sunday and just like we encountered in Edinburgh, everything closes super early on Sunday, if it's open at all. Our host said to not even try going into the city today since everything will be closed and suggested driving to the castle down the street and then checking out the town.
The castle was a nice place and my parents bought tickets to take the tour inside. Apparently there are 5 ghosts that haunt the place. I was again missing my ghetto ghost hunting friend. Jeff and I stayed outside, choosing to walk around the grounds, check out the gardens and the sights (and the Pokemon). It was a good way to stretch our legs after being in a car for so long. We all met back up and went into the town where everything is super expensive. Malahide is like Cincinnati's Hyde Park or Indian Hills. Everyone here is rich, all the houses are expensive, and so is the food. Luckily Jeff was able to find us a reasonably priced but still delicious Italian restaurant where we had a break from fish and chips and the usual Irish fare.
Now we are early to bed so that we can rise early and go into Dublin for our last day here in Ireland! Good night folks!
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